Seattle City Council Repeals Head Tax

Seattle - Image-WikipediaOn May 17th we reported the imposition by the Seattle City Council and its mayor of a head tax.  A special levy on Employers in the city banking 20 million or more per year, including ubiquitous brands like Amazon and Starbucks.

Both of those corporate giants, among others immediately began funding a repeal referendum for the November ballot.

Opponents had already collected nearly 46,000 signatures from voters in support of a repeal initiative, well more than the 17,000 needed to qualify for the ballot, according to the Downtown Seattle Association, a business group which led the petition drive.

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Intellectually, I knew this happens but to see it is another thing

…to actually see it on screen. I went to look for an image (DuckDuckGo doesn’t do the best of jobs for that so I picked Google) and after creating a new tab, this showed up: A bit too connected for my liking – the first three were cell phone calls I placed this afternoon while … Read more

Joint Statement of President Donald J. Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un.

Donald Trump Kim John Un Singapore, HandshakeBusy day today, and we need to dissect all of this Trump Kim Summit business. But for now, here is the joint statement issued just moments ago by the White House.

President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a first, historic summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018.

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GrokTV! – Rochester 912 meeting: Frank Edelblut, NH Commissioner of the Dept of Education

Frank Edelblut
Original Image: WMUR

Frank Edelblut, Commissioner for the NH Department of Education spoke at the June meeting for the Rochester 912 group talking about what he has encountered during his time in that spot. I will have to admit, he was adroit in covering a whole range of issues that his department is covering. All without notes. And then the same during the question and answer period as well. I think this is TED lecture quality.

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Do you know what this is?

NH Declaration of Candidacy page 1 4

Yep – that yellow thing is the paperwork you’d fill out at the office of the NH Secretary of State, Bill Gardner, located on the second floor in the State Capital building in Concord, if you were to run for state or county wide offices (but not the House of Representatives).  There are slots still open all over the place (literally!) for good Conservative / small government / less taxing / less intrusive candidates (you know, not Andru Volinsky types) to sign up – you’ve got until the fifteenth of this month to do so (4pm).

So, if you ever wanted to light up a Liberal (no, not the visage on their faces – those might get VERY dark in your general direction) in the best way possible, sign up with a lovely grin on your face.  Hey, it might even have the same effect on an establishment GOPe-er as well!  See – fun!

Heh!  When I brought it home, TMEW immediately

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Evolution Gets a Poke In the Eye

evolutionThe theory of Evolution suggests things about the adaptation of species over the course of history that lead us to what we see today. But an extensive research project just poked evolution in the eye.

Newly released research that analyzed millions of DNA barcodes has come to a surprising conclusion that effectively turns the theory of evolution on its head. The massive study, which spanned a decade of work from hundreds of scientists, found that 9 out of 10 animal species on the planet came into being around the same time as humans, 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

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G7 Shakedown – Trump Drops Truth Bomb About Trade. Everyone Loses Their Mind.

German Hillary and her Canadian 'girlfriend'

Mike teased Trump’s realignment at the G7 Summit here which the media has (naturally) decided to sell it as a G6 versus the Trump Ogre. The world aligning against their oafish nemesis. That tells us a lot about the media and their abhorrence of the Make America Great Again Culture that put Trump in Office.

They can’t imagine it going any other way, but it has and it will and Don Surber, in an article titled “G7 is Donald Trump and the Six Dwarfs,” adds a bit of math to help clarify the relationship.

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GrokPoll Results – Will You Vote for Gov. Sununu…?

On June 8th we asked, “Will You Vote for Gov. Sununu After He Advanced The Radical Democrat Agenda?” Sixty-Nine percent of respondents said no, they wouldn’t. You can view the original post and the results at the link. Check out our next poll question here: Grok Poll – Would You Vote Republican In Nov. to … Read more

Son of Sanders Has a Lackluster Congressional Campaign in New Hampshire

levi sanders photoLevi ‘s Sander’s is running for Congress in New Hampshire. And he says, “we’re reaching out to a lot of low income and working class folks. I’m starting to get a good group of folks in New Hampshire, and I’m feeling very good.”

But no one else is feeling the vibe.

Sanders grabbed national headlines in late February when he announced his bid for the House in New Hampshire’s high profile First Congressional District.

