It has been a weekend of strange developments that is emblematic of the twisted direction of our society. As usual, our President and Vice President are nowhere to be found from Friday afternoon until late Monday morning.

God forbid we are not attacked by one of our strengthening adversaries on the weekend, for we will have to get back to them with an official response. This is what you get when you elect an aged President and his inept sidekick. You get a part-time and totally ineffective Administration. It is impossible to think of Joe and Kamala ever being considered for the ticket in 2024. The question is how the Democrats will get them to step aside and who they will pull out of the weeds to replace them.

There was plenty of talk over the weekend of former President Trump’s imminent arrest on Tuesday and the potential standoff between the New York District Attorney and the Secret Service. I don’t think that Alvin Bragg has thought this one through, but should that surprise us? Bragg is a fool who is complicit in the demise of a great city. He has destroyed the soul of the greatest city on earth and made it unsafe for human habitation, but arresting Donald Trump is the prize he desires. What a fool.

Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Ukraine this week and though Biden is doing his best to funnel billions to Kyiv, with the hope some will bounce back into his personal accounts, Poland has upstaged us by pledging jets to Ukraine. When did you ever dream of the United States being supplanted by Poland? Only during a Biden presidency could that happen. Putin is in Ukraine, while Biden is clocked-out in Delaware. That says it all about how far we have fallen. Russia disrespects us as Poland leads us. Nice job, Joe. You can read about it when you get back to work on Monday.

Hunter has countersued the computer shop owner in Delaware where he left his laptops for repair. He is suing for the release of personal information. How does that square when you denied the existence of the laptops for two years, and you sucked the mainstream media in to back your story. Now that the proverbial crap has hit the fan, you sue rather than admit the story’s validity. Do you really think we are that stupid or so indoctrinated? Apparently so. Somehow. I do not see a defense of ignorance that will let you skate this time.

Hunter is getting closer to an indictment as Congress is aggressively following the money trail from Ukraine and China back to the Bidens cashing the checks. The only thing in question now is whether the unaccounted funds went to Hailey, the widow and bed partner of Hunter, or to Jill, the senior abuser who let her husband, suffering from dementia, run for president or consider a re-election bid. Jill Biden is a wicked woman who cares more about an N-Scale Train layout and the future usage of the Portsmouth to Boston run.

We are getting closer to returning to Bear Pond. We have 12 weeks left until summer. The Cs are faltering while the Bs are cruising. I can hear the duck boats warming up. Come May,we may need to make way for the duck boats. Nothing may draw people together like a major sports championship. It would be great to take our minds off politics, even for a day. Normalcy is a state that escapes us, but we need to show patience as we regain stability in our society.

 

 

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For the longest time, I found it difficult even to fathom the idea that our society would allow children without the capacity to fully contemplate the consequences of their own actions to be physically mutilated by surgeons or hormonally altered into grotesque and artificial shadows of the beautiful people they were created to be.

“This couldn’t possibly become a thing,” I remember telling myself. I stayed silent, thinking that it would only take one or two voices to out the perverts responsible for pushing this fad on our youth. When I was growing up, I remember hearing news stories about people who sexually molested or damaged children; they had to be offered special protection in prison because the moment the convicted thieves and murderers got them alone, their lives were abruptly ended by whatever means available.

Today, there is a parental civil rights bill pending in the Legislature (HB 10) that would recognize the fundamental right of parents to raise their own children according to their own values. The bill would importantly require school officials to disclose information about children’s sexuality and any medical or surgical choices they were contemplating, and it would prohibit government employees such as teachers or guidance counselors from keeping this information from parents, as they are now doing in the Manchester School District, for instance.

What amazes me is that there is any controversy about this bill at all. It’s simply common sense. When I was growing up, a teacher or administrator who taught or covered up this kind of information wouldn’t just risk losing their job, they might even have to run for their lives. The only issue I see with the bill is that it might protect some parents who are evil enough to allow their own children to mutilate their own genitals or chemically alter who God created them to be. In a perfect world, these are the parents who would lose custody of their children so they could be raised by parents who understand that a sound moral foundation is the basis for any functioning society, and history, reading, writing and arithmetic are the subjects that ought to be taught in school—that is, if they are so unfortunate to have to send the children to a government-run school.

It turns out, to my great pleasure, that my thinking might be rather popular, despite the completely corrupt and sexually deviant leaders who are pushing a different idea on all of us through the media and entertainment industry and in our halls of government. According to a NH Journal/Coefficient Poll released on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, 59 percent of Granite State voters believe parents should have the final say on what gets taught to their children in the classroom, including 89 percent of Republicans and 60 percent of unaffiliated voters. More to the point, the poll also found that 80 percent of all voters believe that parents—not school officials—should make the final call on children’s health decisions. In one more specific data point, 78 percent of voters supported a parent’s right to know about their children’s activity surrounding sex or gender.

Again, this is empirically common sense, but we have allowed those with loud voices, microphones and publishing companies, and even some within institutions we used to believe were safe like our schools and even our churches, to tell us that evil is good, and good is evil. It’s time to call them out, and the tide is turning against them. The truth is, gender mutilation, whether chemical or surgical, is evil, and the people who do these things to themselves later regret it, and many seek to end their lives on account of the horrible mistakes they have made. Allow me to be clear: there is hope and there is help available for those who have made the wrong choices, and I can personally lead people to those resources, but today’s top story needs to be how we stop children and young adults from going down this warped path from this point forward. The first step is to stop sick and twisted school officials from teaching our children that transgenderism is normal and sex changes are just another medical procedure, or worse, encouraging them to go through with these things because “so many others are doing it.” And the very first step to accomplishing this goal is to pass the pending parental civil rights legislation and legally guarantee parents know about and can control their children’s decisions until they are old enough to make them for themselves. By that time, God willing, they will be raised up the way they should go.

 

Andrew Manuse is a pastor of First Fruits Ministries in Manchester and serves as chairman of RebuildNH.

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Dr. Simrun Bal of Dartmouth Health testified at a public hearing at the New Hampshire State House that she doesn’t know whether puberty blockers are completely reversible, even though these chemicals are known to cause sterility and sexual dysfunction for children who take them through puberty.

Related: I Am A Former Trans Kid …

NH House Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee member Rep. James Murphy (D)  asked Bal, “You mentioned that these medications are reversible. Is there a time beyond which they are not reversible once they have started?”

“That’s a good question,” Bal responded. “I don’t believe so, but I can look into it more definitively and get back to you.” 

Bal, representing the New Hampshire Medical Society and the NH chapter of the American College of Physicians, was testifying against HB 619, which would ban the medical transition of minors with gender dysphoria.

