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Co-founder of GraniteGrok, my concern is around Individual Liberty and Freedom and how the Government is taking that away. As an evangelical Christian and Conservative with small "L" libertarian leanings, my fight is with Progressives forcing a collectivized, secular humanistic future upon us. As a TEA Party activist, citizen journalist, and pundit!, my goal is to use the New Media to advance the radical notions of America's Founders back into our culture.

The Left continues to create Trump supporters

So, a Starbucks manager asked two black guys to leave as they weren’t buying anything after being there a while.  Regardless of melanin concentrations, if someone isn’t buy something, why shouldn’t a restaurant ask them politely to leave?  The problem ensued when the two gentlemen said no and the manager (who has now been fired) … Read more

In New Hampshire, you pay more for electricity thanks to legislators

BY ANDREW CLINE  (reformatted, emphasis mine  – Skip)

electricity-procurement1In a market, consumers have numerous opportunities to pay more for products or services they value, even if lower-cost alternatives are available. Consider how the market for beer works. While most people buy low-cost, mass-produced beers, hipsters and beer snobs can enjoy artisanal IPAs, provided they’re willing to pay the a premium price for a premium beer. If craft brewers struggle to compete, they have choices, too. They can find ways to cut costs and drop their prices. They can change their offerings to respond to public demand. They can try to attract more customers by convincing people that their products are worth the price. If they can’t compete, they close. Smuttynose Brewery, a signature New Hampshire craft brewer, went out of business last year after finding that it had misread the market.

It’s unlikely that many beer drinkers would have supported subsidizing Smuttynose by raising prices on all other beers. Yet most people probably don’t know that the state has just such a subsidy program for some niche New Hampshire businesses. Had Smuttynose been an artisanal energy supplier rather than an artisanal brewer, it would have been kept alive by subsidies. Every time you pay your electric bill or your employer pays its electric bill, you pay an above-market price for energy. The difference between what you pay and what you would have paid in a free market is distributed to businesses and programs you might not support if given a choice.

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Ah yes, the only…

…thing that Socialism is REALLY good at is violence. (H/T: Powerline)

FB Doodlings – “Scott Metzger: Some of property-tax burden should be shifted to vehicle registrations” – Part 2

tax policiesWell, I do have to admit, the Concord Monitor does get a large diversity of commenters on posts sometimes.  No, not the skin-color-deep-facial-features kind of diversity where only looks count.  I mean the only diversity that really counts – intellectual and philosophical differences.  Dick Lemiuex  riled up frequent Progressive CM and Grok commenter, Bruce Currie who wrote (emphasis mine, reformatted):

Mr. Metzger believes, “(New) Hampshire citizens know at a gut level that a property tax is not an equitable way to tax people.” But somehow, he seems to believe we will accept the notion that a car tax IS an equitable way to spread the cost of schools. If equity is the objective, how about “if towns were freed to set their own” head tax? Then, at least a family of 4, with 2 kids in school, would be paying twice as much as a retired couple without kids. That would create at least some link between costs and benefits. Maybe THAT would have more of a “gut level” appeal. Of course that idea wouldn’t appeal to heads of large families. Similarly, Metzger’s idea wouldn’t appeal to owners of high end cars.

The question is, who’s ox is going to be gored? Every tax creates winners and losers.

And Bruce wrote back:

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THANK YOU – we’ve reached our goal!

Thank you with FireworksYep, we couldn’t do it without you all!  We’ve reached the $5,000 goal needed to start setting up ‘Grok 3.0.  I am humbled that so many of you gave us donations – each and every one of you.  Whether it was a small amount or a big amount, we thank you.

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The US Govt gave up, the Russian Govt took it, and the US Private Sector took it back

spacex_boosterlandingAnd another Blogline of the Day (ok, a slap at the Democrats and NeverTrumpers at the end). OK, so the private sector, a la Elon Musk, did it by getting paid a lot by the US government.  But Musk’s SpaceX cut their costs dramatically with a radically new idea:

In the past, Russian space officials have talked tough about competing with SpaceX in providing low-cost, reliable service to low-Earth and geostationary orbit. For example, the Russian rocket corporation, Energia, has fast-tracked development of a new medium-class launch vehicle that it is calling Soyuz-5 to challenge SpaceX.

On Tuesday, however, Russia’s chief spaceflight official, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, made a remarkable comment about that country’s competition with SpaceX.

“The share of launch vehicles is as small as 4 percent of the overall market of space services,” Rogozin said in an interview with a Russian television station. “The 4 percent stake isn’t worth the effort to try to elbow Musk and China aside. Payloads manufacturing is where good money can be made.”

According to an independent analysis, the global launch market is worth about $5.5 billion annually. Losing its half-share of this market, therefore, has probably cost the Russians about $2 billion, which is a significant fraction of its non-military aerospace budget.

And the literary coup d’grace:

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Blogline of the DayHow about a REASON for “their base turns out”?

