Knock, knock. Who’s there?

Ok folks, time for a reality check: There’s still a pandemic going on, and about 56% of Granite Staters are fully vaccinated.

Of course, you could look at that and say it’s 56% full or 44% empty, but it’s still better than most of the rest of the nation, not that that’s anything to brag about.

But if you’re among the leading lights of the NHGOP, you look at it a little differently. It’s a red-meat political opportunity, never mind that their own guv acknowledged to WNMUR th’other day that he expected a “fall surge” in Covid.

By last count, Senate Prez Chuck Morse, House Speaker Sherman Packard and House Majority Leader Jason Osborne have all tightly embraced the latest right-wing conspiracy theory revolving around Prez Biden’s pitch to mount a door-todoor campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated.

“This type of invasion of our privacy is not acceptable,” said CM.

“This type of political strongarm tactic would not be well received by citizens of the Granite State,’ said SP.

“When the government tries to intrude our households, it’s up to us to slam the door in their face,” said JO.

And, of course, there’s Guv Chris “Senate Anyone?” Sununu himself, who put the kibosh on any thought of those door-to-door vaxxers – although not quite as aggressive as his fellow GOPers – by saying the state “has no plans to participate in the federal government’s door-to-door initiative.”

Two thoughts: 1. Maybe this is naïve, but if you’re an elected official amid a historic pandemic, is your first thought to make sure as many people are protected or is it to score political points? Or at least end your red-meat statement by urging as many unvaccinated people to reconsider?

2. The anti-door-to-door stance does present an opportunity, at least for harried and annoyed New Hampshire voters in the upcoming 2022 election campaign. Because now that they’ve made their ideology known, will the party also refrain from canvassing door-to-door to spare voters the aggravation of fresh-faced young GOPers (Unvaccinated? Perhaps.) from knocking on their doors, intruding on their household?

It takes all kinds, they say

Looks like we’ve got a theme going this F&J about folks with, shall we say, extreme views.

Now enters the matter involving one Richard W. Morris, a 66-year-old ex-GOP state rep from Seabrook, who has been charged with threatening to “assassinate” US Sen. Maggie Hassan, who’s a Dem, as you well know.

The Portsmouth Herald reported that in May, while at the Yankee Fishermen’s Cooperative in Seabrook, RWM – who, according to the police affidavit, “has had an ongoing issue with fishermen, employees and customers … made threats towards Maggie Hassan and that he was going to assassinate her.” Employees and customers “stated he was very open about this, telling multiple employees and customers he was going to do this.”

RWM went on, according to the affidavit, allegedly saying he was going to “take care of business on Tuesday,” the day MH was scheduled to be at the Yankee Fishermen’s Cooperative.

Signs of the times

To view in real time the political polarization of our times, consider the very public demonstration of anger by Ryan Collins of Bethlehem.

As reported in the Caledonian-Record, earlier this month, RC put up a commercially produced flag outside of his apartment that read, “F*** Biden. And F*** You For Voting For Him.”

As you could have predicted, the response was both good and bad with folks cheering him and his fiancée on, and others, like the owner of the property, trying to get him to stop. Immediately.

The property owner, BTW, wasn’t against the signs for political reasons, it was more about how his property was being used. “I don’t care if it’s Trump, Biden or somebody from Timbuktu, I don’t want that profanity out there.”

And, again as could have been predicted, it wasn’t long for someone to set fire to the flag.

That, of course, wasn’t the end of it.

A determined, and angrier, RC put up new handpainted – and larger – signs the next day reading, “F*** Biden” banner and two smaller signs, one reading “Rd 2” and the other simply “f*** you.”

“I’m not going to have something happen to me and not put it right back up. If you want to play games, I’ll play games,” Collins said.

Gives you hope for the political future of the country, don’t it?

I’ve got the electronic horse right here

Guv Sununu signed HB 626 into law on June 9. It’s the one that allows electronic historical horse racing to be offered at charitable gaming facilities in the state.

While the date means nothing to video horses and gamers, it’s worth noting that was the very same date the flesh-and-blood Secretariat won the 1973 Triple Crown in a tour de force that is generally considered the greatest non-electronic race performance in the history of the sport.

Exacta Systems of Fla. will supply the whiz-bang bells and whistles. A short wordless video on their website leans heavily on flickering neon. (The last posting on the company’s Facebook page was in 2018, when they celebrated legalization of historical horse racing in Ky. Not so much now, since that state’s officials ruled some video exotic bets were purely dumb luck offerings rather than games of skill. Horseplayers have standards to live up to.

In NH, players will wager on randomly selected races from the “historic” Exacta Systems video library. The racetrack and date from their tens of thousands of races won’t be specified. The names of the horses will be fictitious. Players can wager based on basic stats provided, much like in a racing program, or can bet automatically on the favorite. Only the stretch run of the race will be shown and again, according to NH Lottery, it’s yet to be determined whether the run to the wire will be in slow motion or enhanced in another way.

Brings to mind comedian Rita Rudner who, after her husband first subscribed to ESPN Classic, said: “Great. Now I have to watch dead athletes.”

MAKING THE ROUNDS

Just the latest sign that the ex-prez, for all his bluster, isn’t being taken seriously by potential 2024 GOP prez candidates: US Rep Dan Crenshaw of Texas was just the latest of the crop to pay a visit to NH. Joining Sen. Tom Cotton of Ark. and ex-Veep Mike Pence who’ve been here already and likely will be back. Then there’s Sen Rick Scott of Fla., who visiting in August, and ex-SOS Mike Pompeo and ex-UN ambassador Nikki Haley. And, of course, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem who’ve all paid their respects to NH GOPers.

If Maggie Hassan thinks she’s feeling the heat about the minimum wage, just wait ‘til there’s a filibuster showdown.

A P.S. on Windham “election fraud”: The final verdict from the auditors came in a 121-page report that says, “We found no basis to believe that the miscounts found in Windham indicate a pattern of partisan bias or a failed election.” The question is where the folks who raised the phony matter in the first place will strike next.