Those of us who love this country still believe we can survive this downward spiral started by Obama and consummated by Biden. These two men and their Leftist Party of Doom have done their best to destroy America as we knew it.

They disguised their plan by giving it a fancy name: Fundamentally change America. Change they did, as they tried to take America driven by an unbridled group of visionaries and turn it into a dependent populace who rely on the government for basic sustenance. It was popular at the beginning. A charismatic Black President and adoring media sold the message, and young people bought into the hype. Born of the movement was the Radical Left and the Squad.

Their plan had two weaknesses. The strategy of negativity had no legs. America was not ready to be a land of failure and desperation. They chose the wrong messenger. The team led by the aging bungling Joe Biden and the totally feckless, Black Kamala Harris could not relay the Progressive message, and the failure of the most incompetent, diverse Administration ever put together proved that the New America was doomed to failure. 2023 will be remembered as the year America woke up and saved itself.

The biggest obstacle for the Left is Donald Trump. Trump is too powerful and resilient to fall regardless of what the Left uses in their attempt to put him down. Trump has an ego and arrogance about him that fuels his enemies, but he also has the will and bravado of a warrior that stimulates his followers. He enrages his believers and gives them the impetus to fight back against the efforts of the Left. With every punch and kick he absorbs, his popularity and ratings grow. The Left is creating the monster that will take them down and unleash a Conservative fury that will rebuild this country and set it on a course to a new and exciting future.

As I read this article, it seems like the ramblings of a foolish idealist. But as a passionate observer, I scribed over 1200 articles about America’s politics. I witnessed the futility and emptiness of the Democrat bench and the rising of a new, brilliant, and driven Republican team. The fall of Kevin McCarthy may have been just what the Party needed. Though the process was ugly, the outcome may have been just the cornerstone to support the New Conservative Republican machine that will be the engine of the resurrected America. Mike Johnson, the quiet man from Louisiana, was an unlikely but timely choice to replace McCarthy and lead the Right.

Saturday Night Live parodied Elise Stefanik’s questioning of the three female presidents of Harvard, Penn, and MIT, but Stefanik may have the last laugh. The YouTube video of her dress down of these three elites has more hits than any other video of Congress. Yes, she embarrassed the three, but better still, she exposed them. These three Woke women proved to be Racist, antisemitic charlatans who were more interested in DEI than excellence. The Penn president has resigned, the Harvard head is under fire, and can the MIT leader be far behind? Stefanik embodies the new Republicans. They are young, intelligent, brave, and driven. They are patriots who love this country and are ready to fight to bring her back. It is exciting to watch and rewarding to see the results of their efforts. They may seem slow to react, but they operate with methodical precision, which is in stark contrast to their irrational counterparts on the other side of the aisle. Whether it is Biden, Newsom, or Hochul in 2024, the end of the Obama Transformation is near.

The post Is the the End of the Obama Transformation Near? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Wake up to the dangers of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Section 702 is up for congressional reauthorization before the end of the year. Congress must stand up for the Fourth Amendment and stop the FBI and NSA violations of personal rights to privacy by passing Senator Rand Pauls bill S.3372 to abolish FISA.

Question our weak and suspect Congress that jeopardizes these inherent rights to protection from federal abuse. Ask: was this unconstitutional Orwellian Act propagated and sold to Congress and the American electorate as a true effort to monitor foreign agents as its name implied? Or was it a serious criminal intent to betray the constitutional protection of the 4th Amendment and authorize federal abuse of power?

Whatever the intent, the fact remains the criminal purpose resulted in taking away the blessing of security that our people have because of the Fourth Amendment. FISA infringes this Amendment’s protection, crucial to liberty, that, in essence, demands” … the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant.”

