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People like NH State Rep Katherine Rogers don’t believe that phrase “Good guys with guns stop bad guys” should ever exist, is really just “fake news”, part of a mythology that has to be put down, and never misses an opportunity to advance the cause of killing off the Second Amendment and Article 2A here in NH.  Unfortunately, real examples of that phrase actually do happen and I’ve posted a few here at the ‘Grok from time to time.  This one, however, is different; this time, it’s personal.

No, not me – this happened not once, not twice, but three times with The Eldest and I just heard his story this past week as we drove down to pick up the now elderly Saab from the garage.  They took place just after he finished his hitch with the Marines and came home.  A friend of his, female, was working the overnights at a local convenience store that, at the time, was the object of a number of robberies.  The Eldest has ALWAYS been very loyal and protective of his friends so knowing the manager well, he used to dub around the store doing little things (not an employee) to help out, especially in the coolers but always keeping an eye on his friend at the register.

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Ben Sasse On What The Republican Party Stands For: “I Don’t Know”

I hate almost all of the MSM, as any long term ‘Grok reader knows, as over the years I have blogged about specific instances of MSM bias against presenting news stories straight up without insipid (or gratuitous condescension) commentary slapping around half their readership (or better put, former readership).  But for the GOP to think that targeting the MSM is a great idea that will get voters to go “YES! I’LL VOTE REPUBLICAN” is about as idiotic as all get out (emphasis mine):

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…cast of known characters that decided, contra the NH GOP Platform, that shoving NH into the Obamacare morass via the Medicaid Expansion (Hey Jeb – thanks for the extra taxes!).  So once again, Govt has decided that it knows economics better than anyone and these self-righteous nitwits went for it.  I’m not waiting for my breath to get baited to see what Government will come up to fix what Government made worse.

I’m quite sure that I’ll be SO delighted – and in looking at this piece in the UL, I am not disappointed (reformatted, emphasis mine)

NH insurer seeks 30% rate hike

The second-largest insurer in the New Hampshire Obamacare market said his company has requested average rate hikes of 30 percent next year, blaming the increase on two provisions of the health care law — Medicaid expansion and federally imposed risk adjustments.  Minuteman Health Chief Executive Officer Tom Policelli disclosed the preliminary proposal in a newspaper interview on Monday. He said Medicaid-expansion customers, who don’t pay any premiums or deductibles, won’t feel any impact, and subsidized Exchange customers will feel very little.

Yep – this is exactly the Alinsky end-game: transfer of wealth from the Have’s to the Not-Have’s; glad to see that the NH elected officials in the House and Senate decided to play along with Alinsky and one of his top henchmen – Obama.  All your’s, boys and girls!

But wait, there’s MORE!

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BENEFIT to the use of carbon?  Sure is, even if you don’t think about it – turn on the lights, heating your home, driving your care, power for making things – but you never hear the Watermelon Environmentalists about how GOOD it can be for society (even if it is just that the planet is “greening” more and better as atmospheric CO2 rises).  I remember when the Obama Administration raised, seemingly just to fit their agenda, the “social cost of carbon” such that they could point to it and go “see!” in justifying their agenda of “decarbonizing” our society (and de-industrializing us at the same time). However, here’s a contrarian point of view / calculation that I bet is going to have some of the “Government must control us to survive” environmentalists (emphasis mine):

Until now, that is. Richard Tol, one of the world’s pre-eminent environmental economists, has produced a working paper entitled “The Private Benefit of Carbon and Its Social Cost.” Here’s the dynamite abstract:

The private benefit of carbon is the value, at the margin, of the energy services provided by the use of fossil fuels. It is the weighted average of the price of energy times the carbon dioxide emission coefficient, with energy used as weights. The private benefits is here estimated, for the first time, at $411/tCO2. The private benefit is lowest for coal use in industry and highest for residential electricity; it is lowest in Kazakhstan and highest in Norway. The private benefit of carbon is much higher than the social cost of carbon.

Yes, I’d say that $411 > $40.

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TMEW has a Prime account – I know because I pay the bill for it.  That’s fine, as she’s been getting quite a number of educational toys for the Grandson.  But we pay full boat and we are loyal customers.  But now, somebody else gets a cut rate?

People who receive government assistance are now eligible for a discount on Amazon Prime, the online retailer announced Tuesday. (Published Tuesday, June 6, 2017)

People who receive government assistance are now eligible for a discount on Amazon Prime, the online retailer announced Tuesday.

Customers who have a valid Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card qualify for the discounted $5.99 monthly membership, half the regular price, for one year. It includes free two-day shipping on more than 50 million eligible Amazon items and same-day delivery options as well as unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Prime Video, photo storage and subscription savings features.

EBTs, a card commonly used to disburse funds for government programs including

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“After all, only intentions count and Kathy Griffin had one and only one intention – hurt Donald Trump by any means possible.  Including targeting his 11 year old son”

Remember, Progressives crave power and when they don’t have it, they will do pretty much anything to regain it.  Anything.

Free Speech means you get to say or express yourself any way you want.  Whether it is nice, intelligent, amusing, nasty, dirty, hateful or stupid, you can speak, write, act, video, or photograph what you will.  However, as I have said before, I don’t have to listen or watch.  I also get a “vote” on what you say.  And LOTS of people are now using their First Amendment Right to discuss what Kathy Griffin did – and how she has reacted to our responses.

Steve has one reaction here; my quick take is a bit different. She is the perfect embodiment of the Left in that:

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This is a VERY sad story because, as Progressives are screaming at us for disobeying ANYTHING against the Prog line, “it’s for the children”!  And because it is IFTC, how DARE you even speak!  So what is the way to get their attention?  Yeah, show them the results of their policies – and nothing says Democrat control than Baltimore (or pretty much any other large urban city). Emphasis mine:

Six schools in Baltimore have exactly zero students who are proficient in math and English.

WBFF reports Project Baltimore led an investigation and discovered five Baltimore City high schools, along with one middle school, do not have any students who scored high enough to be deemed “proficient” in math and English on state testing.

Not one?  Wait – the news gets worse!

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Reports like this ought to have taxpayers OUTRAGED – and if you don’t live there, you STILL should be putting your School Board AND the local teachers’ union under the microscope and lots and lots of Letters to your local publications.  And get into a position where you can start watching over or developing their budgets:

Public school teachers in New York state are increasingly pulling in six-figure taxpayer-funded salaries with generous benefits packages, with some educators in one Long Island school district making an average of $161,000 per year, according to a new report.

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