Sunday • November 10 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.XLV
Manchester, N.H.
At one o’clock today, I hit the pause button. I stood and watched the TV. I turned up the volume so I could feel the emotions. And I cried. The Buffalo Bills were running onto their field of play carrying banners with the number 3 displayed proudly. Cannons exploded, smoke rose, the crowd went crazy, and the near tragedy of last Monday night turned into a celebration. Buffalo, New England, the NFL family, and the country are united in the celebration of the life of Damar Hamlin.
Six days ago, Damar Hamlin got up from a seemingly ordinary tackle, collapsed to the turf, and died. We later found that Damar’s heart had stopped twice. It was only because of the incredibly talented trainers and EMTs that they were able to get his heart beating, put him on oxygen, and quickly get him to a nearby hospital that Damar had a chance to survive. The country held its collective breath, waiting each day for some positive news from Cincinnati. Remarkably, the word got better every day as Hamlin fought to regain his life and health. Damar’s conditioning and the prayers of millions willed him back from death.
The collapse of Number 3 brought out the best in the fans of the NFL, sports, and those who cannot tell a football from a basketball. Tweets, Facebook posts, and scoreboards in NFL stadiums all called for prayers for a young man who nearly lost his life playing a game he loves. The GoFundMe page that Damar set up to buy toys for needy children in Buffalo swelled to over $8 Million. The goal for the site was a paltry $125,000. Thanks to the outpouring of love for Damar Hamlin, there will be some happy children in Buffalo.
My Patriots are playing the Bills this week in Buffalo. It is tough to root against the Bills as many thought it impossible they could pull themselves together to play. The fact that the Bills ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown was a fairy-tale opening to the game. It will be an uphill battle if the Pats are to pull off the upset. But does it really matter? Damar Hamlin was sitting up in his hospital bed, alive, well, and rooting for his brothers in Buffalo Blue. I almost found myself pulling for the Bills. I am not sure they need my support. But a young man recovering in Cincinnati still needs all of our prayers.
An irony of this week is that kneeling and praying are not under fire. When darkness came, and a young man was clinging to life, grown men cried, hugged, kneeled, and prayed. Even though many of these people turned their backs on him lately, God was there to answer the call. How else do you explain that Damar died twice last Monday night, and today we celebrate his recovery?
The post Sunday Spotlight: A Celebration of Life appeared first on Granite Grok.
“A plain reading of the statutory language, paired with close consideration of the mechanics of a semi-automatic firearm, reveals that a bump stock is excluded from the technical definition of ‘machinegun’ set forth in the Gun Control Act and National Firearms Act.”
Related: 97.8% of Mass Shootings Occur in Gun-Free Zones
Also, from Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod’s 13-3 majority opinion.
A rich legal tradition supports the “well known rule” that “penal laws are to be construed strictly”…(United States v. Wiltberger). As Chief Justice Marshall explained long ago, the rule “is founded on the tenderness of the law for the rights of individuals; and on the plain principle that the power of punishment is vested in the legislative, not in the judicial department. It is the legislature, not the Court, which is to define a crime, and ordain its punishment.”
The current Congress will not likely propose, act on, or pass any bump stock bans, and there’s no indication that ATF intends to appeal to the US Supreme Court, but I feel confident they want that.
I’ll take the win! And maybe we should figure out a better way to make emotional pleas in favor of good guys with guns who stop shooters.
The Las Vegas Mass shooter event, much like any similar incident, catalyzes gun grabbers to punish the law-abiding who, if present, armed and able, would attempt to save lives by returning fire. The Vegas shooter was elevated in a nearby building so shooting back was never an option, not that anyone targeted was armed. But that event continues to swirl with conspiracy and plenty of legitimate questions.
Most mass shootings happen at ground level in places where shooters believe they have a force advantage. But not one so-called common-sense gun law addresses these facts. The gun-grabbers remedy is to create more gun-free zones instead of fewer, with Chicago being the poster child for why this tack is an act of planned failure.
Cargill vs Garland (Bump stock ban)
The post Fifth Circuit Slaps Down ATF Bump Stock Ban appeared first on Granite Grok.
Happy New Year! I’ve been appointed chair of the Executive Departments and Administration (ED&A) committee. We deal with the state pension system, professional licensing, administrative rules, the state building code, and the organization of the state government – so it’s a busy committee. Almost none of our bills make headlines, though!
Since the House is so closely divided between parties, my committee (and most others) is evenly split. I’m planning to have two of the subcommittees (those on government organization and rulemaking) with Democrat chairs and majorities; the Republican majority subcommittees are the ones on licensing and pensions.
I was also elected chair of JLCAR, the joint legislative committee on administrative rules. This committee confirms that agency rules (which have the force of law) comply with the actual laws and are in the public interest. Fortunately, there’s a staff of attorneys who do most of the detail work.
On January 4, the House met, as constitutionally required, to confirm the elections of the Governor and Council (spoiler alert, Chris Sununu was elected!) We also introduced the first batch of new bills. ED&A has 21 so far; I scheduled nine easy ones for next week and asked to have two redirected to more appropriate committees.
More importantly, we adopted revisions to House Rules. New deadlines, supermajority requirements to special order a bill to a different time, and language cleanup all passed without comment. Then came some changes not already approved by the Rules committee: allowing proxy voting was debated and failed, 171-204. Allowing remote or hybrid committee meetings was also debated and failed, 180-195; I was strongly opposed to both because of the possibility of abuse and because my experience with hybrid meetings in 2021 was so horrible.
