At the most recent meeting of the Croydon school board, I was talking to a well-educated journalist — at least, given who she works for, I assume she’s well-educated — who seemed to be unable to grasp the difference between taking something from someone and not giving something to someone.

Suppose every year, Pat turns up at Chris’s house and demands at gunpoint that Chris fork over $1500 to pay for Pat’s kids (and other kids in town) to go to school.  Then one year, Chris answers the door with a gun of his own, and declines to give Pat more than $150.

Question:  Is Chris taking money away from Pat?  Or is Chris not giving money to Pat?

It’s not an academic distinction.  If you are a journalist, and you write stories in which you report that Chris (and people like him) are trying to take education away from the children of Pat (and people like him), you’ve identified Chris as a bad person.

And in the current political climate, the only thing that many people feel they need to know in order to make their decisions is:  Who are the bad guys here, and who are the good guys?

So you’re effectively saying to people:  You don’t have to listen to anything Chris might have to say about why schools shouldn’t cost so much, or why lower-cost alternatives could actually be better for kids, or why certified teachers (who have produced our current 40% proficiency rate) might not be as important as people claim they are, and so on.

That’s all irrelevant.  Chris is a bad guy, and that’s all you need to know about him.  So if you want to call him names, slander him, or harass his family, instead of addressing the points he’s trying to make, or answering the questions he’s trying to raise, that’s to be encouraged.

After all, as Terry Gross of NPR once pointed out, we don’t have to listen to bad guys.  Because we know they’re bad.  So anything they might have to say will also be bad.

The main function of journalism has turned into letting us know:  Who are the bad guys here, and who are the good guys?  Further analysis is not required.

In fact, further analysis is actively discouraged.  Because once you know who the bad guys are, they must be defeated at any cost.  And if things like civility and rationality and free speech and the rule of law must be tossed aside to secure victory, then as Nancy Pelosi said:  ‘If there is some collateral damage for those who don’t share our views, well, so be it‘.

If you’re trying to explain what just happened in Croydon, that’s it, right there.  The ‘discussion’ as moderated by journalists was conducted with roughly the same subtlety and depth of analysis as a Tom and Jerry cartoon.  And as a result, half the town is now collateral damage.

So be it, right?

The post Why We Can’t Have Substantive Public Discussions appeared first on Granite Grok.

When a Republican changes their mind on any subject, they are said to Flip Flop. Some feel that you should never reassess your position even if new data comes to light.

Democrats are never guilty of Flip Flopping. Democrats say that they evolve. They can diametrically change position and do not require an explanation because they simply evolved, which, of course, is superior to Flip Flop.

Joe Biden is the leader of the Democrat party, not because of talent or effectiveness, but because he is the President of the United States. He was elected to office on the strength of 81 million votes. Like Punxsutawney Phil, they had to pull Joe out of his burrow to break the news on election night. Joe, Dr. Jill is now the First Lady. 

Joe has been in Washington since he was elected Senator from Delaware in 1973. You would think that having a career of that length would require solid philosophies. To think that would be wrong. Joe Biden has never been locked in on any policy. He is a man drifting in the wind.

Let’s take a look at some of Joe Biden’s evolutions.

Filibuster: Biden said the filibuster was abused, apparently not recognizing that his party, a minority in the US Senate for the last six years, used it quite liberally during the Trump administration.

He took it a step further and said he agreed with former President Barack Obama that the filibuster was “a relic of the Jim Crow era.” Does he not remember his 2005 Senate speech passionately defending the filibuster?

“I think it may be one of the most important speeches for historical purposes that I will have given in the 32 years since I have been in the Senate,” Biden said. “At its core, the filibuster is not about stopping a nominee or a bill — it’s about compromise and moderation,” he explained.

Defunding the Police: Joe Biden said in July of 2020 that some funding should “absolutely” be redirected from police, amid calls from some in his party to “defund the police” in the wake of the protests across the country.

