Monday • December 23 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.LII
Manchester, N.H.
Vermont has been reporting an exponential rise in illegal border crossings from Canada for months. By which, we mean an 846% surge. NH Shares its border patrol sector with Vermont, and guess what?
Related: Sununu Signs on to Border Strike Force: An Agreement to Bail Together, But No One Want’s to Patch the Hole in the Boat
We’ve got ’em too.
“Most of the Border Patrol are gone to the southern borders and they’re down there, but they will help us any way they can,” Judd said.
The federal agency declined to confirm staffing levels, citing security concerns, but Lavallee said his office is supplying personnel to the Mexican border. He agreed that people might be surprised by what’s happening at the northern border.
“I think people would be surprised at the overall activity, not just drug trafficking, but human smuggling, as well,” he said.
Town officials said they believe just the visibility of a Border Patrol marked vehicle helps, but that’s more infrequent now.
Remember when Governor Chris Sununu (R-NH) said he would not send NH Guard troops to the southern border to help president Turmp calm down the mess Trump inherited from Obama? Even though other GOP governors were volunteering, he wouldn’t help Trump because he didn’t want to “separate families.” Trump got it done anyway, and things were calm and under control until Biden mumbled his way into the Oval Office.
So, do you remember when Gov. Sununu sent NH Guard Troops to shore up Nancy Pelosi’s militarization of the Capitol Complex after Jan 6th? He was a big yes to that.
How about when Mr. Sununu sent NH Guard Troops to help Joe Biden with his “border crisis.” The one that didn’t exist until Biden fixed it? He was Chrissy on the spot then, too, and not a word about separating families then.
Democrats, Yes! Republicans, not so much. Keep that in mind, please, because while New Hampshire isn’t a sanctuary state like Vermont, but we’ve got them here (illegals and Vermonters). And we know border crossings are escalating exponentially from Canada in the Swanton Sector, which includes NH, VT, and upstate NY.
Border patrol is hollowed out, and according to WMUR, the folks up in Pittsburg, NH, could use some help, so here’s the big question. Chris has proven he’ll help Dems when they ask, but not Republicans.
He’s a Republican, so… is he unwilling or unable to send National Guard troops to guard his own state border?
The post Will Sununu Send Guard Troops to Defend New Hampshire’s Border? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Open Letter to New Hampshires Federal Delegation: Senator Shaheen & Hassan and Representatives Pappas & Kuster; Listening to sportscasters talk over the radio this morning complaining about the New England Patriots raising their season ticket prices, they made the point “that all prices are going up.”
With all due respect to the honor that should be placed on your office, as your constituent, I take issue with you all about this “widely accepted lie” that covers our chronic perverted monetary system, which is sick with inflation caused by the Federal Reserve that has been given license to inflate our money supply since its inception in 1913. These sportscasters have swallowed this lie “hook, line, and sinker.”
Congress set the precedent by initiating the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 into law. The majority of every Congress since has accepted this lie as having constitutional authorization. Today’s Federal Reserve note has no precious metal backing and only has value as legal tender for debt because “it’s the law.” Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky now has 50 cosponsors of his bill HR 24 to audit the Federal Reserve, which mostly operates in secret. Article VI labels “All laws not made in pursuance of the Constitution as null and void.” This includes the Federal Reserve, which was not made in pursuance of the Constitution.
This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. It is corruption that steals the value of the wealth of the American people. Both parties, I think it is safe to assume, do not condone stealing when they are the victim. The “lie” is that “prices are going up.” What you buy, yes, increases in cost, but this deception hides the fact that the value of the dollar is going down because the Federal Reserve continues to print more dollars. It takes more to buy the same value. They call it a nice-sounding name, “Quantitative Easing.”
In 2010, a congressionally-mandated partial audit of the Federal Reserve was conducted. This was highly revealing that demands further and greater transparency to expose further corruption. It’s a good bet that we have seen only the “tip of the Iceberg.” Now, please push for greater transparency by mandating a full audit. We, the People, must be given the facts, for it is our money that is being stolen through the “inflation process.” It is our decision to make. You represent the people. I demand that The Federal Reserve, more accurately called the “generational theft machine,” should ultimately be abolished. I urge all victims of this theft to support HR 24.
The post The Federal Reserve Inflation; The Worlds Greatest Pickpocket appeared first on Granite Grok.
The date is February 22nd, which is Ash Wednesday, cook a sweet potato day, and National Margarita Day, among others.
If you’re interested.
In 303 AD Emperor Diocletian at Nicomedia issued the first official Roman edict calling for the persecution of Christians. Churches were ordered closed, and scriptures burnt.
In 1300 Pope Boniface VIII issued a papal bull benefiting anyone with the proper social credit score, “instating a Jubilee Year, granting forgiveness of sins and debts for those who fulfill various conditions.” Or was this more like Climate Offsets?
In 1349, the Jews were expelled from Zurich, Switzerland.
And some of the leftovers and links we Couldn’t get to, yesterday.
The Morning Mail B-B-B-Biden
The post The Morning Mail – Feb 22nd, 2023 appeared first on Granite Grok.
Just about everyone who gets involved with sports eventually gets hurt, both physically and emotionally. And while athletics are generally healthy endeavors —and while fitness is good—most everyone’s suffered sports injuries. For me, that includes three knee operations, three horrific ankle sprains, several dislocated fingers, an eye injury from a sucker punch, and some rearranged teeth due to an errant elbow on a basketball court.
Tennis anyone? But even tennis has its hazards.
Which brings us to our 30th President, a Vermonter named Calvin Coolidge. Our Presidents Day holiday, as always, involves stories of our illustrious—and not so illustrious—Commanders-in-Chief, including Silent Cal.
A true conservative, Coolidge was Governor of Massachusetts in 1919 when the Boston police went out on strike. (Yes, Massachusetts used to have conservatives.) With criminals running rampant, Coolidge sent in the Massachusetts militia into Beantown and famously stated that “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime.”
