Today, New Hampshire’s Executive Council was set to hold a session at which they were potentially going to vote on federal COVID grants.
Many Granite Staters have been calling and emailing the council, asking them to vote against accepting the grants due to the federal mandates that the grants require such as ‘complying’ with any directives and guidelines regarding COVID from the Biden Administration.
Federal COVID Grant Issues
Two of the issues that protesters have are with a vaccine registry:
As well as the requirement that the State of New Hampshire, if they accept these federal funds, must ‘comply’ with federal ‘directives and guidelines’ regarding COVID:
These are just two of the most obvious issues. By accepting these grants, New Hampshire no longer can make its own decisions on how to respond to COVID. They are mandated to ‘comply’ with whatever lunacy the Biden Administration decides.
This is a HUGE problem. The hacks in D.C. know nothing about New Hampshire or Granite Staters. It is not their place to make decisions about how the state works.
Protest
Most protesters were peacefully assembling to protest these federal grants. There were hundreds according to Carla Gericke, who was outside St. Anselm’s, where the EC meeting was being held:
One of hundreds of concerned Granite Staters at St. As this morning raising our voices against mandates, registries, and the erosion of our natural rights. pic.twitter.com/t714PyRpgf
— Carla Gericke (@CarlaGericke) September 29, 2021
There were; however, some protesters, who were inside the meeting, who were not peacefully protesting:
NH’s democracy was hijacked today by extremists.
Woke up excited to see Rep-Elect Catherine Rombeau get sworn in by @GovChrisSununu + Executive Council.
Instead, angry protestors shouted, “We know where you live,” effectively cancelling the meeting.
No swearing in. #NHPolitics pic.twitter.com/Ne8WBXJnYf
— Matt Wilhelm (@RepWilhelm) September 29, 2021
Yes, Granite Staters are angry. Yes, the mandates in this federal funding are egregious, Orwellian, and despicable, but behaving this way takes away from WHY people are protesting in the first place and firmly plants the narrative on the behavior of a few people.
The EC ended the meeting before it really even began.
Insurrectionists
And of course, ALL of the protesters are being lumped in with these few, who served absolutely zero purpose with their behavior. Authoritarian Democrats in the state are now calling them ‘insurrectionists:’
Warmington is the lone Democrat on the Executive Council (thankfully) and she blatantly LIES in this tweet. She knows exactly why people are against accepting the federal funds:
The actions of these extremists, guided by conspiracy theories and misinformation, not only disrupted state government but was an assault on our democracy. 2/ #NHPolitics
— Cinde Warmington (@CindeWarmington) September 29, 2021
And of course, New Hampshire’s most useless senator chimes in. She’s apparently FOR the federal government making decisions over the State of New Hampshire AND its citizens:
This is a sad day in NH. By disrupting today’s Executive Council meeting, extremists attacked our proud tradition of self-government and blocked critical work, including a vote to ensure that our state has the resources to recover from the pandemic.https://t.co/ybJfslbAXr
— Sen. Maggie Hassan (@SenatorHassan) September 29, 2021
RebuildNH, who was part of the protest that occurred outside of the meeting, released the following statement this afternoon:
REBUILDNH ADVOCATES PEACEFUL, CIVIL ACTION AGAINST FEDERAL USURPATION OF STATE SOVEREIGNTY
EAST DERRY, N.H.— RebuildNH organized a protest outside the Executive Council meeting this morning to show solidarity against the federal government’s efforts to force vaccine propaganda and U.S. Health and Human Services Department control over New Hampshire citizens, specifically a $27 million multi-faceted federal grant that the body was slated to vote on today.
Unfortunately, a handful of individuals not connected to our organization disrupted councilors as they attempted to attend to the people’s business. Despite efforts to direct public discourse by way of letters, emails, and peaceful demonstrations outside the building, these agitators were able to feed off people’s raw emotion and misdirect them.
“There are thousands of New Hampshire citizens who are angry and hurt because they are losing their jobs,” said Andrew J. Manuse, chairman of RebuildNH. “We want to be a vehicle for them to express themselves peacefully and civilly in order to restore the people’s liberty in New Hampshire. Admittedly, we poorly articulated our intentions for this meeting, and will attempt to communicate better going forward.”
RebuildNH organized concerned citizens to urge the Executive Council not to accept federal grants because of the strings attached. On page 17 of the grant documents, acceptance of the funds would require New Hampshire to: “1) comply with existing and/or future directives and guidance from the [U.S. Health and Human Services] Secretary regarding control of the spread of COVID-19; 2) in consultation and coordination with HHS, provide, commensurate with the condition of the individual, COVID-19 patient care regardless of the individual’s home jurisdiction and/or appropriate public health measures (e.g., social distancing, home isolation); and 3) assist the United States Government in the implementation and enforcement of federal orders related to quarantine and isolation.”
“We wanted the executive council to vote down this grant today and to stop the federal usurpation of state sovereignty,” said Melissa Blasek, executive secretary of RebuildNH and a Republican state representative for Merrimack. “Our members will continue to peacefully implore their elected officials to reject these federal funds and educate the public and elected officials about the harm they are doing to our citizens.”
RebuildNH will be advising members that future protest action should remain civil in order to effectively invoke change.
It’s completely understandable why Granite Staters are angry. EVERYONE should be angry about what the Biden Administration is doing to the American people and every single Granite Stater, regardless of their political affiliation, should be against the federal government telling New Hampshire how to run itself.
Given the Biden Administration’s horrific mandates to date, mandates that are DIRECTLY harming people across New Hampshire, every single person should be fighting against accepting these federal funds. Unfortunately, the few obnoxious protesters made the story about their behavior, rather than the reason so many people were rightfully protesting against the grants.