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A Belated and Partial ‘Grok Heavy Hitters’ for April 2018

Grok Heavy Hitters - April 2018On June 1st I added a low profile hit counter (back) into the back end so we could continue tracking page hits until Grok 3.0 goes live. The new site is coming along and thanks again to everyone who donated. Grok 3.0 will include some detailed tools to do what the plugin does for Grok 2.0 so we have a clearer view of what readers prefer.

But to the point, adding the counter in allowed me to salvage some data from April which I had earlier reported as lost. We did still lose about five to six weeks of page hit data (All of May 2018 for Example) but there was enough from April to create a partial heavy hitters list for that month.

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Pine Tree Ramblings – Vol 9

I often find myself tweeting the hashtag #LiberalismIsAMentalDisorder And I really do mean it. I’ve seen Liberals tweet, post and blog and I’ve heard them speak.  Many, many times, I ask myself, “is this person crazy, stupid or just malicious?”  There is hardly an example in all of my interactions with Liberals where I haven’t … Read more

But both sets of females are doing each action willingly?

It should be rather clear to see which ones are the more intelligent ones. It ain’t the ones trying to promote a Feminist agenda. So the other is merely Progressive (e.g., pulling down values that Normals embrace) (H/T: Powerline)

Charles Krauthammer – a life well lived

Charles Krauthammer
Image: Washington Times

I may not have always agreed with Charles but he was always a treat to listen to.  Reasoned, well thought, and erudite; those were the hallmarks of Charles Krauthhammer. He has just informed us all that he only has weeks to live due to cancer:

“I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months. I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I’m afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me.”

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Dr. Walter Williams: is it the gun or the person? Past Versus Present American

Walter Williams - Protector of RightsI agree – it’s not the gun no matter how many times senior citizen abuser NH State Rep Katherine Rogers tries to confiscate them (emphasis mine):

Having enjoyed my 82nd birthday, I am part of a group of about 50 million Americans who are 65 years of age or older. Those who are 90 or older were in school during the 1930s. My age cohort was in school during the 1940s. Baby boomers approaching their 70s were in school during the 1950s and early ’60s.

Try this question to any one of those 50 million Americans who are 65 or older: Do you recall any discussions about the need to hire armed guards to protect students and teachers against school shootings?

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So is it likely that Obama knew about this and STILL gave Iran billions of dollars to ‘cement’ his ‘legacy’

Falling Man TortureAnswer: yes. I’m betting that everything else was Shiny Objects and Obama only wanted to give the mullahs that planeload of currency:

Iranian officials, in a first, have admitted to facilitating the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. by secretly aiding the free travel of al Qaeda operatives who eventually went on to fly commercial airliners into the Twin Towers in New York City, according to new remarks from a senior Iranian official.

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Congratulations to Weekend Pundit!

Weekend Pundit

Again, when GraniteGrok was newly born, Weekend Pundit was the first to ever link to us (and as you can see, we’ve never forgotten that nice gesture).  Well, a blogcelebration is in order!

Where Did All The Time Go? It’s Been 16 Years!!

It’s hard to believe that this blog has been around for sixteen years, but it has. My dear brother made the first post 16 years ago today, our former website – World Domination, Inc – having become too cumbersome to maintain. (Our motto was and still is Subjugating Humanity, One Individual At A Time.) His first post can be found here. Just scroll down to the bottom.

This blog started on Blogger, then moved to Blogmosis (long defunct), then Nexcess, and finally back to Blogger. There have been thousands of posts, some lost (when Blogmosis went under), and the rest here at Blogger. The topics covered are too numerous to list, but most of them dealt with the Left, the Wrong (basically the same thing), the Constitution, and just plain tomfoolery of all stripes. While life has intruded, making blogging much more difficult, I have managed to post on weekends. (I guess that makes the blog title accurate, eh?)

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I guess Scala or Galdieri haven’t heard the latest, have they?

Social conservatives will grumble, but they don’t appear to have the juice to make the popular governor pay the price for this,” Scala added. “There just aren’t enough voters, even in a statewide Republican primary, who will vote on these issues. That was true when it came to repealing gay marriage, and it’s true today.”

-University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala

“He feels like he is comfortably ahead enough that he can afford to lose a few social conservative votes,” Galdieri said.

-Saint Anselm College political science professor Christopher Galdieri

It may be amusing, both ways, what with the scuttlebutt that has been part and parcel of all the inbound calls and emails I received yesterday and today.  When the idea started up, everyone that either mentioned it or heard it basically said: “yup, we could get behind that, RIGHT NOW”.

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