Out in the open

GOP state rep Keith Amnon of New Boston raised an eyebrow or two th’other day when he tweeted about HB 1503, a two-pronged bill that lifts some regulations off the cryptocurrency industry in NH (for better or worse) and also adds a “requirement” that American-made steel be used in any state project costing a million bucks or more.

How did he raise eyebrows? With a rather cryptic tweet that the bill’s signing was “super-secret, hush-hush.”

Interesting. Apparently someone musta spilled the beans, because the guv signed the bill into law before a pretty sizable crowd of folks at Capone Iron Corp.’s plant up in Berlin on 6/27.

An economics lesson

By now, it’s become pretty clear that our guv just loves the attention of the national TV peeps, and vice versa. So it should come as no surprise that, in an appearance on CNN, he let his hair down once again, this time with Jake Tapper.

He actually captured some attention during the gabfest. First, he said that Treas. Secretary Janet Yellen (a former Fed chair who has as strong an economics pedigree as you can get, if you actually think that matters) doesn’t know about the basics of economics and that she should be fired because “she completely misled America” by saying that a recession is inevitable.

“Of course, it’s inevitable,” said the gov. “You don’t need four years at Dartmouth economics to know that.”

For the record: A recent NY Times survey of economists at major international institutions weren’t exactly in lockstep about the idea of a recession being inevitable, with nine of ‘em saying it’s still up in the air and seven saying it’s gonna happen, although with different levels of certainty.

Guess not all of them had that four years at Dartmouth economics.

A real TikTok yuk-fest

Hey, she was just joking.

That’s what Rochester Dem Kathleen Cavalaro said after a TikTok video she posted caused quite a stir among politically minded folks eager to latch on to anything they hope can make someone look, well, stupid.

First, the video: In it, KC — who’s running for state rep — sure seems serious in her invitation to people living in Mass.: “You can actually vote for me. Just get on one of those buses that comes in from Massachusetts and go to Ward 2 in Rochester and vote for me.” Get it? Wink-wink.

For those with a delayed humor reflex, she was allegedly making fun of the Trump True Believers and their fellow travelers for their fantasy that buses with “thousands and thousands” of Massholes exported to NH cast phony ballots here.

Apparently among the folks with that delayed reflex is the AG, John Formella, who — after receiving complaints from folks who still take the Trump b.s. seriously — investigated the matter and, after talking to KC, JF decided that KC’s video was “intended to be a joke” and “does not constitute criminal solicitation to wrongfully vote and is protected speech under the First Amendment.”

That took a load off. But there is a moral to the story. Despite KC’s vigorous defense to NHPR that “I am allowed to joke. And for the record, I plan on continuing to make fun of Republicans,” that doesn’t mean that everyone else is laughing, even if they “get it.” That’s why it’s best to leave the comedy to professionals.

Which side is he on?

There was one other tidbit of interest from the guv during his tete-a-tete with CNN’s Jake Tapper.

The guv, asked about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, said that with the matter “a states issue … every state is going to try to really find their path.”

Which is no doubt true, and you can certainly see the paths that several states have taken — they’ve made it or are making access to abortion completely illegal.

That, of course, hasn’t happened in NH, but that’s pretty cold comfort to abortion rights advocates in these here parts.

And one of the reasons is the guv himself. Consider that back in May he told the right-wing “Three Martini Lunch” podcast that “I’ve done more on the pro-life issue, if you will, than anyone” after signing into law a bill that limits abortion access to 24 weeks of pregnancy. Which, obviously, was a signal to the anti-abortion advocates in NH.

OTOH, the guv remains firmly in the Camp Having It Both Ways, since he continues to insist that he’s “pro-choice,” in his words.

Which is why, for what it’s worth, that it’s becoming increasingly apparent that abortion is his Achilles’ heel, with both the anti- and pro-abortion rights folks.

MAKING THE ROUNDS

It’s more than likely that the person coming out looking the worst in the nearboiling Kevin Smith-Chuck Morse spat is CM’s political consultant Dave Carney, whose Twitterprints are all over what the Smith folks see as an “attempted character assassination.”

You knew this was gonna happen: John Schmitt of Keene and Terese Grinnell of Loudon — both arrested on charges of disorderly conduct for being among the crowd of people who disrupted the Oct. 13 Exec Council meeting — are running for office. JS is running for a House seat and TH is running for Ted Gatsas’ Exec Council seat.

Wouldn’t you have loved to be a fly on the wall when the ex-president of the USA was told about the UNH poll that shows FL guv Ron DeSantis with a narrow 39%-37% edge over the 2020 loser among NH GOP voters? Then again, maybe nobody had the nerve.

Yes folks, the majority leader of your House of Representatives, Auburn GOPer Jason Osborne, actually sent out this tweet on 7/3: “Instead of spending $20 more next year on your Independence Day hot dogs, lay off the calories and buy a few rounds for your AK-47. You’ll thank yourself later.” There was a reason it went viral a day later.