Coolidge’s decisive action won him kudos, plaudits, and huzzahs throughout New England and beyond. In 1920 he was elected vice-president to serve under President Warren G. Harding. When Harding died in 1923 the taciturn New Englander became president.
America experienced unprecedented peace and prosperity under Coolidge. The 1924 election returned Coolidge to the White House in a landslide. His popular vote total almost doubled that of the Democrat nominee, John W. Davis.
This brings us back to tennis.
President Coolidge’s sons, John and Calvin Jr., loved to play tennis on the White House court. One day Cal. Jr. played without socks and developed a small toe blister. Sadly, infection and then sepsis resulted, and the 16-year-old was soon fighting for his life.
As the bedridden youngster’s condition deteriorated, he tearfully pleaded with his father for help. Coolidge may have been the most powerful man in the world, but neither he nor the nation’s top doctors could save young Calvin, who died within a week.
The grieving Coolidge would never be the same. Despite unprecedented popularity, the heartbroken president chose not to run again in 1928. He died in 1933 at the age of 60 and was buried in his hometown of Plymouth Notch, Vermont.
One must ponder how history may have unfolded very differently if only young Calvin Jr. had worn socks that fateful day on the White House tennis court.
Basketball, anyone?
The post “Silent Cal and Tennis Toes – A Presidents Day Story appeared first on Granite Grok.
Violent Male Sex Offenders in Canada Have Been ‘Transitioning’ To Get Into Women’s Prisons
Back in 2017, Canada began incarcerating inmates based on their preferred gender. At some point, someone decided to take a look at gender-diverse accommodations as well as the criminal profiles of these individuals, and they found something that’s not very #woke.
A recent study conducted by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), an “Examination of Gender Diverse Offenders,” which surveyed 99 “gender diverse” inmates between 2017 and 2020, found that of the 61 male inmates in the study who identified as transgender or something other than male, 46% had committed sexual offenses and 92% were incarcerated for violent crimes.
If you are transgender or support or advocate for this (at least in Canada), this is a PR nightmare. The longstanding practice, regardless of the country, has been that you can’t ask for proof of sexual identity because it is discriminatory. But without any failsafe, as we’ve long warned, male predators are using it to gain access to new victims in once-safe spaces.
California is the poster child for this failure. The government can’t even protect incarcerated women from sexual assault, which – in my opinion – says a lot about their competence to protect anyone else anywhere else, as they insist they can and shall.
More from The Daily Wire.
The report found that 91.7% of male inmates who identified as transgender women surveyed were incarcerated for a violent offense, including 41.6% for homicide. By contrast, according to the Correctional Service of Canada’s 2021 annual report, 25.8% of male inmates (who identify as male) were serving sentences for a violent offense, which includes homicide/manslaughter, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and other violent offenses.
Additionally, the researchers determined that 62.7% of male inmates who identified as transgender women had a low reintegration potential, 39.3% required maximum security, and 74.6% had “high static risk,” which refers to a high level of risk that an individual will reoffend based on factors that are relatively unchangeable or “static.”
It is difficult to walk away from this information without a sense of dread for biological women, especially in prison. Ninety-four percent of men in this study are violent sex offenders who are changing their gender after being imprisoned to gain easy access to women they can then sexually assault.
One bright note. “Canadian policy was clarified with a 2022 directive that explicitly gave prison officials the power to reject a transgender inmate’s transfer request on a case-by-case basis.” In other words, wardens and corrections officials with direct knowledge could deny any spurious claim, ala Corporal Clinger from the TV show M.A.S.H. and his efforts to get discharged from the army on a section 8 (crazy town).
He frequently wore dresses and high heels instead of his uniform. Everyone knew he was as sane as anyone, but, irony alert, you couldn’t do that on TV these days. You’d be called out as a bigot. So, do Canadian corrections officers have the stones to deal with that attention even when they know better?
And is someone going to do research like this in the US?
The post Violent Male Sex Offenders in Canada Have Been ‘Transitioning’ To Get Into Women’s Prisons appeared first on Granite Grok.
HB 44 was recommended as “OTP” (Ought to Pass) by the House Municipal and County Government Committee by a slim 11-9 margin. One Republican, the sponsor Rep Yokela, voted with Democrats to recommend the bill.
Please Submit Group communications or Press Releases to editor@granitegrok.com.
Submission is not a guarantee of publication.
This does not mean the full house can’t vote it down.
This bill will turn residential areas zoned single-family into multi-family areas.
OPPOSE HB 44 – 2023-0084 – Title: relative to permissible residential units in a residential zone. Sponsors: (Prime) Rebecca McWilliams, David Preece, Julie Gilman, Josh Yokela
Bill text: HB 44
Put simply, this bill will turn residential areas zoned single-family into multi-family areas.
House Municipal and County Government Committee already held a hearing on this bill with 11-9 OTP. On February 22 the full house will vote (all the reps) on the recommendation to pass. They can still vote NO if you email them.
Please write to the full house and tell them to vote NO on OTP on HB 44:
The post House Vote on HB 44 is TOMORROW February 22, 2023 – Vote NO on OTP! appeared first on Granite Grok.
For the meeting on February 22nd, here is the following item the Executive Council is set to approve related to Covid-19 spending:
I know this is the same action item as the last meeting, but it’s going to take a repeated effort to move the needle.
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.
Towards Liberty,
Melissa Blasek
Executive Director, RebuildNH
The post February 22th Executive Council, Covid Spending Spree Report appeared first on Granite Grok.
