What's all this I hear about "speaking truth to power"?

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Oooh, don't say that!

Oooh, don't say that!

Over at greenwich Free Press (no link, by my choice; I the to give its publisher traffic, in light of her regularly calling me everything from a racist to a homophobe, to an anti—Semite, all because I disagree with her political views), a Mr. James Waters has posted an endorsement of Sandy Litvack. Water's letter is well written, and he makes good points in favor of his position (one I disagree with, mostly, but so what?), but he twice references Litvack as someone who "speaks truth to power". example:

On November 7, I will vote for Sandy Litvack for First Selectman and Peter Bernstein for Board of Education. Litvack is a seasoned and non-partisan executive, a former Vice Chairman of Disney, who speaks truth to power and brings fresh ideas to government.

Litvack worked for Walt Disney, so who did he speak "truth to power" to, Snow White? Certainly not Miramax or its chief executive Harvey Weinstein, and certainly not to anyone holding political power: he's been in town eleven years, and voted in municipal elections once in all that time.

There might be a good reason to vote for Litvack: proof that Greenwich voters aren't ageists, for instance, or, as I mentioned in a comment in the last post, pure entertainment value, but Litvack is hardly a profile in courage.

I'll ask again; what did he know, and when did he know it?

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Well yes, I do remember the name, but not much else, I'm afraid — ask my nurse.

Well yes, I do remember the name, but not much else, I'm afraid — ask my nurse.

Democrat First Selectman candidate Sandy Litvack used the occasion of yesterday's debate to deny any role in handling Harvey Weinstein's predations while Litvack served as general counsel for Weinstein's film company's parent, Disney:

Litvack denied any involvement in the scandal surrounding Weinstein, saying he and Weinstein did not get along at all in their dealings with each other.
“I didn’t draft any settlements for Mr. Weinstein,” Litvack said. “I had nothing to do with Harvey Weinstein. .... I’m not going to defend Harvey Weinstein. I had fights with Harvey Weinstein every day I was there.”

For a man who claims to be qualified to run our town because he was such a hands-on senior executive, serving as Disney's legal counsel, but also someone who fought with Weinstein "every day", is it plausible that Disney's subsidiary film company could have contractually agreed with Weinstein to let him molest whomever he wished, so long as he repaid his employer for out-of-pocket expenses and paid cash penalties for each complaint, without litvack's knowledge and approval? When, it now turns out, everyone else in Hollywood knew of Harvey's "open" secret? Really?

Litvack claimed in the debate that Disneyland "is the happiest place on earth", and promised to transform Greenwich into that same paradise. Perhaps he intends to issue blindfolds to the residents. 

And we're back! For a short period

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Picking up Bean Boots in Freeport was delayed

Picking up Bean Boots in Freeport was delayed

i'm sure it didn't make the NY media market (and yesterday's terrorist attack would certainly explain that) but Maine was pretty much shut down from Sunday night's windstorm which knocked out power for something like half the state. My power was restored at 5:30 this morning, but hundreds of thousands of people (including poor Pal Nancy) are still waiting. Observing crews from as far west as Ohio, north as New Brunswick and south as West Virginia toiling way, I'm  awed, once again, at both the fragility of our power grid, but also at the incredibly sophisticated response systems the utility companies have created. There's a good article here describing how Central Maine Power and, by extension (heh) other state utilities put together recovery plans. It's not as random as it might seem.

So after a few more restorative cups of coffee to make up for the past couple of day's deprivation, back to posting. Judging from a phone message left yesterday by a Vogue reporter (did you know that magazine was still in business? I didn't), we can soon expect a hit piece on the incredibly sexist attack being conducted here on the fine liberal womanhood of Greenwich. Probably won't be worth commenting on, but there's always real estate!

Even in downtown portland, there are trees — who knew?

Even in downtown portland, there are trees — who knew?

Power loss = low blogging

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I'm in Maine, preparing to head further north to a hunting camp where I can kill innocent animals and further cement my positive image among the Pussy Hat brigade, but the wind storm came up from Greenwich and smacked the place: 450,000 without power which, in Maine, constitutes a huge percentage of the population.

They're talking days, not hours, before restoration, by which time I'll be beyond the reach of electricity anyway, but check back soon. I should be up and running from somewhere (I'm at a Burger King in South Portland now, for instance) during the next few days.

From the "non-partisan" Greenwich Indivisible website.

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Self-identifying greenwich invisible pussy hats

Self-identifying greenwich invisible pussy hats

Too good to bury in the comment section, Riverside Dog Walker has very generously provided this material:

"If you want to take the measure of this group, all you have to do is read
their modus operandi as posted on their Indivisible Greenwich website https://www.indivisiblegree...