In her address to the committee, Bal said that physicians carefully applied evidence-based protocols to use chemicals to put a “temporary pause” on puberty while clinicians worked with parents to determine whether a medical transition is necessary. The bill was retained by the committee.

Bal appeared to be unaware that children who start puberty blockers before the age of 12 and take them through adolescence will never have any sexual function, according to Dr. Marci Bowers, president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, a child-transing advocacy group that sets medical standards of care. 

These children will also be sterile, according to Dr. Jeremi Carswell, director of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Gender Service. Years of missed growth are irreversible, so a boy who begins puberty blockers at 10 will have a micropenis for the rest of his life.

Bal also didn’t seem to know that 95% of children who are administered puberty blockers will move on to cross-sex hormones, so they can’t be considered as a stand-alone treatment.

Dr. John Turco, director of Dartmouth Health’s Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Health Program said physicians at Dartmouth Health administer puberty blockers to 10-year-olds for gender dysphoria.

In spite of her own ignorance, Bal believes she knows more than moms and dads. She said that if “parental role models,” aren’t supportive of medically transitioning their daughters and sons, we need laws that allow those children to turn to “teachers, peers, and others in the community who are leaders.”

Watch her testimony here.

 

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Divorces can be complicated and emotionally taxing for anyone, but high net worth divorces can add an extra layer of complexity. 

These divorces require careful planning and consideration as there is often significant wealth, property, and assets involved. 

With the right information, however, it is possible to navigate these complex situations with ease. 

Here are some tips for those facing a high net-worth divorce.

1. Get Professional Assistance

The best thing you can do when facing a high-net-worth divorce is to seek professional legal advice from an experienced high-net-worth divorce attorney who specializes in this area of law. 

They will have the knowledge and expertise necessary to help you through the process and ensure that your rights are protected throughout.

2. Have Clear Financial Goals

Both parties should agree on what their financial goals are prior to filing for divorce so that they can work together to reach an equitable agreement that meets both parties’ needs. 

This will help reduce conflict and make the divorce process smoother overall.

3. Gather Documents

It is important to gather all relevant documents related to your assets before filing for divorce so that they can be accurately divided between both parties during negotiations or mediation sessions. 

This includes bank statements, tax returns, investment accounts, real estate deeds, loan documents, retirement accounts, etc.

4. Understand Tax Implications

High net worth divorces often involve substantial tax implications due to the complexity of the assets being divided between parties. 

It is important to understand how taxes may be affected by certain agreements in order to maximize benefits while minimizing costs associated with taxation on certain investments or assets transferred during the divorce proceedings.

5. Consider Mediation

Mediation is a great way for couples with high net worth to come up with mutually beneficial agreements without having to go through lengthy court proceedings or expensive litigation processes, which could further deplete valuable resources and savings accounts involved in the divorce process. 

This can also provide both sides with much-needed closure as well as minimize conflict between them by allowing them both a chance at negotiation without feeling pressured or intimidated by either side’s lawyers.

6. Protect Retirement Accounts

Retirement accounts such as 401 (k)s, IRAs, etc., should be handled carefully during a high net worth divorce since they are often some of the largest financial investments among couples. 

To avoid costly penalties, it’s important that couples understand any potential tax implications associated with transferring funds from one partner’s retirement account into another partner’s account during a high-net-worth divorce.

7. Create a Post-Divorce Financial Plan

Once an agreement has been reached in a high net worth divorce, it’s important that each party creates a post-divorce financial plan that outlines monthly expenses, income sources, debt repayment plans, etc. 

This ensures that each party has enough money available after the settlement has been finalized so they can continue living comfortably without having to worry about unexpected costs coming up later on down the road.

8. Don’t Forget About Insurance

During a high net worth divorce, many people forget about insurance policies such as life insurance policies or long-term care insurance policies which could potentially provide financial protection if something were ever to happen unexpectedly happen in either of their lives after their marriage ends. 

It’s important for couples going through this kind of settlement process to remember about any such policies so they don’t miss out on any potential benefits these may offer them later down the line once everything else has been settled between them and their former partner.

9.Monitor Your Credit Score

Since most divorces involve dividing up debts along with other assets, it’s important for each person going through this process to keep track of their individual credit score throughout it all, so they know exactly where they stand financially if anything were ever to determine later on down the line when making decisions about future purchases such as homes or cars. 

This is especially if one party had taken out any loans before entering into this agreement which wasn’t paid off during its duration time period.

10. Seek Emotional Support

Going through any kind of separation from someone you’ve shared your life with isn’t easy, especially when there are large amounts of money, assets, or property involved too.

While it’s always recommended to seek out professional help from a high net-worth divorce attorney like Napa Family Law Office (https://napadivorce.com) when dealing with such settlements. 

It’s also extremely beneficial to get emotional support from friends or family members who understand exactly what you’re going through so you don’t feel alone during this difficult time period.

Conclusion

High net-worth divorces can be complex due to all of the various elements involved, including finances, taxes, retirement accounts, insurance policies, etc. 

But by taking steps like seeking professional legal advice from a high-net-worth divorce attorney, individuals going through this kind of settlement process should have no trouble navigating these waters successfully.

The post How to Navigate a High Net-Worth Divorce appeared first on Granite Grok.

Once again Nowruz–the ancient Persian Festival of the New Year–is here. Nowruz is the celebration of renewal and regeneration of life. Nowruz is the bearer of glad tidings for a better year ahead for all of mankind.

It is in the spirit of Nowruz that Persians, as well as many other ethnic co-celebrators, greet one another with good wishes and extend a hand of friendship to all. It is in the spirit of Nowruz that I offer my sincere best wishes to everyone, with particular humility to those magnificent prisoners of conscience who are languishing in the dungeons of the Islamic Republic of Iran instead of celebrating the occasion in the bosom of their families and loved ones.

On the occasion of Nowruz, we need to be reminded that millions in Iran, a hugely important force in sustaining and fanning the Islamic fire, have already turned and are turning against Islam. They and the rest of the world need to hear the voices of decent people who adhere to individual liberty and freedom. I am sure you will want to play your part in this honorable endeavor and lend your help to put Islam, the very spawning swamp of the deadly virus that makes for “jihadists,” out of business.

May the Persian New Year be a year of freedom, justice, and well-being for all. May every day of the Persian New Year glow with good words, shine with good thoughts, and be filled with good deeds.
Happy Nowruz,
Amil Imani

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And the wheels are still in “starting to move” mode this second week.  I lost a little bit less than last week and Tom lost a bit more (The Good Lord Above help me if he really starts to get a streak going!).

Last Week:

The post The Skip & Tom Weight Challenge – Week 2 appeared first on Granite Grok.