Mikey Graham has a post up on NH-NeverTrump Journal about Dirty Mike Delaney … more specifically, about Dirty Mike’s nomination to serve on the First Circuit Court of Appeals. “Dirty” you ask. Well .. it was under Attorney General Dirty Mike Delaney that the NHDOJ refused to defend a law intended to reduce voter fraud by college students … Guare v. State. Dirty Mike is the head honcho of the Litigation Department at the McLane firm … which sued the State in 2020 to make New Hampshire elections even dirtier. And as Mikey Graham explains in his post:
Chessy’s parents Alex and Susan Prout filed a civil lawsuit after Labrie’s conviction on statutory rape and other charges, arguing the [St. Paul’s] school failed to “meet its most basic obligation to protect the children entrusted to its care.” They also claimed school administrators knew about the “Senior Salute” tradition. Delaney represented the school in the civil suit which St. Paul’s settled for an undisclosed amount in 2018.
The family claimed Delaney used a request that the court out the victim by name as a threat to intimidate her from participating in the lawsuit. During his hearing, Delaney denied ever asking the court to take that step. However, when confronted by Sen. Ted Cruz acknowledged he did ask the court to strip Chessy of her anonymity, but only if the case went all the way to trial.
So, yeah, I think DIRTY is a fair adjective to describe Mike Delaney.
What’s interesting about Mikey Graham’s post is the ONLY local politico he quotes is Chuck McGee … yeah that would be the Chuck McGee of phonegate fame … which strongly suggests that Mikey could NOT find anyone in the NHGOP willing to go on the record against Dirty Mike. Why is the NHGOP giving Delaney the kid glove treatment?
If the roles were reversed and Delaney was a Republican, nominated by a Republican President, you know every Democrat from U.S. Senator to Town Selectmen would be PUBLICLY demanding the Senate reject the nomination. The Democrat Party apparatus would be organizing petitions, calls to the State’s U.S. Senators and setting social media on fire. Why, in contrast, is the NHGOP giving Delaney the kid glove treatment?
Is it incompetence, apathy or, worse, is it Uni-party complicity? I don’t have the answer. I would love to know.
The post What’s Behind The NHGOP’s Kid Glove Treatment Of Dirty Mike Delaney? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Gentlemen:
I watched – and rewatched – your hour-plus discussion ranging from shoes, ships, and sealing wax to cabbages and kings. It was, to put it mildly, a sheer delight.
Modern Scottish Warrior Goes ‘BRAVEHEART’ on Elites | Neil Oliver | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 171
If I have a complaint, well two actually… first, the section clipped to avoid censorship, obviously beyond your control. Second, that I wasn’t in on it as often I felt like raising my hand to be called on to chip in with something that I thought might contribute to the mix!
Welcome Back, Kotter Arnold Horshack Raising Hand
As, I’m sure, innumerable others also did.
CYCLES
As I said, all of it was just a sheer delight. But in the last segment you guys talked about cycles throughout history. I’d like to refer you to this excellent speech by Bill Whittle talking about, amongst many things, the cycle of civilizations:
Bill Whittle The Assault On Civilizational Structures
It’s long but I watch it regularly as, even with seeing it several times, I manage to continually glean new insights each time. I highly recommend it. And it was, in part, thanks to Bill’s discussion of the cycle of civilizations that I developed – then wrote about – my own observations and theories about the biological roots of civilizational collapse:
Civilizational Collapse and Biology (Part 1) – Urban Scoop
Civilizational Collapse and Biology (Part 2) – Urban Scoop
Civilizational Collapse and Biology (Part 3) – Urban Scoop
Without doubt the above are not the only reasons for civilizational collapse; e.g., IIRC the Hittite Empire collapsed, in part, because of drought. Maybe that’s a factor but, from reading the excellent albeit academic-dry Armies of Pestilence, about the role of plagues in history, strong and growing civilizations can withstand enormous hardships and pick up again. Positing a theory: the biological roots of civilization collapse that I discussed prime a civilization to then be taken down by external agents – agents that would not have done so to a growing and confident civilization.
Great civilizations can survive a lot of things, but not impoverishment of spirit.
– Mark Steyn
Consider Western Civilization and the devastation wreaked by Yersinia Pestis – the Black Plague.
(Image source, and an interesting article in its own right!)
Yet here we are… Western Civilization still stands. So it’s my belief – taken in large part from that book – that while natural events can hit a civilization, it’s when they hit a civilization already in decline and/or wracked by self-doubt and criticism that they’re the death blow. Referring to the Hittites, were they already in decline when this multi-year drought hit? I wonder…
PROGRESS
In that video Bill talks about the West as having a unique mentality – one of improvement. One of not just “that’s the way our parents and grandparents did it”. The example he gives of a village where there’s an open sewer running down the center of the street “because it’s always been that way” – and a Western person would think “Give me some money and an hour at Home Depot and we fix this problem forever” rings true. Pictures I’ve seen of villages in squalor in Africa and Asia, for example… I look at those pictures and watch short videos and think to myself that precise thing: a few hundred dollars in hardware and some effort and it’s solved. But the mental attitude of the people there just doesn’t go in that direction.
In a fascinating book, The Gifts of the Jews, author Thomas Cahill examines how the Jews looked at the world which was – at the time – almost universally seen as endless cycles and cycles within cycles, but never changing… and instead said that things could be directed. Things had a beginning and an end, and progress could be made; that the cyclical nature of things could, in fact, be disrupted and vast improvements could be made by human intent (Ayn Rand was keenly insightful in this view of wealth coming from the human mind). Also within that book was the concept introduced that men and women were individuals, with destinies that could be shaped and guided by their own individual intent, a thought that until then was unheard of in the ancient world. In that world, one’s place was one’s place, one’s fate determined purely by the gods, and it was only kings and queens and other royalty that mattered. That the common man could not just improve his lot by his own hand, but might expect to be able to, was unheard of.
It is my contention, supported merely by an arm-waving argument, that it was this idea – however slender – of individualism and the impact of individuals taken from common stock that drove the initial seeds of Jew hatred among the elites. Also present in this was the idea that the Jews said to the kings and potentates of the time that, no, they were not divine and that there was One above them, immutable, whose power was in judgment of even those royals. Remember that Pharaoh was considered a deity, for example. These we’re-above-you types have never forgiven us for giving mankind these thoughts that undermined their power and authority.