Another rule change, changing the procedure for bills that tied in committee from an automatic “ought to pass” motion to the recommendation of the committee chair, had a tabling motion brought out immediately. This failed on a 188-188 tie, so we debated the original rule. I supported it since, as a committee chair, I usually have a good idea of how a bill will fare in the House, even if the committee is divided.
The opposition was based on the idea that the chair would automatically move the Republican position; I don’t believe that because first, not all tie votes are purely partisan, and secondly, taking up and debating a failing position before going to the likely motion wastes time and energy. Also, more bills are killed than passed, so “inexpedient to legislate” (kill) would make more sense as the default motion. Nonetheless, the rule change died, 184-191.
Adding a ban on deadly weapons in the chamber was debated and failed, 177-197. The news media made a big deal about this, but in fact concealed weapons have been allowed for years, only being banned when there is a Democrat majority (after the elections of 06, 08, 12, and 18.) A change to requiring 10 members, rather than one, to remove a bill from the consent calendar was debated and passed, 206-167. This was a non-partisan debate for a change! A motion to replace “prayer” with “invocation” failed 183-190 after a short, dull debate.
Then we debated changes to unanimous consent. This is a period at the end of the session where any member can sign up to speak on any topic. Memorials to deceased members used to be included, but last term, we moved them up to the beginning of the day. History lessons are popular topics. The basic idea is that if someone does not consent to the speech, he can object and a vote of the House determines if the speaker can continue. Majority vote approves continuance. So, first, we had a change to a 60% vote to continue, which passed on a voice vote; another change to allow a second objection to be raised was explained and passed, 200-173.
Committee procedure was the topic of the next two rule changes proposed. First, a requirement for alternating pro and con speakers in testimony was debated and failed 114-256. This is usually the case, but the actual order of testimony is up to the chair’s discretion. (for example, if there are a lot more “pro” speakers than “con,” alternating should be 2 or 3 pros, then a con.) The other change was to codify good practice, which is that a committee member who testifies for or against a bill cannot go back behind the table and ask questions during the hearing. After a brief explanation, this passed 200-169.
At the end of the session, a member got up for unanimous consent to speak about the events of January 6 in Washington. I know this person, so I quietly went out to the anteroom, withdrawing my consent, when someone objected, and they called for a vote. I returned and started to vote to let him continue (I believe in free speech, even if I don’t want to listen to it) until Matt Santonastaso pointed out that he believed in free speech, too, but on the speaker’s own time… The vote to stop the speech was decisive.
Representative Carol McGuire
The post Carol McGuire: New Hampshire House Update appeared first on Granite Grok.
The most famous fake Indian, Senator Lizard Warren, continues to lead “her people” onto the progressive reservation by making the whole nation her plantation. Less famous Susan Taffe Reed, a Pretendian at Dartmouth, was the director of the Native American Program when busted but got a full-time side hustle in administration.
Related: There Can Be No Indigenous People’s Day – The North American Continent Doesn’t Have Any
The newst Alumnus of Pretendian U was working at the University of Wisconsin.
“Two-spirit” Kay LeClaire (pictured), who called herself “nibiiwakamigkwe” and founded the “queer Indigenous artists’ collective” known as giige, was outed on a message board called New Age Fraud Forum, according to a January 3 article in Madison 365.
LeClaire was a “community-leader-in-residence” for the public university who focused on “Indigenous craftwork” and tattooing.
Kay was big on tanning (most French and American “Indians” are), and it looks like she probably colored her hair a few shades darker than natural. Neither is a sin, but the report says she was sensitive when folks brought up how much she tanned, and then there’s that bit about lying.
Lying and being (most likely) an intolerable Social Justice harpy who did the so-called indigenous folks wrong by stealing their heritage for personal and professional advantage. Just like Liz Warren and Susan Taffe Reed.
And after reading her non-apology apology, she should run for the US Senate.
I am sorry […] A lot of information has come to my attention since late December. I am still processing it all and do not yet know how to respond adequately. What I can do now is offer change. Moving forward, my efforts will be towards reducing harm by following the directions provided by Native community members and community-specified proxies.
It’s Wisconsin. They’ll probably elect her in a landslide.
HT | Legal Insurrection
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On January 3rd, the progressive advocacy website called New Hampshire Bulletin posted, Housing, child care to get special attention this session. It could alternatively be titled, The NHGOP Is NOT Representing GOP Voters.
The gist of it is that Speaker has named two “special committees” because:
New Hampshire residents and businesses have struggled with shortages of both housing and child care in recent years. The state’s low housing stock helped drive home prices up during the pandemic, pricing out many first-time homebuyers and dissuading some new employees from moving into the state. And the scarcity of affordable child care has forced some parents to give up job opportunities in order to take care of their families, another barrier to hiring efforts.
In plain English, the New Hampshire UniParty wants more “workforce housing.” The NHGOP wants it because they want cheap labor for their corporate masters. The NH-Dems want it because it attracts more Tik Tok voters to the State … voters who tend to vote Democrat by a three-to-one margin.
I only have anecdotal evidence to go on, but I don’t know any GOP-voters who think New Hampshire needs more Tik Tok voters. More importantly, NHGOP State Reps and Senators who support “workforce … i.e. Tik Tok voter … housing” are negating the votes of GOP voters. It is fair to say, therefore, that these NHGOP Reps and Senators are NOT representing GOP voters.
And, by the way, isn’t the free market solution to a deficiency of workers businesses RAISING wages in order to attract the needed workers? Apparently the free market works differently in New Hampshire … rather than raising wages to address an alleged worker shortage, businesses instead receive subsidized housing from state government.
