Some new and nice things will soon be happening to GraniteGrok, chief amongst them being a new site with better security, newer features for authors to better get our message to you, better ways for readers to get feedback to us – lots of things to look forward to including items not in cyberspace (but more on that later). One thing that may not be coming soon, maybe not even at all, is a result of what Steve wrote about: SCOTUS Upholds South Dakota’s Right to Tax Online Sales From Retailers Outside the State.
Articles tagged as
GraniteGrok
As Grok Prepares To Take it to the Next Level It’s Time to See Where We Rank With Alexa
Before we were hacked in April GraniteGrok climbed up the Alexa Rankings (for Online news or media sites in New Hampshire) to do battle with the top 5. The redirect did some damage to that, and we almost dropped out of the top ten.
That was not great, and we’ve written about the redirects that plagued readers, but some good has come out of it. We amped up the fundraising and our new Web site, which Skip lovingly refers to as Grok 3.0, is under construction. The new security is a lot better and we’ve got some very serious plans for this platform that will, yes literally, take us to the next level.
So what level are we on now? I asked Alexa’s ranking where we stood in the New Hampshire Political/News interwebs and here’s what I learned.
We’ve Updated The Daily ‘Grok! So If You Haven’t Signed Up Yet Now’s the Time
With the new site and new features on the horizon and our subscriptions outgrowing our existing email “plan,” it became evident that it was time to update that too.
If you’ve waited to sign up to receive daily updates now’s a great time.
23 Hours Without New Content – OMG!
Sorry. We get busy too, sometimes. We’ll try not to let it happen again.
The Interviews, Week Ending 3-3-2018
Another week’s worth of interviews in one convenient package on topics from parents, kids and the culture, gender equality legislation, the epic breakdown in Broward County, catching vote-stealers, and building up a political website with reach. (Plus, an extra six minutes with CNHT chairman Ed Naile.) More ways to listen from the blog post page or … Read more
I did not know that some stranger knew my Son so well!
Bumped from Sept 28, 2012 because this post dredged up “LGOP” ************************** Especially the “…and lack serious adult supervision…” part. I have learned wisdom in growing him up – he could be terrifying when mad, too. Glad to see others see that as well in those kids. But God watch over them all as they … Read more
Extreme Pandering – really? Republicans can’t even master level 1 Pandering.
(Image H/T: Powerline)
It is my belief that any movement on making the actions of illegal aliens now legal will not result in a brand new group of voters for the Republican Party no matter how much the R blowhards in the US Senate (McCain, Graham) would have us believe. Even the fresh face of Marco Rubio now has some mud on it as he as alternatively tried to parlay his “newness” in the Senate as being a “third way” on making millions of illegal aliens US Citizens.
Sure, I’ve heard the warbling of “it will take them years!”, and “they will have to prove residency!” and of course, the money issue of “Pay back taxes!”. Eyup! And yes, “we’ll secure the border or start yet another commission” does NOT warm the cockles ANYwhere in the proximate vicinity of my body. Right – I have NO hope that anything other than lip service will back up Marco’s claims that ANY of that will be done. In fact, I posit that our crack TSA security theater workers will catch 100% of all “test contraband” (think: guns, bombs) before these immigration strictures are actually working 100%.
Not my first rodeo here – and I have YET to see My Government keep its promises or properly enforce both the letter and spirit of the Law. Clinton didn’t. Bush didn’t (and we here at GraniteGrok were part of that effort back in 2006/2007 that help to melt the switchboards in DC). Bush II didn’t. And for all of the brouhaha that Obama “raised” deportations, let us not forget three things:
Sigh – DON’T do this to Engineers!
Engineers HAVE to fix root causes when they are obvious – or they get that achy, fidgety feeling even worse. (H/T: The Home Front)
OK, so where DOES it state “Separation of Church & State” in the Constitution?
For many, the answer is “er, somewhere in there”. For others, it’s an inside joke (watch and find out). I agree with the Professor – what has come to pass was never written at all. This is splendid discussion of what I have posited in the past – that perhaps it is time to bring … Read more
“FBI Launches Criminal Probe of IRS Conduct.”