But back to the main track: whether sourced from Jews specifically or Western Civilization or whatever, there was an idea introduced: that cycles back to baseline were not inevitable. That progress could be made by individual actions – as witnessed by the rise of the West, for example, in which the individual increasingly came to the fore.
BACK TO CYCLES
Yet cycles do exist. Consider the meme of the “Great Cycle”
One need reflect on this only momentarily to consider that this cycle does make sense. Indeed, as Bill Whittle discusses in his observation of civilizations, they rise… and then fall in a flash. Again, refer to my three-part series on why I think this is so. Or, at least, how a thriving and successful civilization can be weakened to the point where an exterior agent – human, infectious, weather, or otherwise – can deal the death blow. In light of the above image, consider that the barbarians that helped topple Rome were, in fact, admitted as refugees first:
Until the second half of the fourth century the Goths had inhabited a vast swathe of territory taking what now comprises Romania as well as the Ukraine. In 375, however, they were attacked by the Huns, a tribe of nomad warriors from central Asia who had been moving steadily westwards during the preceding century and a half. In the ensuing war the Goths suffered a crushing defeat and large numbers of them fled westwards towards the Roman Empire. By the summer of 376 an enormous host of Goths, generally estimated at around 100,000, arrived at the River Danube and pleaded with the Roman authorities to be allowed into the Empire.
The Eastern Emperor Valens, at that moment stationed in Antioch, eventually gave permission for the Therving tribe, which comprised about half the total number of Gothic refugees, to be ferried across the river. For at least two centuries prior to this the Romans had actively recruited barbarians into the army (necessary because of Rome’s abysmally low birth-rate) and Valens reasoned that the Goths would provide a valuable pool of new and cheap recruits. The operation to ferry these people across the Danube was an enormous and costly one and took several weeks to complete and, as Ammianus Marcellinus sarcastically comments, “diligent care was taken that no future destroyer of the Roman state should be left behind, even if he were smitten by a fatal disease.”
Unsurprisingly, within a few weeks of their entry into the Empire, the first clashes with the Roman authorities occurred, and by the end of the summer the Goths were at war with Rome. After several military disasters, the Emperor Valens made a hasty return to Constantinople to personally take charge of the campaign, and was killed in battle at Adrianople in 378 — just two years after he had sanctioned the mass immigration.
In parallel with the above is my own contention – long-held – that it was when the “average Roman” finally grasped how utterly corrupt and separated from the honor and responsibility that had been past practice, that they ceased being willing to fight to preserve Rome as the empire, and thus turned towards family and local community preservation. Do both of these not sound familiar in today’s news events of mass migration and fetid governmental corruption??
CYCLES WITHIN CYCLES
So it was fascinating to see you discuss cycles as well, and how we seem to be turning on another part of the cycle – a decline, whether natural or engineered (the latter is my opinion). There is no question that the idea that there are long cycles and short cycles. Within those cycles and advances great strides can be made. But catastrophes do happen too. Whether an EMP, or other thing like a cyberattack brings down the grid:
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/cyber-attacks-next.mp4
Or food shortages erupt, or war, after which we can rebuild and renew. Regardless of that history of ups and downs, so many chant the refrain of Oh that’s just not possible.
Consider the Moties, from the scifi book The Mote in God’s Eye. Moties are a species trapped in one solar system, unable to expand outward, and which underwent countless cycles of growth and collapse. So they built museums; not pure museums as we would think, but rather museums of technology, of teaching, so that the knowledge of prior cycles was there and available – and not needing to be reinvented each time. For writing is, indeed, one of the great advances (despite some of its dangers, also discussed at the essay – link in the original, bolding added):
Some years ago, as an intellectual exercise, some friends and I were talking about what we thought was the single biggest advance in human history.
Medicine, monotheism*, science-in-general, fire, language, the Rule of Law not men, and many others – all were excellent propositions with good evidence and argumentation behind them. After batting things around for an hour or so I threw out the idea that writing was the single biggest advance – because it allowed knowledge to accumulate.
And not just accumulate, but be copied, added to, and disseminated far beyond word of mouth or the speaker’s lifetime.
Given the world as we see it, I would like to pose a question: How can you, I, and others who see this cycle turning – for doubtless in my mind it is – preserve what knowledge that we can so that after the collapse, we can rebuild faster with the technological and other lessons learned over past cycles, in particular not just the knowledge of how things are done, but the idea of individual liberty and the supremacy of the individual over The State? That, alone, is a priceless jewel to be preserved.
THANK YOU
So, I hope in the above I’ve added a few thoughts to your mix, absent raising my hand as you talked in real time.
Yours sincerely,
Nitzakhon
An ask: I’m going to try and get this into their hands directly, but if anyone has better and/or direct knowledge, please also attempt to share this with them. Thanks!
The post An Open Letter to Neil Oliver and Glenn Beck appeared first on Granite Grok.
Analogous to Lego in the modern, online world, Minecraft blends play with cognitive challenge by developing the sorts of transferable skills that are becoming more in-demand for both higher education and the workplace.
While limiting screen time has its virtues for a number of reasons, parents would do well to understand the surprising things your child can learn from Minecraft in terms of their personal, creative, and academic development.
From providing an outlet for to-be visual or game designers to offering an environment to learn the basics of logic in programming, this easy-to-learn and irrefutably popular platform has more than a few things that both you and your child can grow to love.
Creativity and Visual DesignFrom designing gameplay characters with Minecraft skins to engineering entire worlds, your child can imagine, design, and deploy their visual creations in the Minecraft universe. Your child can choose an existing look for their character with a Minecraft skins download, or create and upload their own custom outfit through a change to the source code by creating a Minecraft skins mod (short for ‘modification’).
Once created, your child’s design can be showcased among thousands of other unblocked Minecraft skins on various sites online, a veritable show-and-tell with global proportions.
