Monday • December 23 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.LII
Manchester, N.H.
It’s one thing to be popular in a single role. It’s quite the other for a different role for which there are far more qualified candidates competing against you. He’ll have to remember these lines that Chris Sununu gave to the Washington Times (emphasis mine):
Mr. Sununu also warned minor candidates not to carve up the field.
“I think there’s a lot of hope and opportunity for good candidates to get in, drive the message where it needs to be,” he said. “But the discipline is getting out, too. The discipline and saying, ‘Look, you’re only polling at 5%, you got to get out.’ We don’t want a crowded field here.”
We should ALL hold you to your words – it’s called accountability and living up to your word. I’m betting that this result, like all online polls of a pre-selected audience at NH Journal (and yes, we “suffer” from the same issue when we do ours). Did ANYONE expect that, in his home State and among New Hampshire Journals readership, Sununu WOULDN’T be at least #3? After all, he’s been Guv for the last half-decade. Yet, the guy he’s bashing the most, Trump, is still beating him, while Ron DeSantis holds a 2-1 lead over Sununu:
(click to embiggen)
I had a link to a recent poll that had Sununu at only 4%, but I think it’s on my main laptop that’s in the shop, and I can’t find it. Even still, Emerson College polling has “Someone Else” at only 4% – below his own pre-set limit:
(click to embiggen)
And it will be clear that Sununu will NOT be The Guy appealing to the national GOP base that generally skews Conservative. Remember, he isn’t a “social moderate” – Sununu is quite Left of Center when it comes to Social Issues to the point that he’s really part of the Democrat Party. After all, he helped ignite the Culture War in NH’s Education battlefield by signing SB263, that created yet ANOTHER protected class of “gender identity”. What Conservative Republican would do that??? None – yet, he’s calling himself a Conservative to the national electorate and cloaking himself in “Live Free or Die.”
He’s Pro-Choice and fought against the bill that created a 24-week limitation. And someone else has picked up on this (H/T: Instapundit):
I guess, for as many times as GraniteGrok has put up Andrew Breitbart’s warning of “Politics is downstream for Culture”, Sununu doesn’t get that unless the Right FIGHTS the Culture Wars started by the Left, there will be nothing left to have Republican politics on. And we’re back to that he IS involved in the Culture War – on the Left’s side.
While he’s decent when it comes to taxation, spending, and Second Amendment, he’s looking the other way in that Government has been weaponsized and is participating in the Culture War on the side of the Left. And he just doesn’t care a whit. And DCE over at Weekend Pundit, while a bit less blunt, agrees:
When I heard the governor of my state is considering a run for president in 2024, my first thought was “Oh no!”
My second thought was “Oh HELL no!!”
Mind you, I have no dislike for Chris Sununu. He’s been a decent governor, but there are a lot of things he should have been addressing in New Hampshire that he’s been wishy-washy about, particularly things like CRT/DEI ‘indoctrination’, or refusing to tell the “Abortion No Matter What” pro-choice extremists to step off (though he did sign legislation banning on-demand third trimester abortions despite being pro-choice himself).
Another person seeing that the “Conservative” has not earned the title.
So now folks are jumping into the 2024 Presidential Campaign.
Oh, and another thing: His Excellency Sununu also decided a couple of years ago to bring NY Housing Development (stemming from Obama’s Federal takeover of local zoning) to NH by rigging the law (and a “Developers Court”!) to favor developers over the locals in the small NH communities that are the bulwark of the State. NY Gov Hochul is now doing the same thing in advancing Obama’s zoning takeover:
Hochul wants to give the state bold new authority to override local zoning laws in cases where municipalities resist the measure, which she hopes will help address a housing shortage that’s made New York one of the least affordable places in the country. Her push, while favored by housing advocates, is not likely to make her many friends in the areas that proved to be challenging territory for Democrats last November and will likely be again in 2024.
“You would see a suburban uprising, the likes of which you’ve never seen before, if the state tried to impose land-use regulations on communities that have had local control for over a 100 years,” Bruce Blakeman, the Republican county executive in Nassau County, said in an interview.
And Sununu is doing it from the Republican side – WHY does he think that Republicans are for this (other than those supported by the Developers and his sycophants)? She alienated her Democrat base – will he do the same against the Republican ones?
Voters on Long Island and in much of the Hudson Valley went overwhelmingly for Republicans in the midterms, putting Rep. Lee Zeldin within striking distance of the Democratic governor and losing her party multiple seats in the House.
Her plan would compel every municipality to grow their housing stock and require those downstate to allow more housing near rail stations, contributing to her goal of reaching 800,000 new homes over the next decade. Similar efforts have been tried in other states, including Massachusetts and California, to varying results, while pitting bucolic suburbs against the needs of pricey metro areas.
…“There’s a lot of resentment when the state or a regional entity tries to come in and tell people how they should make their communities. It’s not a winning strategy,” said Laura Curran, the former Democratic Nassau County executive who was defeated by Blakeman in 2021.
Let him lose.
With this, he’s fostered the idea that people aren’t Free Citizens but simply cogs in the machine that is NH’s economy. Do you want another “Obama Housing King”?
The post So, Chris Sununu Thinks He Can be “President I’m Going To…Not Fight For Your Priorities”? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Who watches the watchmen? Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it the Pfizer empire striking back against James O’Keefe? Why the sudden news last week of board belligerence and staff strife within Project Veritas, coming hot on the heels of the most explosive reporting about Big Pharma malfeasance we have ever seen?!?
Let me be clear and upfront that GraniteGrok and myself consider that James O’Keefe is a friend, and that his investigative work is second to none. Ourselves, friends, and family members, have been involved in some of his work. But there’s always a back story, and our readers deserve to know what is going on.
Facts:
Much speculation about the goings on at Veritas is splattered all across the Web, so your staff made some calls and did a bit of reading between the lines to try to discern the truth. Sites on the left can barely contain their glee that somebody they dislike may be having a hard time – they misunderestimate the man, and overplay the current situation. Sites on the right are convinced that leftists, Pfizer stooges, DeSantis supporters(!), or other factions have infiltrated the board as Project Veritas (PV) has grown. Sites on the center right have published both a credible description of the problems at PV and of the comments suggesting donations will dry up or follow O’Keefe if he is ousted.
So what’s really going on? We (Grok staff and myself personally) have watched James O’Keefe grow and mature into a smooth and polished presenter and spokesman for the cause. We constantly admire the audacity of his work, and have never been given cause to doubt the veracity of his results.
But that’s not the whole story. It has reached my ears by several paths that James is more than just demanding, and that staff turnover is a good gauge of the morale of the troops, regardless of how good the cause may be. A turnover of 140 out of 65 staff (more than 200%) in two years is worse than anything I have seen with mercurial bosses in places like Silicon Valley. This sounds like a hostile work environment, and I don’t mean in the snowflake/PC manner of describing such.
Letting urgency override common sense in business expenses gives company officers severe heartburn, especially when merely being involved with PV can put a target on your back.
One former staffer who departed a few years ago told me that the employee grievance list could have been written by themself a few years earlier, and it caused flashbacks.
I’m not trying to be sensational here, in fact, I heard far more than I can report with good conscience. In the end, it comes down to this: James IS Project Veritas – it is nothing without him. There is nobody better at picking plump, bloated, juicy, complacent targets and exposing them – all emperors are naked before his gaze.
BUT, there is a big difference between being the front man and chief investigator, and being a people manager. The one thread which ran through all my conversations is that James is not well suited to managing people, especially a lot of people.
Conversely, no matter how good the board is at running PV as a 501c3, they cannot run the kind of stings and investigations for which James is famous. There needs to be compromise, not conflict because America, heck, the World, NEEDS PV and James O’Keefe as a going concern, picking off those bloated, complacent, and yes, evil targets for We The People.
