This is the first in a series of articles on the latest effort to push back on and reign in New Hampshire’s governor’s COVID-19 State of Emergency. Currently, Reopen NH and other groups are working through the NH Legislature to end the State of Emergency and to rewrite parts of state laws to prevent such a situation from happening again. You’ll get to see a little of how the sausage is made.
This first article will be a bit long as I want to include some disclosure information and some background information. I’ll refer back to this article from subsequent articles so I don’t repeat myself.
Disclosures
In the interest of full disclosure:
I have donated money to Reopen NH and to The Liberty Defense Fund of New Hampshire. Reopen NH will come up often in these articles. I heavily rely on Reopen NH’s e-mails and bill tracking to obtain information about legislation related to the governor’s emergency orders. The Liberty Defense Fund of New Hampshire is handling the case of a Bedford, NH bakery owner who is fighting back against emergency order violations. She would benefit if HB 63, one of the subjects of this article and possibly future articles, passes into law.
I have attended events run by the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance (NHLA) and the Free State Project (FSP). Both are organizations I will mention in these articles. I am very close to signing up for a paid membership in the NHLA. Most everyone in the NHLA I have met are also FSP activists. I signed the FSP pledge many years ago, but voted for states that aren’t New Hampshire. I drifted away from the FSP after they announced which state members would move to. I’ve been harsh on the FSP, but my opinion has changed as I have seen the gains the FSP and NHLA have made.
I did a little work for a candidate for state representative in 2020. This candidate received endorsements from Reopen NH and the NHLA. The work was minor and unpaid. The candidate won. I won’t name the candidate because I’d risk doxing myself. The person is involved in pushing back against the governor and rewriting laws around emergency powers. This person will appear at some point or points during this series.
Background on the State of Emergency
On the 13th of March, 2020, Governor Chris Sununu declared a State of Emergency due to COVID-19. He based his authority to do so on RSA (Revised Statutes, Annotated – NH’s law code) 4:45 and 4:47. Over time, he issued a variety of emergency orders closing businesses, shutting down churches, prohibiting large gatherings, mandating masks, and other things. Eventually, he rescinded some of the orders. At the height of the business shut down, a former state legislator founded Reopen NH.
Reopen NH held a series of protests. I attended several and wrote about them for this site. The articles were on the first, second, third, and the beach rally.
The principals at Reopen NH decided that the best course of action to fight the governor and prevent a future governor from taking similar action would be to go after the state legislature. Reopen NH endorsed a number of candidates for the Legislature and Executive Council. For legislative candidates that made it to the general election, about 70 won their elections. For the Executive Council, one endorsed candidate lost his primary. Two endorsed candidates made it to the general election. Both of those candidates won.
The NHLA endorsed a number of pro-liberty candidates. The NHLA concentrates on the state legislature. There is significant overlap between NHLA and Reopen NH endorsed candidates. About 90 NHLA endorsed candidates won election.
The combination of the two groups of winning Reopen NH and NHLA endorsed candidates amounts to three senators and about 100 state representatives. All of the legislation that I know of which pushes back on the state of emergency and the governor’s state of emergency powers has come from the Reopen NH/NHLA endorsed state representatives.
The Legislature
I’ll cover some things not mentioned in the Wikipedia article on the NH Legislature I linked above.
This article describes New Hampshire’s legislative process. I’ll summarize the process.
Each piece of legislation first goes to a committee. The committee is required, unless there is a 2/3rds vote, to hold a public hearing on the bill. The committee will then either sit on the legislation or make a recommendation to the full House or Senate. If the bill leaves committee, the possible recommendations are:
- Ought to Pass (OTP): The full chamber should pass the legislation as-is
- Ought to Pass as Amended (OTP/A): The full chamber should pass an amended version of the legislation
- Inexpedient to Legislate (ITL): The full chamber should kill the legislation.
After the legislation leaves the committee, the full chamber votes on the legislation. If the legislation passes, has financial impact, and did not start in that chamber’s financial committee, then the legislation goes to that chamber’s finance committee before moving to the other chamber. Otherwise if the legislation passes, it goes directly to the other chamber. Once in the other chamber, the legislation goes through the same process. If the legislation passes both chambers, it goes to the governor.
Many legislators over the years have told me the key to influencing the legislative process is to show up for the committee hearings. Usually the full chamber will follow the committee recommendation. Before COVID-19, these hearings were in-person in the State House. Any person can show up and either watch the proceedings or give testimony on the legislation. There was a physical sign-in sheet. You signed the sheet whether or not you planned to give testimony, and also marked whether or not you supported the legislation. According to the legislators I’ve talked to, there is always a bloc of legislators that decide how to vote on legislation based on the committee hearing’s sign-in sheet. The size of this bloc will vary. If the bloc is big enough, the committee hearing turn-out will determine what happens with the legislation.
For the 2021 session, the State House is closed to the public. The Senate has moved all business to Zoom. Despite Democrat efforts to move all business to Zoom or some other remote system, the House will hold only committee hearings via Zoom. The full sessions of the House are in-person. Initially for the 2021 session, the House held outdoor sessions at the UNH campus as UNH officials had reservations about the House having indoor sessions at UNH. I suspect the reservations are actually due to some representatives not wearing masks and drinking beer during the 2020 sessions at the Whittemore Center. The House has moved to a sports complex in Bedford, NH.