This level of control, customization, and creative freedom applies to more than individual characters in the game – it extends to terrain, structures, and even machines with a functional purpose. Through mods and open-source collaboration, your child is learning the basic workflow of a front-end developer at a tech company, customizing existing visual designs and deploying them to the world at large.
Problem Solving and Basic ProgrammingThrough Minecraft’s Redstone blocks, your child can learn the basic logic that defines any programming language in use today. Using IF, ELSE, THEN and END commands, coding in Minecraft teaches your child programmatic thinking, if not the exact syntax of languages like Python or JavaScript. Through trial and error using a child-friendly interface, blocks of code can be rearranged to understand their function intuitively – thus paving the way for more advanced coding experience later in life.
The genius of Minecraft is that children are intrinsically motivated to learn programming since their codes, i.e. mods, have a direct effect on how they are able to enjoy the game. Minecraft mods allow your child to customize almost anything in the game, from lighting and movement speed to advanced technology and special super powers. Roblox and Scratch offer similar functionality, but arguably Minecraft trumps all due to its sheer size and level of global popularity.
Teamwork and Project ManagementAn awe-inspiring example of co-creation on the Minecraft platform is Westeroscraft, a community-based collective project that attempts to recreate George RR Martin’s fantasy continent of Westeros using Minecraft’s native building blocks (and no small amount of mods). Beyond being a project, Westeroscraft and other worlds like it are comprised of an online community.
Through participation in their growth and development, your child will learn networking skills, personal initiative, delegation, and collaboration within a functional group – all great fodder for a college essay or job application!
Having grown from its humble origins as a ‘sandbox’ video game to a truly global phenomenon and one of the most influential games of all time, the list of surprising things your child can learn from Minecraft is sure to keep growing.
While grasping the full capabilities of Minecraft as a tool isn’t always easy for parents (just mastering the lingo can be a challenge in and of itself), understanding the fundamental concepts and areas of practice the game encourages can be eye-opening for those wishing to see their child succeed later in life.
The post Surprising Things Your Child Can Learn From Minecraft appeared first on Granite Grok.
The part-time left (Never-Trumpers) and the full-time left have been working the Trump-popularity-decline narrative for a while. Convince people he’s old news or toxic in hopes the deplorables will move on to something more to the establishments liking. Yeah, that’s not working.
The latest Harvard-Harris poll is just a poll. It is far too early to take any of this seriously. Unless, as I noted above, we look at the context of Trump as old news or toxic. The GOP “wingers” carrying water for the left have some work to do because, contrary to the narrative Trump supporters are not leaving their guy.
Donald Trump: 46%
Ron DeSantis: 23%
Mike Pence: 7%
Nikki Haley: 6%
Mike Pompeo: 3%
Marco Rubio: 2%
Ted Cruz: 1%
Tim Scott: 1%
This is brutal. Where’s the decline? Are there already too many not-Trump candidates diluting the field?
Apparently not. In a head-to-head between Trump and Desantis, the Donald still had a commanding 12-point lead.
Donald Trump: 56%
Ron DeSantis: 44%
To be fair to DeSantis he has not announced he is running and that makes a difference. Building state-level campaign apparatus drives interest and moves needles. And while Florida Ron is well known in our circles most regular Republicans won’t know much about him beyond the bad things they read or hear from the media.
Having said that, the poll is still a kick in the teeth. The folks who take polls are not necessarily the same demographic as the folks who swim on the right side of the blogosphere and Trump is up 23 points.
The survey also showed results for a hypothetical general election between Trump and President Joe Biden, showing Trump winning with 46% to Biden’s 41%; 13% of respondents couldn’t decide on either candidate.
That’s not near enough of a spread to beat the cheatin’ Left in a Federal race. Trump would need to be 23 points up and then some in those key swing states that like to discover ballots in the wee hours.
There is a ton of stuff in this poll, including that Democrats would pick Biden as their nominee if the primary was today. Absent Biden in that race, their top pick is Kamal Harris (yikes!), followed by Hillary Clinton (zoinks!), and then Bernie Sanders.
One more point: If New Hampshire Gubnuh Snoonoo jumps in, as we expect, where does he land in this list of “plorables” (see what I did there)? Can he possibly poll better than Rubio or Cruz, who have national name recognition, and if so, why or why not?
| Harvard Harris Poll
The post In Latest GOP Primary Poll Trump has 23-Point Lead Over the Never-Trump Basket of “Plorables” appeared first on Granite Grok.
Larry Hogan, former Governor of Maryland, has a lot in common with Sun-King Sununu. Like Sun-King, Hogan chickened out on a run for the U.S. Senate and is now engaging in a LOOK AT ME! … LOOK AT ME! … EVERYBODY LOOK AT ME! … pretend Presidential campaign that involves going on communist cable networks and attacking real Republicans.
Indeed, RINO Hogan … every bit the COVID-tyrant as Sun-King … is spewing the same Anti-DeSantis garage as the Sun-King.
This fat idiot banned kids from going to school and enforced mandates for useless masks and ineffective, untested COVID-19 shots. There’s absolute nothing small or conservative about him or the state government he runs. https://t.co/cuHD6QdHKr
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 20, 2023
And, by the way, Hogan has been succeeded by a hard-Left Democrat … which is exactly the fate that awaits New Hampshire in 2024, when Chris Pappas is coronated.
The post RINO-Fraud Larry Hogan Repeating Same Anti-DeSantis Garbage As Sun-King Sununu appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Biden Admins war on your Second Amendment Rights continues despite the majority shift in Congress. They use the bureaucracy’s deep-state swamp rats to nibble, chomp, and stomp on your rights.
Related: Is the ATF Coming for You*, and Will Gov Sununu and AG Formella Defend You From Them If Necessary?
ATF issued a pistol brace rule that turns millions of Americans and perhaps thousands of Granite Staters into felons. What’s worse is that attempting to comply is a trap, and we’ve no word on whether the Sununu Administration and its AG will use HB1178 to help or hinder this federal overreach.