One month earlier, the Biden campaign said that Biden did not believe police should be defunded. “As his criminal justice proposal made clear months ago, Vice President Biden does not believe that police should be defunded,” Biden campaign Rapid Response Director Andrew Bates said. “He hears and shares the deep grief and frustration of those calling out for change, and is driven to ensure that justice is done and that we put a stop to this terrible pain.”

Abortion: Joe Biden claims to be a devout Catholic which makes supporting Abortion impossible. Here is the timeline of his philosophical changes:

1973: Biden said Roe v. Wade had gone “too far.”

1974: He said that a woman seeking an abortion should not have the “sole right to say what should happen to her body.”

1976: He votes for the “Hyde Amendment,” which bans federal funding of abortions.

1981: He introduces the “Biden Amendment,” which prohibits foreign-aid funding of biomedical research involving abortion.

1982: He votes for a constitutional amendment allowing states to overturn Roe v. Wade.

1983: He votes against a constitutional amendment allowing states to overturn Roe v. Wade.

1984: He votes for the Mexico City Policy, which bans federal funding for abortion referrals or counseling. 

1987: He becomes chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and leads the fight against Supreme Court nominee Judge Robert Bork, who was opposed to Roe v. Wade.

1994: He says, “those of us who are opposed to abortion should not be compelled to pay for them.”

1995-2003: He voted six times to ban partial-birth abortion.

2007: He criticizes the Supreme Court decision upholding the ban on partial-birth abortion, calling it “paternalistic.” He also says he “strongly” supports Roe v. Wade.

2012: He says the government does not have “a right to tell other people that women, they can’t control their body.”

2019: He says he is opposed to the “Hyde Amendment,” which bans the federal funding of abortion. 

2020: He says he supports abortion “under any circumstance.”

That is a lot to follow but suffice to say, he has evolved from Pro-Life to Pro-Choice.

Vaccine Mandates: Joe Biden vowed that the federal government would not mandate COVID-19 vaccines. That vow was short-lived as Biden enacted sweeping new national vaccine mandates affecting as many as 100 million Americans, sharply denouncing those who have not yet received the shots. 

These are just four of dozens of positions on which Biden has “evolved.” The bottom line is Biden has no spine or commitment. He will yield to whatever special-interest group he has to placate. We need to know what our President stands for, and in Biden’s case, we know nothing.

 This article was first published on The Liberty Loft thelibertyloft.com 

The post Flip Flop on Right Called Evolving on Left appeared first on Granite Grok.

Shot speed: 747 mph. From not seeing the bullet at all, to seeing it traverse the egg, to seeing the rifling applied to the round, can see the shock wavse (leading and trailing), to seeing the impact without the exit immediately.  The faster the frame speed, the more details you can see.

Up to 1,000,000 frames per second. From a 9mm round and a bunch of raw eggs.

Looks like that Phantom TMX 7510 they’re using in this vid is worth over $100,000. I always find it dumb when places are cagey about pricing. I know it’s probably part of their sales funnel, but I can only imagine how many tire kickers they get.. who are thinking the camera is probably a few thousand dollars max (because they didn’t even do an ounce of research). The whole “if you have to ask how much, then you can’t afford it” thing is so cringe and tiresome.

And that cost doesn’t cover the cost of the lenses, I’m sure.

(H/T: Every Day No Days Off)

The post Palate Cleanser: shooting an egg at 50 Frames/sec, then 10,000, then 50,000; 100,000 fps; then… appeared first on Granite Grok.

At Wednesday’s school board meeting in Croydon, a former school board member and current math teacher — the latter detail turns out to be important — stood up to say that he is ‘happy to help pay to educate other people’s children.’

Now, this guy pays at most a few thousand dollars each year in school taxes.  At the same time, the town pays at least fifty thousand dollars each year towards schooling his three kids.

Put a few thousand in, take fifty thousand out.  In what sense is he helping to pay for anything?

To put that a different way, ask yourself:  If you put $3 in the poor box, then reach in and take out $50, in what sense are you helping the poor?

Of course, maybe he means he’ll be happy to keep paying even after he’s paid back what he’s taken from the town.  When would that start?