To summarize, there is no sign that Pfizer, RINOs, Commies, or any other miscreants are trying to bring down James O’Keefe. A conflict of operating style has come to a head, with a most unfortunate proximity in time to something which could be his greatest achievement so far. The board needs to facilitate O’Keefe doing what he does best, and O’keefe needs to take a deep breath and separate leadership and mentoring of the investigative teams from direct personnel management. Anything else, IE complete separation, will lead to disaster.
References:
TownHall: Project Veritas Issues Statement Amid Reports of James O’Keefe Being Ousted.
Old Row Swig on Twitter points out that the money will follow O’Keefe, not the PV corporation.
Rolling Stone: James O’Keefe Put Project Veritas Staff Through ‘Public Crucifixions,’ Leaked Memo Says.
PJ Media: James O’Keefe Put on Leave at Project Veritas. Has There Been a Coup?
Conservative Treehouse says hostile coup; blames RINOs and DeSantis (huh?).
TimCast article includes employee memo to PV board
The post Qui Custodiet Custodiens: What’s Happening at Veritas? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Before he got banned for turning into a troll, Bruce Currie (a Bernie-Bro) used to be part of the ‘Grok commenters. I gave him credit for constantly standing up for his Progressive replies but it was clear that he wasn’t going to go that “last step” and answer one of my principle questions when confronting Progressives on spending and taxation:
Whose money is is FIRST?
I rarely get answers to that because that gives up the game – and Bruce understood that he couldn’t be honest because:
So in reading Pravda on the Merrimack (Concord Monitor), I spotted a recent Letter to the Editor that referenced “columnist Bruce Currie” so I went looking and found this: Bruce Currie: How can America pay for things the people want? With ease“. I dryly ALSO note that:
It’s long – 1,200 words so I’m just going to abstract from it. Please note that it’s from 2019 – and he was still around the ‘Grok but never mentioned this. I do suggest that you read the entire piece. Emphasis mine, reformatted:
A Green New Deal and single-payer health care are finally getting the attention they deserve, thanks in part to the efforts of newly elected members of Congress like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who’ve pushed these issues front and center. They want the nation to get serious about global warming – which more accurately should now be called climate catastrophe. But, as with single-payer health care, a rejoinder is often: “How will we pay for it?”
The short, snarky answer for both is: “The same way we’ve paid for our $6 trillion forever wars in Syraqistan, because taxes didn’t pay for them.” So bear with me – a longer answer follows.
Fiat currency
When Dick Cheney famously said that Ronald Reagan proved that “deficits don’t matter,” he was right – though for the wrong reason. Deficits don’t matter because the United States is a sovereign nation with a fiat currency – one not backed by gold or silver but declared as legal tender by “fiat,” and backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government.The federal government does not run like a household. It can never go broke – contrary to the claims of deficit hawks – from whom we hear most often when Democrats are in charge. Congress can authorize spending as much money as it wants or needs – effectively creating money from thin air. Skeptical? As Alan Greenspan told Paul Ryan in a congressional hearing back in 2005: “There’s nothing to prevent the federal government from creating as much money as it wants and paying it to somebody.”
The problem is that countries CAN go broke and it generally happens very slowly – and then all at once. Ask the Weimar Republic and Venezuela for just two examples. Countries can go broke when those buying the debt no longer believe that the “full faith and credit” is no longer a valid supposition. In other words, that FFaC phrase fails to instill any faith at all. After all, with the Federal Reserve now cranking up interest rates, just Interest PAYMENTS on the National Debt will be the third largest item in our national budget – almost more than what we spend on our national defense.
And continuing to just print money is one thing, others accepting is another, but at what real value? We know the answer to that – skyrocketing inflation rates as people actively start to realize that so many dollars being printed aren’t worth as much as they were before the presses started rolling. But he keeps digging and FINALLY ANSWERS MY QUESTION!
But wait, there’s more. A corollary to the fact that all money first comes from the government…
Being a Progressive/Socialist, of COURSE he is pleased as punch to say that Government is the font of EVERYTHING – including the labor that you expend to get your paycheck. Which he just made clear, comes from Government. You aren’t “you” – you simply have already been bought and paid for by Government.
What a dismal way to live one’s life that our Founding Principle, that we are sovereign individuals, has been turned on its head.
is that taxes do not, and cannot, pay for government spending. The spending comes first. Just as a quarterback must first throw the ball before a receiver can catch it, the government must first “spend” money into the economy before taxpayers, like receivers, can throw it back, i.e., pay their taxes.
Pay our taxes? Or rebating it back? He has no idea what real wealth creation is all about, does he? But again, he never would acknowledge that capitalism is where true wealth is created – not allocated.
…The tax equation
Federal taxes have two main functions: 1) they serve to maintain the currency’s value, since taxes can only be paid in dollars and, 2) taxes (and tax cuts) can be used to control the money supply, or to redistribute money within the economy.
No, taxes do not “control” the money supply. Yes, the Federal Government as a role by the money it spends (authorized by politicians that generally have NO idea what basic economics hold). It is the Federal Reserve’s job to “manage” the money supply – something that even with all their “expertise” still give us cycles of recession, depression, and booms.
We’ve had over four decades of tax cuts that effectively redistributed income upward to the 1 percent, and we know how that has worked out for most Americans. A proposal to implement higher marginal taxes on the rich now has broad support.
And he’s ignorant of our Progressive tax schedule. Right now, the bottom half pays about 2.5% of all income taxes – the top 1% pays about 45%. That’s redistributing?
<snip>
The Founders did not think entrenched, hereditary wealth and a growing rentier class of landed gentry was a good thing. Our own history shows that the republic survived and thrived with far more progressive tax rates in the 1950s and ’60s, when the top marginal rate was over 90 percent.
<snip>
Which no one paid. However, he never did like it when I said “Sure – just give us the same sized and intrusive Fed Government at the same time in the 50s and 60s.
Modern Monetary Theory
The understanding outlined above of how a sovereign nation with a fiat currency works isn’t too good to be true. Instead, it’s how money works in the real world and is the gist of Modern Monetary Theory, or MMT. While MMT is currently “hot” and has a growing number of adherents from within the economics profession, it’s not really new. MMT’s understanding of money, credit and debt can be traced back at least to Alexander Hamilton’s 1791 “Report on Manufactures” and to the writings of John Stuart Mill. Today, one of MMT’s best known proponents is Stephanie Kelton, who served as economic adviser to the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016.Higher taxes on the rich by themselves won’t “pay for” single-payer health care, or a Green New Deal, or cover the $6 trillion we’ve spent so far on wars in the Middle East since 9/11. But it isn’t necessary to “pay for” this spending. We can debate the wisdom of having spent $6 trillion on permanent war. Just as we can (and should) debate the need for a single-payer health care system or the need to address global warming with a Green New Deal.
With a sovereign currency, what this nation chooses to spend money on should be removed from any discussion of how a program should be paid for. Congress can authorize such spending at any time. Inflation is never a concern, so long as sufficient goods and services are available to purchase with the money spent into the economy.
Translation: spend like drunken sailors all the time because there will NEVER be any bad outcomes to bad politics, bad policies, and bad legislation that “their” money really isn’t there and that others “get a financial vote” on this behavior later all. That is Currie’s always undiscussed philosophy of Progressivism – that actual outcomes are irrelevant both in achieving the purpose/outcome for legislation and that those putting them into action are to be held blameless.
In other words, there can never be any responsibility or accountability. And we are expected to believe this 2+2=5 nonsense as it refutes reality and human nature.
In fact, government spending that invests in new infrastructure, more efficient buildings and transportation, and in better health care for all, has a multiplier effect that spending on war does not. The benefits of such spending are concrete and tangible to all of us, because they ripple through the economy in ways that spending on wars cannot.