While we wait, the ATF’s new plan to disarm America will take root. If there are no legal federally licensed firearms dealers, there’s no “legal” way to purchase a new firearm.
“Rather than targeting those who display clear negligence and disregard for the law, ATF now revokes licenses without warning at the discovery of a first mistake by honest gun dealers,” Johnston said.
“When Federal Firearms Licensees are forced out of business, ATF adds their records to its digital gun registry that has nearly a billion gun and gun owner records,” he continued. “GOA is already working with Second Amendment champions like Rep. Michael Cloud on Capitol Hill to address this alarming issue and eliminate this unconstitutional gun registry.”
This reads to me like Red Flag laws for gun dealers. They get blind-sided by the ATF without any means for an appeal or – at best – a bankrupting trip through what passes for the judicial process to recover a license they may never get back.
That business is over, making it increasingly difficult for law-abiding citizens to defend themselves.
The Feds (presumably) seize all the inventory and hand it out to IRS agents or Department of Ed Stormtroopers (I’m only half-kidding). And at some point, it becomes almost impossible to arm yourself or your loved ones – except in states like Montana that step up and say no.
HB1178 is the law in New Hampshire, and it can protect GraniteStaters from federal overreach if enforced, but it didn’t go far enough. Additional legislation to shore it up was introduced this session, but HB 474 does not protect FFLs directly.
This bill prohibits the enforcement of any federal law or rule that might impair a person’s natural right to firearm ownership and natural right to self-defense and requires any public official who attempts to enforce such a federal law to be terminated from their position.
HB474 would prohibit any state entity or individual employed by the state or a subdivision from enforcing any federal rule or law that denies a law-abiding citizen of their second amendment rights, unemploys them, allows the citizen to ask for legal fees in their defense, and prohibits the use of qualified immunity as a defense for violating the lawful right to self-defense.
Does this include refusing to protect rights from federal agents who act unassisted to go after FFLs or individuals found in violation of the pistol brace rule?
It’s all academic now – these rules may never come into force. Lawsuits will likely tie them up for some time, but we can’t dismiss the attempt or the Left’s persistence in pursuing disarmament by any means.
The states are the wall that separates their citizens from federal overreach. But if they prefer to stand idly by and allow these natural rights to be violated, are there any rights they would stand up to protect?
HT | The Burning Platform
The post Who Will Protect Federally Licensed Gun Dealers From the ATF’s New “Red Flag Rule”? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Watching the breaking news on Monday morning of President Biden arriving at the Presidential Palace in Kyiv, I was not proud of him but angered at Biden’s twisted priorities. It is a horrific situation in Ukraine as the Russian military has been destroying it piece by piece for over a year.
Joe Biden has been sending equipment and money to Ukraine, starting with ammunition, missiles, tanks, and possibly fighter jets. The United States has given more than $100 Billion in aid, and Joe Biden says that there is no limit to the amount of aid we will give to Ukraine. This blank check has to come with stipulations, but Biden appears to be OK with signing these checks with no strings. We should be insisting on and facilitating negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Russia is poised to come out of this winter break in the fighting and is reported to have 500,000 ground troops ready to invade and attack Ukraine. Ukraine is no match militarily for Russia, and defeat would be painful and inevitable. Even if the war ended today, Ukraine’s infrastructure is in shambles, and they will be looking for untold billions to rebuild. A negotiated end must be an option.
Biden constantly boasts about his relationship with foreign governments. He obviously could not parlay that into mutual assistance for Zelenskyy and his country. As of January 1, no other country in NATO had given more than $5 Billion except the United Kingdom. The world is leaving it up to America to fund and equip Ukraine. That may be good for Biden, but not for American taxpayers.
While Biden was planning this clandestine visit to Kyiv, he and his team ignored the tragedy in Ohio. The lies continue to mount, and the danger to the residents of East Palestine looms like a dark cloud. The cries for help fell on deaf ears. The Whites House refused to allow FEMA to visit and evaluate the site for two weeks. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg proved his incompetence for the job by not only staying away from Ohio but belittling the severity of the crash and the damage to the land, air, and water of East Palestine and the surrounding area. Residents are told they are safe to go back to their homes and drink the water. This is while surrounding streams and rivers are polluted with dead fish, and the water glows in the dark. The sore throats, congestion, and rashes tell these people nothing is safe about their neighborhoods, and they fear what will transpire in the years ahead.
East Palestine is a disaster and an embarrassment. These people have been cast aside as insignificant. Joe Biden must be held accountable for ignoring Americans in need while concerned with illegal immigrants, cartels, a lost cause in Ukraine, and the earthquake victims in Turkey.
Incompetence and twisted priorities will be the legacy of this Administration. We hope that it will be a one-term Administration.
The post Kyiv, Yes. East Palestine, No Way. appeared first on Granite Grok.
We used to have a feature on the home page that included links to things on other websites. Items of interest for which we lacked time to fisk or just stuff folks sent us that looked interesting but might never get its own post. We hope to bring it back but until then…
Our webby webmistress is very busy, so there’s no timetable for its return, but part of the money we raise from the February Fundraiser would pay to rebuild the thing and plant it back on the front page. Until that happens, I will try and share some of those links as time allows, at least a few times a week, and not for the first time.
Several previous attempts have fallen to the wayside. The Occasional Overnight Thread. The Link Dump. Time and attention being short, it is easy to drop something like this. But we get a lot of links, and only a fraction make it out of our inboxes alive. I hate to see all this work by our readers (whom I call research assistants) go to waste.
So, here’s to not wasting them, or some of them. Say hello, if only briefly (we don’t know yet), to The Morning Mail. Links with optional remarks or comments from readers or myself that seem worth sharing.
No promises about longevity, organization, or any of that. The best I can do is say I might do it, which could look like this. And when I do, it will publish in the morning – probably at 6:30 am ET, with a shorter preamble, I expect.