No wonder they don't want to publicly identify themselves since no
reasonable person would suppose their tactics. I've cut and pasted
their approach to meetings. MoC stands for Member of Congress, but I
assume they will bring the same approach to RTM or any other gathering
they choose to plague. These self righteous people would be
entertaining if they weren't so dangerous."

All of the posts on this group are based on their own statements: we report, you decide.

TOWN HALL MEETINGS
Get there early, meet up, and get organized.
Meet outside or in the parking lot for a quick huddle before
the event and distribute the handout of questions, signs etc.  
Get seated and spread out.
Head into the venue a bit early to grab seats at the front half
of the room, but do not all sit together. Sit by yourself or in groups
of two, and spread out throughout the room. This will help reinforce the
impression of broad consensus.
Make your voices heard by asking good questions.
When the MoC opens the floor for questions, everyone in the
group should put their hands up and keep them there. Look friendly or
neutral so that staffers will call on you. When you’re asking a
question, remember the following guidelines:
Stick with the prepared list of questions.
Read it straight from the printout if needed.
Be polite but persistent, and demand real answers.
MoCs are very good at deflecting or dodging questions they don’t
want to answer. If the MoC dodges, ask a follow-up question.
Don’t give up the mic until you’re satisfied with the answer.
If they try to take the mic, object, then say politely
but loudly: “I’m not finished. The MoC is dodging my question?”
Keep the pressure on.
After one member of the group finishes, everyone should
raise their hands again and should move down the list of questions and
ask the next one.
Support the group and reinforce the message.
After one member of your group asks a question, everyone should applaud to show that the feeling is shared.
Record everything!
Assign someone in the group to use their smart phone or video camera
to record other advocates asking questions and the MoC’s response; 
exchanges caught on video can be devastating for MoC's. These clips can
be shared through social media and picked up by local and national
media. Please familiarize yourself with your state and local laws that
govern recording, along with any applicable Senate or House rules, prior
to recording. These laws and rules vary substantially from jurisdiction
to jurisdiction.
AFTER THE TOWN HALL
Reach Out to Media
Approach the media at the town hall, and offer to speak about your
concerns. When the event is over, you should engage local reporters on
Twitter or by email and offer to provide an in-person account of what
happened, as well as the video footage you collected.
Share Everything
Post pictures, video, your own thoughts about the event, etc., to
social media afterward. Tag the MoC’s office and encourage others to
share widely.

I draw your attention to the instructions given above: straight from the playbook of the Communist Party of the USA

Sit by yourself or in groups of two, and spread out throughout the room. This will help reinforce the impression of broad consensus.
When you’re asking a question, remember the following guidelines:
Stick with the prepared list of questions.
Read it straight from the printout if needed.

Former Greenwich resident Jim Himes, who claims to be representing our interests in Washington, endorses and supports Greenwich Invisible's plan to politicize our RTM.

Sad.

Exactly how little do the members of the Invisible Party know about the RTM?

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So i mailed a letter addressed to "the mayor of greenwich", and the post office sent it back as undeliverable. just because I'm a woman!

So i mailed a letter addressed to "the mayor of greenwich", and the post office sent it back as undeliverable. just because I'm a woman!

They can be excused for knowing nothing, I suppose, because by the admission of the party's founder, until Trump was elected, they'd been too busy reading the New York Times and playing tennis to bother reading local papers, and were astonished to learn that there even was a representative town meeting. Her words, not mine.

So, naturally, they have no idea of the difference between incumbent RTM members and those campaigning for the first time: "petition candidates". And, because of that ignorance, they interpret a call to vote against all female petition candidates as a demand that reader vote against all women. The poor dears, they've suffered a triggering moment, when all they needed to do to avoid that pain was to learn something about the government body they seek to join.

Here's a suggestion for the Invisble Party: release a list of your slate of candidates and specifically state your political goals. That way, voters can decide whether they support or oppose your movement, and vote accordingly, and no blanket boycott of new women candidates will be necessary. It's your secrecy that's causing this, and nothing else.

The furious emails and texts i'm receiving from Invisble Greenwich members insist that the group is "a  movement, not a party". Here's a pretty standard definition of a political movement:

A group of people working together to achieve a political goal.

And that's the problem: although these people don't know it, the RTM has always been deliberately, by choice, a non-partisan, not bi-partisan — there's a difference, though the Invisibles don't know it — body, and many people want to keep it that way. The Invisibles want to change that, and because they won't reveal who they are, the only way to fight them is by taking advantage of what little we do know about them: they're all women, and they're all petition candidates. The odds are huge that a female seeking election for her first time is one of the "50-60" Invisible members, so I've suggested that denying your vote to any female petition candidate is likely to weed these people out, and keep the RTM the non-partisan organization it's always been.