Sign-ins for committee hearings for both chambers are now on-line. The NHLA has instructions on how to sign up for the hearings. There is a form on a web page which you use to sign up for a hearing. You need to know the date, the committee, and the legislation’s bill/resolution number. During the sign-in, you can state whether or not you support the bill and whether or not you wish to give testimony. You need to provide your name and contact information. When you are done, the form gives you the Zoom link for the hearing. Sign-ins close before the committee hearing so that the committee chair knows how many people plan to speak.
You don’t need to go through the sign-in to find the Zoom link. It is available if you dig through the legislation’s docket history on the legislature’s web page. As far as I can tell, the only verification or validation going on during the sign-in process is to make sure someone does not go through the sign-in process twice with the same identifying information. It looks to me like someone could write a script to submit fraudulent sign-ins.
This Week’s Activity
On the 24th and 25th, the House held a full session to vote on more than 130 bills. Among them were three bills of interest to Reopen NH. Late in the week, a House committee held a hearing on a bill of interest to Reopen NH. Finally, Tom Woods interviewed Reopen NH’s Executive Director.
HB 63
HB 63 is one of Reopen NH’s top legislative priorities. The bill, if passed into law, will reverse all enforcement actions against violations of the governor’s emergency orders. There has been more enforcement of the orders than the above-mentioned bakery. The NH Liquor Commission has revoked liquor licenses for violations of the governor’s emergency orders. Two examples are Whiskey’s 20 and Jewel in Manchester, NH. The state government has issued fines against businesses for violations such as the fines against What a Bagel in Nashua, NH and Checkmate Pizza in Concord, NH. The bill passed the House on a vote of 188-169. As the bill has a financial impact and has not been through the House Finance Committee, it will go to the House Finance Committee before heading to the Senate. The Union Leader and WMUR have covered the vote on the bill. Reopen NH issued a press release about the vote.
HB 187
HB 187 is a bill restricting the powers of the NH Department of Health and Human Services during an emergency. Reopen NH supported the bill. The bill passed with a vote of 333-6. It will go to the Senate.
HB 365
HB 365, if passed, would allow the state to certify Federal law enforcement to enforce state law. Reopen NH was concerned this would lead to the expansion of enforcement of public health edicts. The House killed the bill with a vote of 260-89.
HB 440
HB 440 was originally intended to be a bill preventing a governor’s emergency orders from interfering with the free exercise of religion. I read the original bill text, and it enshrined the idea of “essential services” in state law. Another legislator introduced an amendment which rewrote the bill to remove mentions of “essential services” and also expand the protections to all enumerated rights in the US and NH Constitution. I saw the amendment text, and I liked the amendment except for the idea of having a law which in effect says, “The Constitution does not have a scary virus exception.” The amendment text is not yet available on the legislature’s page for the bill. Reopen NH supports the bill.
I attended the House Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill on Feb. 26th, 2021. I did not stay for the whole hearing. One of the sponsors, Rep. Jim Kofalt, and the author of the amendment, Rep. Mike Sylvia, spoke first on the legislation. Both answered questions from the committee. My impression is that both were unprepared. I was not impressed with their performance.
There was an amusing question when the committee questioned Reps. Kofalt and Sylvia. One committee member, Rep. Paul Berch asked if this would allow members of the Free State Project to start a church to avoid paying property taxes. The response from Rep. Kofalt is that the bill is limited to restricting the governor’s emergency powers, and so would not allow setting up a church to avoid property taxes.
One of the committee members asked Rep. Kofalt if there was a specific incident where someone’s constitutional rights were infringed upon during the current state of emergency. Rep. Kofalt answer was about infringements on religious freedom which had nothing to do with the current state of emergency.
A lawyer from Cornerstone, Ian Huyett, spoke during the public comment part of the hearing. I think he saved the bill, assuming the bill receives a favorable recommendation from the committee. The lawyer brought up the Binford case where the NH Superior Court ruled that the Constitution can be suspended during a state of emergency.
Just before I dropped off the hearing’s Zoom call, one of the hearing attendees wanted to speak. The committee chair allowed him to speak. This person gave an example of an infringement of civil liberties during a state of emergency in an attempt to answer the earlier question about specific infringements of civil liberties during this state of emergency. Unfortunately, the incident was not during this state of emergency. The incident was the beating of an elderly woman and confiscation of her revolver in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
According to the House calendar, the committee meets in an executive session on March 2nd. I think they will vote on their recommendation to the full House for HB 440 at that time.
Reopen NH on the Tom Woods Show
Reopen NH’s Executive Director Melissa Blasek, who is also a state representative, appeared on the Tom Woods show. This episode is about a half hour long. Tom Woods and Melissa Blasek talked about the efforts to end the state of emergency and rewrite laws around the government’s emergency powers.