Post title taken from Instapundit. Which made me think of the upcoming corresponding headline, soon to be seen on a blogsite near you: “IRS Agents swoop into local FBI offices” Tit for tat? You really don’t think that with Government as large as it is, it couldn’t happen? The Bureaucracy’s version of a “brush back” … Read more
Decisions have consequences – even on Mother’s Day
We just returned from a dinner out – courtesy of the Youngest who had asked if he could take TMEW out for Mother’s Day – a very pleasant time and not a single word about blogging or politics out of me (er, maybe that was the reason for “a very pleasant time”?). Yet, for at … Read more
Palate Cleanser – Pump Gas News (Jay Leno)
I don’t watch Jay Leno too often lately – perhaps with this, I should. Powerline (H/T) called this “delightful”. I did find amusing and caught myself laughing at times and found it to be one of those “nice” types of videos for a 5 minute view of someone taken by surprise – and then “going … Read more
Data Point – US Energy Consumption per Dollar of GDP
Efficient! (H/T: AEIdeas)
On the news that US Senators Manchin and Reid will be trying to grab for gun control again this year….
After all, it was not US DHS MRAPs, the FBI SWAT teams, MA State Police, or the Watertown Police (and all the others) that found that 19 year old Bomber. Once again, with a single, solitary Citizen finding him, it could have been a case of “when seconds count, the police are only minutes away” … Read more
Things are not always what they seem…
Concealed – should always have to make the other think… (H/T: New Hampshire Concealed Carry on Facebook)
A plug for Network for Educational Opportunity
Network for Educational Opportunity (aka NEO)
Why shouldn’t be all about Freedom in Education – moving the Power from the teachers unions, school boards, and the Edu-Industrial Complex to the Parents? Why does Education have to be location dependent – why can’t we make it truly child centered? Here is the mission from NEO’s viewpoint:
“Scholarships from the Network for Educational Opportunity are building a bridge, for each child, from a bad situation to a better situation, from a school where a child is struggling, to a school where they have a chance to succeed.
Does the school system need reform? Absolutely. But a promise to work hard on reforming the school system won’t do anything for that child who’s struggling today. A NH Bridge Scholarship can help a child right now.
Thanks to a law passed by the New Hampshire legislature, businesses can receive a substantial tax credit 85% against BPT and/or BET for contributing to NH Bridge Scholarships from the Network for Educational Opportunity and help a child now.”
Tyranny – you WILL save for retirement and yet again, continue the incremental transformation of employers into being part of Government
Once again, a mandate that will cost you whether you like it or not, but Obama has pre-determined “how much you need”. “From Obama’s 2014 indentured servitude and Budget (here, page 24, emphasis mine) we see the “benevolent hand” of Tyranny Our Betters Our Rulers our Government with the socialist glove forcing paternalistic nudging yet another behavior simply because they do not approve of current sovereign citizen behavior:
Encourage Retirement Savings with Automatic Individual Retirement Accounts and Support for Small Employers Who Offer Retirement Plans.
About half of American workers have no workplace retirement plan. Yet fewer than 1 out of 10 workers who are eligible to make tax-favored contributions to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) actually do so, while nearly 9 out of 10 workers automatically enrolled in a 401(k) plan continue to make contributions. The Budget would automatically enroll workers without employer-based retirement plans in IRAs through payroll deposit contributions at their workplace. The contributions would be voluntary—employees would be free to opt out—and matched by the Saver’s Tax Credit for eligible families. Small employers would be eligible for tax credits to defray the administrative costs of setting up these savings plans. The Budget would also double the existing tax credit for small employers that start up new qualifying employer plans.
So, not only must the working contribute to Social Security, we all will be forced contribute even more to our own retirement.
Data Point – Guns Make Homes Safer (Washington Post Poll)
(H/T: Washington Post via Big Government)
Er, back to the goose and gander again, Chuckie?
US Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is at the forefront of the “immigration reform” effort now going on in DC (and yes, Marco Rubio is trying to figure out how to slide into the “useful idiot” slot in being John “bring’em all in” McCain’s wingman).. Already, what started as 844 pages earlier in the week is now 900+. My main sticking points are:
- Once again, we are stuck with yet another “comprehensive” solution to fix what ails us – that’s what Progressive Schumer tells us, anyways. Remember, part of the Progressive “state of being” is the Government knows what’s best. Yo, this is Attempt #3 by “Smart Progressive Government” to fix, ostensibly, what an earlier version of “Smart Progressive Government” already did to “fix the problem.
Yeah, emphasis on “smart”.
- Comprehensive – let’s translate that shall we: “We have to pass the bill to see what is in it”. This is especially true that, once again, the Left wants to express train this puppy to a final vote
And let NOTHING stand in its way – from the Daily Caller:
WASHINGTON — New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer admonished colleagues not to “try to conflate” the immigration reform bill that the Senate is considering with the bombings at the Boston Marathon, the perpetrators of which have been identified as immigrants.
“I’d like to ask that all of us not jump to conclusions regarding the events in Boston or try to conflate those events with this legislation,” Schumer said Friday at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the immigration bill.
Translation:
Well, all of the studies are saying so….
(H/T: Looking Spoon)