Much of this spending is on things that the private sector will not or cannot do, because it’s on things that aren’t profitable – like roads and mass transit, or retrofitting buildings for greater energy efficiency. The return on investment may be too risky, or too many years away.
And thanks to “shareholder value theory” popularized by Milton Friedman, U.S. corporations have become risk-averse – more interested in stock market manipulations than in long-term investment.
But finally, after years of knowing but with no proof, we have the answer: “the fact that all money first comes from the government…”
Gosh, what did we EVAH do before the Federal Government existed?
The post So Now We Have Bruce Currie’s Answer to My Question: Whose Money Is It FIRST? appeared first on Granite Grok.
They’re flying so thick and fast it is amazing. Take heart – there will be a Meme Overflow and almost certainly a Friday Meme Overflow-Overflow. Last week’s Overflow.
Remember, ridicule and mockery are effective weapons:
Now, let the mockery and mayhem begin.
*** Warning, a few possibly off-color ones, in case tender eyes are about ***
A hat-trick of past essays:
Church of the Covidian – Liberty’s Torch (libertystorch.info)
The Fly on the Urinal – Urban Scoop
From Divine to Disgusting – Granite Grok
Why I tend to be awkward at social events lately:
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What is ‘C40 Cities’ about and how does it link ULEZ Expansion with The Clinton Foundation?
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But first, a random sampling of three of my cartoons. Please note these are my concepts but I pay a professional to do them.
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There’s a danger here. When the SHTF, where will they go first?
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Crowder has a good video on this too:
The 2nd Amendment : For Muskets Only?!
Arguments to the contrary – should someone care to make one to me – should be put onto hand-crafted parchment with a quill pen and conveyed to me by a man on horseback.
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There are a LOT of people whose bridges to them I’d love-love-love to burn. With matches, gasoline, and thermite too. The only thing that prevents me are my kids, and the potential threat of my wife Jabbing the kids if I do go full nuclear mode.
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https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/covidian-chris-witty-not-blinking.mp4
This, I find interesting.
I’ve seen other videos of Covidians also devoid of blinking – and some generic (Left) pols as well. Weird, considering the average blinking frequency is 15-20 blinks per minute. So that’s once every 3-4 seconds. Interestingly, according to this search result (bing) people’s blinking becomes “off” when lying. Generally by blinking less.
This guy doesn’t blink for over 30 seconds. From the above search:
12 Subtle Signs To Know If Someone Is Lying To You | Thought Catalog
Body Language Lying Eyes Seeing Through The Eyes Of Deceit (bodylanguagematters.com)
The above two, and others, all point to a lack of blinking as one sign of lying – or being medicated on something. And no, I’m not ready to go down the lizard people road. At least, not yet.
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The Noxious Spread of Anti-White Racism
Divide and conquer in full swing. Watch your backs, non-blacks.
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/blacks-saying-get-the-whites.mp4
Am I saying that all blacks are like this? No. But… I listen to what people SAY, I watch what people DO, and I definitely notice PATTERNS. And when WORDS match ACTIONS and those words and actions create defined PATTERNS across significant numbers of people… I don’t think I’m out of line to be on my guard as a “race realist”.
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/larry-elder-on-black-on-white-crimes.mp4
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Pick of the post:
Some strong contenders, but this one really hit me on an emotional level – because, while I know humans are merely emotional animals capable of reason… some people are so devoid of reason I want to tear what little hair I have left out.
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Adderall and Me
It’s a profound shortage of medicines. I’ve now had to have some of my – and my family’s – scripts ORDERED ahead of time to make sure they’re there when I go to pick them up.
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Palate Cleansers:
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Not beer. A good 18 year old scotch, on the other hand…
The post MONDAY MEMES appeared first on Granite Grok.
The NH Legislative Pro-Life Caucus & NH Right to Life are sponsoring a press conference in Concord, NH, to discuss proposed legislation that affects the right to life that will have hearings in House Judiciary later this week.
Please Submit Group communications or Press Releases to editor@granitegrok.com.
Submission is not a guarantee of publication.
For this event, we chose Valentine’s Day to remind us of the human dignity and immense value of all people, at all stages of life, both before and after birth.
All media outlets are welcome.
WHO: Leaders from different NH pro-life organizations, including the Legislative Pro-Life Caucus & NH Right to Life.
WHEN: Tuesday, Feb 14, 8:15-8:45 am (one-on-one discussions available afterward)
WHERE: Lobby of the NH Legislative Office Building, 33 N. State St, Concord, NH.
WHAT: Legislation (for pro-life and anti-life) will be discussed. Two bills of particular concern (HB224 and HB271) would remove NH’s moderate, 6-month protection for preborn children and allow abortion until birth.
FOR QUESTIONS CONTACT: NH Right to Life at (603) 230-8136 (voice & text) or life@nhrtl.org
The post Proposed Legislation That Affects the Right to Life appeared first on Granite Grok.
If College Was Killing Your Kids, Would That be a Public Health Emergency?
There have been seven deaths at North Carolina State since the 2022-2023 year began. Yes, NC State has a vaccine mandate for staff and students “with on-campus responsibilities” and a pro-vax culture, so most students are likely vaccinated.
With that out of the way, only two of the seven deaths might be related to vaccine harm, but that does not make the number any less alarming.
Four NC State students committed suicide in the fall semester, according to this report.
Students said they are under immense academic pressure that could be impacting their mental health.
“I know that’s one of the things that bothers me a lot. So I understand where that struggle comes from. The need to succeed is big pressure,” Alessandro Dal Pra, a chemical engineering major, told WTVD.
The quality of High School graduates across the country has been in decline for years, so if academic rigor in higher education is the pressure point, whose fault is that?
The tribal victim class worldview, also a product of the long shadow of #wokesim, facilitates weakness, whining, and the hashtag many uses without using it, #whyme?
Unnecessary pandemic fearmongering and the invasive and destructive response trapped many of these kids, already unprepared for any chaos, in a tumultuous head-space loaded with cultural garbage and no way to manage it.
Four suicides. One student died in a car accident, which made five tragedies at NC before 2023 even arrived.
The next student died in January, and while I could not find the cause, I did see this.
The student, identified as Adam Fawcett, was enrolled in the College of Engineering and living in Wood Hall. He died during the weekend.
“The preliminary results from the investigation into last weekend’s student death show no signs of foul play and no signs of an intentional act,” N.C. State Police Chief Dan House.
He wasn’t murdered and didn’t kill himself, so it looks like Adam dropped dead. We literally do not know him from Adam, so we’ve no other context, but the odds are good that he was jabbed, so there’s that.
The latest incident involves a Grad student living on campus who would have been required to have the COVID vaccines.
The death was reported Wednesday night at E.S. King Village, which has apartments for graduate students, postdocs, older undergrads and students with families.
The student was a graduate student in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS), according to an email sent to students in the college. … The N.C. State Police Department does not suspect foul play or suicide, and the cause of death is currently unknown.
Much like Adam Fawcett, police say he was not murdered, and he did not kill himself, but he died unexpectedly. Unnecessarily, no doubt, but the cause of death might never be something the media feels like reporting if it contradicts approved narratives.
So, kids are dying, and something is killing them, but we can’t imagine what it might be.
What if it’s NC State? What if American colleges are killing your kids, some of them faster than others?
Would that be a public health emergency?
The post If College Was Killing Your Kids, Would That be a Public Health Emergency? appeared first on Granite Grok.