That’s it. Here we go!
The Morning Mail 2/21/2023On the Ohio Front: 14 people injured following explosion at metal manufacturing plant in Bedford, Ohio
Meanwhile, in Philly – 18-inch Pipe Bomb Found Behind Philadelphia Catholic Church, Near Railroad Tracks: Police
COVIDIA
This has a name – it’s called genocide. And those responsible have names & addresses – they can all be held to account. But relying on them to police themselves is like asking the Nazis to host the Nuremberg Trials. https://t.co/LRjsHsu9H3
— Lara Logan (@laralogan) February 20, 2023
TRUMP
IRANIAN REVOLUTION
ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION (ED).
MISC.
Fetterman’s Hospital Visit Turns Into Something Much Bigger After Worsening Symptoms: Report
SPAM, SPAM, Eggs & SPAM FOLDER SPAM
The post The Morning Mail appeared first on Granite Grok.
People are outraged. How can this Governor have the audacity to remove duly elected members of a local school board? What kind of power trip is he on? This must be unconstitutional and grounds for impeachment. Isn’t it? No, you mean he has the right to do this? Absolutely.
And the problem is that not many Governors before Ron DeSantis have had the cajones to exercise their rights and get corrupt people out of office. Instead of applauding his move, some want to hang him and leave the bad apples in place. Kudos to Governor DeSantis. If only we had someone like you with a spine to fill the corner office in Concord.
According to reports by FOXNews:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended four members of the Broward County School Board after reading a report issued by a grand jury empaneled following the Parkland school shooting.
Pointing to the board members’ “incompetence, neglect of duty, and misuse of authority,” DeSantis signed an executive order suspending Patricia Good, Donna Korn, Ann Murray and Laurie Rich Levinson and naming their replacements.
“It is my duty to suspend people from office when there is clear evidence of incompetence, neglect of duty, misfeasance or malfeasance,” DeSantis said. “The findings of the Statewide Grand Jury affirm the work of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Safety Commission. We are grateful to the members of the jury who have dedicated countless hours to this mission and we hope this suspension brings the Parkland community another step towards justice. This action is in the best interest of the residents and students of Broward County and all citizens of Florida”.
The report by the Grand Jury comes four years after the shooting in Parkland and finds that funds allocated even before the tragedy to fortify schools have yet to be implemented by the Broward School Board. Had the security systems been installed as intended, the shooting and deaths may have been prevented. Suspension is not enough punishment for these individuals who disavowed their responsibilities for personal gain.
Two problems here that people cannot square. People in office have been held accountable. They broke the public trust and paid with their jobs. The second, and probably the issue that angers people more than the suspensions, is that the four people suspended are registered Democrats. DeSantis replaced them with four Republicans. Remember those famous words uttered by Barack Obama, the father of the current Progressive movement, “elections have consequences.”
DeSantis continues his mission of setting things right in Florida. Some may criticize, but not the million-plus new residents who are fleeing the likes of New York and Michigan for sanity and Americanism of the Sunshine State. Florida has turned solid RED, and even the Cubans and Hispanics are disappointing the Left. They are more conservative and patriotic to America than the Left gave them credit. The Left will have to recognize the depth of the Republican bench for 2024. They are fixated on Trump, but fifteen to twenty potential solid candidates are ready to lead the GOP against Biden/Harris. If they continue to ignore the mental capabilities of these two, they will hand the government back to the people in 2024. They have no options. It’s a wonderful thing.
The post DeSantis Gives School Board Members Detention appeared first on Granite Grok.
If you ask a Koch-bot/Sununu-sycophant what was the most important thing for Sun-King to do as Governor, it’s a good bet that the response would be … CUT BUSINESS TAXES. Wrong … wrong … wrong … wrong … wrong … wrong. When Chris Pappas becomes Governor in 2024 along with a Democrat legislature … those business tax cuts are going bye-bye.
Sun-King really only had two jobs … the first was to replace Maggie Hassan in the United States Senate … the second, just as important, was to get a Republican elected Governor in order to prevent Chris Pappas becoming Governor-for-life or until Jeanne Shaheen rides off into the sunset wit her grifter-hubby Billy-Boy.
Because I don’t gaslight, I will acknowledge that it is possible that Republicans hang onto the State Senate in 2024 … which would allow them to preserve the SununuKochicans precious business tax cuts. BUT it is a Presidential election year, and we saw in the 2022 midterms how Sun-King’s COVID authoritarianism and embrace of WOKE has driven many Red voters elsewhere and attracted many Blue voters here … so if I were betting I would place my money on total Democrat control of New Hampshire government. Now back to Sun-King’s two jobs.
Perhaps the most insidious and long-standing damage that the Biden-regime is doing to America is filling the federal judiciary with incorrigible, unconstrained and in many cases unhinged communists. Even if the GOP manages to win the Presidency in 2024 … which I don’t think is possible due to the institutionalization of voter fraud in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia … these Biden-“judges” will block the GOP President’s agenda by declaring his Executive Orders unconstitutional. By the time the appeal reaches the Supreme Court, precious months, if not years, will have been squandered.
Sun-King and a GOP-majority would’ve given McConnell the ability to block the most pernicious of the nominees. But as we covered before Sun-King is lazy and a coward … more specifically, he did NOT want to have to roll up his sleeves and do the type of fundraising necessary to compete against Maggies’ millions. And he was too thin-skinned to see himself the subject of the non-stop attack-ads that he knew would be coming.
As to the second job, a Democrat legislature and a Democrat Governor can roll back in one term everything positive that was accomplished during Sun-King’s reign. So it was imperative that Sun-King be succeeded by a Republican Governor. By refusing to run for the Senate, Sun-King has handed the corner office to Chris Pappas.
By 2026, New Hampshire will be indistinguishable from California. That is the legacy of Sun-King Sununu.
