The January 4th raid on Amish farmer Amos Miller’s Pennsylvania establishment reflects a growing tension between government regulation of food safety and liberty-minded individualists distrusting industrial food production.

Pennsylvania State Police secured Miller’s farming premises for search by the state’s Department of Agriculture for “illegal raw milk and raw milk products, including eggnog,” following reported cases of E. coli in New York and Michigan, allegedly linked to Miller’s products.  This curious dispute has far-reaching implications for Americans’ food rights.

Miller déjà vu?

Farmer Miller has been in and out of the food rights limelight since 2015 when the USDA alleged his raw milk products sickened a person in California and caused another person’s death in Florida by listeria (which Miller denies).  Miller has negotiated fines and regulatory conformance to appease the Feds for his past transgressions, but the recent cases have brought Pennsylvania authorities to his door, where they seized eggnog and sour cream, chocolate milk, and ice cream.

Miller’s Amish traditions inspire his belief that it is not merely his right but his duty to provide nutrient-dense foods to his multistate customer base as a defense against untrustworthy industrial food products.  Miller and his customers seek to operate under federal and state regulatory radar as “Private Member Associations” or entities that privately enter into contractual relations and are not engaged in public commerce.  They know the risks of raw milk and farm-processed meats and deliberately seek these and other farm-direct products for their perceived health benefits.

Unfortunately, Mr. Miller has held a somewhat unsteady legal course, switching counsel and representing himself pro se, including invoking vague and unhelpful sovereign citizen claims. Still, his head-butting with government regulators highlights a broader battle forming between food rights activists (such as those who successfully passed a food rights amendment to Maine’s Constitution in 2022) and an ever-expanding federal/state food inspection apparatus.

Food Rights Firebrands

Kentucky’s Thomas Massie co-sponsored the PRIME Act, which would expand regulatory liberties for intrastate meat sales and bolster small farms and their direct sales to consumers and restaurants.  Massie wasted no time tossing a shot across the political bow in support of Amos Miller, posting this on X:

Looks like Amos Miller’s farm is being raided.

With all of the problems in society today, this is what the government wants to focus on?

A man growing food for informed customers, without participating in the industrial meat/milk complex?

It’s shameful that it’s come to this. https://t.co/pWwjp6cgPh

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) January 4, 2024

The most significant tension lies in the balance between appropriate government oversight of commerce, especially regarding health and safety, and personal food choice sovereignty.  This push and pull has increased over the last century, intensifying as toxic food additives and mass production of less nutritious produce and processed foods cause health-conscious consumers to do without government “protections” that too often protect corporate profits over human health.

As attorney David Berg poignantly predicted in a 2013 article in the Journal of Food Law & Policy:

If liberty is the freedom to make one’s own choices in life, why can we not make those choices with respect to our food?….

Food choice is not a new right; it is a right and a practice as old as civilization….

However, it was not until industrialization and regulation that citizens felt the need to assert such a right, and now courts and legislators will increasingly have to take this right into account.

Berg argues that the right to purchase food directly from a farmer, sans mandatory government inspection, is a fundamental right.  The federal government has failed to halt atrazine, glyphosate, neonicotinoids, and other chemicals and subsidizes corn (and thus high-fructose corn syrup) and other questionable foods.  More recently, public trust has been compromised by dubious claims about the “safety and effectiveness” of certain medications that proved to be neither.  It is not unreasonable that public views about the necessity of government food inspection fluctuate with levels of trust.  As public trust in government and food safety continues to deteriorate, farmers like Amos Miller are sought out as food gurus.

Women have been granted the “right” to an abortion, gays the “right” to marry, and transgender-identifying citizens the “right” to “gender-affirming” surgery at public expense.  Concurrently, zoning laws increasingly compel citizens to eliminate chickens from their backyards or cease and desist from milking or raising a cow.  In this milieu, do people have the “right” to shape their identity around food (as Berg persuasively argues)?  May Americans who prefer an Amish sovereign citizen’s barn-processed foodstuffs over the fare of the food conglomerates simply enter freely into a contractual and informed “assumption of risk” of the potential harms from uninspected meals?

Hard-working, hardscrabble farmer rebels like Amos Miller are a preview of the growing movement to push back against government overreach.  Americans prefer their independence and personal food sovereignty over compelled servitude to Big Brother in the name of security, whether the Police State protection is proffered against nebulous climate change, dehumanized foreign enemies, a sketchy disease from China, or alleged food-borne illness from raw Amish eggnog.