The GOP’s best hope for salvaging their congressional majorities is hoping their base turns out. Democrats are worried that their activists could make the GOP’s challenge easier. While the Right had a lot of reason to vote against Obama, I think 2016, in voting for Trump, was a vote against the Democrats AND a vote … Read more

Consider this your Emergency PSA for the evening

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Civilian tourniquet use associated with six-fold reduction in mortality. I carry one in my car. They’re not expensive. Also Quik-Clot gauze. Me too. (H/T: Instapundit)

It’s called the “White Coat” syndrome

Here’s why you need to start asking your doctor to check your blood pressure twice. “Patients who had their blood pressure (BP) checked a second time at their primary care doctor’s office often have a lower number, according to a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association this week. The truest blood … Read more

Notable Quote – Judge James Ho

Sorry, but the good judge got one thing really wrong – the word “allow” (emphasis mine):

To be sure, many Americans of good faith bemoan the amount of money spent on campaign contributions and political speech. But if you don’t like big money in politics, then you should oppose big government in our lives. Because the former is a necessary consequence of the latter. When government grows larger, when regulators pick more and more economic winners and losers, participation in the political process ceases to be merely a citizen’s prerogative—it becomes a human necessity. This is the inevitable result of a government that would be unrecognizable to our Founders. See, e.g., NFIB v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. 519 (2012).

So if there is too much money in politics, it’s because there’s too much government. The size and scope of government makes such spending essential. See, e.g., EMILY’s List v. FEC, 581 F.3d 1, 33 (D.C. Cir. 2009) (Brown, J., concurring) (“The more power is at stake, the more money will be used to shield, deflect, or co-opt it. So long as the government can take and redistribute a man’s livelihood, there will always be money in politics.”).

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So, who was it you voted for to get all these “Laws”?

regulationsThat would be “Administrative Law” – laws created and legally enforced (sometimes as felonies) by unelected, unaccountable, and unassailable bureaucrats.  The Competitive Enterprise Institute has a report on how large of an impact this “extra-Constitutional” process of “legislating” has on the average American citizen who, if you haven’t been educated in government schools lately, our forefathers fought a war over “taxation without representation”).  At least then, we knew who was doing what to us.  Now, not so much – if at all.  A sampling of the results:

  • Federal regulations and intervention cost Americans $1.9 trillion in 2017.
  • Federal regulation is a hidden tax that amounts to nearly $15,000 per U.S. household each year, more than Americans spend on any category in their family budget except for housing.
  • In 2017, 97 laws were enacted by Congress during the calendar year, while 3,281 rules were issued by agencies. Thus, 34 rules were issued for every law enacted.
  • If it were a country, U.S. federal regulation would be the world’s eighth-largest economy, ranking behind India and ahead of Italy.
  • Many Americans are concerned about their annual tax burden, but total regulatory costs exceeded the $1.88 trillion the IRS collected in both individual and corporate income taxes in 2017.

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if Pelosi wants to keep calling this a “tax scam”, then keep scamming me all day long!

AFP-SHARE Tax ReformI speak of the Tax Reform passed at the end of last year in which the Republicans (FINALLY doing something aligned “with our values”) fought the Democrats to do one simple, easy to understand idea: you get to keep more of your hard earned money.  Why is that so anathema to Democrats?  Oh, because they are really Socialists and Government ALWAYS comes before anybody else.  After all, Tax Reform is not just just good for we citizens, it’s doing rather well for the country as a whole (emphasis mine):

Item 1: Kroger announced that it was accelerating wage hikes, increasing the company’s 401(k) match, enhancing benefits, and expanding employee discounts. All, it said, thanks to the Republican tax reforms. Kroger joins more than 500 other companies who’ve extended bonuses, wage hikes, or improved benefits to more than 4 million workers in the wake of the law’s sharp reduction in corporate tax rates.

Sure, shareholders have received a lot of the now freed up money in this “keep your own money to yourself” law.  Why not? They own the company – they took their cash, bought part of a company via their buying shares and expect a good return on their money.  That said, employees demonstrably have received a heck of a lot of money that they otherwise wouldn’t have received.  Yet, Democrat Progressive Nancy Pelosi keeps saying that letting people keep more of their money instead of the Government keeping it is a “tax scam”.  Once again, she lets us all know whose money it should be.

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So, who are the most well-liked Governors in the US?

Voila! (reformatted, emphasis mine):

  1.  Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker(R)  Approval/disapproval – 71/16
  2. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan(R) 68/17
  3. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (67/17)
  4. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (65/21)
  5. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (63/21)
  6. South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard (62/24)
  7. Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (61/25)
  8. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (60/23)
  9. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (58/22)
  10. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (57/22).
  11. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (57/25)
  12. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (57%/24%)
  13. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (56/24)
  14. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (56/26)
  15. Florida Gov. Rick Scott (55/33)

And the highest ranking Democrat?

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Blogline of the Day – when they act like spoiled brats, TREAT them as such

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How to Rein In Student Mobs. “At NYU, administrators threatened the protesters’ financial aid, and the woke warriors went back to their rooms.” It’s about time that the adults in the room actually act like adults because the kids refuse to become adults and act accordingly.  It’s one thing to protest (and it … Read more

Real men carry dogs. Translation:

They do their job and then they come back and lick your face for a job well done!  All they ever ask for is a good belly rub. (H/T: Powerline)

Blogline of the Day – When the job is a critical one

“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.” – President Obama, Inauguration (2009) YOU HAD ONE JOB: IRS payment site crashes hours before Tax … Read more

Quick Thought – Dang, I’m always late to the BDS party

More than 50 student groups at New York University have pledged to boycott Israeli goods and academic institutions, and are urging the school’s administration to join the cause. Led by NYU Students for Justice in Palestine, the petition of support urges students to boycott brands such as Sabra Hummus and Hewlett Packard, boycott Israeli academic conferences and schools, … Read more

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