Check out the video below of Russia devastating Ukraine … except it is the United States devastating Iraq based on the LIE that Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction.” And explain to me, bitter-clingers, why Putin who invaded Ukraine to protect Russian national security by preventing Ukraine from becoming a NATO client state and to protect ethnic Russians in the Donbas who were being “ukraine-ized” by the kleptocrat Zelensky is a war criminal, but George W. Bush is a “good man.” I’m waiting.

I can’t believe Russia is doing this to Ukraine. All the leaders who did this should be in jail pic.twitter.com/XdaBaeIoZJ

— No Bailouts Poso (@JackPosobiec) March 20, 2023

And in case you’ve forgotten about Bush’s and the neocons war of choice in Iraq and its consequences, here’s a thread to remind you.

20 years on, this is the only way I can describe the Iraq War:

A monstrous crime perpetrated first and foremost against the Iraqi people and then Americans who volunteered to fight in the war as a result of their patriotic desire to serve after 9/11 being cynically exploited.

— Dan Caldwell (@dandcaldwell) March 19, 2023

The post If Putin Is A War Criminal … What Does That Make George W. Bush? appeared first on Granite Grok.

If British colonials tried to infect native populations by giving them blankets with smallpox, it was never formally attempted in the Americas, and there’s no evidence if tried that it worked. New York State, on the other hand, sent COVID infected into nursing homes.

The results were what you’d expect if you were some normal dope on the street. You put confine flu-infected seniors with other at-risk elderly. A lot of people died alone, and their families were prohibited from visiting them. New York did terrible things to its senior citizens, and a change in leadership in both the Big Crapple and the Governor’s Office did nothing to dissuade the government from pursuing lockdown tyranny as a matter of policy.

Maybe they’re in love with the idea of that sort of power.

 

Rule 2.13, as written, says that “whenever appropriate to control the spread of a highly contagious communicable disease, the State Commissioner of Health may issue and/or may direct the local health authority to issue isolation and/or quarantine orders, consistent with due process of law, to all such persons as the State Commissioner of Health shall determine appropriate.”

 

Except it wasn’t consistent with due process of law. Bobbie Anne Cox  (an attorney and Brownstone Institute Fellow), explained it like this.

 

Imagine a land where the government has the power to lock you up because the unelected bureaucrats in the Health Department think that you might, possibly have a communicable disease. They don’t have to prove you are sick. They don’t have to prove you are a health threat to others. They just need to think that, maybe, you were possibly exposed to a disease. And when I say “lock people up,” I mean lock you in your home or force you from your home into a facility, detention center, camp (pick your noun) that they get to choose and you must stay there for however long they want. No time limit; so it could be for days, weeks, months, or years…

Last July it was struck down. We wrote about it here, and Bobbie wrote about it here; ” Judge Ronald Ploetz ruled that the “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” regulation is unconstitutional and “violative of New York State law as promulgated and enacted, and therefore null, void and unenforceable as a matter of law.”

 

This illegal quarantine regulation allowed for endless possibilities of abuse because there were no due process protections built in to safeguard against government abuse. Once targeted by the DOH, you would have no recourse whatsoever: No chance to prove that you aren’t actually infected with a disease. No chance to confront your jailers, see their supposed evidence against you or challenge their quarantine order in a court of law before getting locked up. Judge Ploetz stated in his decision that the regulation “merely gives ‘lip service’ to Constitutional due process.”

It gets worse. In the true fashion of a dictatorship, the government could tell you what you could and couldn’t do while in quarantine. For example, bureaucrats and politicians could decide to deprive you of your cell phone or internet access, thereby totally cutting off your communications with the outside world. They might also decide to restrict your food intake or force you to take certain medicines or “treatments” that the government deems appropriate. They could even choose to discriminate against those with certain views or beliefs, creating political prisoners, all in the name of supposed “health and safety.”

 

Heil Hochul! Kathy and Co., are appealing the decision. They want their quarantine confinement rule and all the fun despotic abuse that follows, but they waited to let the voters know.

 

 We had statewide elections in November, and both Governor Hochul and Letitia James were running for election.

Interestingly, they did not file their appeal to try to overturn this horrific regulation before that crucial election.  Then, just days before their six months was going to expire in January 2023, they made a request for an additional two months to file their appeal!  Despite our objection, the court granted the extension thereby giving the Attorney General until March 14, 2023 to file the appeal.  Mere hours before the deadline, they filed their appeal.

 

 

HT | Dr. Peter McCullough

The post Judge Said No, But Heil Hochul Still Wants Her Public Health Detention Camps appeared first on Granite Grok.

You need to contact Belknap County Delegation Chair Harry Bean:  Email: froggytouttaint@aol.com  Phone: (603) 455-2993.  He’s responsible for this.

In NH, the various Counties, all County budgets start with the Commissioners.  Here in Belknap, I’m betting that they didn’t just throw the kitchen sink into their budget, they put your street’s entire collection of kitchen sinks as well.  And then smiled after watching this County’s dysfunctional “budget committee” process.

And NH State Rep, Harry “Cutting Corners” Bean is the Chair and he’s responsible for this mess AND for hoovering more of your money out of your wallet than needed.  Doubt me?  If you live in Belknap County, ask him this question:

Why is Merrimack County’s budget going up only 1% and mine is going up over 35%??? How can they do it right and you can’t???

That’s what will happen come April 1 if the Delegation’s “investigation” of the Commissioners’ budget isn’t completed by then.  Utter failure.  And what is just unbelievable, given that Harry Bean was a member of the Gilford Budget Committee for years and KNOWS how budgets should be handled and has been in the County Delegation for years (he’s a multi-term NH State Rep), he went through the County budget multiple times.

The first mistake was putting a brand new freshman Rep to be the “BudComm Chair” that had never done a County Budget before. He was elected improperly because Bean’s Band of Right To Know Law Misfits decided not to listen to the more experienced Reps, who have done this before, and didn’t bother to Follow the Law in properly “noticing” the meeting so that WE, the Public, could attend. And then did it twice more which got the Delegation into moretrouble and with their unforced errors and now have all but run out their own clock.

There’s a lot more there but if you prefer that your money, in these troubled times, stay in YOUR pocket, contact Chair Harry Bean and tell him NO INCREASES!

Email: froggytouttaint@aol.com
Phone: (603) 455-2993

Time to get involved!  If Bean & Company aren’t going to look out for you and your family, you need to!  Call and email him and tell him to stop cutting corners and get his job done – and done right!  He’s also failed to post the budget at BelknapCounty.org so that WE can see it!

And contact your NH State Reps as well.  Their contact info, all of them here in Belknap, can be found here.

And remember, the Democrat PAC called Citizens for Belknap is responsible, in part, for this fiasco!

 

The post If You Live In Belknap County (NH), You are Looking At A 35% Rise In Your County Taxes. Blame Belknap Delegation Chair Harry Bean! appeared first on Granite Grok.