 

John Klar is an Attorney, farmer, and author. Mostly farmer… And Regular Contributor to GraniteGrok and VermontGrok.

The post An Amish Farmer’s Food Rights Battle appeared first on Granite Grok.

So.  Many.  Memes.

Note that, with an exception here and there, I’m posting them in the order I download them.

Take heart – there will be both a Wednesday and Friday Edition.  Last week’s Friday Edition.

Remember, ridicule and mockery are effective weapons:

1. Ridicule cannot easily be fought
2. Ridicule makes the enemy angry, and angry people make mistakes
3. For those in the “squishy middle” a Thought Splinter (and Part II and Part III and Part IV) can often be hidden inside humor.

Now, let the mockery and mayhem begin.

 

*** Warning, a few possibly off-color ones, in case tender eyes are about ***

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

A real pity we can’t have DEI airlines for them, and merit based ones for us.

 

 

 

 

 

These things used to be normal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the first things I learned when pursuing an MBA and taking management-oriented classes: You get more of what you reward.

 

 

 

 

 

I remember, some years ago so I don’t have the link, alas, reading about a NASA scientist who said that the data needed to be adjusted to match the models.

I’d been suspicious of climate change for a while, for multiple reasons (e.g., here) but this was one of the hold-the-phone, WTF did a scientist just say moments for me.

 

 

 

 

Some time ago, on my old blog, I mentioned a liberal migrant to Austin, TX; she was complaining about the high taxes, going higher.  She said that she’d voted for every community improvement, every bike path, etc.  Sowell once said the most dangerous person is one who gives advice but pays no price for being wrong, I’d argue a very close second is the person who does not connect the price they pay with the actions they took.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA

 

 

Last time I was checked into the ER I had them print out the thing that you normally sign electronically.  On each page I put NO COVID  VACCINE, signed, dated, and took a picture of each page before I gave it to them.  Not 100% foolproof but at least they’re on notice.

Now, of course, it’d be NO VACCINES AT ALL, PERIOD!

 

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

 

 

This is actually very insightful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have trouble wrapping my mind around this.

 

 

 

 

 

MHO, a gibbet comes to mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A true, classic liberal – willing to investigate and change their mind when new evidence comes to the fore.

 

 

 

 

“Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.[To Hindu priests complaining to him about the prohibition of Sati religious funeral practice of burning widows alive on her husband’s funeral pyre.]”

― Charles James Napier

 

 

 

 

 

Though I have to admit… Fetterman does seem to be actually thinking these days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bought, compromised, or both.  That’s what I think is happening around the world, and at most levels from national on down.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Selected link section:

 

Shocking Audio Admission: Parents Not Warned About Myocarditis Risk ‘Because It Might Scare Them’ (deeprootsathome.com)

No words exist for the depths of this treachery.  Related:

The CDC Doctor Responsible for Hiding Myocarditis and Promoting Vaccines ⋆ Brownstone Institute

What We’ve Learned From Hundreds of Vaccine Shedding Reports – The Burning Platform

About two years ago I suddenly went diabetic; Type 1.  That’s a Jab side effect.  So too is tinnitus, which I have from the moment I wake up to the moment I pass out in the evening.  I am 99% sure I picked up mRNA from my triple-jabbed wife as both started roughly in 2021-2022 as my wife was getting her shots and, later, a booster.

—

No Cash Accepted | Armstrong Economics

They’re pushing.  Push back.  Speak to the manager of your local stores and tell them you’re a cash customer.

—

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like 1776 – PJ Media

America desperately needs a recalibration. The Texas border battle is the precursor to the 2024 presidential election, which is also about rejecting tyranny, punishing criminal bureaucrats and politicians, and restoring America by preventing further and future abuse of the citizenry by our own government.

If America is to continue its uninterrupted run as the nation with the longest standing and continuous “democracy” in world history, we must force our tyrannical federal government to stand down one way or another.

—

Bombshell report: UN handing out $1.6 BILLION through NGOs, helps give debit cards to illegal immigrants | Law Enforcement Today | lawenforcementtoday.com

UN Budgets Millions for U.S.-Bound Migrants in 2024 (cis.org)

Denationizing the United States – American Thinker

Orchestrated at the highest levels.