Note also the arrogance of New Hampshire Bulletin … which reflects the arrogance of the New Hampshire UniParty … staying home to care for one’s family is seen as ignoble and demeaning: Good grief woman! Bad enough that you are not getting an abortion, but you plan to stay home and raise your children yourself! What is wrong with you!
How does importing a bunch of Tik Tok voters and encouraging parents NOT to stay home to raise their children make New Hampshire a better State?
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We spent a good bit of energy focusing on the 2022 hurricane season in part becasue the experts said it would be above average. Regular readers will know they were wrong. It was below average. But now we know how far below.
Related: It’s Not Getting Warmer …
2022 had the lowest cumulative global cyclone energy in 42 years. Global, as in the whole planet. Forty-two years go so far back that it predates the political mythology of global warming itself and one of its many bold lies. That more CO2 in the atmosphere means more storms and more severe storms. But the pattern is cyclic and trending downward.
Now, if we were like the New York Times, we’d be obligated to present the facts like this.
Global Cyclone Energy Continues 7-year Collapse to Record Low!
It is accurate, but we’re not blaming rising CO2 for the trend, short as it is. The odds are excellent, given the history, that 2023 or 2024 will bounce back, giving the climate Karens something to write about. And while we’d be good with the audience of a New York Times, on our pages, most of the climate reporting is to make sport of how bad they are at predicting or reporting what the consensus insists, despite it never happening.
This circumstance is not wasted by a faction that yells louder and demands more of what won’t do what they claim to fix what’s not broken because the true goal is money and power – controlling the energy markets to control the population.
Somewhere up the fraud ladder, they know what their agenda will bring. It will require them to have that control. And keeping it means the truth must be hidden, warped to fit the narrative. And sure, everyone does that, I suppose. No one wants to admit they were that wrong about everything. Picking cherries might be the only true “pandemic” in the internet age, but the climate cult has put itself in a unique position.
It has to prove its predictions are still valid despite never getting one right and that its prescriptions even address the problem were it real.
Neither is true, but they control the message we refuse to repeat, so they label us deniers which is correct in one respect. We deny that there’s a problem or that your solutions could solve it if there were one.
The post It’s Official: 2022 Had the Weakest Hurricane Season in 42-Years appeared first on Granite Grok.
J6 has come and gone, but not without President* Lying Joe Biden and Vice President* Kamala “what border” Harris opening their crooked little mouths and lying so blatantly that even Democrats should be embarrassed by it. They won’t, but they should.
Robert Spencer, writing about the fraud of J6 at PJ Media, notes that,
On Friday, Biden even canonized saints for this new religion, awarding the Presidential Citizens Medal to twelve (twelve, just like the apostles!) people who supposedly held the line against the vicious “insurrectionists.” These twelve, he declared, “embody the best before, during and after January the 6, 2021.” He claimed that “history will remember your names. They’ll remember your courage. They’ll remember your bravery. They’ll remember your extraordinary commitment to your fellow Americans.” Old Joe didn’t say anything, of course, about Ashli Babbitt or Rosanne Boyland, Trump supporters who were actually killed that day. He did mention Capitol Police Officer William Evans, whom he claimed died due to “threats by these sick insurrectionists.” Wow, those must have been some strongly worded threats indeed. But the New York Times, in a Thursday recap of those who died “in connection with the Capitol riot,” doesn’t even mention Evans.
Evans, as Spencer notes, dies three months later “when a Nation of Islam supporter named Noah Green rammed him with his car.”
The driver, Noah Green, 25, came out of the car with a knife and was shot to death by a third police officer after he lunged at him.
Investigators believe Green had been delusional and increasingly having suicidal thoughts.
But not an insurrection? There’s no April 13 committee? Nope, just lying, Joe, aped by his media homunculus (or is that homonculi?).
Not to be outdone, the ‘vice’ president said this, again, care of PJ Media.
“On January 6th, 2021, American democracy endured a violent assault. Armed with deadly weapons and animated by lies and hate, insurrectionists invaded the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn a lawful election and silence the voice of the people.”
Armed with deadly weapons? What, mean tweets? Did they sue cross-language? Armed only with words, the protesters who passed theory the Capitol doors opened for them by the Capitol police hurling scathing epithets like deadly weapons murdering the officer’s confidence such that all they could do is give directions to the invaders.
The only armed individuals were the government agents, like the one who got off Scot-free (I’m Scottish, I can say that) after murdering Ashli Babbitt, who has been denigrated for standing there long enough to get herself killed.
It’s absurd.
If you’d like to talk about extremism, how about extreme falsehood peddled into the history books as truth? Not a new practice by any means, but has it always been this bad? I suppose it has, but for the American Constitution’s Free speech protections. They protect the right (theoretically) of other voices or observers present to offer alternative views.
The Dems hate free speech so much that they’ve labeled everything with which they disagree hate speech.
a : intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury
b : extreme dislike or disgust : ANTIPATHY, LOATHING
“Had a great hate for free speech.”
While they can say whatever they like and if you call them out on their lies… it’s hate speech.
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I am grateful to hear that you still refer to the January 6 protests of two years ago as “riots.” Grateful? Yes, because it serves as a reminder of the propaganda you spew.
We want to thank Brian Lewis for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
You can review our ‘Op-Ed Guidelines‘ on the FAQ Page.
You called the events in Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, and Wisconsin “mostly peaceful protests,” even though there were murders, arson, looting, and wholesale destruction of private property.
What makes the events of January 6 qualify as a “riot?” The only person killed was an unarmed female shot by a government agent.