Activity for the Week of March 1st
Several pieces of legislation Reopen NH is interested in will come up for hearings on March 1st. The ones Reopen NH supports are:
- HCR 2 – This is the resolution to end the state of emergency. I incorrectly identified it in the comments as HCR 1. Sorry. If the resolution passes both the House and the Senate, the state of emergency ends. As far as I know, unlike in Pennsylvania, a concurrent resolution does not need the governor’s signature to take effect. Passing this resolution is another of Reopen NH’s top legislative priorities for this session.
- HB 277 – This bill updates RSA 4:45 so that either the House or the Senate can terminate a state of emergency by a petition.
- HB 280 – This bill updates RSA 4:45 so that the legislature can terminate any of the governor’s individual emergency orders through the same procedure as used for terminating a state of emergency.
- HB 325 – This bill updates RSA 4:45 so that either the House or the Senate can terminate a state of emergency by a simple resolution.
- HB 559 – This bill updates RSA 4:45 so that a state of emergency expires after 21 days unless the legislature votes to renew the state of emergency. The bill removes the governor’s ability to renew a state of emergency.
- HB 389 – This bill updates RSA 4:45 to create a legislative committee which will only exist during states of emergency. The committee will provide oversight to the governor during the state of emergency.
- HB 439 – This bill removes the part of state law which municipalities have used to pass mask ordinances.
- HB 275 – This bill is yet another modification to RSA 4:45 which gives the Legislature more power during a state of emergency.
- HB 414 – This bill also updates RSA 4:45. This bill removes the ability of the governor to compel evacuations.
- HB 433 – This bill updates RSA 4:45 to limit the governor’s ability to renew states of emergency. The bill states the governor may only renew a state of emergency once. Beyond that, the legislature must renew the state of emergency.
There is one bill Reopen NH is working to oppose. That bill is HB 493 which makes it a crime if a person assaults, threatens to assault, or disobeys a business employee after the business employs instructs the person to obey public health mandates, including but not limited to mask orders. Reopen NH considers opposition to this bill a high priority.
I intend to attend the hearing for HCR 2. I attend others on if I time. I will write up another installment of this series over the course of the week.
He should be referred to GoT style – Gov Chris, Second of his name.
One correction – according to a legislator I know, HB 187 is going to another committee before going to the Senate.
Another correction:
Sign-ins close before the committee hearing so that the committee chair knows how many people plan to speak.
Current policy is that sign-ins for purposes of speaking close before the committee hearing. Sign-ins for purposes of registering support or opposition to the bill and not speaking close at the end of the day of the committee hearing.
Great write-up. Needs more boobiepedia.
Thanks
DEG does politics. Q does boobs.
I was an early evangelist of boobpedia.
A great article! It must be awesome to live in a state where at least some local politicians care about basic freedoms. Of course, you actually did something to make this happen.
Great write up and super encouraging about individuals banding together to fight this power grab. I wish we could do that here in Illinois but one of the worst things about living here is how Springfield over the years has demoralized any opposition to their bullshit.
We have an uphill battle. The Governor is unhappy with the push back he’s received. He has a lot of influence over the Republican Party, especially with Republican Senators. Getting stuff out of the House is the easy part.
No afternoon links? This is why Trump became president.
DEG. Great work and what we should be seeing out of our press.
I thought this was more important than my usual Thursday Afternoon Links and has a certain time element to it.
Thanks SP.
The draft for the news for this week (Mar. 1st through 5th) is almost done. I don’t expect any new news tomorrow, so I’ll probably submit it tomorrow night.
?
. . .
I’m sorry, was that white supremacist of me?
Papa John was set up.
What was the long game for the Laundry Service? Why did they want to fuck over Papa John so badly?
My guess is that they knew his opinion on the Kaepernick “protests”, and instead of rehabbing his image, wanted to spike him.
To the last cufflink.
Wow.
I mean, he’s still ruined, but at least it must feel good to see some form of vindication.
Ruined with a net worth of 1.1 billion dollars.
That’s enough money to finance some excellent revenge.
Adam Corolla says that there is “Fuck You” money and even better is “Fuck Me” money.
Where you have so much money that you can fuck yourself financially just to get your revenge.
I have a new goal.
Great stuff DEG.
Good on you, DEG. What you’re doing takes a lot of stamina. I dabbled in a local team red group years back. The frustration level with their being but authoritarians of a different flavor was unbearable. That’s life in the Buckle of the Bible Belt.
A lot of folks abandoned the LPNH because it was going nowhere. They decided to take over the Republican Party. Those folks plus folks from the Free State Project have been gaining ground on the establishment Republicans. There are authoritarians in the NH Republican party, but they’re not religious conservatives. Religious conservatives are quite rare in New Hampshire.
That’s all there was here, Evangelical Conservatives; we met in a church. Blackburn was an event attendee at times. Not that I’m against faith, but IMHO it has no place in politics.
Wow, thanks for all the hard work. If there were only professional journalists 10% as thorough.
Good job, DEG. This can’t be work that is fun, but it is certainly needed.
It’s really weird that the House keeps moving around the state instead of meeting in the state capital. It reminded me of Congress moving around during the Revolutionary war.
