Despite prompting from House Rs, the leadership refused to reconsider HB1212, which Republicans won and had ITL’d. That was the first of a waterfall of mistakes that cost big losses in the House for conservatives, solely due to inadequate House leadership.

That bill was later reconsidered by the Dems and passed. How many more times do we have to lose before we get competent republican leadership?

Don’t even get me going on the whipping. When you send out a whipping sheet and then don’t even take a minute to have a conversation with those telling you they don’t know how they’re voting or that they’re voting against you on your PRIORITY bills… You’re not a whip. You’re self-demoted to a flag waiver, especially when leadership admits to two freshman reps single-handedly flipping the EFA votes at lunch last week.

It’s pretty bad when freshmen are more effective than “leadership.”

I couldn’t say it better than Rep True –

The post Op-Ed: House Leadership? appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Machine Media is so busy engaging in a post-Trump 350+ Million dollar decision circle jerk they seem to have missed who got screwed. Donald Trump is going to appeal and win. It won’t even be close. The city used a political vendetta to attack a developer and was deliberately a public takedown.

But they had no cause other than their Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). I can almost hear the progs screeching; what do you mean by no cause? I mean, no cause! No one else could find a reason to charge Trump with any wrongdoing because he didn’t do anything wrong.

The feds declined to file charges as did the previous AG. And the reality is, this should have been heard by the Commercial Division, however, they had already declined to file.

Why do you suppose the real experts in complicated commercial cases, part of the Supreme Court of New York State would decide not to pursue?

To borrow from cheatin’ star-crossed Crossfire Hurricane lover Peter Strozk, there was no there there, but someone with a political agenda (and chronic transmissible TDS) encouraged it. And while that ruling went against Trump, it will cost NYC exponentially more than The Donald, even if he doesn’t win on appeal (which he will).

More from the Tweet (shared below)

I know many reading this think they are experts in everything. You’re not. Those of us who actually attended law school and have been doing commercial real estate for over 40 years, you’ve been lied to. You do not have the facts. You do not know what you are talking about. We employ two of the largest law firms in the country and they’ve been in meetings 16 hours a day in order to determine just how bad this all really is. Every one of these companies, representing trillions of dollars in real estate, is carefully evaluating whether to stay or exit.

Chetrit Group
Vorea Group
Turnbridge Equities
Extell Development
Bldg Management Company
Vornado
Realty Trust
L+m Development Partners
United Construction And Development Group
Beb Capital,
Totem Howard Hughes Corporation
Starrett Corporation
Rfr Realty Jay Group
Property Markets Group
Rabsky Group
Two Trees Management
Heartfelt Townhouse Builders
Lonicera Partners
Taconic Partners Beitel Group

Whether Trump wins on appeal or at SCOTUS, the precedent has been set. A wall has been broken and there are no take backs. Any company can now be targeted and have their assets seized at the whim of an over zealous AG or politicians. I don’t expect you to know or understand standard CRE practices, but every company below could be found guilty of the exact same actions the Trump Organization was accused of and found guilty, because it is NOT a crime.

The feds declined to file charges, as did the previous AG. And the reality is, this should have been heard by the Commercial Division, however, they had already declined to file.

Why do you suppose the real experts in complicated commercial cases, part of the Supreme Court of New York State would decide not to pursue?

I know many reading this think they are experts in everything. You’re not. Those of us who actually attended law school and have been doing commercial real estate for over 40 years, you’ve been lied to. You do not have the facts. You do not know what you are talking about. We…

— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) February 21, 2024

No one is safe from malicious political prosecution. The obvious problem aside from the trucker strike this inspired is that billions in investments don’t leave without someone feeling it. New York (Little Letitia) and New York City (Engoron) just F***** itself, and I’m not even sure they (the TDS political cranks) know it yet or care.  I’m sure they can move away, too, if the need arises.

But who wants to bet that when they figure it out, and it’s all going south, they blame Trump?

The post Night Cap: NYC Has F***** Itself With 350 Million Dollar Trump Ruling appeared first on Granite Grok.

IN EARLY 2021, our New Hampshire House Education Committee held a hearing on a transgender sports measure. I had serious concerns about biological (XY chromosome) boys playing contact sports against biological (XX chromosome) girls but naturally wanted to hear everyone’s thoughts.