Your bias is far too obvious to be accidental. It’s no wonder you are now referred to as the “Lamestream Media.”
Now, go back to broadcasting government talking points and pretending it is news.
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An act of congress is responsible for some good news that’s bad news. The Biden administration is required to file a report through the Department of Energy, whose result verifies an opposing narrative. They couldn’t have liked it that much.
The report, mandated by Congress and finalized by the Department of Energy (DOE) in December 2022, estimated that the Keystone XL project would have created between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs during its construction and had a positive economic impact of between $3.4 billion and $9.6 billion.
This contradicts the original position of the Biden administration when Sleepy Joe whacked it on day one. “It concluded there were limited job impacts, with approximately 50 permanent jobs estimated to have been created were the pipeline operational.” They counted jobs to maintain it, not build it. They left out the economic benefits of construction. That is what the new report reveals. These are some big numbers, but small, in my opinion, compared to the larger picture.
Biden didn’t just put a stake in the heart of Keystone XL. He ran roughshod over fracking, new oil leases, and all fossil fuels. Something he promised to do during his campaign. End them in those words. They account for hundreds of thousands of jobs whose wages end up everywhere in the economy. The one the Bidenistas inherited was swarming with energy jobs. Oil, gas, natural gas, and propane were all more affordable and abundant. We were leading the world in exports and reduced costs domestically. The extra pocket change found its way into the economy, boosting wages for teenagers, people of color, women, and everyone.
Don’t get me wrong. Biden’s green economy delivers lots of economic prosperity … to China.
And it makes us increasingly dependent on our enemies for fossil fuels when the green dream becomes a nightmare.
And it will.
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TMEW and I have been ill most of the week and we’re just getting back on our feet – really bad cases of the flu. I generally don’t get sick often but when I do, it’s full beast mode. The typical aches, pains, low-grade temp – but no coughing for me. What I did get is that it “went” in the base of my spine and I got sciatica back that I have experienced in decades. So bedridden. Add in brain fog and I couldn’t string two sentences together and couldn’t sit at my desk.
So, in between sleeping a lot, I did a lot of watching of the US House Speaker votes. Pretty much what I expected in the first 10 votes and then the Freedom Caucus members’ insistence that the “system” be changed to be more “membership friendly” than Leadership “top/down/command” decries (sound familiar to other places?). They were vilified as being rebels, insurgents, traitors, not team players, and a whole other string of invectives.
But they wouldn’t budge. They got their agreement and they changed their votes for “others not McCarthy” to “Present” (which meant they were not voting but it did lower the threshold to get to the majority of those voting (finally down to Jefferies and McCarthy” and last night at 1 am (or so), McCarthy finally won on the 15th round. By two votes.
The rest was pure ceremonies the first of which was to have Jefferies give a short speech and hand the Gavel to McCarthy. He had but one job to do.
He #FAILED.
What a sanctimonious, self-righteous, self-promoting, grievance-mongering individual. Jeffries couldn’t even muster a few moments to recognize that it wasn’t about him but should have been about the “House continuity”, traditions, and a bit of bipartisanship. Instead, he made it about him, boasting about what the Democrats had “given” to the People”.
And then he went all Nasty in comparing adjectives favorable to Democrats to using adjectives denigrating Republicans (yes, he went there and used “racism”). Instead of being a congratulatory event, he turned it into a Democrat Rally Speech. While you can see it right from the get-go, if you are short on time, the worst starts around 11:00 (although to get the full import, listen to the whole thing). Full shade:
“A moment of Transition. From a year of Accomplishment to a year of Ambiguity”.
And gets worse from there. Quickly. Oh it sounded good but then he went on a tear comparing “Democrat Principles” to “Republican ones” at 13:15”
Schmuck. He made Ray Buckley (NH Democrat Chair – but who knows for how much longer?) look like a choir boy. And it was easy to see that he was enjoying this immensely.
“Maturity over Mar-a-Lago”. Yep, this was a full-on declaration of war. As Kurt Schlicter at Townhall has said “Now go crush them” (paraphrasing). No mercy.
Yes, McCarthy lost the 14 times. And then won the 15th.
Hakeem should now be known as the guy who lost 15 times straight.
Oh, and at 14:43, there’s Annie Kuster in a dark blue suit with her normal “Raise the Roof” hands in the air jumping up and down schtick, just eating it up.
NEVER be persuaded that she “bridges the divide” – that’s an act. In the wee hours of this morning, her true Progressive/Republican-hating self was there on display.
Yes, Chris Pappas was here – two rows behind her and to the right.
And Hakeem? He sulked the rest of the time as McCarthy took his victory lap, gave his speech, and swore in the House members.
And no, WMUR didn’t give Hakeem’s insouciance any coverage at all this morning.
The post Hakeem Jeffries – A Vicious, Petty, Inconsiderate, Ingracious, Little Man appeared first on Granite Grok.
I personally couldn’t be more proud of the courageous 20 House Representatives in DC who risked everything for their constituents AND for those of us who are also disgusted and appalled at the feckless weak Rs in our state and in the DC Swamp… Rs who’ve done little to nothing to “right” the course of the sinking American ship!!!
We want to thank Life With Liz for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
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I applaud ALL 20 of them and wish them well as they are destroyed by the egomaniac vindictive Kevin McCarthy, the rest of the DC swamp, and of course, the Communist MSM!