Well, $50 thousand a year times thirteen years (K-12) is $650 thousand.  If he’s paying $2500 a year in school taxes, he should be able to get around to actually helping in about 250 years.

As Richard Mitchell might say, the really interesting question here is whether this guy understands what he’s saying, or doesn’t understand it. In either case, you can at least be happy that he’s probably not teaching math to your children.

The post Possibly Dumbest Thing I’ve Heard Someone Say, Ever appeared first on Granite Grok.

Capitalism – while this economic system has lifted up more people out of poverty than any other, it has also created almost unimaginable wealth for some. Inequality is part and parcel of it – some perform better than others, some can recognize opportunity faster than others, and others can serve their fellow man far better than others.

While this map shows that billionaires can exist everywhere in the world, the US by far is the most hospitable country for the creation of such wealth.

The key is Economic Freedom – that Government gets out of the way to allow its citizen to “pursue their happiness” with minimal (ok, more than a little bit but still better conditions than most countries).

The problem is, more and more, is that more and more begrudge their success and chalk it up (as to why THEY haven’t achieved the same) theft and cronyism.

(H/T: Pleated Jeans)

The post Data Point: “World Map of Billionaires” appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Daily ‘Grok is our daily eblast that goes out around 7pm (Eastern).  It lists the last 24 hours of posts that Groksters and Op-Ed writers have put up on the front page.  We do this for those that might not have a lot of time to come to GraniteGrok.com and peruse the site; a quick listing of our posts in daily digest form works for them. Then, if desired, they can click on whatever they want and read it in depth.

We have been using MailChimp for the last couple of years. It was free at first but like a lot of “freemium” subscriptions, the more users, the higher the cost. While we are thrilled about having more subscribers to it, our cost has gone up. That said, we’ve paid it willingly as it shows that people do like what we do here at the ‘Grok.  But there is a downside to using MailChimp.

They are Big Tech (and even more so after being bought by Intuit, the humungous software accounting and tax folks).  And Big Tech, as we all know, don’t like Conservatives.  And some Conservative sites have been dumped by MailChimp. So, before they could dump us…

…we just dumped them. While it will save us a few bucks (the monthly fee isn’t outrageous but is annoying), this is the main reason for the switch. We’ve added a new Plugin to our system that effectively does the same thing – just a bit different in look and feel.  We like some, not so much other bits, but both Steve and I are happy to be relying less on Big Tech that could cancel us at a whim.

We’ve moved all of our current subscribers over but like with all changes, “stuff happens”. We’ve tested it internally and all went well so tonite will be the big test.

IF you don’t get it, and you think you should have, email me at Skip@GraniteGrok.com and we’ll get it fixed. If you aren’t on our list, fill in your email address in the above Daily ‘Grok box and get you going.

Note: we do not sell or rent any of your information to anyone.  See here, with emphasis on LAZY:

Your data is your data. We sell NOTHING to no one. Heck, we don’t have time to look at it ourselves.

If you send us an email – we may still use all or part of it if it amuses us (see above, Email).

What you write on a DISQUS comment is between you and DISQUS for ‘privacy’ – just like emails, we may respond to that DISQUS content you wrote and even post about it but beyond that, we don’t care about the other data associated with it.

If you voluntarily sign up for the Daily ‘Grok (we use MailChimp a WP Plugin),  you give us permission to use it and you’ll get our daily eblast and, in the future, perhaps other emails as well – your data is then between you and the MailChimp WP Plugin.

We have also turned on advertising. If you click on those ads, again, your data is between you and them, not us. Ditto anything else we may have on the site for our benefit.

Again, we won’t give, rent, or sell that info or any other data of yours that passes to or through us to anyone else. Period.  Get the picture? Don’t like it then don’t click it. See? Easy-peasy!  Even a Progressive should be able to grok it.

Mostly because we’re too lazy to bother and we don’t care.  We only care that you come to visit and perhaps leave comments. We’d rather be writing about things that amuse us.

And that is the truth – while we look at overall numbers (“Yay – it’s still above zero!”), we’re not interested in your info. Period.

You can trust us (as Howie Carr, NE’s talkmaster always says) – we’re not like the others.