—

Citing one of my favorite proverbs:

A smart man learns from his mistakes.  A wise man, from the mistakes of others.

Words from a Bosnian Survivalist.pdf (powersfirearmstraining.com)

The problem I’m finding in planning groups and allies ahead of time is that so many people just think “Oh that’s just not possible here”.  And this though I still prefer paper printouts.  Because without power, your data is useless.

Storing Valuable “How to” Digital Data, by Slate Creek. (survivalblog.com)

—

You won’t believe the crap that Ivy League “elites” believe, according to Scott Rasmussen’s polls… – Revolver News

Because they’ve never truly had to experience the consequences of their beliefs.  Reality can be a very harsh teacher.

—

NSA Confirms Purchasing Data on American Citizens’ Internet Behavior, Circumventing the Need for Warrants (reclaimthenet.org)

They want to view everything.

 

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Pick of the post:

 

 

 

Sure does look like him.  And this is who is coming in through our border.  We doubtless have multiple cells here – Islamic, Chinese, Iranian, Russian… I predict things will get very spicy, within the year, and focused on the cities where the most damage can be done.

 

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

 

Palate Cleansers:

 

—

—

 

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

 

Come back Wednesday for another edition.  Same Meme Time.  Same Meme channel.

Please do consider buying me a coffee.

Buy Me a Coffee

(My thanks to John who recently gave me 10 coffees!)

 

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

 

The post MONDAY MEMES appeared first on Granite Grok.

A parent in New Hampshire described how the SORA School Library app many children now have on their school-issued Chromebook includes hyperlinks to a website where children can access child sexual predators.

This online library also makes pornographic books available to school children too. You can listen to her testimony before The New Hampshire House Education Committee here.  (1:38:06)

In order to provide this online library to children, the school district must pay a subscription fee. Where does this subscription fee come from? The school budget.  This means that you are probably paying for child sexual predators to access children.

If this isn’t bad enough, your district also pays dues out of the school budget to the New Hampshire School Administrators Association. (NHSAA) The NHSAA then employs lobbyists (District superintendents) to fight against legislation to prohibit these kinds of books and materials in the schools.

A lobbyist (Superintendent from the Plainfield School District) from the New Hampshire School Administrators Association. (NHSAA) OPPOSED prohibiting schools from making pornographic content available to children. Esther Asbell, Superintendent of SAU16 (easbell@sau16.org), is the Executive Director of the NHSAA. Why are they not speaking out against this dangerous content that is now available to children in our schools? Why are they opposing good legislation that will protect our children from pornography and child sex trafficking?

Sydney Leggett, from the NHSAA Equity Committee, essentially says that students have a right to access pornographic materials in the school. This Bill would infringe upon their rights and deny them access to porn and materials that show them how to connect with sexual predators. You can listen to her here. (1:08:00)

Not only are you paying for the subscription service, but you are also paying a lobbyist to fight against prohibiting this kind of content from ending up in your child’s hands.

Here are some of the emails exchanged between administrators who were discussing this legislation. In other words, instead of discussing how to teach children to read and write, they are using EQUITY as a reason to stop legislation that would prohibit the most obscene content from reaching children in our schools.

They even had a Michael Bessett, Assistant Superintendent from Kearsarge, take time out of the school day to add his opposition to prohibiting obscene content. According to documents requested through a 91-a, the 8 hours were unpaid. When will they put this kind of effort into improving math and science scores?

legislative help needed

The school budgets will be presented to your community in a few weeks. Whether you have children in the school district or not, you are paying for all of this. Ask about the dues you are paying to the NHSAA, and then make a motion to remove that item from the proposed budget. Taxpayers need to stop funding an organization that represents a biased political viewpoint that is anti-parental rights and puts children in harm’s way.

 

The post Are You Paying for Child Sex Trafficking Through Your School Budget? Most Likely- YES appeared first on Granite Grok.

Have I said it too often? You guys are awesome. The engagement is top-shelf and growing steadily, and the comments themselves, with rare exceptions, are relevant and add to the debate. This, of course, makes my job more difficult.

My problem, not yours. I’m not whining. I’m excited and look forward to sending someone some swag every week. So what about this week?