It is weird. The Legislature (both Senate and House) decided that they have to keep social distance while they meet.
With 400 representatives, spreading out in the State House is impossible. When the Legislature finished its 2020 session, the Senate took over Representative’s Hall (where the House usually meets) where the Senate could spread out. House leadership made a deal, probably easier because both chambers were controlled by Democrats, with UNH to use the Whittemore Center where all 400 representatives could spread out.
The Senate adopted rules allowing sessions and committee hearings to take place over Zoom. The House adopted rules for committee hearings only over Zoom. The House also wants to keep their social distancing rules in place. Dince House sessions have to be in person and distanced, and UNH won’t host them, they have to move around.
And to think I saw retards on Mulberry Street
“‘You can’t make this stuff up’: Outrage as eBay REMOVES listings for canceled Dr Seuss books ‘because they glorify violence’ but allows copies of Mein Kampf and Louis Farrakhan’s books to be sold”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9326645/Ebay-BANS-people-reselling-six-offensive-Dr-Seuss.html
“Dr. Seuss books are NINE of the top 10 best-selling titles Amazon: Fans send sales soaring after six titles were ‘canceled’ for ‘racist and insensitive imagery'”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9326167/Dr-Seuss-books-NINE-10-best-selling-titles-Amazon.html
Anyone point out that it was the Seuss estate that decided to pull the books, and now they are being rewarded for it.
They’re supplying the books being resold on the used/grey market?
The nine of the top ten best sellers on amazon aren’t the pulled books, they are new sales of different Dr S books.
FTA – As of Thursday morning, 9 of the top 10 and 23 of the top 50 best-selling books listed on Amazon in the United States were by Dr. Seuss. None of the six books that were pulled by Dr. Seuss Enterprises made the list.
It’s retards all the way down.
The Seuss estate pulled them from eBay and Amazon?
No, they decided to stop publishing new editions, they have no control over the used book market.
My mistake, I thought Amazon had stopped selling them too. I must have gotten confused with the last time they stopped selling books for political reasons.
People are concerned that all Seuss books are going to be canceled and are acting accordingly. The Seuss estate is benefiting from the panic, but the people buying the books aren’t doing so to support their censorship.
My guess is that it is at least in part a reverse boycott like what happened with Chic-fil-a and Goya. They are trying to support Dr. Seuss but in reality they are enriching the people who ‘cancelled’ him.
The key difference is that the several books are gone and there’s talk about banning the rest. Used prices on those six books are in the hundreds.
It’s more similar to the run on rice, toilet paper, and ammo.
It could be that and that alone, but I suspect many people are buying as a fuck you to the wokesters.
Counting down until pdf’s of the books start showing up all over the tubez for free downloading.
Good work, DEG. I am pretty much constitutionally incapable of dealing with this sort of slog, particularly in the expectation of
failurebarely perceptible progress.The problem with politics is that the people who are attracted to it, and are good at it, should never be allowed anywhere near it.
From The Gladiator:
Marcus Aurelius: I want you to become the protector of Rome after I die. I will empower you to one end alone: To give power back to the people of Rome, and end the corruption that has crippled it. Will you accept this great honor I have offered you?
Maximus: With all my heart, no.
Marcus Aurelius: Maximus, that is why it must be you.
Yeah, that was a good line. When it comes to politics the only people that shouldn’t be disqualified from the job are the people that don’t want it.
Legislators reading a bill? Can you imagine…
An entire 5 hours? Especially when armed insurrectionists might descend on the Capitol at any time today!!!!!
They should have read the first one. It was only around 5,600 pages.
Literally every bill should be read in its entirety before being voted on. That’s the least that can be done, the lowest bar for a legislator actually doing their job.
Bernie, hon, it’s March 4. Nancy could’ve passed a clean bill aiding Americans In october and didn’t. Shut up.
Golf.
Clap.
“when we need to respond with urgency”
LOL.
Read as: states are getting wise to this so we need to hurry
Now they should read Dr. Seuss.
And to think that I didn’t see it on Mulberry st!
Dude, that is a hell of a slog through the NH legislative processs, current state of things, etc. Well done, sir.
the Republicans are now wasting 5 hours on the Senate floor by forcing the reading of the 628-page American Rescue Plan.
Egad, the perfidy!
“TV reporter interviewing people in San Francisco about a recent string of car break-ins is robbed at gunpoint by three thieves who stole his crew’s camera equipment”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9326385/TV-journalist-reporting-car-thefts-robbed-gunpoint-thieves-steal-camera.html
OFFS!!
At least they can be good witnesses, right?
I’m a very, very bad person, because I laughed. Lots.
#metoo
“After thorough review, we have found no basis for these claims of theft and robbery.”
No shit! Those liars didn’t even have any film of this so-called robbery.
“The firm that makes Marlboro cigarettes has boldly asked US health regulators to help it convince Americans that nicotine is not that bad for them – and spend $100 million toward the effort, according to a Bloomberg report.
Marlboro’s maker, Altria, wants the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to back its advertising campaign to inform Americans that it’s smoking, not nicotine, that causes cancer and encourage to switch to safer nicotine products.