The JBS.ORG, Federal Legislation Alert — why we need to pass the “Stop FISA Reauthorization —- Support The Fourth Amendment Restoration & Protection Act,” (S.3372) introduced by Senator Rand Paul, gives us a small sample of what life would be like without the Fourth Amendment:

“FISA was purportedly enacted to help protect against terrorist attacks, but it is rampantly being used by the government — including the FBI and NSA — to spy on American citizens in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment. For example, in 2021 alone, the FBI ran about 3 million “U.S. person queries” using Section 702. Tellingly, FBI Director Christopher Wray is vocally opposing any requirements to obtain a warrant.”

Friends of Liberty at the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), established in 2007, tell us that federal Surveillance bosses practice a shameful brand of patriotism with these violations of the people’s right to be secure: “Significant privacy and civil liberties risks also include the scope of permissible targeting, NSA’s new approach to upstream collection, a new sensitive collection technique that presented novel and significant legal issues approved by the FISC (Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court) 2022,…” Furthermore, it is well known that FISC’s overseeing of requests for warrants lacks transparency and constitutional due-process protection, and they fail to hold federal agencies accountable.

Help stop the federal surveillance of private citizens and prevent attacks on political opponents by the current administration. If President Trump’s rights can be violated, who is next? The power of “We the People” must speak. Educate yourself by going to JBS.ORG. source, The John Birch Society, having stood the test of time, is the most powerful weapon to counteract this imminent tyranny. Join us and tell Congress you cherish your inherent right that your home is your castle and demand they cosponsor S.3372.

The post Night Cap: Sen. Rand Paul Wants To Abolish FISA appeared first on Granite Grok.

Maybe ask yourself this question … what wouldn’t people who support an obviously absurd court decision obviously intended to prevent Trump from being elected POTUS a third time do to prevent Trump from being elected POTUS a third time? The obvious answer … NOTHING. Of course, they would like us to keep believing that presidential elections are exercises in democracy and our votes matter, BUT if necessary they will go full Lenin on us.

The actual insurrection was the soft-insurrection that began even before Trump was elected in 2016 and culminated in the rigged election of 2020. In case you have forgotten, maybe you should review a succinct (albeit only partial) summation from Sean Davis:

They tried to prevent Trump’s election in 2016 with illegal spying and the bogus Steele dossier. They used a lawless FBI operation to cripple his presidency. They impeached him twice. They accused his Supreme Court nominee of running a secret gang rape cartel. They shut down the country over a flu, then lied about its origin, illegally changed ballot laws, burned American cities to the ground, stole the 2020 election, and then imprisoned anyone who protested it. Now they’re trying to put Trump in prison, and if that fails, they’ll throw him off the ballot. You can fill in the blanks on what they’ll consider if neither of those options work.

This is such a massive cope from people on the right still operating under the insane assumption that the Left won’t do *everything* possible to prevent Trump from becoming president and assuming the powers of the office.

They tried to prevent Trump’s election in 2016 with… https://t.co/F5RUKyxVvV

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) December 20, 2023

If you think this all ends after an appeal to the United States Supreme Court … YOU ARE DELUSIONAL. It won’t end unless and until Republicans actually fight back and Republicans will NOT do that because far too many of their “leaders” support the Left’s objective of preventing Trump from becoming President. An example of actually fighting back:

DeSantis and the Florida legislature should throw Biden off the ballot for having engaged in rebellion/insurrection by dissolving the Southern border and abetting invasion of the U.S., and by using his corrupt DOJ/FBI shock troops to shred the law and Constitution and terrorize…

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) December 20, 2023

But, as we already know, that is not going to happen. DeSantis and Haley and Christie all intend to participate in totally rigged, banana-republic Colorado primary.

Yet most Republicans continue to pretend that the 2024 election is going to be an actual election. Pathetic, totally pathetic.

The post Colorado: Y’all Still So Can’t Connect The Dots … appeared first on Granite Grok.

This is from a conversation in the comments below one of Steve’s recent posts.  It seems relevant to a lot of what’s happening just now, so I thought I’d post it separately.

