The federal government has put the nation so far in debt that it has become common practice for the ‘Grok to remind anyone they are encouraging taxation without representation. You are spending the labor of Americans who won’t be born for years and have no voice but will be responsible for the spending and debt service.

When locals brag about it, I find myself offended. When it happens to be a solar farm – and in Derry, well – how could I resist taking a few shots?

The project, planned for about 10 acres of unused landfill property off Kendall Pond Road, has been researched and planned for several years.

And now, thanks to a $500,000 Congressional Directed Project grant opportunity, that could bring support for costs. Derry Public Works has been working through the United States Department of Energy in applying for and meeting all criteria to secure the grant funding. And getting that financial support could help the town save money on electricity costs as part of the planned solar project that could be in place by next November, with Burlington, Vermont-based Encore Renewable Energy handling the work.

Some will say, whether they believe it or not, that by doing this, they are saving the planet for their grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Those who will bear the cost burden of this exercise. As if this might be a fair exchange. Sadly, none of that is correct. The carbon footprint of the mining and manufacture of their components is significant. The decommissioning of aged-out panels, which will no longer even be in use when Derry’s descendants are old enough to work and begin to pay the debt service, has a high environmental cost. True, we may have figured that out by then, but any electricity savings today’s residents might realize are dwarfed by the debt cost burden created by spending money that doesn’t even exist.

Parity is impossible, even if you think solar farms can save the planet – a proposition even wildly progressive filmmaker Michale Moore does not believe.

The only nice thing I have to say about this is that they chose to put it over an unused landfill, but it would be better for everyone now and in generations to come if locals would stop pretending that grants from the Feds are free money. There is no such thing, and bribing today’s taxpayers with the promise of a few shekels at the expense of future taxpayers needs to stop, but voters everywhere need to understand this and vote in every election.

Every. Damn. One.

The wider the margin in favor of sanity, the harder they are to steal.

One more point, and maybe this is a homework assignment for our readers in Derry. What strings have the Feds attached to this grant that the town likely has not shared?

The post Night Cap: Derry Helps Add to the National Debt appeared first on Granite Grok.

The story of the sudden collapse of Harvard President Claudine Gay’s career should have nothing to do with DEI. The storyline should be about someone not qualified and prepared for the job being removed before any more damage could be done to the Harvard brand. But Gay herself made this situation about race with her poorly worded resignation.

Claudine Gay was President of Harvard University for a mere six months. The end of her tenure began with a very poor showing in front of Congress last month when three Presidents of Ivy League Colleges were asked to testify about anti-Semitic behavior on their campuses in response to the Israeli-Hamas conflict. The Presidents of Penn, MIT, and Harvard had difficulty condemning the antisemitism protests by their students. The three fell under incredible scrutiny because of their testimony. The University of Pennsylvania President M. Elizabeth Magill resigned last month, and the focus has been on Gay since, with many on both sides asking for her resignation. They got the resignation this week, but it was as ugly as her testimony.

In addition to Gay’s performance in front of Congress and her inability or desire to curb the anti-Israel protests, over 50 instances of plagiarism have been brought to light in many of Gay’s published works and her Doctorate dissertation. If a student at Harvard is found guilty of plagiarism, they are either suspended or removed permanently from the school. This policy does not apply equally to the school’s administrators. Though Gay has been removed as president, she will remain on Harvard’s faculty at a salary of nearly $800,000 yearly. She may be bruised, but still rewarded.

Gay’s comments as she leaves bring the ugly cloud of Racism into the situation, but also may disclose why she was named to the office. Al Sharpton said that Gay dented the glass ceiling, and her removal is happening partly because she is a Black woman. Many might say, especially after her talents have been scrutinized and her propensity to plagiarize is shown to be rampant, that she was only in the office because she is a Black woman. Claudine Gay might be the most prominent individual in academia to exemplify the dangers of DEI in the decision process for those placed in positions of authority. I specified academia because Joe Biden’s administration is the government’s example of your inadequate staff when based on DEI standards rather than meritocracy.

