GraniteGrok has a long history of battling the anti-smoking data monkeys. Their numbers often make no sense or contradict the real-world evidence or just common sense. Today is no different.

The focus of a recent report appears to be almost entirely on, not results or eventual outcomes but on investing in prevention programs based on CDC guidelines; and more specifically, how much of your tobacco settlement money you spend on “prevention.”

According to this report, from Tobacco-Free Kids, New Hampshire ranks 47th for protecting kids from smoking while in contrast, the state of Alaska ranks second best.

Contrast? Sure. The contrast is all about money. At least that’s how it looks.

New Hampshire spent $125,000.00 on tobacco prevention in 2017. Alaska spent 9,493,500.00 (9.5 million). And taken in a vacuum, without any other considerations to health overall welfare of children, the side-by-side numbers look like this.

If we’re talking about the headlines, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free kids pumped this gem up on a national newswire about their report: National Report: New Hampshire Ranks 47th in Protecting Kids from Tobacco.

Meanwhile, 

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SHOT:   Swedish Synagogue Firebombed in Jerusalem Protest

Three individuals have been arrested for allegedly firebombing a synagogue in Gothenburg, Sweden Saturday night as part of an ongoing anti-Semitic response to United States President Donald J. Trump’s historic decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Late Saturday evening, youth attending an event at the synagogue were suddenly bombarded with molotov cocktails hurled by masked men in attempt to burn the temple to the ground.

…Violent protests around the world were sparked as Palestinian groups called for a “A Day of Rage.” Witnesses in Goteberg say they saw a dozen youths attack the building, but their homemade firebombs had little effect and no one was harmed.

CHASER:

“…no one was harmed” – yeah, that makes it ALL better.

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In the minds of many, it has become emblematic of the problem of the Deep State syndrome – a runaway bureaucracy responsible only to its own bureaucrats:

SHOT: Trump Recognizes Jerusalem as capital of Israel

Citing a 1995 law, the Jerusalem Embassy Act, compelling the president make the move absent national security risks, Trump said the time had come to recognize what everyone already knows to be true. “Jerusalem is the capital the Jewish people established in ancient times,” he said. “Today Jerusalem is the seat of Israel’s government.”

“This is nothing more or less than a recognition of the reality,” he added. He directed the State Department to begin preparing the move [of the US embassy – Skip].

CHASER: Report: The State Department still won’t recognize Jerusalem as a place that exists

Despite President Donald Trump’s formal declaration that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the U.S. will still not recognize Jerusalem on official documents, maps and passports.  According to the Washington Free Beacon, for the time being, the State Department still won’t recognize “Jerusalem, Israel” as a place that actually exists.

The State Department last week acknowledged at press conferences that Trump had declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, but when asked if the U.S. government will officially recognize Jerusalem as a place that exists within Israel, officials refused to acknowledge the holy city.

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On November 28th the New Hampshire Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union shared news on Facebook about ACLU Community Organizer Daniel Pontoh’s presentation to Farmington High School students. The subject was social justice activism, and how they can create the change they wish to see in the world and in NH with the passage of the Transgender Bill in the New Hampshire House. The post included two tags. #TransBillNH and Freedom New Hampshire.

So what’s wrong with that? For starters, the TransBill is a lie, Freedom New Hampshire is a nationally funded left-wing pressure group (as is the ACLU), and “Social Justice” is a tool used by the left to socially and culturally re-engineer your children.

Social Justice

The “Social Justice Movement” endorses socialism as a means of redressing the alleged evils of capitalism and producing a programmatic equality that it acknowledges will be purchased at the price of individual liberty and require the manufacture of what totalitarian governments have called “the New Man.”

The Social Justice movement traps your child in an ideological prison that in direct opposition to its advertised purpose (Inclusion and diversity) is intolerant (even within itself) and when triggered, can result in mental health issues and violence. Liberal Democrat Keri Smith abandoned the Social Justice Movement because she saw,

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The Washington Monument syndrome, also known as the Mount Rushmore Syndrome,[1] or the firemen first principle,[2][3] is a term used to describe the phenomenon of government agencies in the United States cutting the most visible or appreciated service provided by the government when faced with budget cuts. It has been used in reference to cuts in popular services such as national parks and libraries[1] or to valued public employees such as teachers and firefighters.[2] This is done to put pressure on the public and lawmakers to rescind budget cuts. The term can also refer to claims by lawmakers that a proposed budget cut would hinder “essential” government services (firefighters, police, education, etc.). Although intended to highlight the government’s value to voters, it can also be aimed at lawmakers themselves.

A microcosm of the Deep State right here in NH: School Board tells Super what they tell him to do with his budget proposals (cut the budget).  First, he ignores them and raises it.  Told to correct it, he then “shafts” them. AGAIN.  You’d think that the School Board would tell him, emphatically, that his jig (and gig) is up (emphasis mine, reformatted):

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This is absolutely NUTS – is this REALLY a good use of taxpayer monies even as NH Executive Councilor Russell Prescott (R) led the march to raise highway toll charges by up to 50%???  What say you, Gov. Chris Sununu? You control the toll vote and last time I looked, you control the NH Department of Transportation:

$32M bicycle and pedestrian crossing to move forward with or without toll hike

The salient points only – go read the piece after you take your anger management pill(s).

• Officials from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation say a $32 million project to allow bicyclists and pedestrians to continue crossing the long-defunct General Sullivan Bridge over Little Bay will remain on track even if tolls do not increase.
• Approximately 500 bicyclists and pedestrians used the General Sullivan Bridge weekly in counts performed in July 2016, according to New Hampshire Department of Transportation Chief Project Manager Keith Cota.
• The bridge opened in 1935 and has been closed to vehicular traffic for three decades.

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OK, Part 1 was done in April – too many Shiny Objects to contemplate so  back to playing catch up. The premise was that we should pay more for what we buy because CONSUMERISM and ENVIRONMENTALISM!  We all should be forced to make do with less, and I commented on this at the time (not wanting to make you click back):

“…the experience becomes less pleasurable and more painful.” You may not realize it but that statement seems to sum up how environmentalists come across to a lot of the rest of us (those of us that pay attention, anyways) – force life for the rest of us to be more miserable to satisfy their outlook on things.

Somehow, y’all gotta change your style (and I’m not talking about clothes or furnishings) because when I see this kind of statement, it cements even more my perception of what is “required”: Happiness is misery!

And for the record, I hate shopping all together; I have clothes older than you that I just can’t part with because I don’t care about fashion at all.

And went down hill from there – a bit.  In fact, if you go there now, the next two comments were deleted:

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Reformatted, emphasis mine:

An 84-year-old Korean War veteran killed a home intruder Friday with a single shot right to the chest, and he’s crediting God with his success.

Two robbers tried to break into Korean War veteran Don Lutz’s home early on Friday morning in Lawrence County, Penn., but were quickly dissuaded by some serious firepower. “Two guys tried to rob me, and I killed one of them,” Don Lutz said, according to WTAE-TV. “Maybe the other one, the bullet hit him, too. I hope so.” Lutz recounted that he woke up Friday morning at about 1:15 a.m. to the sound of someone breaking into his house. He grabbed his gun, which was stored underneath his pillow, and ran into the two robbers.

 

…Lutz is not facing any charges for his act of home self-defense.

The Great Equalizer –

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