November 1980: New York City’s WASHINGTON HEIGHTS – The Columbia Medical School applicant was walking out of the parking garage. A semi-comatose man lay across the sidewalk. People gave him no notice and walked by and over him.

We want to thank Jim Betti for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
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Across the street, under the bridge, were the remnants of a burnt-out car.

The medical school interview was going well until the applicant asked the interviewer about the previous years shooting/murder of one of the medical students. Without hesitation, the interviewer answered, “he was in a place where he should not have been, and if a person was smart about such things, odds were good that they would be safe.” The school applicant left and never looked back.

The admission process to medical school is especially rigorous, and only top candidates are offered admission. Because of the SCOTUS decision that diversity could be used to violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, minorities with much lower academic credentials are granted admission and makeup approximately 10% of the class. Quotas are technically illegal, but year after year the class ratios are approximately the same.

The first two years of medical school are extremely challenging. The building blocks (think anatomy, physiology, microbiology, biochemistry, and pathology} must be mastered. In general, there are 32 hours of class/labs per week and then many more hours of home study. Most medical schools do not have grades and courses are evaluated with pass/fail or honors. For many decades, after the first two years of medical school, a graded standardized test was required. The test scores assessed whether the medical students had mastered essential medical building blocks and simultaneously assessed whether the medical schools were teaching what needed to be learned. The score was a very important part of a medical student’s future. Combining the score with clinical third/fourth-year rotation evaluations, interviews, and recommendations formed the basis of being accepted to post-medical school training programs {residencies}. The cream rose to the top, and the best students landed the best residencies.

In the wake of the George Floyd BLM movement, academia’s fixation on diversity, equity, and inclusion {DEI} has taken on religious fanaticism. And like elite colleges and law schools, medical schools have enthusiastically hopped on the DEI bandwagon.

With the impending SCOTUS overturning of Affirmative Action, all of woke academia is in panic. In the aftermath of the expected SCOTUS decision, these institutions will have to change their admission/promotion practices or face legal and Federal consequences for discriminating against non-DEI applicants on the basis of race or gender.

Many prestigious Colleges and Law Schools, understanding that any standardized testing puts them at risk, have moved to no longer require such testing {SAT, LSAT}.

Some medical schools have followed suit and no longer require the MCAT. And in order to continue their ideological DEI commitment the post-second year test {previously graded} has been made pass/fail {96% pass rate}. The administrators have tried to justify this decision by saying it will take the stress out of the first two years of medical school, but their excuse rings hollow. The change really means medical schools will not be held accountable for poorly teaching students in the first two years and allows poorer-performing medical students to move on without objective evidence of achievement.

Evaluation in the clinical 3d year of medical school is much more subjective, and “Woke” academia can shift the curve toward DEI students. The first merit-based evaluation test does not have to be taken until later in the 4th year{after residency job decisions have occurred}. Suddenly residency directors, who, like medical school administrators, are under extreme stress to show their “Woke” credentials, can accept DEI students into their training programs because there will be no objective standards. The whole process will be subjective.

The best and the brightest will be forced to take a back seat to a “Woke “DEI ideology.
In most situations, the effect of DEI hiring will not be apparent for years. The federal government is so bloated with incompetence that adding new DEI hires makes no perceivable difference. Law firms will virtue signal and hire lawyers using DEI, but if their product is not top-notch, the firm will lose clients. This is unacceptable and poorly performing associates, DEI or otherwise, will be marginalized (although DEI employees probably will keep their job). Fortune 500 companies will behave in a similar fashion. Added costs for middle management deadwood will be the price they pay to appear “Woke”.

With San Francisco bank SVB’s bankruptcy, real-world consequences of “Woke” DEI management have become apparent. Massive amounts of funds and resources were used to promote BLM and woke causes while “banking competence” was nowhere to be found. Without competent employees, when things got tough, the bank folded.

Undoubtedly lowering standards in our military to accommodate (DEI) will have terrible real-world consequences, but it is unlikely the public will ever be made aware.

The downstream effect of “Woke DEI” infiltration of medical training won’t be apparent for a few years but will result in divisive unintended consequences.
Wealthy people will not stand for even the perception of low-quality physicians. Private concierge physician groups will accommodate their wealthy patients’ wishes or lose business. The result will be wealthy people, and their families will not obtain their healthcare from DEI-trained physicians.

The American public also has no tolerance for medical care that isn’t top-of-the-line. When their loved one needs care, they want the best. As DEI medical education matures and the public becomes aware of what is happening, people are going to be forced into making a calculated decision. In a similar fashion to the Columbia Medical College admission officer who in 1980 told the school applicant that in order to stay safe certain places in Washington Heights as well as nearby Harlem minority neighborhoods should be avoided; People who have lost faith in the process of how a DEI physician achieved a place in society, are going to look for a non-DEI medical provider. Of course, this is not fair to physicians such as Ben Carson, who competed at the highest level and achieved {or the non-violent residents of Harlem}, but it is an unavoidable reality. It is not racism any more than when a person decides to stay safe and avoid a sketchy part of a big city. It is simply a calculated probability as to whom will give a loved one the highest quality care.

In June of 2023, the SCOTUS is going to correct the terrible divisive mistake that it made 50 years ago and rule that affirmative action is a violation of the equal protection clause.

Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is openly advocating returning to a merit-based America. And other politicians are starting to follow. Ramaswamy’s message is resonating across America and forcing needed uncomfortable conversations. Returning America to meritocracy will not be easy. The usual race hustlers will be out in force, and radical unrest is almost a certainty; but for America to move toward MLK’s united colorblind future, DEI and its divisive substandard consequences must be part of the past.

2024 is coming!!
Vote!!!!

The post D.E.I. Must Die or a Loved One Might. appeared first on Granite Grok.

Alvin Bragg is an example of everything wrong with New York City. Kathy Hochul and Eric Adams are working daily to bring the greatest city in the world to its knees, but it is Alvin Bragg that has destroyed the safety of New Yorkers to the point they are abandoning the city by the thousands.
Alvin Bragg, dismissing criminal cases at a record pace and making cashless bail a new word in our vocabulary, may be the first District Attorney ever to arrest a former President in our history. According to reports, President Donald Trump may be arrested and arraigned.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office recently signaled to Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels, a pornstar with whom Trump had a relationship. The strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former President.

This action by Bragg is just another step by the Democrat Party to ensure that Trump might be prohibited from running for President in 2024. The polls for Trump are strong, much stronger than Biden’s, and the Dems are fearful that Joe will not repeat his upset of Trump in 2020. The impeachments and January 6th Committee have not been enough to derail Trump, and they believe arresting the former President will be the knockout punch. I see this Hail Mary as the best thing to happen to Trump and his aspirations for returning to the White House.