That could be a major boon for Altria’s ‘move beyond smoking’ campaign – and sales of its e-cigarette IQOS.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9326533/Marlboros-maker-asks-FDA-100m-pro-nicotine-campaign.html
Now that many of the smaller vaping companies have been fucked out of business by government regulation the big boys come in with the full court press and I bet they’ll be accommodated. Yay cronyism.
I’m mad as hell.
It’ll be interesting to see if the official messaging goes from vaping bad to hey it’s a preferable alternative. If it does you know the legal bribes were accepted.
Well, they’re right.
Absolutely no reason for the FDA to spend a nickel on it, though.
I agree.
Altria spent a fortune on lobbyists to pass laws and regulations to drive the small vape companies — who make much better products for less money — out of business.
Maximus: With all my heart, no.
Nice.
“If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve.”
Joe Biden?
Chafed: Answering your question in the dead thread:
https://www.glibertarians2019.link/2019/03/22/rich-dead-uncle-i-didnt-know-i-had/
My write-up of how we came to inherit some money that moved our plans up.
Great write up. You seem to be one of the very few people who:
a) takes their politics seriously
b) does something about it
c) is not an utter asshole.
So how did the March Forth murderdeathriot go today?
Meh.
“The insurrection planned by white supremacist Trumpist Republicans was foiled by the brilliant planning of Democrats. The show of force around the Sacred Temple of Democracy, all due to the foresight of the Democrats, deterred the white supremacist Trumpist Republicans. All hail Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Great Leader Joe Biden!”
You’re disturbingly good at channeling these people, R.C.
Well, speaking for criminals is part of his profession.
Ah. Good point.
(By “criminals,” are you implying that the many good, sainted medical professionals he works with are somehow less than totally pristine examples of selfless devotion to the greater good?)
Works “with”, eh, not really. Certainly not works “for”. And some of the actual medical professionals (the greedy fucks trying to rip off my hospital) would be more likely to say works “against”.
some of the actual medical professionals (the greedy fucks trying to rip off my hospital)
Balance billing anesthesiologists? Those POS are even lower than teachers on the humanity scale.
What happened to the assaults on all of the state capitols that the FBI warned us about?
I am guessing half of a dozen people showed up in one state wearing T-shirts that read ‘Totally not undercover FBI’ and waived signs and shouted for five minutes. I am sure CNN was all over it.
From the news I read…only “counter-protesters” showed up to them or only 1 person did.
I know at the Nevada stathouse it was one.
I want one of those t-shirts.
I’m sure some prosecutor would greenlight charges for impersonating a law enforcement officer.
I hope NH gets going, because your neighbor to the south just opened everything
Link please? That’s the first I’ve heard Baker has opened everything back up.
https://twitter.com/Bogs4NY/status/1367584576944689154
I was going to say that MA was one the last states I’d expect to open up.
CT would have also been on my list of “never opening, ever”
Conn? I thought you were talking about the Massholes.
Connecticut is not NH’s neighbor to the south.
Massachusetts is NH’s neighbor to the south.
Did you read the linked pictures? Bars that serve only alcohol are still closed in Connecticut. There are still table capacity limits on restaurants and early closing times.
And a bunch of other restrictions plus a continuing mask mandate.
And yet more open than NH
All bars are open in New Hampshire. Amusement parks are open, well, were open last season. They’re closed for the season because of the season, not because of the governor. There are no gathering limits, beyond table size restrictions at restaurants, that I know of.
And the other capacity restrictions look the same to me.
One last thing: All the states need to open up. Sununu has been quite the disappointment. I expect this lockdown bullshit from Lamont, Baker, Raimondo, and the other New England governors. But the governor of the “Live Free or Die” state? Fuck.
I consider people who live two doors down to still be my neighbors.
By that standard, New Mexico and Louisiana are neighbors.
Dear God.
By that standard, Canada and the Excited States are neighbours!
I trust people from Connecticut way more than I trust Texans so hopefully this won’t be so bad. Is there still a mask mandate at least?”
CWAA
Eh?
What’s the big deal? Just put the damn swastika on, on everybody knows whose side you’re on
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) expressed misgivings in an interview with CNN Thursday about fellow GOP governors in Texas and Mississippi eliminating mask mandates, saying the state would maintain its own restrictions for the time being.
“I’m not going to let this become a political football,” Justice told CNN’s John King. “In West Virginia, we want to be cautious, we want to be safe, we want to be respectful of everybody’s rights and everything, and we’ve done the right thing all through this thing.”
Throughout the pandemic, Justice said, “we’ve always listened to the experts and we’ve always let them lead us … we’ve been bold but we’ve been cautious.”
“If we continue to vaccinate more and more and more, we’ll get rid of the mask. But I don’t know really what the big rush to get rid of the mask is because these masks have saved a lot, a lot of lives,” he added. Justice added that he and his medical advisers have yet to discuss eliminating the mask mandate. “If we don’t watch out, we can make some mistakes.”
Saved a lot of lives, he claimed without evidence.