Of the 33 folks who testified (mostly moms), 32 passionately advocated for their trans kids. And their testimony “moved the needle” for some of us.

Moms (and dads) want their trans kids to have full opportunities to experience all that they can as they grow up — including sports. The hearing raised much awareness.

But there are other moms and dads out there similarly advocating for other kids as well. They also have strong feelings about what’s best for their children that can conflict with feelings of other parents. The schism reminds us to be wary about messing with momma bears.

Some would counsel that this subject is a minefield to avoid. Why step into it and opine at all and then get blown up? But as a parent, grandparent, sports columnist, and elected official, I’m going to enter this dangerous and complicated minefield, and hopefully emerge without getting blown up. We’ll see.

Parents experiencing more traditional circumstances need to understand how parents of trans kids see their worlds — as we learned at that 2021 hearing. And conversely, parents of trans kids need to do likewise. Folks on various sides of this issue surely honor parental love.

This year, after much deliberation, I accepted an invitation to co-sponsor HB 1205, which “prohibits biological males from participating in female athletics.” Given the number of people seeking to speak at the Education Committee hearing, testimony was limited to two minutes. I used my time to speak of safety and 50/50 balls.

A 50/50 ball (or a 50/50 puck) involves two players heading toward each other at full speed. I specifically recalled a high school soccer game where my daughter and another girl banged into each other while going for a 50/50 ball. The violent collision was followed by a scream and soon an ambulance was on the field to take a broken-legged girl to a hospital. (Not my daughter.) The imagery always stayed with me.

The two soccer players each weighed 115 to 120 pounds. But what if a 100-pound (XX) biological female has a violent 50/50 run-in with a 160-pound (XY) biological male? Ouch.

There are many more pieces to this beyond 50/50 balls. For example, the NCAA requires trans athletes to take drugs. A male-to-female transgender student who is not doing hormone treatments may not compete on a women’s team.

This mandated drug use requirement is unsettling and complicated. Then there’s the debate over minors undergoing gender reassignment surgery. We recently had a big kerfuffle at the State House over HB 619, which would ban the practice.

Regarding yet another (bathroom) bill, many folks testified about fears relating to biological males in female bathrooms and locker rooms. A proposed criteria for bathroom use essentially came down to what gender a person claimed to identify as. And while most trans kids are wonderful people, there are examples of miscreants exploiting the “identification” situation with nefarious intent. Related concerns deserve attention.

Inconveniently, some folks’ “identifications” also change over time — not just in adolescents but, in some cases, folks who are 50 or 60 years old.

Caitlyn Jenner is perhaps the world’s most famous trans athlete. As Bruce Jenner in 1976, Caitlyn won the Olympic Decathlon. Jenner is a strong and articulate opponent of XY trans athletes competing against XX athletes at any level.

There is a simple (though not easy) answer to this complicated transgender sports participation question. XX’s compete against XX’s. XY’s compete against XY’s. Admittedly, this would preclude some trans athletes from competing on their desired teams. Sport, like life, is not always fair. And while sport can yield ecstatic victory thrills, sport is also about dashed dreams and disappointment. Such is life. At some point, I accepted that I was never going to play for the Celtics.

Any other policy would guarantee ambiguous grey areas, endless conflict, drug mandates, bathroom/locker room danger and drama, and untold avoidable injuries as players pursue those 50/50 balls.

Can we ever get through this minefield to a promised land with clear definition and safety? We need to try. It wasn’t Yogi Berra but Geoffrey Chaucer who first said over six centuries ago, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

The post 50/50 Balls and Transgender Sports appeared first on Granite Grok.

In terms of judicial activism, New York’s infamous Judge Engoron has got nothing on New Hampshire’s Judge Ruoff. Engoron has abused his position as a judge in order to destroy one man … Donald Trump. Ruoff has abused his position as a judge in order to destroy democracy in New Hampshire.

I am not going to waste my time (at least for the time being) explaining how dishonest and absurd Ruoff’s education-funding decisions are … because such an explanation would fall on deaf ears. The majority of the NHGOP State Reps and State Senators are SHEEP, who do and think as their “leaders” tell them to do and think.

You can explain to them over and over and over and over again how the State Constitution does NOT contain a right to an “adequate education” and does NOT empower the judicial branch to be the final arbiter of that right (including the power to stealth-order the legislature to raise taxes) … and you would just be wasting your time.