Gay claimed in her exit comments that she was frightened by the personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus she was subjected to. This comment is coming from a woman who did not take steps to protect Jewish students on her campus who feared for their lives because of the anti-Semitic animus their fellow Harvard students subjected to them. Gay says that she resigned from her position, but the truth is she was forced out. She was forced by irate donors and fueled by her performance and record. She may not have been hired on merit, but she certainly was pushed out because she lacked it.

The person Harvard chooses to replace, Claudine Gay, will show the status of DEI. Still, the evidence is mounting that this very dangerous methodology used to rank people harms education, business, and government. DEI must DIE for us to regain a higher level of excellence.

The post Did Claudine Gay Kill DEI? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Climate alarmists have long warned that extreme cold weather events are a consequence of climate change and will worsen. Weather records, however, demonstrate this is not true. It is challenging to trust absolutist claims of anthropogenic climatic warming when those making such claims display such ideological dishonesty.

Extreme cold weather events have been declining in frequency, duration, and extent for decades. Science has also unraveled many of the mysteries of global weather patterns – such as El Nino, which is currently expected to spike temperatures as well as amplify the downward sweep of the polar jet stream.

Unfortunately, claims of climate change are too often couched in the warped lens of presumptive, un-scientific bias. Any aberration in the weather or climate is laid at the feet of the Goddess of “Just End Oil” through a reductionist, climate-binary narrative that demands unquestioning fear lest one be branded an Earth-destroying climate denier.

Water loss is thus attributed to climate change from greenhouse gases, without regard to steadily increasing human irrigation drawdowns from surface waters and underground aquifers at rates faster than these can replenish naturally. Wildfires caused by misguided government management are blamed wholly on climate change from fossil fuels. Flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. – every time a natural event occurs, what was once contractually termed “an Act of God” is now immediately labeled “an Act of Man’s carbon sin.”

El Nino is predicted to be very strong in the coming months, warming many areas. (Climate Crisis!) It is also predicted to amplify swings in the polar jet stream, causing sharp cold snaps. (Climate Crisis!). Cold or hot, El Nino or El Nina, all temperatures and storms precipitate howls of doom and demands for increased power from the Climate Warrior Clan.

The World Economic Forum perpetuates the false-flag climatology with scaremongering headlines like “How does climate change affect extreme cold-weather events?” Greenpeace UK incredibly claims:

“…global warming is thought to be behind extreme cold snaps, especially in places that don’t usually experience them. Scientists think it’s possible that warmer Arctic seas could be causing clouds of warmer air in the atmosphere, making the polar vortex more prone to wobbling or waving. That’s why sudden bitterly cold weather is actually further evidence of global warming. And while scientists disagree on how quickly the Gulf Stream could collapse, the only way to avoid the UK plunging into a permanent deep freeze is to stop climate change.”

However, science clearly shows that extreme cold weather events have declined. The recent US National Climate Assessment states “Despite some recent damaging cold events, overall cold extremes are becoming less frequent and milder.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Extremes Index shows a clear trend toward less extreme cold.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that “… it is virtually certain that there has been…a decrease in the number of cold days and nights on the global scale since 1950. Both the coldest extremes and hottest extremes display increasing temperatures.”

So according to the climate scripture of the prophets of climate science themselves, extreme cold snaps have declined in frequency, duration, and severity. It is hard to fault so-called “climate deniers” for dulling their ears to the cacophony of ideologues crying global-warming-wolf, when the cult members ignore their own Priests of Climatology.

“Rain, sun, sleet, or snow: It’s all your fault, don’tcha know?” Neo-Marxism must deconstruct and shame in order to appropriate more power to fashion a clean energy future in which the globe will be equitably, anthropogenically cooled in a New Weather Utopia. (Never mind the Chinese coal plants manufacturing US solar panels and EV components.)

Exalting the climate scientist magicians of the New Postmodern Age, the world is told by Green New Deal Socialists that “a new field of science has developed to determine how climate change directly impacts extreme weather events: extreme weather attribution.” The old term, in the lexicon of Orwell and Huxley, was “extreme weather propaganda.” All weather is “attributed” to the evil human species, in the climate doom pathology. There is no escape ….

The post Climate Warriors Send Chilling Message appeared first on Granite Grok.