If there are some of you out there that are frustrated that I haven’t returned your emails, the answer is simple – I’m doing this on a backup laptop that doesn’t have my email. My main one went to a local Laconia shop on Thursday and I thought I’d have it back later on in the day. Thursday became Friday, and when I called at 2pm yesterday (their website said they close at 3pm on Saturdays), I found out:
So, I apologize if it has appeared that I’m ignoring you…(and yes, I will have WAY more than the 3,000 unread emails of before). But using my backup came with a couple of good nuggets and I’ve added ZeroHedge to my normal reading sites. Now, while the title of this post is “Bank Of America Will Start Bundling EV Charging Stations With EV Auto Financing“, I kinda figured that I already knew that it made sense – they need people to go into debt, and pay that bill, to make money (emphasis mine, reformatted):
Fabien Thierry, head of consumer vehicle products, told Bloomberg: “Bank of America has been supporting the electrification, and we’ve been saying that we want to be one of the EV financing leaders.” He said he believes the bank is the first to offer the service. The charging stations can range from $200 to $2,000 generally, while the average price for an electric vehicle in the U.S. is about $65,000.
Thierry said that more EV-centered initiatives are on their way for the year ahead.
Well of COURSE they are – the ESG policies (Environmental, Social, Governance) policies of BlackRock, Vanguard, and State State are driving BoA’s “supporting the electrification” of that E and S. Not surprising or surprised. But this is what caught my eye an that I didn’t know (and why ZH is now on my daily list). Reformatted, emphasis mine but keep in mind that the recent new car pricing was like houses – consumers were buying them for well above sticker prices and taking out loans to pay for them.
That’s how 2007/2008 happened overall – paid prices were over asking prices – and then crashed hard leaving people with assets worth far less than what their loan amounts are for. We all know what happened then – turned in the house keys and just walked away letting banks holding the bag(s).
Recall, we wrote months ago that at this stage in the looming credit bubble, people were starting to take on second auto loans with the knowing intent on defaulting on their first.
As Twitter’s CarDealershipGuy – who claims to be an anonymous auto-industry CEO and whose analysis has been featured in places like the NY Post and who frequently Tweets about the state of the auto market – laid out a long thread:
“This morning I discovered something *extremely* alarming happening in the car market, specifically in auto lending. I’m now convinced that there is a massive wave of car repossessions coming in 2023,” he wrote.
Recapping much of what we said above, he noted that over the past 2 years, many people took out exorbitant loans on cars and while car values were inflated (and still are) but many people simply had no choice and bought an overpriced a car. Then, echoing the Fitch assessment, he notes how those buyers are underwater: ”
Car valuations are now plummeting. Some cars have declined in value as much as 30% y/y. And these same people that took out these big loans are now ‘underwater’. Basically, they owe banks more on these cars than they are worth. And the banks are well-aware of this.”
The punchline is his personal experience from late last week.
“This morning, one of our General Managers opened up DealerTrack — a portal that dealers use to communicate with auto lenders — and highlighted something very concerning. 9 of our lending partners have started WAIVING ‘open auto stipulations’ for consumers.”
What this means, he explained, is that once consumers are stuck with a vehicle they paid too much for, they can’t trade it in without putting some money up front to cover the difference of what is owed on it versus what it is worth. At that point, he notes,
“Dealer can’t sell consumer a car, Consumer can’t buy a car, And, you guessed it, lender can’t finance a car!”
The lender then knows that most consumers are stuck and waives the open auto stipulation – meaning they allow the consumer to buy the new car with a second loan knowing they already have a first one. But the lender does it because they know that the buyer will default on the old, other car.
Cue default avalanche: “This is NOT normal. But it’s the only way lenders can finance cars and dealers can put cars on the road. And the implications of this will be tons of repossessions,” the CEO wrote.
Many new cars now sell for below sticker prices. That has now pushed used car prices down as well from almost parity with new ones. “Tons of repossessions” will mean that banks will be stuck with a lot of assets as well and will be working to get them off their balance sheets as quickly as possible. And either that will be direct sales (brokered, of course as you won’t be seeing “CARS HERE CHEAP” signs in bank parking lots) or sold to dealers whose used car inventories swell – but at less than usual used car prices.
In short, replacing the “now off lease” vehicle marketplace in a way that is unfortunate. But that means opportunities for others (Schumpeter’s “Creative Destruction”).
The 2015 F-150 is now into middle age (years-wise) and was an “3 year off-lease” purchase. Given the last 3 years and the heightened cost of new cars, not as many folks were leasing as they were before. Thus, my idea of replacing one former (and very low mileage) leased vehicle with another one went up in smoke when the off-lease marketplace dried up.
However, repos may be my answer (while being very unfortunate for the previous owners) IF I have to replace the pickup (although at my age, was thinking “this might be the last vehicle I ever buy”). But as needed, I will take advantage of the opportunity.
The post Is It Biden’s Economy or a Redo of the 2007 Financial Bubble – Second Loans on New Cars? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Over the past few years, smoking cigarettes and using vaping products have been legalized in various parts of the world. This has increased the number of businesses selling cigarettes across the globe.
You can even buy Canadian cigarettes online in Canada and other countries easily. This is mainly due to the increase in online sales for cigarettes everywhere.
Can I buy cigarettes online in Canada? Well, yes you can. There are just a few things you need to keep in mind when purchasing cigarettes or other vaping products online in Canada. And in this article, we have outlined some that are essential to consider.
Can I Buy Cigarettes Online in Canada? First, Find an Online ShopWell, we have stated that many online shops have come up lately due to the increased demand for a cigarette for sale online in Canada and other parts of the world. Due to this, scammers have also increased in number. It is, therefore, crucial that you do enough research about the online shop before you decide to purchase your cigarettes.
First of all, check the customer reviews. What are they saying about the shop? What about their products; are they high quality? What about the prices?
Maybe you are still wondering, can I buy cigarettes online in Canada? Then the answer is yes. Just make sure you review the online shop first.
Can I Buy Cigarettes Online in Canada? Check the Age RestrictionsRules that govern the sale of cigarettes in various countries are different. To buy Canadian cigarettes online in Canada, you must, first of all, comprehend the rules that govern this business in this country and in the particular province. At what age can I buy cigarettes online in Canada? Are you of the required age?
You will find that online shops that sell cigarettes check their customers’ ages before selling to them. If you are not old enough, then you will not get what you want. Laws that govern the sale and use of cigarettes in Canada also forbid the smoking of cigarettes in public places.
Can I buy cigarettes online in Canada? Yes, you can if you are of the right age.
Choose the Type of Cigarette You WantThere are various types of cigarettes that you can find in Canadian online shops. Some go to the extent of offering all kinds of e-cigarettes, which are safe and healthy when compared to traditional cigarettes. If you choose to buy e-cigarettes, you get the chance to sample various e-juice flavors. You can even buy menthol cigarettes online in Canada if that is what you want.
Can I buy cigarettes online in Canada? The best option you can go for is an e-cig. They are small and can easily be carried around. They are also smokeless and the perfect option for those people who are looking forward to reducing their nicotine consumption.
In SummaryCan I buy cigarettes online in Canada? This is the simplest method to follow to avoid visiting the store now and then. You can simply search for a cigarette for sale online in Canada from shops that are reputable and visit their site. There, you can easily check out the types of cigarettes they offer and choose what works best for you. Remember you have to be above the province’s minimum age to be allowed to purchase cigarettes. Make sure you follow the rules that govern the sale and use of cigarettes in this country to avoid any problems.
The post Can I Buy Cigarettes Online in Canada? Here Is Everything to Know appeared first on Granite Grok.
They seem so harmless. After all, how dangerous can a group of letters be? Well, these acronyms represent some of the most radical political groups or corrupted intelligence agencies that are focused on changing the mindset of Americans and the course of America.
The entities that hide behind their moniker do not like America and what she stands for and will transform America if left unchecked.
Over 900 known hate groups operate in nearly every state in our Union. Many of these groups are nothing more than gangs with a mission of violence in the name of the people they follow or despise. We could go back to the KKK or The Weather Underground, but the organized groups of today are more focused on political change than violence.