Listen, people. i tell you what to do, and you do it. Verstehe?
we’ve always listened to the experts and we’ve always let them lead us
And that’s the fucking problem, you idiot. Experts are advisers, because they only have a narrow view of things. You are supposed to be the leader who considers the expert’s advice and decides what the best thing to do is. You don’t even understand your job. You’re a failure. You did bad things. You are a bad person. You should feel bad.
Paraphrased: “The worst thing you can do is let someone who pays no price for being wrong make decisions for you.”
I am trying to get my ass to the P.O. tomorrow RC. I have been up to my eyeballs lately.
Oh…I forgot to attribute the quote….That is Doctor Thomas Sowell, national treasure.
I made the point, to a Covid Cultist I met in the wild, about bureaucrats like Fauci paying no price for being wrong.
The Cultist went on about how those bureaucrats are doctors and scientists, and have been doing that all their lives.
Someone pointed out a few days ago that that little toad Fauci was telling people in the ’80’s that AIDS can be transmitted by casual contact. He was a quack quack quack then and he is a quack quack quack now.
Yes, they have been wrong all their lives.
Bullshit. Face diapers aside it is already a crime to assault or threaten to assault a person for any reason.
We have been paying legislators for 250 years and they still haven’t finished writing basic laws? We need to start billing them instead of paying them.
the “or disobeying” that is really troubling.
If you are on private property and you find the property owner’s rules objectionable, leave. There is no reason to assault anyone or even speak to anyone. Just walk away and give your money to someone else.
“Put on a mask”
“No”
is not and should not be a crime. If the property owner wants to go “Then get out.” that’s as far as it should ever go.
Exactly this.
A guy on Twitter is trying a new strategy on Twitter to try and get rid of the mask mandates:
https://twitter.com/ianmSC/status/1367602202043293697
lol! I hope he succeeds.
That’s delightful.
The KKK like to hide behind a mask too.
In was joking to my wife a few months back that it would be funny to push the idea that masks are a white suprematist symbol.
I was tired of the fucking things 10 months ago.
A number of states do have anti-mask laws on the books because of them. I believe the exception is due to “health emergency” though.
Nice.
I saw a comparison that I rather liked of our masking to the only other group of people who routinely demand masking (of females) with the opinion that it’s degrading and dehumanizing. Never mind that it doesn’t work at its stated purpose.
I have been unable to stop thinking of that comparison for the past year.
Thanks for the well-wishes folks.
I need to get some food, and then I need to step out for a bit. I’ll check in before and after I step out.
https://mobile.twitter.com/JohnCornyn/status/1367581513081102341
Is Pie coming to visit us?
23 of the 13 Romanians are unaccompanied minors?
I’m still trying to figure out how they weren’t accompanied by the other 82 people in the group they were travelling with.
“French philosopher and prophet Michel de Nostradamus reportedly predicted a zombie apocalypse for 2021.”
https://nypost.com/2021/03/04/cdc-has-zombie-preparedness-tips-in-case-nostradamus-is-right/
So how is that vaccine working out?
French philosopher and prophet Michel de Nostradamus reportedly predicted a zombie apocalypse for 2021.
Suuuuuuuuuure he did.
Look, cryptic rennaisance French poetry can be interpreted to mean anything the reader wants it to mean.
Suuuuuuuuuure it can.
“Mon aéroglisseur est plein d’anguilles.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OysEzsruFK4
“Ceci n’est pas un pandemique.”
“The mayor’s staff has been compromised, and it is up to you to write a speech for the mayor advising the community about what actions to take. What do you tell the community to do?””
Your tax dollars hard at work.
I think people figured that out on their own. If you don’t believe it, try to buy ammo.
What do you tell the community to do?
“Get bent. I got mine.”
Tee Hee – Nostradamus.
I have to give it to Nostradamus, he was right more often than the global warming crowd.
It’s interesting, the Nostradame thing.
I thought they (US Gov) were going to fake an space alien invasion? What happened to that?
The CDC is prepared.
Which quatrain?!??!
I prefer Nostradumbass myself.
https://twitter.com/drakecereal/status/1367558270961946626
America has imploded.
Q hardest hit
“EXCUSE ME, IT’S MA’AM!”
“Henry Kissinger said President Joe Biden should uphold the “brilliant” realignment in Middle Eastern politics achieved under the Trump administration during a Tuesday event.
Kissinger praised the Trump administration’s diplomatic corps for its strategy of pitting major Sunni Muslim countries in the Middle East against Iran. The strategy, Kissinger said, served to isolate Tehran and opened the door to a new approach to Middle Eastern foreign policy that advances American interests.
“I think that one of the great successes of the previous administration was that they had lined up, that they had achieved two things in the Middle East,” Kissinger said. “One, to separate the Palestinian problem from all of the other problems so that it did not become a veto over everything else—and secondly, of lining up the Sunni states in actual or potential combination against the Shiite states, which is Iran, that was developing a capacity to threaten them. I think that this was a brilliant concept. We were just at the beginning of it.” ”
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/kissinger-biden-must-uphold-trump-admins-brilliant-success-in-the-middle-east/
Isn’t he dead?
That pretty much seals the death of the Trump approach.