The post Sun-King Sununu Really Had Only Two Jobs … And He Failed At Both appeared first on Granite Grok.
James O’Keefe has resigned from Project Veritas. We expect him to reemerge shortly doing what he’s always done, but for now…
Exclusive: @JamesOKeefeIII, my friend and former boss at @Project_Veritas, just read his resignation letter to his former team and board members at their Mamaroneck, N.Y. headquarters. James will make his own way—as he always has before. @OANN pic.twitter.com/knOqtFTw7e
— ReporterMcCabe (@NeilWMcCabe2) February 20, 2023
Needle scratch!
Updated: Mike Rogers forwarded a text from James on his “departure” that I missed before publication. Here it is.
I’ve been removed from CEO and Board of Project Veritas. This video will provide clarity on what has occurred.
They are very heartfelt remarks in my office this morning to my staff:
I need to make clear that I have not resigned from the company that I founded. On February 10th, while I was on PTO mandated by the Project Veritas board of directors, the board had a meeting. The minutes of the meeting were shared with me and I was stripped of my position as CEO and Chairman of the board of Project Veritas. I came to the PV office today to remove my personal belongings and share truth with our staff. I do not know why the board took these actions, why they released untrue statements about my status while I was on mandated leave, nor why they chose this timing to to act. I will continue my work as a journalist.
This post has been updated form the original.
The post [Updated] Breaking: James O’Keefe DID NOT “Resign” From Project Veritas … appeared first on Granite Grok.
NHGOP Committeeperson Juliana Bergeron is a Never-Trumper GOPe stooge and RINO extraordinaire, so when she claims that there are people in the Republican Party that want to put women back into the 1960s, I think she should name some names.
New Hampshire Republican National Committeewoman Juliana Bergeron told the newspaper that she saw Haley as a “credible” candidate but had cautionary words for women navigating the dynamics of Republican politics.
“There are people in our party that want to put women back into the 1960s, and so therefore I think it makes it somewhat more difficult for women in our party,” she said. “And I wish I didn’t have to say that, but that’s how I feel.”
Can Juliana define a woman? That is a problem as you move leftward across the so-called political spectrum. Bergeron is a bit further left than the average Republican, so she might struggle with defining a woman the way certain Supreme Court Nominees have.
And by back in the 60s, could she mean a time when everyone knew what a woman was, or was she pining for another sexual revolution? How about a pre-Roe America where states decided if abortion was legal and when (like today – so probably not that)?
Mixed messaging. Difficult for women or Juliana Bergeron?
In 2012, when she captured the gig by a slim margin of 50.7% of the NHGOP delegate vote, she said, “I’m very excited; it means another reasonable voice in the Republican Party.”
“If we keep electing divisive people” she said, “we’ll never be united. We need to elect people who will work with all groups, and we need to teach them that sometimes you have to compromise, that you can have conversations across the aisle.”
What she means is Republicans compromising by giving Democrats what they want as long as she keeps her gig as a non-divisive reasonable voice. Is accusing members of her own party of being bigots who want women in the kitchen having babies reasonable or divisive (if that’s what she means)? And what exactly does she mean?
She was for gay marriage when her party platform was against it. If we went back to the 60s, well – no women marrying women. Sounds confusing. And maybe it’s the “journalists” fault, but if I had to guess, and I don’t but I will, Bergeron is carrying tainted Trump-as-misogynist water for the 2024 never-trumpers and the political left.
They can’t let go of that p**** even after Joe Biden was credibly accused of actually doing that to a real live Democrat woman who worked for him.
How she ever got the NH GOP Committeegal gig is still a mystery.
The post NH GOP CommitteeGal Juliana Bergeron: ‘There Are People’ in the (GOP) Who ‘Want to Put Women Back into the 1960s’ appeared first on Granite Grok.
A take off on my friend’s phrases, Erick Erickson, famous saying (“You will be made to care” that is now getting a second go-round because of Transgenders):
You WILL be made to care tolerate accept affirm bow down to us and our demands.
Funny how much faster that has morphed from the gays finally doing the same in getting gay marriage (with civil unions thrown in as a waypoint).
This less than 1% of the US population certainly is defining the other phrase “Tyranny of the Minority”. Schools have been turned upside down for extremely few people (0.2% of students and Woke Administrators like Superintendent Kirk Beitler and former School Board Chair Gretchen Gandini in my town when The Trevor Project’s Transgender and non-conforming policy (marketed as “suicide prevention”) that demanded coerced speech and made it know that staff would be lying to Parents about their children.
Thanks again, NH Governor Chris Sununu for siding with the Democrats want for “Gender Identity” in the Left’s process of destroying one of our Nation’s mottos: E Pluribus Union (“out of many, one”). By signing SB263, he of little Conservative mannerism, he is helping to flip that on its head. And made the above possible.
The Authoritarian part in all this comes into play when the Trans Gang comes into meetings and demands that such policies remain in place when Normal people try to defend their children from their demands (like in Milford, NH where they are upset that a couple of “trans girls” seem to be doing what many of us said in the beginning – not trans, just leering from what I get from reading about the biological girls’ stories and accounts.
So, with free time on my hands in The Truck, I had another rant:
Tolerance is not a word that the Trans Gang wants to work BOTH ways – only one way and only in the fashion that they demand from others. And they also want Respect. As I say in the clip, they have been badly raised and either haven’t learned a very important “growing up to be a responsible adult” lesson or believe, the Trans Gang ideology, they get to redefine this as well.
Sorry, gender dysphoria sufferers, you don’t get to DEMAND that others Respect you simply because you have decided to shove your sexuality to be foremost in your “Identity” (and in our faces). Respect is EARNED – not given. And you have given none of us any reason to “tolerate, accept, or affirm” your new definition that you are, in no uncertain Totalitarian fashion, upon us.
The post Skip’s Sauntering Snippets – #26 – Trans-Authoritarianism. appeared first on Granite Grok.