Seeing the Former President in handcuffs will create the biggest spectacle to hit D.C. that the Capitol has ever witnessed. Even the Democrats celebrating the situation will see through the facade very quickly. The focus will then shift back to Biden, his connection with this arrest, and the apparent crimes he and his family have committed against our country. Biden will be dead in the water, and the Democrats have nobody warming in the bullpen who can defeat Trump. Republicans will rally around the Former President.

Trump has been offered an opportunity to testify before the Grand Jury that handed down the arraignment, but that would be tantamount to walking into the lion’s den. Trump will let the ridiculous matter play out and take advantage of the Democrat overplay.

This farce is a politically motivated move by a rogue DA who reduced 50% of felony charges in his crime-ridden city. Yet, Bragg has taken a “trumped-up” (excuse the pun) that Federal Prosecutors and the Federal Election Commission had decided was not a crime. Bragg is forcing this situation to elevate himself with Progressives, or he is a foolish pawn of the same. Either way, I hope this does play out. Let Trump destroy this move, and end the threat of bogus prosecutions that have haunted Trump for years.

One element I am looking forward to is how the Secret Service detail assigned to Donald Trump handles the scene when officials from Bragg’s office place the cuffs on the Former President. The Service has never faced this dilemma, and this scenario puts them in a conflicted position.

The post Will Someone Stop Alvin Bragg appeared first on Granite Grok.

The NH House is meeting on Wednesday, March 22, and Thursday, March 23 this week to vote on many important bills and two of them are critically important for babies, HB271 which would repeal the Fetal Life Protection Act which protects viable babies from being killed in abortion after 24 weeks gestation, and HB224 which would repeal all legal penalties for doctors performing abortions after 24 weeks.

From Cornerstone’s latest Legislative Update:

HB 224 is a bill that would repeal all criminal and civil legal penalties against health care providers for violating the Fetal Life Protection Act. If this bill were to pass, it would strip the law of any enforcement capability, and allow all abortions up to birth.

HB 224 stands as a significant threat to pre-born life, as our governor, Chris Sununu, has called to remove the penalties for violating the Fetal Life Protection Act. A pro-choice individual, he is the only Republican governor in America pushing for abortion up to birth, and has pledged to sign the bill if it reaches his desk. Additionally, Chris Sununu personally lobbied for a functionally identical bill in the House just last year.

Governor Sununu wants to pretend he wants to protect babies after 24 weeks while allowing them to be killed in abortions up until the moment of birth. Despicable! Signing HB224 would also put him in violation of his campaign promise to support a late-term abortion ban.

Related: Gov. Sununu Lied to Get Elected

Please contact your New Hampshire state representatives as soon as possible and ask them to oppose both HB271 and HB224. You can find your representatives here.

For more information on the Fetal Life Protection Act, visit NHabortion.com.

The post Sununu vs. Babies, Contact Your Reps ASAP 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.  Last week’s Overflow.  Still slammed for time so “just” a meme dump, absent commentary.

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 ***

 

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

 

 

There are no words in any language sufficient to curse this action against our future generations.  But remember, from the video embedded here, “… there will be a need to kill many billion, or prevent them from giving birth…”

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

Pick of the post:

They’ve been telegraphing their plans for years and decades, and planning this for at least a century.  Do NOT BELIEVE this will be easy.

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

 

Palate Cleanser:

 

The post MONDAY MEMES appeared first on Granite Grok.

There’s a question that should be asked more often, which gets at the moral foundations of treating education as an entitlement.

Suppose you own several properties in a town.  You have two kids, who are being schooled at the expense of the town, which costs the town more than $500,000 over the course of two K-12 educations.

Now, you could sell one or two of those properties to pay for your kids to be schooled, thus relieving your fellow residents of that burden.

Or you could insist that the cost be borne by your fellow residents, including people whose grown children have to take out loans to pay their school taxes; elderly and disabled people on fixed incomes who have to eat less or keep their houses colder; homeschoolers who have to skimp on their kids to pay for your kids; and so on.

All so that you can spend the money you save on buying more properties, or fixing up your house, or taking nicer vacations, or getting a better car, or maybe buying a boat for your lakefront home.

What kind of parent would do that?  And even feel proud of it?

The post What Kind of Parent? appeared first on Granite Grok.

I’m getting a lot of emails confused about the terms “SUPPORT OTP” or “OPPOSE ITL”, etc. I’ve been including this reference key and will continue to do so at the bottom of each email moving forward.

Please Submit Group communications or Press Releases to editor@granitegrok.com.
Submission is not a guarantee of publication.

LOB: Legislative office building
ITL: Inexpedient to Legislate
OTP: Ought to Pass
Re-refer or Retain: This means the bill will remain in committee and not taken up again until next year

I’ve recorded a video with an explanation of how the committee process in NH works and what these recommendations from the committee mean when the bill comes to the chamber floor for vote. Click here for video.

Wednesday, March 22nd, N.H. House
House Floor Vote
HB 10, SUPPORT OTP, establishing the parental bill of rights. With the amount of press this bill has received, I don’t think it needs much explanation. This bill requires that parents be able to know exactly what happens to their children in public schools.

HB 539, SUPPORT OTP, relative to vaccination clinics at schools. The bill would ban vaccination clinics occurring during school hours in public schools. There have been multiple reports of children receiving vaccines during school hours without parental approval in NH and this important bill would prevent further possibility of these oversights.

HB 127, SUPPORT OTP, relative to the declaration of a state of emergency. This is the common sense state of emergency reform bill that Governor Sununu vetoed last year that simply forces both chambers to agree to extend an emergency after three, 21 day renewals by the governor.

HB 69, SUPPORT OTP, relative to direct payment and membership-based health care facilities. In NH currently, all hospitals and clinics must accept Medicaid, Medicare, and insurance, making them subject to federal government regulation. NH has direct payment and membership based primary care and we have noticed a trend of open-minded and alternative practitioners breaking free of regulations by converting their practices to this model. We need to allow hospitals and clinics such freedom and create more free market health care options to reduce costs and drive transparency.

HB 114, OPPOSE OTP, relative to the age at which a minor may receive mental health treatment without parental consent. This bill seeks to allow children as young as 16 years old to receive mental health treatment without parental permission or notification.

HB 557, SUPPORT OTP, relative to the department of health and human services’ rulemaking authority regarding immunization requirements. Currently there are two ways that a vaccine can be added to the school requirement schedule: either through law, which requires the legislature to pass a bill, or through the rulemaking process, unilaterally proposed by the commissioner of DHHS. This bill seeks to eliminate the ability of the department to add vaccines to the school schedule through rulemaking.