Unfortunately, two agencies of the government have gone rogue and now target sectors of our population on behalf of politicians.
The FBI has been working on derailing Donald Trump for years and is used by the DOJ to harass parents who disagree with Woke policies of school boards. This week, it was uncovered that the FBI labeled certain Catholics as domestic terrorists. Who could forget the IRS and Lois Lerner targeting Tea Party groups to eliminate their threat to Democrat candidates? Lerner is retired with a full government pension. It seems nobody who goes off the grid in government ever faces accountability.
Black Lives Matter (BLM) was born out of the George Floyd killing in Minnesota. The group became instantly powerful, calling for reparations, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) in every corner of American life. Schools, local and state governments, private companies, and sports leagues were pressured to buy into the philosophy or be destroyed. BLM was embraced by big cities like Washington, New York, and Los Angeles, which renamed streets and painted BLM logos on main roads.
They got members elected to office or placed on school boards. They had a two-year run, and money flowed in from individuals and corporations until it was found that a few of the organizers were getting rich by siphoning donations into their personal accounts. They proved to be nothing more than a money laundering operation, but the damage is done. Their members and philosophies are entrenched in government positions.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is more subtle but just as powerful. They are determined to push their thinking onto Americans of every age group. These movements began brewing in the background during the Obama administration. They are patient but committed to influencing our future. ESG is a dangerous collaboration of Government, Industry, and Finance that promotes clean energy and equity. Some of the biggest banks, pension funds, tech companies, insurance, investment companies, and globalist institutions make up this Cabral that exerts intense pressure on companies to yield to their beliefs or pay the consequences. Those consequences may be more costly financing, manipulation of stock value, negative publicity, or increased regulations. This Cabral has too much power for a healthy country and capitalist economy.
People need to be educated about the dangers of ESG and urged to use the power of their dollars to impact this movement and the companies they support. People need to be advised to ask tough questions of their investment advisors to know where their money is invested. Finally, people need to be cognizant of where they are spending their dollars. These movements can be defeated. But it will take knowledge, work, and sacrifice from all Americans.
The post Dangerous Acronyms: DEIJ, BLM, ESG, FBI, CIA, and ETC appeared first on Granite Grok.
The majority of house sellers are unaware of several crucial aspects of home selling. This has led some people to unnecessarily spend money on the home they plan to sell, lengthening the selling process and making it more costly.
Knowing these crucial details can help you sell your house for cash without any fuss. Let’s investigate them.
1. Any Condition Is Acceptable When You Sell Your House for CashDue to an urgent need to move, financial reasons, or simply a desire for an easier sale process, some homeowners wish to sell their houses off for cash. Many are unnecessarily concerned that they will either have to renovate the entire property or fix some items as they would with a traditional sale. In this instance, a cash home buyer is prepared to purchase the property in its current state. Home Flippers is a good example of a reputable business that buys houses in cash in any condition. These businesses are eager and ready to buy your property in any condition for its market worth.
2. Any Kind of Home Is EligibleAny type of house may be sold, which is something to keep in mind anytime you want to sell your house for cash. You may sell any kind of house for cash, whether it is a detached building, a rowhouse, an old building, a new building, or something else. A cash buyer business in particular will purchase any type of house regardless of the condition or type. A cash house-buying company has this benefit over a private home buyer. In most situations, an individual house buyer wishes to reside in the house. As a result, they are more likely to purchase a brand-new or contemporary home.
3. No Geographical Barriers When You Sell Your House for CashWhen you want to sell your house for cash, it does not matter where you plan to put it on the market. However, some real estate properties are pricey while others are cheap. This significantly depends on whether the home is located in an urban or rural region. Prices might differ even in metropolitan regions owing to a number of variables. However, no matter where your house is located, a cash buyer company can always be found if you want to sell your house for cash.
ConclusionThe information covered in this article is applicable to all cash buyer businesses and all who want to sell houses for cash worldwide. Therefore, do not hesitate to sell your house for cash if doing so meets your needs. Then you will have the finances and flexibility to take the next step. Contact a reputable house cash buyer company to get started.
The post Sell Your House for Cash: Important Things to Know appeared first on Granite Grok.
Those corpses don’t make “X” marks by themselves, after all…
(H/T: Powerline)
The post Palate Cleanser: And the Canvassing Costs Are Real Cheap, Too! appeared first on Granite Grok.
Emphasis mine:
You see, son, the world is full of people who mistake passion for extremism, confidence for arrogance and drive for selfishness and ambition. No matter who you are or what you do, you will encounter this over and over again.
And all three of those attributes are being attacked by Progressives. I certainly saw that “drive” (aka, “self-interest,” that we call motivation) over at Treehugger time after time again. Think: you are NOT allowed to be better than anyone else – the striving to be part of the least common denominator.
It is not their fault. Most people, me included, have been trained to fit in. The very genes we carry have shaped us to fear stepping outside the group. As your grandmother used to say to me when I was a little boy:
“If you spit society in the face, society will wipe it off and carry on. If society spits you in the face, you’ll drown.”
And your grandmother was right — if you want to live a comfortable life this is good advice. Fit in, don’t ask too many questions and keep your head down.
But son, if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that comfort is overrated. You did not come into this world to consume as much food, pleasure and entertainment as you can. A fulfilling life is one of purpose and the meaning of your life is to identify that purpose and pursue it with every fibre of your being.
Most people never get there. They don’t even try. Don’t blame them – no one ever told them that giving up on their dreams was a recipe for misery. As little kids, they were trained to do what they were told, to think how others told them to think and to avoid standing out at all costs.
-Konstantin Kisin (“We Do Not Kneel – A Letter To My Newborn Son“)
Unless you are one of those very few, striving to be the best is hard and long-term. It can also be miserable (you probably will fail – sometimes a number of times) and lonely at times (people may ridicule you, and then if you do become successful, envious people will start to taunt you because they know they can’t look at themselves in the mirror so as to avoid what they would see – failure of trying).
Sometimes, achieving success is the purpose, some would say. Me?
Just working to be the best is the reward in and of itself. NO, Life doesn’t reward you simply because you tried your hardest – many have failed, even after putting in your best, without reaching “their” Brass Ring. What most don’t realize is that’s not the purpose. Just working hard to be the best makes you better than you were before you started.
And that’s the Purpose – simply to be better than you were.
(H/T: Instapundit)
Related: AMERICA’S LOSS OF TOUGHNESS ENABLED CORONAMANIA
Our lack of Toughness and Resiliency is enabling a lot of things that otherwise we wouldn’t stand for.
The post Notable Quote – The Purpose of Life is NOT to be Spineless appeared first on Granite Grok.
HEARINGS are where you can voice your opinion, experience/s, facts, lies, half-truths, and so on. If you plan to talk, you must fill out a PINK card on the table and hand to any one of the committee members.
We want to thank Rep. John Sellers for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
You can review our ‘Op-Ed Guidelines‘ on the FAQ Page.
Plan to talk no more than 2 minutes to make your point (personal experiences do matter), be polite, speak slowly and clearly, speak as close to the microphone as possible (in Representative’s Hall sound echoes). Remember, you are trying to persuade them. You may present the Representatives with handouts (need 20 copies at least) just before you speak.
Both days are important, but if you can only make one of them, then the 16th would be a better day. Day one (15th) is all on Pro-Abortion. Day two (16th) is all on Pro-Life.
https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/remotetestimony/
Wednesday 2/15
JUDICIARY, Reps Hall, State House
9:00 a.m. CACR 2, relating to reproductive freedom. Providing that all persons have the right to make their own reproductive decisions.
10:30 a.m. HB 271-FN, repealing the fetal life protection act.