Heh!

The post Announcement: The ‘Daily Grok is going to look a bit different going forward! appeared first on Granite Grok.

This past Tuesday, WMUR ran a piece about how hard it is to get Daycare for the little ones.  I can commiserate as TMEW and I own and ran such a center back in the early ‘naughts. I wanted our own business, TMEW had the degrees, and that meant we could supply our own afterschool care for the Eldest and the Youngest. We took over an all-but-failed center and built it up to be one of the best known in the area. Yes, our waiting list grew in size with our growing reputation.

Now, with COVID, things got a lot worse with respect to open slots and employees; there still is trouble in that industry.  However, I’d NEVER try to restart a center nowadays. Not that I didn’t like handling all of the back of house stuff not directly to serving the kids – that’s what TMEW did and it was her forte. The kids (we were licensed for just under 50) all loved her as once she came into the building, they’d all flock to see her (while their teachers went “yep, she did it again”.  She just had that magical touch.

But I digress.  What caught my ear was someone who is in our situation in raising a grandchild. Her name was given as Nora and both she and her grandchild are much younger than we are which is probably why the piece quotes her saying:

Just ask Nora from Northfield who has Guardianship of her seven month old grandson:

They had waiting lists that were a year plus, one of them was two years. That’s shocking to me.

When we took the Grandson home from the hospital after DCYF pleaded with us to be the “family caregivers” when he was released from the Neonatal ICE.  We never had any intention of placing him in a center – WE took on that responsibility. We also had the ability to do so as TMEW was not in the workforce – he became her fulltime job. I am assuming that Nora did not have that same situation and so it IS hard for her and many others.

The difference, like in so many industries, is staffing. They ay have the physical space but not the workforce to cover those slots. Discovery Child Enrichment Center in Portsmouth has the capacity to take in 150 children but because of staffing issues and meeting the adult to children ratio, it can only accept 75.

Crompton was right – there are State mandated staff to child ratios: from 4 to 1 for infants and then wider ratios as the kids get older. But even back then, it was a problem and a BIG problem for smaller centers like ours as when a teacher is not available, it is hard to shift resources/kids around. It CONTINUES to be a Big Bad thing if you are caught being “out of ratio” by the State. It was one thing if a teacher suddenly called in sick five minutes before opening and none of your back-up subs were available – it is another thing to run so deliberately over some length of time but the State didn’t care – you get a violation. Too many, you’re out of business. But in talking about regulations hampering slots, this and the square footage needed per child are impediments opening up new slots.

Now, as they often seem to do, after the initial showing, WMUR edits down what they first show a package and this was no different. Read what was missing in the clip at the link above – I had DVR’d their 5/10 News 9 at 5 as this next part really caught my ear – and flipped my attitude towards “Nora in Northfield”:

…That was shocking to me. You know, childcare really feels like a.., you know, an essential service that needs to be present in communities for people to go about their normal day to day, go to work, and make sure that their families are supported.

I can take that several different ways. The least offensive is that somebody can get to work and feed their family; that I understand.

Sorry, I’m old school – it used to be families that took care of the kids.  We’re seeing this, like many other aspects of life, not all that distant in the past, moving from “we shall provide for ourselves” to being “YOU should provide for ME and my needs”.

No, Nora, if your idea of a woman is only that she can do as she pleases and that her finest example of being is in the workplace, I will disagree.  I know it is hard if you are a single Mom (and we always such clients a priority over others who just wanted socialization for their children). When you start saying “an essential service”, I hear “Government should do this for me”.

Just like the Democrats and the Teacher Unions keep yammering that Government should be caring for your kids, childcare through pre-K, through K-12, take care of their medical needs, feed them year round, clothing….I think you know where I’m going with this: Whose children are they really? Even if from a de facto standard?

The post Is WMUR willing to lower the cost of your Daycare and make it more available? I didn’t think so… appeared first on Granite Grok.

First, an announcement, and then I’ll turn this thread over to those that rightly own it – YOU ALL!  Tomorrow night at the Area 23 Craft Beers and Ciders pub.  We’ve been there twice before and the owner, Kevin, is always happy to see us all. The time is 6 pm-8 pm.