Where [many people] see lots of different problems, I see only a couple that underlie all the others.

The first — not to sound like a broken record or anything — is confusing consent with majority rule, acting as if those are the same when, in fact, they are nearly opposites.

The second is confusing form with function.

Legislatures pass laws, and eventually, people start to think that as long as the legislature follows certain formalities (introduce a bill, hold hearings, vote, send to the executive for signature), then whatever they enact must be a valid law.

Judges issue opinions, and eventually, people start to think that as long as the judges follow certain formalities, then whatever they want to rule on must be a valid precedent, i.e., ‘the law.’

Regulators issue regulations, police issue ‘lawful orders’, presidents and governors issue ‘executive orders’, and all of these are considered to have ‘the force of law’. And so on.

People seem to have completely given up the idea that if government officials try to exercise a power that their written constitutions — their job descriptions — do not delegate to them or clearly prohibit them from having, then what they say or do isn’t binding on anyone.

Imagine how different things would be if people were willing to look at laws, regulations, orders, and judicial opinions coming from government officials and say:

Look, we can read our constitutions as well as you can, and what you’re trying to do is so clearly outside of the legitimate scope of what you can do that we’re just going to ignore it. And if you try to force the issue, you’ll meet with armed resistance.

I think this is exactly what the Second Amendment means by ‘the security of a free State.’

The post The Security of a Free State appeared first on Granite Grok.

An ongoing kerfuffle over alleged Saudi water withdrawals from Arizona to grow alfalfa highlights the complexity of competition for increasingly scarce – and thus valuable – water for crops and residential uses.

Revelations about gargantuan volumes of water withdrawn at little cost by a Saudi company to grow hay for export have sparked a passionate dispute that extends outside America’s third-driest state to California and other water-pressed jurisdictions.

The Saudi connection stems from a company named Fondomonte, which reputedly has been withdrawing unlimited amounts of water from lands it leases for merely $25 per acre: The value of the water extracted far exceeds the rent paid. Fondomonte is allegedly growing alfalfa year-round on its 3,500 Arizona acres to ship off to other countries – like China. Outcries of foul play have resulted in an ongoing effort to limit or ban foreign nationals from owning Arizona water rights or to retroactively impose monetary assessments for the water withdrawn.

The issues of water friction will lead to yet more lines drawn in the Arizona sand. Water rights there are big business, as the state endures a crippling, decades-long megadrought that pits farmers and ranchers against newly arriving residents who seek to limit water usage and development. This in turn drives up the cost of housing, water rights, and farmland, creating a vicious cycle that further escalates prices and speculation.

Issues over water also exacerbate growing cultural tensions. Brad Fain, a multi-generation Arizona farmer and rancher, observes that newcomers “…see farmers as unsophisticated and maybe greedy. They don’t understand our culture, or the complexity of our business.” This urban-rural division grows more intense as Californians and New Yorkers flee high taxes and COVID chaos for sunny climes and retirement. Fain sees the pressures on both sides and is sympathetic.

Arizona is extracting water faster than aquifers and rivers can replenish their flow. Arizona’s key policy dispute arises over whether all growth should be halted or managed to extract the wealth and policies necessary to implement yet more water efficiencies. Agricultural producers have been watching water use as part of their bottom line for decades, investing in modern irrigation technologies and more regenerative practices to reduce their drawdowns while staying in business.

Mr. Fain points out an interesting opportunity to balance these competing uses: Employ taxes on development to invest in “closed loop” residential water systems that reclaim and recycle residential water usage. Private drilled wells for housing may not be as amenable to such practices as public water systems. Most residential water can be processed and reused, with the exception of swimming pools, lawn watering, and landscaping. Suburban residents seek to restrict new development, sparking cries of elitism. They want to keep their lawns and water them, too.

