It looks like this story of the EPA breaching an old gold mine and bespoiling the drinking and irrigation waters of the Animus river – deliberately and after the owner of this defunct mine warned them this might happened – has “legs”.  The EPA’s response was to “ton of bricks” him by threatening him with $35,000 per day fines.  In other words, if you don’t do what we tell you, we will bankrupt you.  Guess that’s the Obama way.

Anyways, a collection of more links:

EPA FAILS TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT COERCED MINE OWNER TO GRANT ACCESS

The Environmental Protection Agency isn’t responding to claims by Todd Hennis, owner of the Gold King mine in Colorado that the agency coerced him to grant access to his property. Once taking over, of course, EPA’s incompetent attempts to remove debris created a massive 3 million gallon toxic waste spill from the mine. Hennis told the CBS Denver affiliate that unless he allowed the EPA to have access and authority to conduct operations on the site the agency had threatened him with daily fines of $35,000…Breitbart News asked the EPA on Friday to confirm or deny Hennis’s claim, but has received no reply.

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On Meet The Press this morning, Chuck Todd had two Establishment Republican insiders on: Alex Castellanos and Charlie Black.  A couple of things caught my ear:

•  “Only 20-25% of the party”

They kept on saying that it is only a small part of the Republican electorate that is going for Trump Gosh, what makes them think that this clump of voters will vote Republican in the end?  Once again, I hear this “entitled” viewpoint – those votes are OURS.  What is it that makes these insiders believe that they have a lock on these voters?  Do they view them like the Democrats view the black vote?  As word gets out on this way of looking at THEM, these THEM may get the idea of “sticking it to the Man” politically is not such a bad thing to do.  Why?

Charlie Black goes right into it:

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Update: One of the Marines was critically injured and med evac’d to a hospital.  The other Marine suffered knife stabs.

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US Marines – on duty, even if on a French train:

 Unarmed US Marines avert high-speed train massacre by ‘taking down’ Kalashnikov-wielding gunman who injured three ‘including one Briton’ onboard service between Amsterdam and Paris. “A crazed gunman, who opened fire with an assault rifle onboard a high-speed train was detained by a group of US Marines who were travelling on the service. The man is understood to have been overheard loading the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle in the toilet by the un-armed Marines. Three people were injured when the man, believed to be a 26-year-old Moroccan, opened fire. As well as an assault rifle, he had at least six magazines with almost 200 rounds of ammunition. He was also carrying a knife.”

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Pretty much, NO ONE ever thought that this would be coming down the pike.  I officially have to say, we are seeing Black Swan events for this Presidential campaign on both sides of the aisle: Trump and Sanders.  As to the former, one has to say that he has turned the Primary totally upside down and inside out (emphasis mine, reformatted):

According to the latest Rasmussen poll, 57 percent of likely Republican voters believe that Trump will not only stay in the race but will likely be the eventual Republican nominee.  But 42 percent of Republicans said that it’s not likely – 15 percent of which were positive that it wouldn’t happen.

Among all likely voters, 49 percent believe that Trump will be the Republican nominee. Two months ago, only 27 percent of Republicans believed Trump would win, according to Rasmussen.

YIKES!  The Establishment must be sucking down Maalox from an 18-wheeler tank truck.  They have

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NH mayors on alert after cheating site revelations include city government domains

Email addresses bearing the domain names of New Hampshire cities and towns appear to be among a slew of data stolen when hackers accessed the cheating website Ashley Madison.  The data access by hackers details millions of members of the Ashley Madison website, whose tagline is “Life is short. Have an affair.”

Although unconfirmed, some websites have posted abbreviated email addresses of reported members. The address domains include branches of the military and a long list of local governments. New Hampshire city domains included Dover, Manchester, Milford and Nashua.

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During the ‘Defending the American Dream Summit’ in Columbus, Ohio this weekend, Ohio unions shipped members from across the state to protest the ‘evil Koch Brothers’.

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This weekend the ‘Defending the American Dream Summit’ was held in Columbus, Ohio and activists from New Hampshire were in attendance. Over 20 activists attended the annual American Dream summit held by Americans for Prosperity (AFP).  Granite Staters from the ages of 16 – 62 traveled to Columbus together to attend activist training, hear keynote speakers and participate in various discussions throughout the weekend.

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“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 Barack Obama, Inauguration, 1/20/09

An American not doing the work that another American would do the work?  Or indicative of just a “different” work ethos overall?

A federal employee last year received $25,500, or over four months of pay, for work he didn’t do, and his manager failed to notice anything until an anonymous whistleblower left a letter saying the employee “never shows up to work” and produces “garbage.”

…While the unnamed official from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office claimed to be working hundreds of hours, “there was no evidence” he went to the office or used his government-issued laptop at all, according to an investigation by USPTO’s acting inspector general.

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During last week’s speech in Havana, Secretary of State John Kerry proudly reinstated diplomatic relations with Cuba on the steps of our once and future U.S. Embassy. You’ll notice in the backdrop of the photos of Kerry at the podium there is what appears to be a collection of empty flagpoles. Thanks to David Feith, a Wall Street Journal editor, we have the explanation as to why they were not in use at the time of the Big Event.

The story begins during the cold war in 1961 when the U.S. closed our Embassy in Havana, effectively cutting off all avenues for the United States to help the Cuban people suffering under a communist regime. Since the United States still owned the building, some very creative U.S. diplomat found one recourse to spread the message of liberty

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Which was about John Kasich:

Which, by the way, we should start gearing up as to whom we as GraniteGrok will endorse.  Thoughts?

And I did:

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This “imaginary” (cough, cough) is from a post I wrote a while ago and its theme is “You have made them not to care” – that when confronted with an ugly truth, some Establishment Republicans refused to face reality. I repost it for a reason:

Consistency also comes with listening.  There is a large problem confronting the NH GOP – formerly dedicated Republicans, giving of their interest, time, and treasure, are just throwing in the towel.  They are dropping out and tuning out.  They no longer believe their efforts are worth it when these ‘individual contributors” look up at elected leaders and go “So, what’s the difference between the Parties?  So, what difference am *I* making”?  And for each question, one answer suffices for both: “er, not much”.  So, they quit.

Yet, some in the Party can’t understand, grok it, and then act upon it.    I tried to explain this to a female Republican of some note a bit ago:

Me: there are Republicans out there they are no longer voting nor donating to the Party.  They’ve quit.

She: Well, why ARE they doing that??  Don’t they realize that this will allow Democrats to be elected?

Me: They no longer care

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Dr. Betsy is a dear friend of the ‘Grok and we always enjoy meeting up with her at events and having her on GrokTALK!. She has an Op-Ed in the New York Sun:

America’s homeless are lawyering up to fight for a “right” to live on the street — your neighborhood and personal safety be damned.

From Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles, cities are struggling with a surge in people living in cardboard boxes and doorways. Local lawmakers are trying to ban “camping out” in public and ordering police to clear the fetid encampments.

Now lawyers for the homeless are pushing back. They’re demanding that “sleeping rough” be legally protected. In Denver, where living on the street is outlawed, lawyers for the homeless want to guarantee vagrants “the right to use and move freely in public spaces without discrimination.”

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