JeffersonVoltaire engaged in a series of comments with Nhnative that struck me as informative and eye-opening, and NHnative was pleased with the results. I had to pick one, so I picked this one.

Was going to say; I Have to play devil’s advocate here… but, not really. More like I have to explain some very fundamental points of law that people seem to be determined to just pretend don’t exist, the difference between private and public. Apologies if that sounds pointed but I’ve been trying to get this across for years now. I continue to feel like I’m talking to the walls. And now I’m sounding like my father… The Supreme Court didn’t make any ruling on “free speech in New Hampshire”. They made a ruling, about trying to exercise your private free speech rights in somebody else’s private commercial organization. The “schools” and the boards that run them, are owned and part of a municipal corporation, being run as a private, for profit commercial entity dealing in private corporate paper (Federal Reserve Notes) as well as securities. They are not, by any definition a public governmental organization. If your kids are “registered” there, you know, like a membership… they & you are subject to their rules. No different than if you have a membership at the gym and you signed their membership contract and paid their fee, inside their building, you are subject to their rules, period. If you try to hold a political demonstration in the gym, they have the right to throw you out. You can’t bring your private rights into their sandbox. And as an adult, you really should know better. It says this very clearly in the beginning of court ruling. If you know how to read it. 1) She was charged with Trespassing… You can not trespass in a building that belongs to the people. 2) The action was a civil action – used when there is a contract at play as the governing rules. 3) The “law” was held to be the RSA, private, corporate rules known as Administrative Law, operating in a jurisdiction foreign to the constitution, coming out of a De Facto “government” that is running because people refuse to learn basic law and pick up the reigns of the true De Jure government, that were dropped by fraud and deception over 100 years ago.

Congrats to this week’s winner. I will need you to email me your mailing address and a way to confirm you are JeffersonVoltaire – and I will then send you your ‘GrokSwag!

 

The post Comment of the Week – This Weeks Winner Is … appeared first on Granite Grok.

Wherever you have a majority of Democrats, you will hear lots of words about supporting various demographics: women, minorities, blue-collar workers, and small business owners. Talk, as they say, is cheap, while everything else under Democrat rule is expensive.

The Putney Paper Mill has been around for a good long time. Paper production began in the area in the early 1800s, and the current mill is reported to have been built in 1869. But its parent company has announced that it has to close the mill, not because the cost of energy has gotten so high it is no longer possible to do business.

“Despite our best efforts to sustain operations at this historic paper mill, we had no choice but to shut down operations,” said [Soundview Vermont President Rob] Baron in a prepared statement.

“The high cost of energy in the region has made it unaffordable to keep our doors open. Our top priority moving forward will be supporting our incredible employees and their families throughout this difficult transition.”

There is no shortage of news or opinion on these pages about the cost of electricity in New England, but recent efforts to replace affordable, reliable sources with intermittent wind and solar have driven up costs. Decommissioning Vermont Yankee didn’t help, and the Vermont Dem’s war on coal and gas has only made matters worse. Add to this a myriad of bureaucracy-building carbon and emission schemes that make it cost more to do just about anything, and you can feel Putney Paper’s pain. Their officers are eating out their substance at the dwindling margins with increased fixed costs.

News reports say 127 people will lose their jobs. In a town of 2630, and they may not all live in Putney, that is not a small number of jobs.

The ironic bit is that the so-called party of the working man and woman (Democrats) will gnash their teeth and pound their chest at the injustice or indignity of the dissolution of not just another business but one like Putney Paper, without ever admitting it was their fault. Vermont Democrats and the Biden Presidency have made it too expensive to do business, and Putney isn’t the only casualty.

Every industry in the state except for the government is at risk; according to USA Facts, the government is the biggest business in Vermont and is only likely to get bigger as it offers its gold standard subsistence lifestyle alternative to the former employees at Putney Paper Mill: unemployment checks, welfare, Medicaid, housing assistance (or not), and teaching them to code probably won’t help.

Six score and seven have been let go, and there isn’t much call for what they do around these parts anymore, but I bet the government is hiring. Or, you could run for public office. The legislature is working hard on making that into a more meaningful and profitable career choice, which will only make the Vermont government an even bigger “business” than it already is, and you know what Skip always says. The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.

 

The post Democrats Drove the Putney Paper Mill Out of Business appeared first on Granite Grok.