HB 575, OPPOSE ITL, relative to vaccine and pharmaceutical products purchased, promoted, or distributed by the state and its political subdivisions. This bill prohibits the state and its political subdivisions from purchasing, promoting, or distributing vaccines or any pharmaceutical product without human clinical trials, as we did with the Covid booster.

Please email your representatives to support the above recommendations. You can find your representatives and their contact information HERE.

 

The post Key Bills Head to the House Floor Plus Some “Lingo” Tips appeared first on Granite Grok.

Shortly after reporting Greta Thunberg’s deleted apocalyptic tweet from 2018, news of the underwater prediction spread like fears of drought at a climate conference, and with it, a reminder that the climate ‘experts’ are good at something, and that is being wrong.

Yet another old road we are traveling again but one the Left walks at your expense, and often so, we need to keep revisiting the planned failure of both the agenda and its prophets. As Greta’s revisionist history lesson reached escape velocity, folks with the knowledge or the audience made time to explore the antics of the Climate Cult and the international multi-billion-dollar conglomerates that give it an endless supply of earned media.

The Main Stream Press/Machine Media.

Fortunately, at least to me, this never grows old, nor should it. This past week Joe Biden, speaking to a room full of Democrats, reminded us that Climate Change and decades of drought are drying up the Colorado river, with over 150% of the annual snow/water equivalent laying on the ground all around the Colorado River watershed waiting to melt.

Colorado’s 120-year mean for precipitation is only 18 inches. Drought is the norm. And recent years have seen a gradual downward trend, with only four of the past ten years being above that mean. But from 1895 to 1905, seven of ten years were below the mean, with neither.

What’s it all mean? Nothing. But back to Climate failure.

Thanks to Thunberg, we are reminded of how poorly the ‘experts’ and their leads are at the prediction business and why this is political science, not climate science.

First up, Tony Heller pokes more fun at the melting sea ice crowd with a flurry of predictions compared to reality.

 

 

Next, Tucker Carlson visits the Thunberg Tweet delete, followed by a time capsule of predictions from a wide range of earth-ending prophets about snow and ice and how not one of them got anything right, but still they have an audience.

 

 

The post Comrade Klimate Expert appeared first on Granite Grok.

All of us are familiar with shopping – one of the guilty pleasures that we all have. Few feelings compare to the hit of dopamine that we get from getting a new shirt, pair of shoes, that funny mug, or a new computer. Shopping is nothing new and has been around for a long time presumably thousands of years.

For a long time, the way we shopped stayed the same. If we wanted something, we would go to a market, pay for it, and bring it home ourselves. When the internet came around, this changed. Not too long after the internet started growing in popularity, the concept of e-commerce started to show up.

The idea of sitting at home, ordering what you want, paying online, and having it delivered to your home was something out of science fiction. Luckily for us, this is the reality of the world we live in and it has become one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.

Amazon, the online retail titan, is one of the largest organizations in the world. Its humble beginnings started with online shopping. Online shopping is powered by the internet, a tool without which the world would have been very different. This article will expound on the thought process behind online shopping, how it compares to brick-and-mortar retail and other factors that make it what it is.

Convenience and Accessibility

Online shopping offers many different benefits to us, chiefly convenience and accessibility. When we think of online shopping, we immediately relate it to the ease of process involved. From anywhere in the world, we can use our mobile phones or any device with an internet connection to make a purchase. We pay for it online and in a short amount of time it is delivered to where we want it to be. Customers can make a purchase at any hour of the day, allowing sales to happen at any time of the day. With powerful e-commerce tools working with extensive automation, sales can happen at any time, payments are processed at all times, all of this without the store owner actively working on it.

Moreover, online stores are now available in two main ways. One of them is using a platform like Shopify or WooCommerce that has a variety of plugins to make the entire process easy. The other is to use social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to create an online presence. Once the presence is there, these social networks offer various tools to make selling a product easier.

Since all of this is so incredibly simple to get started and easier to access coupled with ads at all times, consumers can easily make a purchase. When you have Mediacom internet, you no longer need to worry about unreliable internet. Click here to head over to their website to start using their services!

Online Shopping vs. Brick and Mortar

In order to better understand this, it is important to compare online shopping with brick-and-mortar stores. While one has essentially replaced the other, both continue to coexist. Instead of formulating an opinion for you, we will list down the pros and cons for you to make the choice yourself.

Online Shopping – Pros

• Convenience
• Easy price comparisons
• Diverse selection
• Detailed information

Online Shopping – Cons

• Logistical delays
• No in-hand inspection until the product is delivered
• No personal interaction with humans
• Security risks like credit card fraud

Brick and mortar – Pros

• In-person experience
• Personal interactions
• A feeling of community
• Instant gratification

Brick and mortar – Cons

• Overhead costs
• Inconvenience for those with mobility issues
• Limited Variety
• Limited information

A quick glance at this list shows the differences between online shopping when compared with brick-and-mortar. For some, online shopping makes sense while for others, brick-and-mortar stores are better. Making a decision between the two is reliant on different factors that include convenience, variety, in-hand feel, quick delivery, and so on. There is no right or wrong choice, it all comes down to what a consumer wants or prefers.

The Role of Social Proof

Social proof is a phenomenon in psychology whereby we are more inclined to do something if we see other people doing it. When someone relies on the opinions and actions of other people when making decisions, they fall into the same category. Social proof has existed around us since the dawn of time, it has only been given a name in recent times. As social media has become more commonplace, we see the lives of people who are doing things we aren’t and we are instinctively drawn to that type of living.

Social proof also exists in online shopping in the form of testimonials and reviews. When we open a product page, we look at the pictures, price, and specifications and then scroll down to see the reviews. By reading what other people have to say about the product, our decision becomes simpler. If reviews are positive, we are more inclined to buy them.

Another example of social proof is when brands use social media influencers to market their products. When their audience sees their favorite influencer using a product, they will be tempted to do the same. In the digital age, social proof is incredibly powerful as it can make or break the decision of a prospective customer. Positive social proof results in conversions, sales, credibility, trust, and business growth. Negative social proof does the opposite of this, essentially taking the business down.

The Impact of Personalization

As a consumer, we want the shopping experience to offer as much value as possible. This is not limited to simply going into a store and making the purchase. Nowadays, AI and big data allow online sellers to create targeted content that is personalized for the user. Using personalization, online stores are able to positively impact customer loyalty and satisfaction. This is made possible by analyzing purchasing behavior and previous browsing data to create a relevant and customized shopping experience for the customer.

Not only does this make that customer feel special, it also prompts them to spread the word, and so on and so forth. For a business, showing customers what they like is the best way to guarantee a sale. When a business understands what a customer wants and the customer sees it, everyone wins. Modern marketing practices use this method to learn more about users to create more tailored marketing campaigns.

