Pun Salad

Well, ackshually, my Rollinsford RINO sample ballot, direct from the New Hampshire Secretary of State.

Click to go to the SOS's site to generate your own.

A few random observations:

• In case it's not self-evident: it's relatively cheap to get your name on the ballot here in New Hampshire. So we have an interesting array of (more or less) serious candidates, a number of folks who have dropped out already, and an assortment of cranks, crooks, and lunatics. (Your classification may differ from mine.) Google to your heart's content.

• Mary Maxwell was also on the ballot four years ago. Her website is here. Sample stance:

  Per Article IV of the Constitution, the US "shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion..." I believe Hawaii was invaded from the sky on August 8, 2023 and that the other 49 states are under obligation to help Hawaii sort this out. Although the Framers couldn't have foreseen anything like DEWs, a guarantee is a guarantee, is it not?

  DEWs? That stands for "Directed Energy Weapons". (Are those the same thing as Jewish Space Lasers?)

  Mary is an occasional poster at Granite Grok, and last year we had an interesting discussion (in the comments section) of her claims about the innocence of the Tsarnaev brothers in the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.

• Sorry, Republicans: Vermin Supreme is on the Democrat ballot this time around. And it's too late to change your party affiliation.

• And sorry, Democrats: Joe Biden refused to put his name on the ballot, for reasons. (He came in fifth place in 2020.) Never mind that blatant disrespect, say our local Democrats; they recommend writing him in.

• However, the local GOP is recommending that Democrats not reward the obstreperous Joe and Write In Bozo.

Also of note:

• I assume he is no relation to Jeremiah "Liver-Eating" Johnson. Jeremiah Johnson looks at the "laziest form of persuasion on the internet": Ugh, Capitalism.

  Complaints about The Man were a common theme in film and television through the 70s, 80s, and 90s. As with so many parts of pop culture, the phrase had roots in black film and television before migrating to the mainstream. What used to be a mainstay of blaxploitation1 films was now being parroted by white teenage stoners. Anybody who grew up in the 90s can perfectly recollect “It’s just like, Society, mannnnn. It’s like, The Man, screwing us over” as spoken by an angsty teen.

  This was seen as ridiculous. Not all complaints about society are ridiculous, of course. But this particular one always was. The person spouting it was always a disaffected loser. They were rarely making any sort of coherent point. Sometimes they were just listing random things they disliked about the world. And at the end of the complaint was the all-blame-taking Man, the omnipresent Society who was responsible for it all in some sinister way.

  And now, JJ notes, those in the know have switched from "the man" to "capitalism". No matter how little sense that makes.

  And completely by coincidence, my favorite UNH physics professor tweeted shortly after I read that:

  I actually think about all of these factors a lot
  
  capitalism sucks https://t.co/BDKydXQd9Y

  — Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (@IBJIYONGI) December 21, 2023

  Ugh, capitalism.

• Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise. That's Proverbs 17:28 (KJV). NH Journal notes the latest shot across the bow of the University Near Here by local pols who didn't follow the implied Biblical advice: GOP State Senators Demands [sic] UNH Action on Antisemitism; NHDems Silent.

  Following weeks of reports detailing ongoing instances of antisemitism at the University of New Hampshire, Granite State Senate Republicans on Thursday formally called on UNH administrators to “simply reaffirm its commitment to denouncing all hate speech and racism, especially those related to antisemitic hate.

  “Following the horrendous terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, we’ve seen a sharp increase in antisemitic hate across the globe. This has ranged from physical and verbal attacks to targeting Jewish-owned businesses with graffiti to online hate speech and has led to fear and anxiety in the Jewish community. It is safe to say that no sensible person condones these actions or the perpetrators of them,” the senators wrote in a letter to UNH President James Dean. “Unfortunately, the University of New Hampshire has not been immune to this spreading hatred.”

  The linked letter contains condemnation of UNH "facility [sic] members voicing antisemitic hate speech", no doubt referring to Professor Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (see above item).

  I don't want to get (once again) into the weeds of college speech codes. Let's just point out:

  1. UNH has an enviably high ranking on the most recent College Free Speech Rankings put out by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
  2. It could be that UNH has adopted (belated and unannounced) a Kalven-style policy of institutional neutrality toward contentious issues.
  3. The senators' letter is vague about both (a) what they want UNH to do and (b) who they want UNH to do it to.

  If the senators are interested in doing something useful instead, they should investigate (1) defunding and dismantling the DEI bureaucracy on all the USNH campuses; (2) banning the "diversity statement" requirement for applying for USNH employment.

  (See Quote Investigator on the mutations of that Bible verse that neither Lincoln nor Twain made.)