We in New Hampshire are very familiar with this type of blowback behavior as we have witnessed the same from our very own thin-skinned infantile vindictive Governor against countless patriots, both within the Legislature and beyond when questioned or disagreed with! (We all know this to be true, don’t we??) But I digress… In closing, I just want to express that I am forever grateful for the 20 courageous DC Representatives who risked everything over the last week… Sadly our written twisted history will not be kind to you, but those of us who witnessed your fight know the truth!! Thank You!The post “What a Historic and Wonderful First Week of 2023” appeared first on Granite Grok.
There is legislation brewing to take power away from your county delegation and hand it to the county commissioners. It’s probably a response to the Gunstock situation, though it could be anything.
At first glance, these all seem like they have the potential for problems but HB43 specifically. Take a look, and if you can’t attend, send a polite email expressing your concerns (if you have them) to the committee. Support. Opposition.
Len Turcotte is the Chair.
Public hearings are Wednesday, January 11th, in the Municipal and County Government Committee.
1:45 HB 43 delegates all authority for county property to the commissioners and removes the delegation from ratification.
2:15 HB 75 increases the threshold for competitive bidding in the sale of county-owned property from $300 to $3,000.
2:45 HB 83 Removes the $5K limit to purchase or repair County buildings.
3:00 HB 87 Increases the monetary cap for purchase, sale, repairs etc. from $5K to 25K.
Update: This was a quick note I tossed up earlier, and I’m looking at the bills now. …
Our own Judy Aron and several other Republicans are the sponsors of these bills.
HB 43 would eliminate the need for county commissioners to get a vote of approval from the county delegation.
I’ll admit I have concerns about removing layers of accountability when it comes to public property transactions (HB43), but I’ll reserve my judgment until I can talk to Judy or other sponsors about them.
The post Action Alert – Hearings On Bills That Give Power to Local Commissions (and Other Business) appeared first on Granite Grok.
Sun-King Sununu thinks he is the proverbial “smartest man in the room” … although I am sure His Wokeness prefers “smartest person” …and that he can gaslight any issue. In a recent interview with FoxNews, His Wokeness claimed that he is in total agreement with America’s Governor, Ron DeSantis, about woke, BUT that DeSantis is wrong to use the power of state government to protect his constituents from woke corporations. Here is exactly what His Wokeness said:
Sununu agreed that “we need to push back on woke policy. There’s no question about it…. the woke policies that are culturally being driven are really driving a wedge through the United States and taking us to a place where we don’t want to be as Americans.”
However, he argued, “going after private business is a whole different story…. I come from the ‘Live Free or Die’ state, and private businesses can and should act like private businesses without the fear of being punished by people that might disagree with them.”
Sununu emphasized, “while I agree with a lot of those issues that Ron brings to the table,” he does not think it is wise “to necessarily punish private businesses because they don’t agree with a policy or whatever it might be. Those types of culture wars pushing their way into the private sector, that’s definitely not I think where we want to be as Americans.”
This is VERBAL DIARRHEA. If you are not going to use the power of state government to protect your constituents from woke corporations, then you are NOT really against woke. Rather, you are simply trying to give the appearance of being against woke to anti-woke voters, without jeopardizing the support of pro-woke voters.
This is also a GROTESQUE LIE. Sun-King Sununu has no problem forcing “private businesses” to go woke:
To be clear, what Sun-King Sununu is saying is that a corporation like Disney should able to GROOM … including trying to coerce legislators to allow grooming in public schools.
Florida is where woke goes to die. New Hampshire is where woke goes to thrive. Florida is turning redder and redder. New Hampshire is turning bluer and bluer. Both States are reflections of their respective Governors.
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Camp Constitution will hold its 15th Annual Family Camp at the Singing Hills Christian Camp https://www.singinghills.net/ Plainfield, NH. from Sunday, July 16 to Friday, July 21, 2023
Returning instructors include Pastor David Whitney of the Institute on the Constitution; Professor Willie Soon, world-renowned astrophysicist and climate realist; Catherine White of The Constitution Decoded; Alex Newman, author and host of the Sentinel Report, and Rev. Steve Craft, Camp Constitution’s chaplain.
First-time instructors include NH State Rep Valerie McDonnell, the youngest elected official in the United States, and Vincent Ellison and author Vince Ellison. Mrs. Edith Craft returns to direct the program for the Junior Campers. In addition to the classes, the camp will offer marksmanship courses, martial arts, hiking, basketball, volleyball, wiffleball, and optional field trip, and swimming, chess, gaga, and corn hole tournaments. Campers and staff end the day with an evening campfire.
Camp Constitution’s annual camp is a family camp open to entire families, unaccompanied minors, and adults. The cost for the week which includes lodging, meals and class handouts is $300 for those 13 and over. $200. For campers 12 and under, and three and under with parents are free. The camp offers an “Early Bird” discount of $50, per person by registering by May 1. A link to the camp registration: http://campconstitution.net/camp-registration/
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Do You Know Someone Who “Died Suddenly?”
People are dropping dead. All-cause mortality for 18-59-year-olds is at a record high. Stories are breaking about people too young to die and ending up dead. Locally, three police officers in Massachusetts all passed within days of each other.
On Wednesday, December 28, 2022, Officer [ John F. ] Santos [Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department] passed away at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston after succumbing to a Brain Aneurysm. He was also a member of the United States Air Force, reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant, and served overseas in 2019. Officer Santos has a fiancé and an unborn son.
On Thursday, December 29, 2022, Officer Sean Besarick, a 24-year veteran of the Brockton Police Department, passed away suddenly at the age of 48-years-old. Officer Besarick was long-time member of the Brockton Community, graduating from Brockton High School in 1992 before serving in the United States Navy for six years. He became a member of the Brockton Police Department in 1998. Officer Besarick is married and has two daughters.
