What a difference a year — and a new president makes

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Last month, NBC News broadcast a piece by its reporter Lester Holt on North Korea's beautiful ski resort, with nary a mention of the horrific conditions suffered by the peasants who maintain if for the benefit of their rulers. 

A year ago on January 17, just days before Trump took office, NBC presented a different view, by a different reporter, Bill Neely, who offered a different take: "North Korea's Masikryong Ski Resort is kept open by work gangs"

MASIKRYONG, North Korea — On the bumpy road to North Korea's top ski resort, work gangs hack and shovel the fresh snowfall to clear the route for busloads of their fortunate fellow citizens. 

There are thousands of them. 

Men, women and children, red-faced from the blizzard conditions and freezing cold, wrapped up in jackets, scarves and hats, smashing the snow like metronomes with pickaxes and sticks. They then push it aside with makeshift wooden shovels. 

Along the twisting mountain road, small groups of uniformed soldiers join the work, but this is overwhelmingly a civilian effort. 

Their bicycles sit by the roadside. It's not clear where the workers have come from — there are no houses visible in the area — as well as who is in charge or who ordered them here. 

But for dozens of miles, we weave in and out of of the mass ranks of Kim Jong Un's snow clearers. Some of them appeared to be aged as young as 11 or 12. Others were teenagers. 

There was no sign of snowplows that keep the roads to America's ski resorts open. This is backbreaking, bone-chilling work by hand — the hands of Kim's people. 

There are no trucks to scatter salt. The workers dig the frozen ground and throw earth and stones on the icy road to keep the few cars that travel here from skidding off. 

North Korea's authoritarian state believes above all in "juche" — or "self-reliance." 

Its Stalinist-run society relies on the "revolutionary" work done every day by cadres of peasants and factory workers, organised by the ruling party, to maintain and create "a socialist fairyland." 

So a heavy snowfall must be removed from the roads of the fairyland. The people must respond. 

But the most surprising thing about this road is what's at its end. 

Mention North Korea, and a ski resort is not the first thing that comes to mind. 

A three-hour drive east from the capital Pyongyang, the slopes at Masikryong rival the best in many countries: 4,000 feet at the top, with 10 slopes to challenge all levels of skiers, from beginners to the slalom experts weaving their way down the wide pistes. 

Chairlifts take parties of excited schoolchildren from chalets and the resort's main hotel — which offers first, second or third-class rooms. 

They're dressed in multicolored ski suits, many with new boots and skis. Equipment is offered for rent or for sale at the ski shop. 

A full ski outfit with gear costs several months worth of wages for even the most affluent local customer. 

But this resort is beyond the imagining of most of the North Korea's dirt-poor people. 

The International Olympic Committee received no bid from North Korea to host the Winter Games and even if they had, it would have been beyond the North's capabilities. 

It also would have been out of the question to hold the Olympics in a country that defies the world over its nuclear program and much else. 

So, Masikryong will content itself next year, like every year, with the elite of its own closed society. 

They will swim in its half-Olympic sized pool, drink imported French cognac and Scotch whisky in its bars — there is no sign of successful sanctions here — and eat delicious fish from the nearby sea. 

Perhaps after a Korean foot massage, they will have their hair shaped in one of the 12 suggested [in fact, Dear Leader only permits 15, total] styles pictured in the beauty salon. 

And then they'll take the long road home, past the massed and huddled work gangs toiling through the day, hacking away at the snow and ice.

Mr. Neely is NBC's "Global Corespondent" and, perhaps more important, a native of Northern Ireland. Lester Holt is an all-American dolt, infected by the same love for communist dictatorships that afflicts his peers.

Winter Olympics? I'm not there

Too bad about her brother and uncle (executed by nerve gas and anti-aircraft gun, respectively), but hey, omelettes and broken eggs, and all that. Otto Warmbier was not available for comment.

My personal boycott won't affect the ratings, because the last time I watched the show was probably 1976, when my  friend Sandy Hamill's little sister Dorothy won gold, but this year's version seems to be a leftist anti-Trump festival, as well as boring, so I am definitely avoiding the circus.

CNN and ABC are devoting awed coverage to KimJung Rocket Boy's sister, and Minister of Propaganda, Kim Jo Jung. 

CNN featured the article, titled, “Kim Jong Un’s sister is stealing the show at the Winter Olympics,” prominently on their front page and dubbed Kim Yo Jong — a high-ranking official in the murderous regime — “North Korea’s Ivanka Trump.”

“If ‘diplomatic dance’ were an event at the Winter Olympics, Kim Jong Un’s younger sister would be favored to win gold,” the article read. “With a smile, a handshake and a warm message in South Korea’s presidential guest book, Kim Yo Jong has struck a chord with the public just one day into the PyeongChang Games.”