1:00 p.m. HB 88, relative to reproductive rights.
2:30 p.m. HB 224-FN, repealing the criminal and civil penalties from the fetal life protection act.
Thursday 2/16
JUDICIARY, Reps Hall, State House
9:00 a.m. HB 346-FN, relative to the right of any infant born alive to appropriate medical care and treatment.
10:30 a.m. HB 562-FN, requiring informed consent prior to receiving an abortion procedure.
1:00 p.m. HB 591-FN, prohibiting abortions after detection of fetal heartbeat.
You can do a bill search and read it at this link. Scroll down on left side and enter bill number starting with letters no spaces and then the number.
https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/
Thanks,
John Sellers
State Representative, Grafton County District 18
Alexandria, Bridgewater, Bristol, Canaan, Dorchester, Enfield, Grafton, Groton, Hebron, Orange
The post Abortion Bills Coming up for Hearings Next Week 15th and 16th appeared first on Granite Grok.
Part 1 here. Parts 2 & 3 here. This post is the conclusion of Vivek’s address to the assembled crowd (standing room only). Very well received and I’ll be reaching out to him for some additional information.
Part 4:
He also had a long Question and Answer time after sitting in the provided chairs for both he and Chris Ager.
Q&A 1:
Q&A 2:
Given that he had mentioned a number of “Progressive / Woke” luminaries, as people were starting to leave St. A’s Institute of Politics, I had the chance to ask Vivek who he thought were the equivalent shining lights on the Right that people should read to get a better grounding:
I’d also quickly throw in Thomas Sowell, the late Walter E. Williams, and Victor Davis Hanson.
The post Beyond The SoundBite Lecture Series – Vivek Ramaswamy Part 4 and Q & A … appeared first on Granite Grok.
Vermont is already a safe space for killing yourself. It approved a constitutional amendment securing the right to reproductive freedom, by which they meant abortion. And now they are looking to become a sanctuary for death and dismemberment.
H. 89, An Act Relating to Civil and Criminal Procedures Concerning Legally Protected Health Care Activity, seeks to protect individuals providing or seeking reproductive or transgender healthcare in Vermont from abusive civil or criminal litigation arising from another state. H. 89 also provides address confidentiality protections for providers and seekers of reproductive and transgender healthcare and increases penalties for threatening or using force against those providing or obtaining such legally protected care.
If you want to sneak into the Death and Dismemberment State to get hormone therapies that might kill your kids or have something you were born with removed, they will protect your privacy (which I just assumed was covered under HIPAA, but after the COVID thing … who can you trust?
And if, as is increasingly likely, the dismemberment results in you wanting to end your life months or years later, you can go “back” to Vermont and do that without even going there.
HR 89 is not yet law. Sometimes Republican Gov. Phil Scott should object and veto it even though the legislature has veto-proof majorities. Why? It is white supremacy.
[Gender-affirming surgery] has long been practiced under the influence of a binary bias [that] reinforces white, western ideals about gender identity and expression, further impacting care sought by BIPOC gender diverse individuals who may come from a lineage of more expansive understandings of gender…
We continue to reinforce white ideals of what it means to be masculine/feminine which continues the ‘othering’ of those impacted by colonialism and white supremacy.
And just like that, Vermont Dems are a bunch of racists. But we knew that.
The post Vermont Passes Bill to Make The State a Sanctuary For Death and Dismemberment appeared first on Granite Grok.
The South Dakota legislature has passed a bill that would make it illegal to perform gender “affirming” surgery or prescribe puberty blockers to minors in the state.
The bill, which was passed in a vote of 30–4, would also force health care professionals who violate it to lose their licenses and be sued. The measure will now go to the desk of Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, who has indicated she will sign the bill into law.
House Bill 1080 aims to restrict medical professionals from providing certain medical interventions to minors if the aim is to alter the appearance or validate the perception of the minor’s gender identity when it is inconsistent with their biological sex.
The bill defines “sex” as the biological indicators of male and female as determined by chromosomes, hormones, gonads, and genitalia present at birth.
Some exceptions allow treatments already in progress to continue and for those diagnosed as born “with a medically proven disorder of sexual development,” but the overriding rule limits, reduces, or prohibits chemical interventions on minors that delay normal puberty. Ignoring the law could result in losing the right to practice medicine in the state.
Once a person reaches the age of majority, they are free to pursue legal treatments at their discretion, but there is a high probability that they will have (literally) grown out of it. Assuming the Transtasi public education system hasn’t waterboarded them with allusions of discrimination to the point that they’ve killed themselves.
Governor Noem has said she would sign the bill into law when it reaches her desk.
The post South Dakota Bans Puberty Blockers and Trans-Surgery on Minors appeared first on Granite Grok.
When considering commuter rail in New Hampshire, here’s a thought experiment that offers a great place to start. Should the Massachusetts Bay Colony have built commuter rail in Revolutionary-era Boston?
Assuming the technology had been available, would this have made any sense?
We can get to an answer by looking at the primary obstacle to building a successful commuter rail line in New Hampshire today.
Any debate about commuter rail has to begin with basic demographic data because population density is the key to successful commuter rail service.
The general rule for light rail is that cities need a population density of about 10,000 people per square mile to generate enough riders to make rail a viable alternative to automobiles. (See here and here.)
“The performance of a rail or BRT [bus rapid transit] line is directly related to the surrounding densities,” writes author Christof Spieler. “For example, the most successful light-rail systems in the United States—San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Newark, Jersey City, Buffalo, and Houston—serve large areas of over 10,000 people per square mile.
“Put transit in densely populated places. [emphasis in original] The fundamental math of density leads to an obvious rule: put transit where the people are. Successful transit needs to go where population densities are highest.”
Some cities outside of the United States have commuter rail and overall densities well below 10,000 people per square mile. But they tend to be large metropolitan areas with compact, walkable, dense downtown areas.
For example, looking at the city as a whole, Calgary is roughly as dense as Manchester. Calgary’s density is 3,442 people per square mile, while Manchester’s is 3,496 per square mile. Calgary has light rail and a street railway. But Calgary is also a city of more than 1 million with a dense downtown of about 7,778 people per square mile. It’s the fifth densest downtown in Canada.
Manchester doesn’t have a single zip code with a density of even 4,000 people per square mile.
Nashua’s population density is only 2,961.7 people per square mile.
Commuter rail boosters seem to believe that Nashua, Manchester and Lowell, Mass., can all support rail because they’re fairly close in population. Nashua has about 91,000 people, while Manchester and Lowell have about 115,000 people each.
But these totals mask huge variations in density.
Lowell’s population density is 8,489.8 people per square mile, even denser than downtown Calgary. That makes it much more hospitable to light rail than Manchester or Nashua.
Boston’s population density, by comparison, is 13,967.7 people per square mile.
And that gets us back to our question about colonial Boston.
In The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams, author Stacy Schiff notes that Adams lived in a Boston that spanned four square miles, with a population of 16,000. (Boston had about 16,000 people from the 1740s through the 1780s.) That’s 4,000 people per square mile, which makes colonial Boston denser than present-day Manchester.
Few would argue that commuter rail would make sense in colonial Boston. But lots of people argue that commuter rail makes sense in Nashua and Manchester, which are much less densely populated than colonial Boston was.
The hard reality is that no municipality in New Hampshire is close to boasting a population density anywhere near the level needed to support successful commuter rail. And that will be true for a very long time.
U.S. Census data put Manchester’s population density at 3,310 per square mile in 2010. In the decade from 2010-2020, the city’s density grew by just 186 people per square mile.
At that rate, Manchester will reach 10,000 people per square mile in 350 years.
If the city’s growth rate somehow doubled, it would still take 125 years to get to 10,000 people per square mile.
Building, or even preparing to build, a commuter rail line now makes about as much sense as telling Paul Revere to take the T to Lexington.