On Saturday December 31, 2022, Officer Christopher A. Davis, a 17-year veteran of the Stoughton Police Department, passed away at the Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton at the age of 42-years-old. He was a member of the Stoughton Police Special Operations Unit and was the department’s defensive tactics instructor. Additionally, he has served as a certified arson investigator, investigating fire incidents alongside the Stoughton Fire Department since 2011. He has been awarded numerous commendations from the SPD during his 17 years of service, including a Distinguished Service Award in 2012. Officer Davis has a fiancé and a daughter.
NFL player Damar Hamlin had a very public heart attack brought on allegedly by a one-in-a-few-million hit to the chest. He’s recovering, but thousands of athletes, healthy and in their prime, have dropped dead or had to retire for health reasons.
Students, teachers, EMTs, and regular folks.
Three Indiana University students died suddenly about a year ago.
So did a member of the Indiana University Board of Trustees.
So did two paramedics in the area and a couple of college students who attended other universities nearby.
Two of the deaths of Indiana University students were so close together, and so baffling, that the county coroner, Joanie Stalcup, says she turned to law enforcement and asked if they knew what could be happening.
One was IU undergraduate student Mia Roy, age 20, whose roommate found her dead on the couch in their apartment on Tuesday, September 14, 2021.
People are dying suddenly, and the only thing they have in common is the response to the pandemic. The vaccine response. But suggesting any correlation is wild conjecture or conspiracy theory. But if it’s something else, why are the unvaccinated not dying suddenly in the same proportion?
The media can’t be trusted. The Public Health Machinery is corrupted, taking its place next to public education as another propaganda arm of the progressive political machine. So, who is going to speak for these people? It has to be us.
Do you know someone who has died suddenly? I know a few people suffered ‘death by hospital.’ Individuals who were put on the CDC COVID treatment protocol that, not even in hindsight becasue medical professionals called it out early and were ostracized, looked like a death sentence. State-sanctioned execution. I do not believe I know anyone who has just dropped dead.
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The post Do You Know Someone Who “Died Suddenly?” appeared first on Granite Grok.
As we watch the GOP squabble over whether it wants yet another Speaker of the House from California, it’s worth taking a moment to remember Norman Thomas, six-time Socialist Party candidate for president (from 1928 through 1948).
Thomas is supposed to have said that by 1948, there was no longer any need for his party to run a candidate, since between them, the Democratic and Republican parties had already adopted the position of his party on every major issue.
Apocryphal? Perhaps. Premature? Probably.
What were the positions that Thomas was talking about? And have they actually been adopted by the parties, or more importantly, implemented by the government? You can find a list here.
Socialists aren’t batting 1.000, but they’ve left Ty Cob (.366 lifetime average) eating their dust.
But it’s easy to get lost in the details. In a 1968 interview with Studs Terkel, Thomas noted that the entire Socialist Party platform could be summarized in a single ideal, which he expressed as ‘from every man according to his ability, to each man according to his need’
We know that Democrats are on board with that ideal. (Although they might substitute ‘group’ for ‘man’.)
But how many current Republican office holders would publicly repudiate this as a legitimate guiding principle for American politics? How many would openly call for the elimination — not just the tweaking — of government programs, at all levels, that implement it?
Isn’t from every man according to his ability the basis behind every progressive or flat rate tax?
Isn’t to each man according to his need the basis behind public schools, Social Security, SNAP, CHIP, LIHEAP, Section 8, and every other welfare program?
Apart from Ron Paul and John Valera — who are no longer in office — are there any Republicans who would call for an end to wealth redistribution programs, and the taxes that are used to fund them?
There aren’t. Whether Thomas actually said it or not, both major parties have adopted — and not just grudgingly, but enthusiastically — his central socialist ideal as the basis for their individual policy initiatives.
What we’re watching now on live television is like the punchline to the old joke: The GOP has established what it is — one of two modern wings of the old Socialist Party — and now it’s just haggling over the details.
The post The New McCarthyism appeared first on Granite Grok.
CONCORD, NH (Jan. 6, 2023) — New data shows that New Hampshire’s average cost per student is shifting closer to typical trends following a substantial spike during the pandemic, however the costs are still rising more quickly than they have historically.
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“This week, the New Hampshire Department of Education released its newest cost per pupil data for the 2021-2022 school year. The new statewide average cost per pupil of $19,399.97* is a 5.24 percent increase from the year prior,” said Frank Edelblut, education commissioner.
Total operating expenses for the 2021-2022 school year were about $3.5 billion in New Hampshire.
Pre-pandemic, the cost per pupil in New Hampshire increased, on average, about 3.1 percent (1.5 percent adjusted for inflation) each year from 2012 to 2019. However, for the 2020-2021 school year, the state average cost per pupil was $18,434 – a 9.57 percent increase from the year prior – reflecting an increase associated with federal and state COVID-relief funds.
With the newest cost per pupil increase of 5.24 percent, it is important to note that student enrollment across the state, as previously reported here, is steadily declining with 161,755 students now enrolled in New Hampshire’s public schools. As schools prepare their future budgets, local school districts will be grappling with high inflation costs, as well as the expiration of extraordinary levels of COVID-relief funding.
The statewide average for New Hampshire’s cost per pupil has increased by 78.4 percent since 2000; during this same time frame, public school enrollment dropped by an average of 21 percent statewide.
Included in this press release is an attachment that compares student enrollment for individual school districts and their cost per pupil throughout the past 20 years. Also attached is a summary of the cost per pupil for each district.