Location:

Area 23 Craft Beer and Ciders
254 North State Street Unit H
Concord, NH 03301
6 to 8 pm
Phone at Area 23 is 603-552-0137

Now, as I said here, there’s a bit of a twist:

We have normally charged a cover fee, mostly $5/head depending on the location (sometimes a bit more). But with Bidenflation, everything has gone up in price so we must as well to continue to provide the “light fare” that we’ve always provided. We need to up that cover fee to $10/head/event.  But we’re throwing in a new wrinkle!

We DO appreciate that quite a few of you have become monthly supporters/subscribers to help us pay the bills (especially the new server) and we want to say “thank you!” and reward your generosity. So, if you are donating $5 or more per month, the cover fee is waived. Not just for this one but for any GrokMeetups in the future (that’s the plan).

So if you are already donating to help keep the lights on, we want to say thank you in return – just come, be with like-minded folks, yak about what you want, and have a good time.

And now, we return to our regularly scheduled Friday Open Thread – have at it!

The post Friday Open Thread – Remember: GrokMeetup in Concord tomorrow night! appeared first on Granite Grok.

Unfortunately, we live today in a fractured society where people on the fringe feel a need to take things into their own hands. We see too many instances of violence, but we usually see the results of a violent act rather than preventing them.

The leak and leaker at the United States Supreme Court have exposed the Justices as vulnerable and forced us to reassess their safety. This leak involved one of the most volatile and emotional subjects ever considered by the Court. Abortion and Abortion Rights stir passions and rile people to take to the streets. Unfortunately, these protestors do not take the time to read the opinion before breaking the law with their protests.

Protesting is not breaking the law in certain instances. If you want to march on the Court steps, no problem. You want to march on the sidewalk in front of a Justices’ home, and you risk arrest. That is how the law is designed. The problem is that we are not enforcing the law, especially if those being acted upon are Conservatives.

There is already a Federal Law preventing protesting at or near a Justice’s home (18 US Code §1507).

Whoever, with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer, in the discharge of his duty, pickets or parades in or near a building housing a court of the United States, or in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer, or with such intent uses any sound-truck or similar device or resorts to any other demonstration in or near any such building or residence, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Nothing in this section shall interfere with or prevent the exercise by any court of the United States of its power to punish for contempt.

Enforcing it would be a step in the right direction for these Conservative Justices trapped in their homes by pro-abortion protestors.

Two problems are stirring these people to take to the streets. One is they have not read or understood the potential opinion. Overturning Roe V. Wade will not outlaw or ban abortion. It will return the decision to each state where it belonged in the first place. The second is the rhetoric of the Democrat politicians feeding the emotions of the protestors with mistruths and hypothetical possibilities for the future. It is sad, but this is all orchestrated to save the midterm disaster the Democrats know is coming.

Let’s also look at some comments an MSNBC guest made this week about the leaker.

MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin found it hysterical when a guest declared she wanted to “make sweet love” to whoever leaked a draft decision indicating the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade and “joyfully abort” a future pregnancy.

“I would like to find out who the leaker is. So I can make sweet love to that person because that person is a hero,” guest Laurie Kilmartin said, prompting laughter from the MSNBC host.

“A lot of people are saying the leaker could be a conservative. If the leaker is a Republican, and if I get pregnant during our love making, I will joyfully abort our fetus,” Kilmartin added.

At that point, Mohyeldin continued to laugh and buried his head in his hands.

Kilmartin is a comedian who has performed standup for years and writes for TBS’ “CONAN.”

This diatribe by Miss Kilmartin was not said on The Comedy Network but on a supposed news network, and it was tacky and irresponsible. That is what we have come to expect from MSNBC and CNN.

The Supreme Court Justices deserve protection, especially in this hyper-charged and polarized country. It will take just one person to take protesting too far, and a Justice or member of their family might pay the price.

This government needs to be proactive before we lament and mourn a loss. The first step is to get these protestors out of the Justices’ neighborhoods and then fund the protection they need.

