‘Point’ not taken

The last time we saw Manch Dem Rep. Nicole Klein Knight, she was gobbling down edible cannabis gummies during a virtual hearing of the House Criminal Justice and Safety Comm.

That was last March. Well, times have changed, and NKK is no longer on the CJS comm. No, not because she was ingesting cannabis during a House committee hearing. This time, it’s because she apparently likes to repeat the “N word” over and over and over — in the State House — to a group of BIPOC constituents and others. She apparently said it was her attempt to “make a point,” according to a press release issued by the 12 BIPOC progressive activists she forced to hear her rant.

The result was actually comforting, since it produced a rare bipartisan agreement, and disgust, over her aberrant behavior. Thus, her removal from the CJS comm.

As loan shark and Sopranos consigliere Hesh Rabkin once opined about his sister-in-law, the overly aggressive and confrontational Livia, “She didn’t mince words, in between brain and mouth there was no interlocutor.”

Question time

Perhaps you’re having a hard time navigating the growing field of GOPers who are shoving their way through the crowd to win the chance to run against Sen. Maggie H.

Well, here’s a handy-dandy hint from F&J that should be able to help you at least pare down your potential choices. Just ask the man (yes, they’re all men) who wants to be a U.S. senator from New Hampshire this simple question:

Do you think the events of Jan. 6 at the nation’s Capitol were legitimate political discourse?

No matter what he says, the answer will be very instructive in helping voters decide who they would like to represent them in Washington.

Sharpen those No. 2 pencils

Even the most dubious of ideas contain a germ of insight. Consider HB319, which wants to make sure that all students graduating from the university system’s schools pass a 128-question civics test — the one taken by people to become naturalized US citizens — before they’re allowed to graduate.

In other words, if you’ve just spent four years at UNH to earn an engineering degree, you ain’t gonna get that diploma until you know how many amendments are in the US Constitution, how many reps are in the House of Reps and can answer the question, “What is the rule of law?” While this seems like a strange way to encourage people to join the NH STEM workforce, it sure seems like a good idea for a particular group of people — notably, the folks who came up with the bill in the first place.

Seriously, should NH have to be saddled with reps and senators who can’t pass a 128-questions civics test?

And you’d be forgiven for assuming we already are.

“It’s a way to reward the family while they make their exit … It’s just a terrible way to incentivize suicide.”

— Sen. John Reagan, a Deerfield GOPer, gives us a peek at the health of his anterior insular cortex — the part of the brain responsible for empathy — in his reaction to a bill that would expand first responder family death benefits to the family of a first responder who dies by suicide.

A living legend

By now you’ve heard that Corey “Legend in His Own Mind” Lewandowski has a new gig, given to him by the guy with the Steinbrennian personality who’s dumped him from a couple of other gigs already (for appropriate reasons, mind you).

This time the ex-prez/2020 loser has anointed CL to be his guy to find someone — anyone — who can beat our own guv, Chris Sununu.

Of course, NH found out about this through the nasal tones of radio “personality” Howie Carr, whose show CL visited th’other day.

CL told HC that the new portfolio given to him by the ex-prez is twofold:

“One is making sure we’ve got a great candidate in the US Senate race who can beat Maggie Hassan, another failed, hack, Washington, DC, politician who never delivered. And the second is potentially finding someone to run against Chris Sununu, to make sure they understand that the ‘America First’ agenda is more than just a saying.”

BTW, if you’ve been concerned that CL has been shut out of the Mar a Lago Mafia, you can breathe a sigh of relief. CL told HC that he’s in constant contact with the exprez, despite the rumors that he had been banned from Trumpworld after allegations last year that he sexually harassed the wife of a major Trump donor.

Fear not, CL told HC: “I know I spoke to (Trump) Sunday. I spoke to him Monday. It hasn’t been reported, Howie, because I’m not the guy who runs to the media every time I have a conversation with Donald Trump, but I was at Mar a Lago with the president a couple of weeks ago.”

You know CL is telling the truth there. He certainly doesn’t run to the media every time he makes a call to Mar a Lago. But he does run to anyone he thinks will pay him for his access to the Trump ear.

MAKING THE ROUNDS

In case you keep track of things like this: Michael Sununu, the guv’s brother and his father’s son, has been appointed to the board of Libero Copper & Gold Corp., a Canadian mining company. He was named to the board by Anglo Asian Mining (a company based in Azerbaijan) after AAM became the largest shareholder in Libero.

2022 is sure shaping up to be quite the consequential year for the NHGOP.

Does it only seem as if Chuck Morse should have done a little more rehearsing before officially launching his bid to be a US senator?

Keep an eye on HB 1356, which has been amended to create a year-round open season on squirrel hunting. Just call it The Jim Spillane Bill.