*The cost per pupil represents, with certain adjustments, current expenditures from all funding sources (local, state and federal) associated with the daily operation of schools. Payments to other school districts and private schools have been subtracted, as well as capital items, bond interest and facility construction. Revenues from the sales of lunches have also been excluded.
Cost Per Pupil and Enrollment Changes Per District (pdf).
CPP Increases By District 2000-2022 (pdf).
The post New Hampshire’s Cost per Pupil Continues to Rise appeared first on Granite Grok.
If you looked through the haze and smoke from all those peaceful protests back in 2020, you saw some things. The Democrat Cop haters running Burlington, Vermont, for example, defunded the city police force. Before that, they had 92 sworn officers. Today, they are down to sixty-three, twenty-two of whom are on actual patrol. Why yes, crime is up.
We’ve been along for the ride, reporting on the slow-motion disaster that is Democrat rule in Burlington. A case study in progressive policy unfolding before our eyes. Yes, Burington has been a hippie haven for decades, but only recently have those decades piled up like snow and fallen over the back of the plow blade.
Democrats cannot accept that policy failures in other Democrat dumps doing business as urban plantations could produce similar results under their caring and thoughtful watch. Or perhaps they see them less as failures and more as opportunities to grow the government. Bureaucrats are like sandbags that hold back the swell of discontent. More is better, but not when it comes to public safety.
Burlington binged on BLM rhetoric, rushing to virtue signal alongside other Democrat-run cities. Places where a rise in property crime, assault, or murder might not move the needle when added to the hundreds already counted annually. But in Burlington, one extra murder is a big deal, as is the more significant rise in property crime. Illegal border crossings into the sanctuary State of Vermont have risen exponentially, even in winter. And they invited all of this upon themselves.
Burlington has had to authorize more cops, rolling back its promises to BLM. They approved a signing bonus and are looking everywhere to add bodies.
For example, on December 16, three new BPD officers graduated from the Vermont Police Academy and started their fifteen-week field training. Five more officers are anticipated to be hired to attend the next Academy class, which begins in February. The BPD is also hiring Community Service Officers, Community Support Liaisons, Dispatchers, and more.
Community what?
Community Service Officers (CSOs) are unarmed, unsworn officers who answer quality-of-life calls for service. Historically, the BPD had two; Chief Murad’s plan expanded the number. There are 10 at present, and the FY23 budget allocates for 12. The role is also a stepping stone to becoming a police officer.
Community Support Liaisons (CSLs) are embedded social workers with expertise in mental health, substance use disorder, and houselessness who help address social service issues. There are three CSLs in the hiring pipeline, and BPD hopes to add six by early 2023.
That’s all well and good. Maybe they can add human resources, but can any officer in Burlington, knowing the city will always be run by narrative-chasing progressives, have any expectation of support?
Are they the next Derek Chauvin, tossed to the media wolves and left to the mercy of Antifa or BLM? It has to be in the back of everyone’s mind, and that will impact every interaction.
Chauvin is in prison for murdering George Floyd, but Floyd had an overdose equivalent of Fentanyl in his blood. The symptoms linked to Chauvin’s restraint of Floyd are similar to that of an overdose. Maybe Chauvin or the other officer a the scene should have suspected. But neither a CSO nor a CSL is prepared to deal with a career criminal like Floyd, which doesn’t keep him from dying from a drug overdose.
I guess we’ll never know. But if you’re a cop, you know that, so why, unless you’re as ill-informed as most Americans, would you go to work for a Democrat city council and Democrat mayor who might toss you under a busload of cameras and microphones at the first chance to virtue signal to their Democrat pals across the increasingly fruitless plains.
They don’t have your back, and the people of Burlington who elected them are to blame.
Ironically enough, they are also the ones who will pay the highest price, for which – if history is any guide – they will continue to reward Democrats and support even bigger budgets while crime rises and public safety declines.
Hey, it’s not all bad news. Traffic stops are down in Burlington. Can you guess why?
The post Burlington VT Mayor and City Council Want More Cops But Will They Have Their Back – And Why Would They? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Joe Biden held a Cabinet Meeting on Thursday. After having to get directions to the Cabinet meeting room in the White House, he addressed his inept, diverse team and the media. The President had a lot to say, but not much was good for America.
One surprising announcement was that he would go to the Southern Border on Sunday. This Biden trip to El Paso will be his first visit to the Border in the fifty-plus years that Joe has been in Washington. He has been President for two years, and neither Biden nor his Vice President-Border Czar Harris has found time or reason to visit the point of entry of nearly five million illegals on their watch. He blamed Republicans for the crisis on the Border for blocking resources. If you had listened carefully, the resources would have gone to processing and not preventing the assault of illegals every day.
Let’s be clear. The President and his Administration have no plans to secure the Southern Border. Their only objective is to allocate and spend our money on more efficient means to process these illegal immigrants and get them into our country. This plan is dangerous to our National Security. He is convoluting security and efficiency. That rhetoric serves him by assuaging his base, which doesn’t listen to the minutia and places blame on the Republicans. It is a two-for-one bonus for his followers. This act is beyond frustrating and goes directly to infuriating. The number one purpose of the President is to keep the citizens safe. Biden is failing miserably, and what is worse, he does not care.
Biden wants no impediment to the flow of illegal humanity crossing the Border into all four states that share a border with Mexico. An example of his disdain for anyone trying to bolster Border security is his battle with the State of Arizona. The Governor of Arizona was so frustrated by the Federal government ignoring the unfettered flow of illegals into Arizona that he built a makeshift wall using empty storage containers. The Governor did this because he knew the Wall works and the material already paid for with American tax dollars was rusting on a Texas desert. The Biden administration proceeded quickly to sue Arizona and, by court order, forced the state to remove the Wall.