However, this has raised concerns surrounding privacy and data security among other reasons. In order to provide this experience, consumer data is used and taken with little transparency. While the browser may be doing it for the customer experience, who is to guarantee that sensitive information won’t land in the wrong hands? Moreover, this personalized shopping experience can create immense reliance on a said system that might not make regular shopping experiences feel the same.

Conclusion

Online shopping is one of the great pleasures of our time. Being able to order what we want from the comfort of a screen with nothing more than a smart device and an internet connection is an incredible example of how the internet has changed our lives. Moreover, thanks to innovations in this space, we have seen that there is a profound evolution in this space that makes this experience more personalized and efficient.

To start an online store or make an online purchase, you only need a smart device with an internet connection. With Mediacom, this entire process becomes incredibly convenient owing to its robust, reliable, and reputable internet services. Visit here to find out more and join the family today!

The post Online Shopping: How the Internet Affects Our Buying Habits appeared first on Granite Grok.

For those interested in disaster preparedness, there are numerous lessons throughout “Contagion.” Many miss the movie’s intent if they only watch it once.

It teaches more about the ramifications of a viral pandemic than any other movie in the genre, yet it has some major facts omitted or misrepresented. I will address those in a moment.

The movie is about the emergence of a new, highly infectious pathogen and how those responsible for mitigating its spread must go about doing their business with minimal rending of the “social fabric.”

The ripping apart of “social norms” is the inevitable outcome when inhibitions, regard for criminal law, moral, ethical, and personal standards, and values are cast aside as a direct result of fear, denial, ignorance, and psychological responses that, once they coalesce into muddled confusion, cause many people to panic. Conversely, those who keep their wits about them are often compelled to aid anyone in need.

When faced with deprivation, especially shelter, food, water, and restrictions from free movement (i.e. being unable to drive into another state), many people’s psychological dynamics are disrupted. The human mind severs ties to inhibitions that keep us emotionally well-adjusted when there is no threat present. In principle, the brain ignores all the “programming” done by parents, schools, peer groups, churches, and life’s circumstances, etc., and reverts to primal instinct. If in need of food and water, those driven by instinct would do anything to obtain what they seek, even if that means taking out a close friend to gain access to supplies he/she has stored up over years. For lack of a better term, I will call this state of mind Catastrophe Denial Syndrome (CDS) and it is most prevalent in those who have failed to prepare for a cataclysm so severe it shreds societal norms.

This is not a constant, of course, and indications are that many people would simply give up in the face of a major calamity. Once that happens, their chances for survival plummet.

 

As “Contagion” progresses, we see Matt Damon’s character and the girl playing his daughter go through the phases of an evolving pandemic that tears up “social norms,” yet they keep their wits about them. Social norms begin to unravel when the CDC gets involved and begins implementing processes to contact anyone who may have come in contact with an infected person. Any time federal government agencies arrive, the dynamics shift, sometimes to the resentment of those in power locally who have been pushed aside.
In “Contagion” the CDC is alerted to the plight of Gwyneth Paltro’s character and that of her son. While the movie made no mention of it, the CDC can go to an outbreak only if invited to get involved unless a virus infects so many so quickly that their intervention becomes a matter of national security. But those writing the “Contagion” storyline erred.

Even though there were only a couple of cases, as more presented with symptoms at the local E.R., the CDC would have sent a small army into the Minnesota town to do the “cover interviews,” which involves questioning everyone who may have come in contact with Gwyneth Paltrow’s character or that of her son. The need for more help was evident when Kate Winslet’s character spoke with Lawrence Fishburne’s character by phone and he asked when she had last had a meal not from a vending machine and told her to get some rest. By that point, the epidemic had stricken many not only in the town but in the state and nation, then globally. It is unlikely that the CDC would have sent just one epidemiologist in the first place. They would have sent several of them to conduct interviews.

The impact on social norms is evident in the scene in which Kate Winslet’s character is meeting with what appears to be the town’s city council. The discussion gets contentious when a cynical, councilwoman, becomes negative and confrontational, if not outwardly hostile. In a real scenario such as this, a reaction like that would not be out of the ordinary. From the Councilwoman’s viewpoint, the breakdown of social norms sends her into denial when Winslet’s character starts making decisions without that woman’s input. This is a problem for CDC and NIH (the National Institutes of Health) personnel who are invited into a town or city to address the problem. In the interest of getting the contagion under control, Kate Winslet’s character had to push back by citing facts, such as how most humans touch their faces more than 3,000 times a day, and that is how they get infected. Viruses of this type can enter the body through the nose, eyes, mouth, or even a cut in the skin.

To its credit, the movie gave us an object lesson in something every “preparedness expert” will tell you is their prime and inviolate directive: No matter how much you believe you can trust another person, you must never, under any circumstances, tell anyone that you are preparing or that you have a suitable bug out shelter in preparation for any calamity that might befall the nation. That may seem very selfish, but adhering to it may be what determines whether you survive or not. Lawrence Fishburne’s character mistake, though different in context, came when he called his fiancée and told her to leave Chicago. Strongly insisting that she tell no one. When she ignores the admonition and tells a close friend about the outbreak, she, too, insists that her friend tell no one, yet the news winds up on Facebook and the crisis are made public.

In addition, in various scenes when Damon’s character took his daughter out to shop, the chaos they encountered completely obliterated the social fabric. That became even more relevant when what appeared to be National Guard members were doling out meals ready to eat from trucks. When the supplies ran out, violence superseded chaos. This scene had some subliminal messages, as well. You may have noticed the tents with the FEMA logo on them. Their presence tears what is left of the social fabric because it creates a new and unwelcome reality.

In my view, and I’ve been studying survival since the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, it was almost too mild of a reaction when the food ran out. A component of primal instinct is mob mentality, and that was observed less than it should have been.

Nonetheless, this movie is a great choice, even if not perfect.

ICYMI – Written by Amil Imani – March 2014

The post Contagion appeared first on Granite Grok.

One of the features of Mao’s communist cultural revolution was student zealots (Reg Guard) willing to rat out anyone from teachers to neighbors to their own parents. Anyone who dares to contradict Mao or his tenets. Modern America has that too.

The #woke warriors or rainbow guard troll the internet looking for people or things to cancel, but there’s a more insidious Red Guard comparison from a School District in Maine.

 

Kristen Day said students affiliated with one of RSU 14’s Civil Rights Teams harassed her daughter. When her daughter refused to speak about her sexuality, two students affiliated with the club began to bully her and call her homophobic.

“They insisted she was gay because she dressed gay and listened to gay music,” Day said of her daughter, who was a 7th grader at the time of the alleged harassment.