The battle lines were drawn four decades ago, when Arizona’s 1980 Groundwater Management Act created “extinguishment credits” to incentivize farms to sell or convert their water rights for development uses. This shifted resources away from water-intensive food production to water-absorbing residential growth. Farming and ranching have steadily declined, but precious water has been sucked up by the suburban sprawl. Rancher and developer Brad Fain “Tools were put in place to augment our water. We have to be very careful with our water.”

Regardless of climate change, anthropogenic water drawdowns have increased the strain on US aquifers and rivers. The coming water wars pit neighbor against neighbor. Brad Fain is sympathetic: “Where are these people to go? They come from all over the world to America seeking hope, and retire to warm climates from up north seeking their lifelong dream. We must build more hospitals and businesses, and we have a nursing shortage and insufficient housing to meet this surging demand. We can conserve more water while supporting reasonable and smarter development.”

These pressures are hardly unique to Arizona. As the BBC reported in 2014, California was shipping hay to China during a severe drought there, impacting not only water supplies but the viability of American  farms:

In the dried-up fields of California’s Central Valley, [some] farmers … are selling their cattle. Others have to choose which crops get the scarce irrigation water and which will wither. … The farmers are making hay while the year-round sun shines, and they are exporting cattle-feed to China. … Japan, Korea and the United Arab Emirates all buy Californian hay. The price is now so high that many local dairy farmers and cattle ranchers can’t afford the cost when the rains fail and their usual supplies are insufficient.

California produces roughly half of all American produce. The water troubles in the American West extend far beyond the borders of Arizona and foretells of a wider conflict for precious resources yet to come. Better water management and conservation are necessary from all sides, whether rich or poor, urban or suburban, black or white, red or blue. In a time of rancorous, divisive “identity politics,” all Americans must identify threats of thirst and starvation as common enemies against which we must forge a united policy response.

Note: I discuss America’s growing water crisis at length in my book, Small Farm Republic. Solar panels, EV cars, and synthetic meats do nothing to conserve water or rebuild soils. Cows do this while sequestering carbon dioxide. 

The post Night Cap: Saudi Water Battle in Arizona appeared first on Granite Grok.

It’s rumored that some Republican-controlled state governments are considering prohibiting Joe Biden from appearing on the ballot in their states. Of course, Democrats are crying foul:  ‘He isn’t an insurrectionist!’

And yet, both candidates have been convicted of insurrection exactly the same number of times:  Zero.

Apparently, Democrats have proved that you don’t really need a reason to keep someone off a ballot if you have the political will and the numbers to make it happen. (Related: Thanks to Colorado, NH Republicans Can Sweep Every Federal Race in 2024.)

Just like they proved that you don’t really need a reason to impeach a president, if you have the political will and the numbers to make it happen.

I love what RFK Jr. said about the situation in Colorado. Paraphrasing, if this were happening in another country, we’d be saying:  That’s not a real election.

With each week that passes, our chances of having a ‘real election’ seem to decrease significantly.  This could be a good thing if it helps us move, as a country, beyond the farce that majority rule has made of what was supposed to be government by consent.

The post Reason? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Reason appeared first on Granite Grok.

Since writing the first article, Are Convenience Stores Violating Your Privacy, I have been gathering more information and find the Driver License Scanning issue to be quite the bottomless rabbit hole.

Here are some key takeaways:

1. 1. 1. The AG’s office is still trying to get me to go away.
      2. I did have a conversation with the Director of DMV, John Marasco, who says he has concerns.
      3. There is a committee of state legislators that must approve the rules of most departments, but as far as I can tell, the Department of Safety is “exempt” from having its rule-making overseen by the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules.
      4. It has been reported to me that Macy’s is now scanning driver’s licenses to verify identity during credit card purchases.
      5. (According to another reader) LHS Poll Pad Training in Manchester is instructing people to scan driver’s licenses (must ask first) to verify voter identity:  https://lhsassociates.com/resources/Poll-Pad-Sell-Sheet-(NH)-(1).pdf
      6. We are still not absolutely sure exactly how much information can be scanned off of the license.  One State Representative told me that everything on the front of the license can be scanned.  Others think less information can be scanned.  As taxpayers, I believe we have a right to know.