The post 18 US Code §1507 appeared first on Granite Grok.

Based on Ann Marie Banfield’s post on the Hampton Falls School Board’s rejection of the NHSBA Policy JBAB due to lawsuits, I called the NH School Board Association yesterday morning and talked with Susan. She told me that the person to talk to was Will Philips, the NHSBA’s Staff Attorney and Director of Policy Services but he was on another phone line at the time.  You know, the guy that (I believe) is supposed to make sure that all of the policies that they push out to the local school boards are in compliance with both NH State and Federal Law. Given that there are now three lawsuits (e.g., Gilford, Exeter, and Manchester) going on in NH concerning Policy JBAB (e.g., canceling the Free Speech of others when referring to transgender students and demanding that their staff lie to Parents about the transgender status of their child), I’m really curious about:

• Has the NHSBA actually pulled Policy JBAB from its portfolio?
• Are they (CAN they) do a recall of that policy from Districts that have put it into place?
• How did the NHSBA justify its wording – what are the supporting NH RSAs/State Statutes?
• And what is the NHSBA going to do about those Districts, implicitly accepting that they wouldn’t get sued over an NHSBA generated Policy? Who is legally responsible?

And, given that I’ve seen this same verbiage in school board policies all over the nation – WHO was the primary author of this?  WHO generated the original version – and then deployed it all over including to New Hampshire?  Why didn’t the NHSBA vet this?  Did not a light bulb go off and say “In this Dillon’s Rule State, what is the authorizing Statute” (and the same thing in each District)?

I didn’t hear back from Counselor Philips, so I called back around 3:30 pm yesterday after I hadn’t heard back. Susan answered the phone again and said he had left for the day.

So I’ll be calling again today. And then again, if required.

And I just did so (9:28 am); Susan, once again, answered the phone and relayed that he was out of the office again – all day.  Perhaps it is time to go up a level.

The post So I called the New Hampshire School Board Association about the Hampton Falls Super saying that JBAB was being pulled by the NHSBA… appeared first on Granite Grok.

NH Journal:  Kuster: Abortion Is Good Economics

Kuster also argued that abortions are good for the economy.

“This has an economic impact, a dramatic economic impact. Forced pregnancy — government-mandated pregnancy — means that people will not be able to pursue their education. They won’t be able to pursue their career path. Pregnancy is expensive! Raising children is expensive.”

“Most abortions are families who may already have children and can’t afford more children,” Kuster added.

New Hampshire law allows unrestricted abortions for the first six months of pregnancy but bans late-term abortions except in extremely narrow circumstances. Polls show most voters support New Hampshire’s approach.

Asked about her plans to address the 40-year high inflation numbers that continue to hit consumers, Kuster turned the interview back to abortion.

“These two issues are related. This is coming at a time when families can’t afford to have another baby, or they’re struggling to pay the cost to take care of their own families.”

Some Democrats find the economic analysis of abortion disturbing.

“Instead of voting on this radical legislation that goes beyond Roe v. Wade, we need to be supporting pregnant women so they have the resources to deliver to full-term and raise their children,” said Jess Meeth, communications director for Democrats For Life America (DFLA). “Women deserve real choice, real support, and real resources to carry and raise children.”

Read the rest here.

Last night the House voted to send $40 billion to Ukraine, on top of the tens of billions already sent … at a time when mothers in the United States are facing shortages of baby formula.

The vast majority of “Republicans” voted in favor of this latest manifestation of endless-war. Here are the America-First Republicans who voted NO:

Full List Of The 57 Republicans That Voted Against The Democrats America Last $40 Billion Foreign Aid Package For Ukraine pic.twitter.com/tkvybRqpqQ

— The Columbia Bugle (@ColumbiaBugle) May 11, 2022

The Republican Party is a DISGRACE. Replacing America-Last Democrats with America-Last Republicans is the equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. ____ your “Red Wave” … we need an America-First wave.

The post Not Even Sixty America-First-Republican-Representatives in Congress appeared first on Granite Grok.