It is infuriating that our government has developed a cellphone app that migrants can use to schedule an asylum meeting when they reach the Border. This app makes entry into our country as easy as ordering McDonald’s take-out. Maybe he can modify the app to facilitate these illegals registering to vote. After all, isn’t that his purpose? Millions of illegals flood into our country each year that he is in office, waiting for the President to pave their path to citizenship and padding the Democrat voting base.
All the time Biden pats himself on the back and degrades anyone on the Right, his prop, Kamala Harris, stands motionless at his side. He once again refers to the Vice President as President Harris. Biden does that purposely to send shivers up the spines of Republicans who quake at the thought. He paints the VP as a hero for curbing illegal migration. He cited that she could pull together $3.2 Billion from four Central American countries to create new jobs to keep people at home and away from our Border. First of all, the amount is laughable. It is a pittance and will do nothing to keep significant numbers of men and women from remaining and not fleeing for America. Secondly, if that is the fruit of her two-year effort on the Border Crisis, then shame on her for even standing on the stage. She is a failure.
If not treasonous, Biden is derelict in his duties for what he is doing to harm our National Security. These actions by Biden are all a charade, and our only hope is that people pay attention to his visit. Some news agencies are also making their first trip to the Border, and if the news is accurate, it will be the first taste of the crisis for their viewers. They will be given a sterilized version of the reality, but it may be just enough to get some folks angry. It may help to expose the actual efforts of this Administration, which is to harm this country further. At some point, the Democrats will have to answer for their actions. Hopefully, we can stay intact as a country until that day arrives.
The post Biden’s Bad Immigration Plan is Working Just Fine appeared first on Granite Grok.
This week the American public is seeing in full colors how our country has been taken over. It’s quoted that this hasn’t happened until the last civil war, which could be a foreshadowing of things to come
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The press has us focused on the two sides battling and the 20 “insurrectionists” or “terrorists”. They have our countrymen fighting each other because when they are enemies, they are easy to control. Yet we see people who are supposedly mortal enemies on the floor talking with each other in jovial, business, friendly manners. See they all have the same boss, the uniparty, which goes by many names.
The people of the United States elected 432 people to represent them in congress, yet even before they start their first day at work they are completely controlled, unable to vote their conscience or the for the people who voted them into office. They must vote the party line.
Now a husband and wife going out to dinner may discuss where they go for several minutes, and this is two people who live together and know what each other like. Get a small condo association of 4 people and you’ll likely have trouble getting everyone to agree. If you’re president of a 30 unit condo association and you are going to paint the building, the only thing you know is somebody isn’t going to be happy. Now we look at known hostile completely controlled dictatorships and what do we see? Voting with 93% to 98% of public approval. Yet here we are in America, home of the free, land of the brave and look what’s happened in the peoples’ house.
11 Times…..11 Times the representatives voted exactly how their handlers told them too. 100%!!!!
Even the 2o “troublemakers”, have changed their votes, as would happen with anyone looking for a sane solution, not controlled by their slave master and realizing they are democratically elected to defend our republic.
Our two choices given make us think we have a choice in our future. This is also a tactic used by second grade teachers with their students. They give the student two choice, both of which they want. We get stuck with the lesser of two evils once again. In Vermont we are a bit more sophisticated. We’ll have planners offer the town to vote on 3 proposals, on doesn’t work, the other is too expensive and the one they want makes the most sense, but nobody really wanted that in the first place, it was the free money, the free grant money that paved the way for a stupid idea that nobody asked for or wanted, nor would any sane person spend their own money on it!….Yet it gets passed and the administrators, elected officials, crony capitalists all fill their pockets. The same Is going on in Washington D.C. on a grand scale.
We have been given by the Uniparty, two choices for speaker of the house, both of which don’t work fo the people, and most certainly are under the complete control of their handlers, just like the 412 people we elected in congress that keep voting the exact same way, 100%, 11 times in a row!
Sadly what this shows today is we don’t have a democracy or a republic, cept for 20 people sent to congress. No this is plain for all to see, our elections are rigged, our government in Washington D.C. is clearly rigged. This is pretty major, do we need a civil war? Most definitely NOT!
We the people only need to change our direction. When we all love our neighbor as ourselves things come into harmony. When we realize we are all flawed, all terribly broken, that we are not right, that pride has not taken over all our senses, we won’t fall. Pride is the route of 99% of all fighting. When we make power, money and fame our God, we lose track of our work, our direction in life and our souls. When we go against the natural laws, God’s laws and God’s supernatural laws we find ourselves……doing what we are doing on January 5th, 2022
When the people of the United States submit themselves to a higher power, when they realize they are not in control, that we don’t know everything, when ask for help and assistance, from where and whom everything is controlled, only then by his Grace will we see a change. We are not in control and God does not need anyone of us to help him run the world he created.
Until then, let us hope our necks are not stiffened, and our hearts aren’t so hardened that we can’t change our direction, see our mistakes, and repent. There is a parable, Luke 6:43-45 – New King James Version
A Tree Is Known by Its Fruit
43 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil [a]treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
By their actions we have some very bad fruit in Washington D.C. Lord please forgive us, we know not what we are doing, might you show grace and mercy on your people in this country. I ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.
By their actions we have some very bad fruit in Washington D.C. By their actions they have shown he world and our country they are a rigged, uniparty dictatorship. Lord please forgive us, we know not what we are doing, might you show grace and mercy on your people in this country. I ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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