“She was then called homophobic because she wasn’t at least bi,” Day said.

“She’s not political, but she does not want to talk about her sexuality in school,” she said

 

Remember, silence is violence. It’s a fascist/Nationalist/Marxist mandate to give the approved Sieg Heil when called upon. Failure to comply resulted in mob attacks during BLMs Summer of Love and has long been a feature of every proto-Marxist Democrat party proxy thugs. That includes the ones doing business as above-board non-profits, the SPLC, and, more recently, the Public Schools.

Cities, Counties, and States have them operating as social justice commissions wielding police-like powers under the mandate to reduce hate speech or hate crimes (neither of which truly exist). These are front groups for unconstitutional usurpations of primarily first amendment rights.

Our own Skip Murphy has lawsuits against his school district which, blindly following a state-funded left-leaning lobbying group doing business as School Board Association, implemented a policy that included compelled speech. A policy they had no authority to adopt and no legal right to enforce.

In the case of Maine’s Windham Raymond School System, a student who just wanted to be left alone learned firsthand that no such right exists across the diversity and equity landscape. Not only will you be made to care you will declare it when commanded.

 

Civil Rights Teams (CRTs) operate in Maine schools as a project of the Maine Attorney General’s Office, and the nominal goal of the student organizations is to reduce “bias-motivated” bullying and harassment in schools.

Day said her daughter was harassed about her sexuality by students affiliated with the school’s CRT under the pretext of opening a discussion about student sexuality.

CRT members also created surveys for their peers to take with questions about sexuality and gender, and they pressured them to don “pronoun” pins, Day said.

 

Tasked with creating a civil environment, the Rainbow Guard created a hostile one.

Both CRT and the porn-grooming literature culture are embraced there (surprise), so you won’t be alarmed to hear that a male teacher is alleged to, on at least two occasions, informed the class he was uncircumcised.

I wonder what lesson he was teaching that made that bit of information relevant.

No worries. Not long from now the Rainbow Guard – which I suspect will make a nice breeding ground for future members of the Gaystapo – will require you to share that information, and if you don’t, they might beat you to death and then find out anyway.

 

 

The post Mao Would Be Proud: Maine School’s Student “Civil Rights Team” More Like “Rainbow Guard” appeared first on Granite Grok.

A great example of what I am getting at here was my email sent to NH Speaker of the House Sherm Packard and NH House Majority Leader Jason Osborne concerning a Right To Know for Belknap County Legislative emails:

—— Original Message ——
From “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
To “Sherman Packard” <Sherman.Packard@leg.state.nh.us>; “Jason Osborne” <Jason@osborne4nh.com>; Jason.Osborne@leg.state.nh.us
Date 3/18/2023 1:26:38 PM
Subject Right To Know Demand for the Legislative emails of the NH House Representatives from Belknap County

Good afternoon NH House Speaker Packard and NH House Majority Leader Osborne,
<snip>

Jason’s first listed email is his official email as seen here – a private email address – so I used it.  I also used what I thought was the format of the “@leg.state.nh.us”.  However, this was the result (emphasis mine):

—— Original Message ——
From MAILER-DAEMON@cloudhost-4403025.us-midwest-2.nxcli.net
To Skip@granitegrok.com
Date 3/18/2023 1:26:41 PM
Subject failure notice

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at cloudhost-4403025.us-midwest-2.nxcli.net.
I’m afraid I wasn’t able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I’ve given up. Sorry it didn’t work out.

<Jason.Osborne@leg.state.nh.us>:
3.13.178.213 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 554 5.7.1 <Jason.Osborne@leg.state.nh.us>: Recipient address rejected: Access denied
Giving up on 3.13.178.213.

Now, my message still reached him – an official email to an official within NH Government. Using a private email address. Should that be the case? And yes, perhaps he does have an @leg.state.nh.us account and I got the name wrong.  It happens but this still serves as a great example (so let’s assume I DID get it right IF it exists).

So here’s the issue:

What if that Right To Know was meant for Jason’s emails dealing with official business? His email looks like a campaign address and not one that would match up with his official duties within the NH House. Because his official emails are government records, putting in an RTK to get them should be relatively easy; I have done this many times before for various parts of Government here in NH.  All those emails are centralized and under the control of NH Government, whether by an NH IT server or outsourced to a private company. With a NH based Governmental domain (e.g., @leg.state.nh.us, jonos@sau73.org, dlafond@gilfordnh.org, or shackett@belknapcounty.gov).

PLEASE know that I’m NOT accusing Jason of anything and I’ve never constructed an RTK for any of his emails. Since I just sent it today (that would be yesterday by the time this goes live) and unexpectedly got a reject on the @leg.state.nh.us email. it serves as a great Object Lesson (his email address, not him personally).

But what can I do with “Jason Osborne” <Jason@osborne4nh.com>?  Even if I KNOW there is something in one of his emails that is important and submit an RTK for it, there is nothing I can depend on to get that particular email with his address.  He could say “No”, I’m not going to give it to you – and my only remedy would be take him to court, and spend a lot of time and money, and hope that a judge would order that the email administrator for that domain satisfy the order to fork it (or others) to me.

The problem is that if the need is for that is immediate, if the process is dragged out, it becomes moot (unless another court case is filed to roll something back). Essentially, using personal email address is a way to avoid accountability and hide such demanded information – they effectively (de facto) are not subject to valid RSA 91-A processes. You know, like what Hilary did with her personal email server in a closet that she famously said “what, wipe it with a cloth?” (and showing how little regard she had for openness and transparency).

And we have no way of telling – using personal email addresses instead of official government ones.

And that has happened in my recent RSA 91-A demands at the  Belknap County Delegation. I have to ask, and then Trust, any Rep using a private email address as their “official” one is giving me a correct answer.  Given  what I’ve seen over the years (and lately over HB357, the “give them 4 years instead of 2 year term”), Trust is complicated first and hazardous at worst; I don’t know if I’m getting a correct answer.

By sending an RTK to a superior that then gives it to their IT folks (like I have also done lately during the “Gunstock Incident”), the individual Representative (in this case) is cut out of the loop. GENERALLY, IT folks tend to be more honest…

So look at how Belknap County Reps are with respect to official Government email addresses:

Out of the 17 Representatives, only 5 are using the @leg.nh.state.us domain, 10 are using private emails, and two have no contact info at all.

This is not a privacy issue – this is a Government problem. Those in Government are accountable to we citizens (and not the other way around – a trend that seems to be desired and accelerating).  Deliberately making it harder to do, like these Reps are doing, needs to be corrected.

 

The post Belknap County Delegation – Showing a Loophole in RSA 91-A that Government Officials or Staff Can Exploit? appeared first on Granite Grok.