(By the way, it took Revere about an hour to get to Lexington from Charlestown by horse. Today it takes about half an hour by car. By bus? About two hours.)
Republished with Permission; Visit The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy to read more.
The post A NH Commuter Rail Question: Should Paul Revere have taken the T to Lexington (or Nashua)? appeared first on Granite Grok.
First, I am merely an “enlightened amateur”. Please vet & check on your own. Caveat emptor. Consider these to be priming the pump for your own investigations. I know this is a long post; I am attempting to put out a lot of information as a resource. Read or skip sections depending on your interests.
Second, I fear spicy time is very close, but even a month of food, water, etc., puts you well ahead of most of the sheeple. IMHO, set your minimum sights on a three-month period.
Third, two things will be critical for having the best chance of making it through:
And please follow both me, Nitzakhon, on Gab… as well as my blog host Granite Grok and also on Telegram Tommy Robinson Official plus his Urban Scoop site. And don’t forget posts sometimes get cloned on American Reveille as well, which is a good site to check out in general.
FYI, here’s a link to the companion Survival Sunday – SITREP Edition.
And a hat trick of prior essays of mine:
Unsettling Connections – Liberty’s Torch (libertystorch.info) (bolding in original):
And notice the spin, saying the common good is the highest priority and a fundamental American value.
No.
Either the individual is sovereign or The State is. And if The State is the highest good, then that is a functional definition of Socialism over Individualism. And while individuals can, voluntarily, subsume their interests to the collective, the key word to this is voluntary.
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Rome, er, America – Granite Grok
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Fear is the Mind Killer… – Granite Grok
Note the embedded video – is this not precisely what they’re doing to us?
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People call preppers…. CRAZY…I call people that don’t prep…CRAZY
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Top of the fold:
Fauci: now he tells us – HotAir
The importance of this cannot be understated. They lied, and they lied from the start. There can be no trust in any institution – governmental or otherwise – from here on out.
A Crisis of Trust – Urban Scoop
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“He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side; if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion.”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter 2
I never joined a debate club in high school or college because I knew I’d have to learn and then argue for a side that I didn’t agree with. What a loss.
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Oddments – random thoughts on prepping:
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Prepper Site URLS:
Most have daily articles; revisit daily. Please recommend others in the comments.
Ask a Prepper, how to prepare, survive and thrive, latest news
Mother Earth News
The Organic Prepper Home – The Organic Prepper
SurvivalBlog.com – The Daily Web Log for Prepared Individuals Living in Uncertain Times.
SHTF Blog – Modern Survival
Survival World – Everything You Need To Know to Survive
Homestead Survival Site – How to Live Off The Grid in Comfort and Style
Urban Survival Site | How to Survive a Disaster in the City
Mind4Survival – Survival and Preparedness
Gray Wolf survival
Sustainable Living (sustainablelivingideas.com)
The Classic Survivalist – Surviving in a Modern World
Primal Survivor – Practical and sensible prepping advice
Em Off-grid – We & Our Off The Grid Life – Em OffGrid
Resource for Practical, Daily Prepping Skills for SHTF & Survival (geekprepper.com) (new)
And three aggregate sites listing their top favorite sites & links too:
TOP 50 SURVIVAL & PREPPER BLOGS
The 50 Best Survival Blogs
Prepper Website – Preparedness • Survival • Alternative News
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Specific, one-up articles:
Blackout bread, bake without electricity, with tea lights! Also for preppers
From the same channel:
Blackout bread made from muesli, baked only with a tealight. No electricity, for preppers
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Why You Need To Hide Your Harvested Rainwater – Ask a Prepper
I would never condone the violation of any laws or regulations outside an SHTF situation.
However, that being said, many preppers will still harvest rainwater knowing that they are in violation of local or state laws and regulations.
These people will definitely want to conceal these activities from the view of anyone walking by.
It would also be a good idea to hide your barrels or tanks from aerial surveillance as well. Local governments may use drones to check the backyards of people they suspect to be in violation of any rainwater collection laws.
I suspect a LOT of stuff that’s illegal will suddenly be on the table in a SHTF situation.
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11 Fatal Mistakes To Avoid When Bugging Out – Ask a Prepper
Good thoughts. Some I hadn’t considered.
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Related to Spicy Time:
Just the Basics: Winter Warmth | the dying fish
Written about fishing specifically, but good winter-outdoors advice.
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Evil Must Be Confronted! We Can’t Wish It Away!
Maybe I am just ahead of my time. I’ll never forget many, many years ago at one of my first Tea Party meetings when the leaders at the time asked me my ideas for fixing our “government”. The look on their faces, the utter shock, when I stated that there was no voting our way of this mess, was a little surprising to me. But the utter horror you could see when I said we need to kill every last communist in this world, It’s the only way to solve our issues, was telling.
I’m meant to fight this evil. I know it. I just haven’t been told its go time yet. So I write. It’s hard to not be pessimistic. With each passing day the future for my children grows ever darker. It breaks my heart watching what is happening on a daily basis. More and more people are openly discussing our final option, so that gives me hope.
I, regretfully, concur. TINVOWOOT.
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Katie Hopkins: The truth about GB News — I have been keeping this to myself…until now.
I wanted to say it was Communist Noam Chomsky who said to make the Overton window as narrow as possible to exclude as many broad perspectives as possible, but then make it seem as though there’s enormous activity and amplify the differences seen in that narrowed window to distract from the excluded voices.
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Short of years and untold wealth, you cannot possibly be fully prepared for everything (I have to keep reminding myself of that). But even some preparations, ideally at least 90 days of food, water / water purification, etc., puts you head and shoulders in front of the vast majority of the sheeple who will be in jaw-gaping astonishment when the SHTF. The only relevant questions are:
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Keeping a Property Journal for Our Homestead, Learning to Deeply Know Our Land Over Time
And their channel in general – lots of good stuff.
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I just started a FORAGING group on Gab. I will check 2-3 times a week to see if people have asked to join. I just approved several new members.
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Foraging: One-up articles
Introduction to Foraging: Foraging Benefits, Equipment, Guidelines, Resources, History and How to Get Started Foraging – Nordic Forest Foods
Basics.
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Plant Foraging – Plant Identification and Foraging – Library Guides at University of Missouri Libraries
Slew of resources.
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Garlic Mustard: A Delicious Invasive — Four Season Foraging
Looks good.
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Foraging (permanent feature):
Foraging (practicalselfreliance.com)
Wild Harvests (arcadianabe.blogspot.com)
Southern Appalachian Herbs
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Books (permanent feature):
Feasting Free on Wild Edibles (old but good)
The Lost Ways (much more than just foraging)
The Forager’s Guide to Wild Foods
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO EDIBLE WILD PLANTS FOR BEGINNERS
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Shortages (broadly):
Fire at Waikato farm kills 50,000 chickens – NZ Herald
Something Strange Is Happening With Our Egg Supply | Ep. 87
Multi-topic; first part applies here.
And related:
Seafood processing plant goes up in violent blaze: It’s a total loss (wnd.com)
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Boots on the Ground…Feb. 5th…Medicine shortages in the US and other countries.
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Food Shortages Are Starting To Become Quite Serious All Over The Planet | ZeroHedge
It will hit suddenly – at least suddenly to most of the sheeple. They will panic. More – they will never, every forgive preppers they know for being right and will turn on us in a heartbeat.
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Gardening, Food Storage, Health, and Related:
Onion Harvest and Curing Process #shorts
Link to the Vegetable Academy channel.