The prog media loves to hate Kissinger, sometimes rightly so but mostly it’s a knee jerk reaction.
Well, fan my ass with a blowtorch. Good on Kissinger!
Just so long as you promise not to fert.
The difference between the Trump admin and the previous and present admin is that Trump was right about some things.
The Biden and subsequent Harris admin are going to turn everything they touch into a steaming pile of shit. Thanks very much to every booger eatin’ idiot who helped Biden get elected.
It really stings the foreign policy establishment that what they tried to do for 60 years or so, and then claimed couldn’t be done, was somewhat accomplished by the nobody son-in-law of a dopey, blowhard real estate developer. It stings so much that they have to do the exact opposite of what the previous administration did, even if it’s plainly destructive.
Dude, you make me feel fucking lazy.
Seriously excellent write-up, D. I knew you were involved, but I didn’t realize how much was going on.
I think it’s smart to try to clip the wings of the future tyrants. We will get through this current mess, but it has really exposed how truly fucked up many of our local systems are.
However, Melissa Blasek was one of the most brutal interviews I’ve listened to on a long time. That voice almost killed me. I found myself wishing there was a transcript, because she had some really good thoughts.
Thanks for doing this!
I think supporters can access a transcript through the Tom Woods website.
True.
That was sad to read as it is true…
Bend your knee and you will be on your knees your whole life.
Good writer, DEG. I listen to Tom Woods regularly, and I recall that interview you cited above.
It’s cool to read about the full context that you provide here.
Definitely taking the time to address this “emergency” state used to justify suspending normal rights and laws has got to go, in every state preferably. Otherwise we will have “climate emergencies” and “bullying emergencies “ etc.
“Never let a crisis go to waste.” One of the most honest political statements of modern times.
I guess Ed Wuncler isn’t around but just for fun
Me, 1975
https://postimg.cc/gwsbv3sW
Did you catch anything?
The subject’s . . . interesting, but I’m really digging the bokeh.
The blurriness is kind cool too.
Lucky dog, my parents wouldn’t let me have a handgun.
On second glance and after wiping off my glasses I see that’s not what that is. Nevermind…
My glasses are already cleaned. What did I miss?
The target.
Don’t shoot blind.
Don’t shoot blind.
Nah. That’s for my buddies who never grew up with film cameras. ”Spray ‘n pray” is a thing amongst that set.
I was right the first time. I gotta get this cataract fixed, I can’t see a damn thing apparently.
The foliage broke up the profile of the barrel.
In case anyone is curious I was a skinny ten year old kid shooting a S&W .41 Mag at green pinecones. It felt like catching a baseball bare handed but I couldn’t get enough of it. I think I was born with a pistol in my hand.
What caliber were you born with?
https://www.smith-wesson.com/product/model-17
It shoots like a rifle.
Holy shit.
Over a grand USD? I coulda financed Uni for that.
It is a work of art. You would have to hold one to understand why it is so expensive. The machining, fit and finish is exquisite. I can hit a coke can at 100 yards like ringing a bell.
Between my grandfather, my father and myself I used to have a collection of that pistol in 22, 357, 41, 44 and 45. Two each of the 41s and 44s. Now I just need a canoe that doesnt capsize so easily.
Canoe???
You need the freakin’ QEII for that lot.
Don’t forget, Suthen lives in a swap, that’s his daily commute vehicle.
There were a lot of little spills.
It’s too bad Heroic doesnt show up more often. In the last week I have gotten close up looks at a bald eagle, golden eagle, Mississippi kites, red tailed hawk, great horned owl, both blue and white great herons, blue and white ibis’s, anhinga, lesser herons and a dozen other feathered critters not usually seen by most people.
I swear I live in the best bird watching place in the world.
Oh, and what is locally referred to as ‘Indian Chicken’. They are about 2 feet long beak to tail.
It is mating season for the owls and woodpeckers so they are out right now raising quite a ruckus in my yard.
https://www.natureplprints.com/marie-read/male-pileated-woodpecker-dryocopus-pileatus-19141092.html
Right on the corner of my property just on the edge of the Rigolette is a cypress tree with an Indian chicken nest in it…a hole in the trunk. When I fish there the chicks poke their heads out and watch me. I think they expect me to feed them.
@ Suthen Two Sundays ago on my morning run, I was running across Aurora Bridge here in Seattle. About half a mile long, about 200 feet above the Ship Canal. There was a bald eagle drafting off the bridge making lazy circles about 30 feet off my shoulder. The whole way down that bridge it was me, that eagle, and the mist.
Last week on a morning run along the BNSF railyard, a bald eagle and a giant crow were engaged in aerial combat, about 20 feet over my head. They were just cutting back and forth at each other. Pretty violent actually. Pretty cool, though.
He meant 1875. Things were a lot less expensive then.
STEVE SMITH ESCAPE GRAZED BUT UNFAZED. EAGER TO RAPE AGAIN.
STEVE SMITH ESCAPE GRAZED BUT UNFAZED FREE TO RAPE AGAIN!
You gotta start young.
Both my parents where raised in Mississippi and he’s a raving Democrat but he never got the Left’s fixation on taking guns away. His Dad always kept a rifle unlocked next to his bed.