Ruoff’s latest assault on democracy is to order that “the State” … a lovely euphemism for taxpayers … must IMMEDIATELY pay an additional half a BILLION dollars into New Hampshire’s education funding black hole in order to meet the totally fictitious, totally judicially fabricated obligation to “fund an adequate education.” Everything else can remain the same … the same teachers, the same curriculum, the same etc., etc., etc.. If this seems absurd … THAT’S BECAUSE IT IS.

So keep your heads buried in the sand, dear NHGOP. Until your “leaders” tell you to lift them and run around like chickens with their heads cut off, repeating “ONLY A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT,” which represents a capitulation to Ruoff’s assault on democracy.

But be on notice … once you comply with Ruoff’s decision, there will be no going back. The Sununu Supreme Court will interpret your capitulation to mean that they can affirm Ruoff’s assault on democracy, and you will do NOTHING.

The post Another Day … Another Assault On Democracy In New Hampshire… And Yet More Denial By The NHGOP appeared first on Granite Grok.

Senator Sharon Carson is the state senator for the Republican towns of Auburn, Hudson, and Londonderry, New Hampshire and she is the prime sponsor for bill SB422  which would remove the words “mother” and “father” from birth records and replace them with “birth parent” and “non-birth parent.” 

In her testimony for the bill, Sen. Carson said that it would help those using assisted reproduction and gamete donation so they wouldn’t have to go through the extra step of establishing parentage of the babies. That means that the baby is created in a test tube from an egg and a sperm and then implanted in a woman. The egg may be donated. The sperm may be donated and the pregnant woman may be a surrogate.

In my testimony I said:

Removing the words mother and father from birth records denies our very humanity. Every child has a mother and a father and this change would create a fiction that a child was created by two people who have may have nothing to do with his or her conception. This bill also furthers the lie that biological sex doesn’t matter when we know that only women can birth children and only men can father children.

In Cornerstone’s testimony, they pointed out this bill would allow the mother of a child to put anyone on the birth certificate as the “non-birth parent.” It could even be the child’s grandmother and it would cut out the father and leave him with no rights.

This bill puts adults’ needs over children’s needs, which is backward to the way it should be. Senator Carson is sponsoring this bill for the sake of corrupt special interests like GLAD and Dartmouth Health and not for the sake of protecting children.

Contact the Senate Judiciary Committee and ask them to vote ITL on SB422. 

“We should strive to prevent situations where a child is separated from a birth mother or birth father, not give them legitimacy.” @BethRS62 testifies against SB422, which would remove the words “mother” and “father” from birth records. #NHPolitics pic.twitter.com/0GVBrvq1w1

— Sidewalk Steve (@Sidewalk_Steve) February 8, 2024

The post Republican NH State Senator Wants To Remove “Mother” and “Father” From Birth Certificates appeared first on Granite Grok.

Weare, New Hampshire, an allegedly Republican and pro-liberty bastion, has been putting a local pastor through the bureaucratic meat grinder for daring to hold religious services in his barn.

The barn is fully renovated. Pastor Howard added pews, a pulpit and a heater to make sure his congregation can worship comfortably. It’s usually no more than 30 people gathered at once. ..

Here’s what’s really outrageous: The Pastor has previously held other gatherings at the property for years—such as weddings, board-game tournaments, local events and even hosted political candidates who wanted to speak to the community.

The town placed no restrictive zoning demands on those meetings. But apparently, it’s a problem now that the gathering is a church.

The town is reported to have insisted they stop holding religious services, demanding site plans, showing up for repeated inspections, and being a general nuisance.

You have to admit, it looks like discrimination, and the town is also alleged to have threatened legal action. Fair enough, First Liberty is suing the town of Weare in the name of Grace New England Church for religious discrimination.

I’m sure the town thinks it has a pressing public interest, and they will get the opportunity to explain in court, as will citizens, to hear an explanation and then consider what, if any, changes need to be made (to any local ordinance or perhaps the constitution of local boards).

We’re not talking about another Pine Tree Riot, but how about, instead of calling it a service, every Sunday morning, you meet for a peaceful protest of the Town of Weare’s war on religious liberty—something like that. 

Julie Smith contributed to this article.

The post Local Government vs. Property Rights and Religious Liberty appeared first on Granite Grok.