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Links on old-time food storage (permanent feature):
Thanks to the Canning and Preserving group on Gab, I now have these links:
Preserving foods by drying | How to dry foods safely (uada.edu)
USDA-Complete-Guide-to-Home-Canning-2015-revision.pdf (healthycanning.com)
Canning | SDSU Extension (sdstate.edu)
Food Preservation– Canning | Consumer Food Safety | Washington State University (wsu.edu)
Canning Timer & Checklist App | OSU Extension Catalog | Oregon State University
National Center for Home Food Preservation (uga.edu)
Canning Recipes | Ball® Mason Jars (ballmasonjars.com)
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Topical Books (also permanent):
Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking & Curing
Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing
A Guide to Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking Meat, Fish & Game
The Prepper’s Canning Guide
Pickled Pantry
Fermented Vegetables
Hydroponics and Greenhouse Gardening: 3-in-1 Gardening Book to Grow Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruit All-Year-Round
Hydroponics for Beginners: The Complete Guide to Hydroponic Gardening, Designing and Building Inexpensive DIY Hydroponic Systems…
The Aquaponics Guidebook: Combining Aquaculture and Hydroponics Combining Aquaculture and Hydroponics
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Self-defense (broad) & Hunting:
Gun Control Kills People – American Thinker
There’s only one goal: us, disarmed.
On disarmament:
New Biden guidelines put target on gun stores (wnd.com)
When a gun store closes, all their paperwork goes to fedgov. Thus this is a “good” way to create a de facto registration list. Related:
Mental Health Screening & Permission Slip Required
If you don’t take the Jab, you will be considered mentally ill. If you don’t worship Climate Change, ditto.
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Massad Ayoob on Gun Registration & Gun Control
Registration has led to confiscation here in the US! IIRC there was a law passed in NY state telling owners “Oh, we just want to know what rifles are out there”… sure enough, YEARS later, it was “Turn them in now”.
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DIY Fish Trap ( that works !! )
Legality is an issue… but if the fit has hit the shan, all bets are off. Like here:
(Cartoon by Gary Larson – used under what I believe is “fair use”)
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Concentrate Where The Murders Are Concentrated | ZeroHedge
Correlates well with Bill Whittle’s video:
NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET
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Concluding thoughts if I’m moved to comment:
Medical Journal Floats Concept of Using Braindead Women As Surrogates Through “Whole Body Gestational Donation” – Reduxx
This is monstrous. Utterly.
And yet… there are people who will think this is a good idea. How far we’ve descended down the morality slope. Yes, the woman is brain dead, but it’s still a living person. It gets worse – I’ve seen, in a post I can’t find specifically, how the Globalists could use condemned female prisoners as gestational units for their own babies.
How soon before the organ banks from Larry Niven’s future world starts condemning prisoners and breaking them down for organs? Consider this proposal to implant a woman’s womb in a biological man… could dead or condemned prisoners have their reproductive organs taken for this purpose? I’m trying to chase down a rumor that in the UK there are rules being passed mandating organ harvesting. (I’ve taken the “I’m an organ donor” symbol off my driver’s license.)
Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing on our society in debauchery. Hashem will not tolerate being so mocked for long.
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This is BIG!
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Palate cleansers:
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Please check out my MEMES collections; last one here. Mockery, ridicule, and the wrapping of uncomfortable truths inside humor can penetrate the cognitive shields of normies far more effectively – IMHO – than dry facts and figures.
The post Survival Sunday – PREP Edition appeared first on Granite Grok.
Ockham’s razor is a simple idea: Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem. “Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.“ To the radical left, it means that almost every “issue” (real or imagined) can be explained as racism! But what if it’s not?
Take New Hampshire, for example. It is “too white” all year round, not just from November to March. The population is predominately not of color. No one tried to make it that way; it just happened.
The colorblind world is all about color. It’s about numbers. Butts in seats, or in front of classrooms, or at our workplaces.
What about Live Free or Die?
In a genuinely free society, people go where they want for reasons that are their own.
And in a truly diverse world personal preference would drive demographics and that would be good enough. Sorry, say the “experts,” it’s not.
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont every state along the Canadian border is majority white. Why? The colder the annual temps, the whiter it seems to get. There are lots of perfectly non-racist reasons for that.
The darker your skin, the more sunlight you need for your body to generate enough vitamin D, an essential nutrient for immune health, among other things. The farther north you go, the less sun you get. It’s cold more often and longer.
While folks might accept that if they have an opportunity worth the discomfort, given a choice, how about not? These illegal aliens (of color) who ended up in Eric Adams, New York, were offered free bus tickets to Canada, but when they got there, they wanted to return. Too much snow. Too cold. The free ride is more pleasant when it’s warmer, and New York City is warmer than Canada.
And not just because it is one of the largest urban heat islands on earth.
But this simplest of explanations provides zero political leverage, so they can’t embrace it. It gets them nothing: no outrage, no protests, no tribalism or division. The truth is useless.
States like New Hampshire were or are predominantly white for the same reason as the National Hockey League. People of color chose something else. So when New Hampshire Democrats failed to promote any candidates of color to run for congress, maybe it wasn’t their fault? It was. Republicans found plenty who not only chose to live here but chose to run.
It’s the Democrats who are racist and guess what – they feel so guilty that they can’t shut up about projecting that guilt onto everyone else.
Oh, one more point from a past piece on this topic that mentioned weather as a factor.
What if a majority of “people of color” don’t care how safe or prosperous or job or family-friendly a state is because they hate the cold?
You know what the cure for that is? Global Warming.
Ayup!
The post People of Color “Mystery” Not So Mysterious After All … appeared first on Granite Grok.
We have drifted off course as a nation and have abandoned the ideals that made us the beacon on the hill. Many on the Right have turned their heads and allowed the Woke to achieve a degree of control they do not deserve.
We are still in the grips of the Obama years, and Joe Biden is proving even more Progressive. We gave Black Lives Matter the platform to force us to feelings of guilt we did not deserve. And the education machine is reaping the rewards of one hundred years of indoctrination of our children. Many students in our public schools feel we would be better and stronger if we replaced capitalism and democracy with Socialism. We need something or someone to right this ship.
But, every so often, a voice arises with the clarity and conviction that beckons us to listen. We hear that voice from a young man who is wise beyond his years and has the charisma that grips you with his creative thinking. I have enjoyed this man many times on short segments on FOXNews, and this week got to hear him in person, and he made me a believer. For what I think he will do for this country, Vivek Ramaswamy is in this week’s Sunday Spotlight.
Vivek is a first-generation American. His father emigrated to America in the late seventies, and his mother a few years later. His father was an engineer, and his mother was a geriatric psychiatrist. Both came in through our front door and worked hard to realize the dream for their two children. Vivek was born in 1985, and his resume screams overachiever.
He holds a degree in biology from Harvard and received his law degree from Yale. He was yet to turn thirty when he formed a bio-tech company that employed thousands and held many heart-saving pharmaceuticals patents. He is the author of Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam, published in August 2021, and Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence, published September 13, 2022.
Ramaswamy was dubbed “The C.E.O. of Anti-Woke, Inc.” in a 2022 New Yorker profile and has been described by the Federalist Society as “one of the most compelling conservative voices in the country. He points out the dangerous combination of big government and colluding media. That voice is clear: we must beat down the Woke philosophy, divorce ourselves from the toxic relationship we have with China, and get control of our school system to focus on education, not DEIJ and gender identity.
Vivek admits this effort will require sacrifice, courage, and leadership. The Left is not the party to guide us out of our malaise, and we have to elect a new generation of true conservative candidates in 2024. There is an urgency needed, and we need to find candidates that unify the party and the people. It will take a strong, focused effort to break the hold of the Democrats on America. This is the message of Vivek Ramaswamy. He has dared to say what needs to be done. I am confident that we will hear more from him as he lays out a blueprint to take back this country and make America great again.
The post Sunday Spotlight: A Voice and Ideas to Give Direction appeared first on Granite Grok.