As noted above, the NH Attorney General’s office isn’t all that interested or concerned. A John R. Davis responded to my RSA 91-A request as follows:

“I am an Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection & Antitrust Bureau (“Bureau”) of the New Hampshire Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General. I am responding on behalf of the Bureau to your 12/04/2023 email to Ms. Jessica Raymond, of the Bureau, which email is attached below.

For your information, I believe that the Bureau previously, timely responded to your right-to-know request. I believe that the Bureau provided all documents that the Bureau had to provide under the applicable statute. Furthermore, I believe that the Bureau, both in referring you to the Department of Safety (“DoS”) and closing your complaint, acted properly.

Relative to your most recent email below, please be advised of the following:”

I asked the AG the following questions.

Before closing the case, did you confirm the following:

• Verify the equipment “does not visibly identify any personal information, other than driver license number and name”? If so, how did you do this? Please provide documentation to prove this finding. Driver licenses have other personal information on them, including date of birth, address, etc…
• Verify the equipment “does not retain, store or transfer any personal information, other than driver license number and name, for any period of time.” Please provide proof the equipment that is used to scan licenses by Circle K does not retain unauthorized data.
• Please provide proof that you verified the Circle K equipment “does not store any personal information, other than driver license number and name, in a central repository, disaster recovery central repository, such as a cold site or hot site whether on-site or in a remote location.”

The only documentation provided to me was our email exchange and my written complaint. There was no indication that any investigation or equipment testing was or would be done. Should there? Let’s look at the law.

From TITLE XXI Chapter 263 – Drivers’ Licenses

 263:12 Prohibitions. –
It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to:

X. Knowingly scan, record, retain, or store, in any electronic form or format, personal information, as defined in RSA 260:14, obtained from any license, unless authorized by the department. Nothing in this paragraph shall prohibit a person from transferring, in non-electronic form or format, personal information contained on the face of a license to another person, provided that the consent of the license holder is obtained if the transfer is not to a law enforcement agency. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person selling alcohol or tobacco who uses due diligence in checking identification to prevent unauthorized sales and purchases of alcohol and tobacco shall not be held responsible for the acceptance of fraudulent identification. Where due diligence is exercised on the part of the seller, the unauthorized purchaser shall be liable for any penalty or fine resulting from the unauthorized sale.

There is no legal reason or legal exception that justifies Macy’s, a convenience store, or LHS Poll Pad Training in Manchester to gather this data in this way. Scanning your driver’s license in New Hampshire is illegal, with these exceptions (emphasis added).

This paragraph shall not prohibit the scanning, recording, retaining, or storing of such information in electronic form collected with the license holder’s consent as part of a sale of merchandise to a pawnbroker, scrap metal dealer, or other secondhand dealer, and submission of such information to law enforcement databases for the sole purpose of identifying sellers of stolen merchandise. The pawnbroker, scrap metal dealer, or secondhand dealer shall not retain the scanned information in electronic form transmitted to a law enforcement database, unless required by local regulation, and shall not furnish the information to anyone except a law enforcement officer. The pawnbroker, scrap metal dealer, or secondhand dealer may maintain in a log or other document the name and address of the person whose license was scanned along with a description of the items the individual sold, pawned, or purchased, and shall allow such log or document to be examined by a law enforcement official upon request.

Absent new information, these businesses are committing misdemeanor offenses every time they scan the barcode on the back of your driver’s license, regardless of your having given consent.

But the State Attorney General either doesn’t have the time to provide the legal exception that allows it or to investigate and prosecute violations if that’s what they are.

Are they too busy working on another frivolous case against James O’Keefe?

The post Are Driver’s Licenses Being Scanned Illegally in New Hampshire? appeared first on Granite Grok.