Thanks for this write-up. This will be interesting to follow. It’s a pleasant surprise to see such push-back in a purple state.
Texas say do what you want, California say “double down!”
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/newsom-urges-double-masking-all-californians-will-not-make-terrible-mistake-texas
I really hope in 30 days numbers are good in Texas but no one will really care.
What 5 star restaurant was Newsome saying this from?
Well, here in Ohio we at least have a goal for when the orders will all be rescinded. 50 ‘vid cases per 100,000 people for two weeks. This is most likely due to the legislature getting ready to strip his powers:
This is actually why Abbot did it in Texas. The legislature was about to repeal not only the mask mandate but also the governor’s power to implement one in the future.
This tables that.
Before people give Abbot too much credit, just remember this as well as the arbitrary rules shutting down bars in the first place.
I give him a C-. He only looks good because most Democrat governors are F’s.
That is a good point. He isn’t a saint in this, but its a better path.
DeSantis at least admitted he made a mistake.
DeSantis locked down Florida in the early days. Then when he hopped on board with the Great Barrington Declaration, ended lockdowns, and prevented counties and municipalities from locking down or enforcing mask mandates. When he saw the light:
“The lie of the lockdown is that if you just locked down then you can … beat the virus,” DeSantis said. “Then why are people having to lockdown two or three times then?”
Abbot was never like that.
For each Californian that wears two masks, it cancels out the sinful, dangerous behavior of one science-denying Texan.
Why is it that when I have a simple question like “how big is the hole in a cinderblock” it always takes multiple searches to get the simple answer of _x_ for a block of _x_x_
Because you aren’t asking the right question?
https://www.homestratosphere.com/cinder-block-dimensions-chart/
First hit when asking “cinder block dimensions”
Oops you asked for the center cutout.
https://montfortgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/8inch.jpg?189db0
Should be able to determine with some math.
I found the numbers for the center cutouts before I asked the question.
It’s going to vary by the manufacturer, also the blocks usually have a flare on one face so depending on why you need this information that may be important.
Not for anything in real life.
I do fiction for fun and wierd fact-checking questions keep coming to mind from time to time.
Any idea why PVC square stock is so much more expensive than PVC round stock?
Surface area, material needed, factoring tooling, supply/demand?
I was not aware of PVC square stock. I thought PEX was the thing now and PVC was going extinct.
PVC was superior to what came before but it had a lot of drawbacks.
Yes, it’s more expensive to extrude square, and less of a market for it.
More on the St. Louis family court racket
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2021/03/04/st-louis-county-circuit-court-judge-nicole-zellweger-who-jailed-mom-recuses-herself-from-custody-dispute-n1429913
FTA:
Jesus…
Why does that quote from Edward Abbey spring to mind? “The earth is not dying, it’s being killed, and the people killing it have names and addresses…”
That judge should be given a leaking inner tube and pushed into the Mississippi Rvr wearing only underwear and activated strobe lights glued front and back. The general public should receive multiple public notices of the judge’s transgressions, that they have been declared Hostis humani generis, and that they being pushed into the river at a set time and place. Let the public decide what happens next. If Nicolle is confident in her decisions then she should reach New Orleans with no issues.
When I went to divorce/custody court for my boys, it was not this bad, but the judge had a hard on for military members. I was out of leave, in Airmen Leadership School and couldn’t go to court without risking AWOL. On top of that, the judge denied my poorly underpaid attorney (I could not afford anything really) request to appear via phone conference.
Because I didn’t show he calculated my income at my base pay + BAH + BAS + clothing allowance and my ‘cost of benefits’. On top of that, they slapped a alimony order (that we got rescinded because it was illegal) that gave my then wife of 5 years alimony for life until death or marriage. According the courts, I was making like $86,000/year as a E-5 in 2005. Luckily that is all behind me.
Family courts are a huge racket and a bunch of pissed off judges who are assholes.
Around here I have noticed a lack of middle ground. We have judges that are solid gold and judges that are wildly incompetent, power-drunk assholes. There seems to be no middle ground. We have had four put off of the bench in my recent memory.
Sounds very familiar but I got custody and got hit with a determined amount of alimony. After 7 years I saw a Texas lawyer and asked what the penalty for not paying. He said TX probably would not enforce the ruling since TX didn’t have alimony but for me to avoid NJ. I avoided NJ
A buddy divorced his wife and was ordered to pay child support. Ex used the money to put herself through college and came out with a Masters Degree. She found a job making, like, 1.5x his pay so he went back to court to say that she should now pay HIM for child support.
Nope. Court judgements only go one way in NM and it’s not in favor of Dads.
https://mobile.twitter.com/gummibear737/status/1315365796181356550
Fauci deep(ish) dive putting 2 and 2 together and maybe getting somewhere in the ballpark of 4? Underpants pharmaceuticals here, but it’s worth going through again.
Fauci couldn’t count to four with one hand tied behind his back.
I’m about to snap, about to snap, about to snap…
You’ve got the power!
You okay?
https://youtu.be/T8HSROabK-c