How deluded is the Left? Try this link, where "Americans" (one even includes a cute American flag in his header) celebrate "World Leader" [are you friggin' kidding me?]  Kim Jo Young sneering at Mike Pence, showing her disdain for Pence because of his "homophobic views". Really? I had no idea that the Hermit Kingdom, the most brutal dictatorship in the world, was  champion of gay rights, but I guess I now stand corrected.

Then we have a black American luge athlete not only whining that he, not some white girl, should have been selected to hold the flag in the opening ceremonies, but boycotted the whole parade when he didn't get his way.

And gay figure skaters are shrieking loudly about, about ... well something! I think they're complaining about Trump and Pence, though why I'm not sure: gay male figure skaters have comprised, so far as I know, 100% of the U.S. team for decades (probably dating all the way back to 1896, when the modern games started) — no one's cared before, no one cares now, but it's an issue this year because, Trump.

Stil more athletes have already vowed not to attend any honor ceremony at the White House, even before they've won anything.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend", and to our media and its consumers, the enemy is Trump and the united States.

Screw 'em all. It's almost enough to make one wish Rocket Boy well in his promised threat to drop a nuke on San Francisco.

Twenty-one is the new fourteen

Government urges young people not to eat Tide Pods

This seems like a decent deal

15 Juniper Lane, Riverside, has sold for $2.350 million. Built as a spec house by a very good contractor and priced at $2.895 in 2008 it failed to sell, so he moved his own family into it after a while. It was later rented out until last September, when it returned to the market at $2.549.

Juniper's a bit of a tough sell, because it abuts the railroad (though houses are on the northern side of the street, so there's a buffer). On the plus side, it's a short stroll to the station, maybe a five-minute walk to Eastern, and, for slow walkers, maybe 10 to Riverside School. 

15 Juniper has a bit of a dodgy back yard, and the design isn't much, for my taste, but the quality of the interior finishes is, again in my opinion, superior to many houses far more expensive than this one. I think the buyer has done well here.

Pending in Riverside

35 Welwyn Road, asking $2.093 million. I won't necessarily vouch for the listing agent's claim that Welwyn is "one of Riverside's most coveted streets", but it's near the top (northern) end of Indian Head, so walking distance to train and schools, and the street's housing stock is gradually converting from its original late-50s development roots to a $3.5-$4.5 neighborhood. Give it a few more years, and that description may fit.

I'll note that a half-acre building lot on Welwyn is probably worth something like $1.750 to $1.850. This 1957 house was renovated in 2010, and, while it's certainly a perfectly livable, pleasant home, my suspicion is that the buyer will prove to be a builder with razing on his mind. If so, that 2010 renovation will serve as yet another reminder of my usual caution about houses of this era: spend money on things that you will enjoy while living there, as this owner did, but don't expect them to add value when you go to sell. Builders don't pay for what they won't be using.

Of course, should this buyer turn out to be an end-user, congratulations: assuming a negotiated price below the current ask, you're about to purchase a free house. 

Greenwich waterfront continues to sell

51 Glen Avon, Riverside, for instance, has closed at $14.5 million. It started off back last March at $15.9: $14.5 is close enough to that to be an impressive figure. Funny that, if it's Long Island Sound waterfront, I-95 noise doesn't seem to deter buyers.

As a general principle, anything Chuck Schumer is for, I'm against

Hey, kids, let's put on  show!

Chuck Schumer, joined by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, calls for grand military parade.

Mind you, that was almost four years ago, and he and his fellow Democrats and their media scribes could have changed their mind about the merits of such a thing. Suppose, for instance, there's been a change in administrations since then, from Democrat to Republican? I'm going to go check, see if that happened.

Off to Moosehead Lake for some hard water fishing. Back on Thursday

Well damn!

I'm taking my computer, so if they have internet up there, i'll be posting; otherwise, look for me Thursday night, of Friday.

Fun Super Bowl. I'll always be grateful to the Patriots for the kindness they showed John in his illness, but I'm a sucker for people who are dismissed as failures, like Nick Foles. It was sheer pleasure to see him shine last night, after every single "expert" proclaimed him a hapless idiot who could never stand up tp the pressure of 120 million people watching him and, of course, Tom Brady.

Saw someone write that, win or lose, the Philadelphia goons would burn down their city, "so either way, we're all winners".

Exactly.

This may explain why Bridgeport has an illegitimate birth rate of 85%

I'm (not) getting married in the morning, ding, dong, the wedding bells won't chime ....

Bridgeport CT named worst place in America to get married

Just sayin'

Saturday morning, so time for "Pet Peeve of the Week" (a new, probably not to be repeated feature, but ...) . Today, it's pasta faucets

But why?

The house discussed below, 28 Heusted, is a very nice house, in my opinion, but I notice that it has what its listing agent (Joy Metalios, also very nice, and a most excellent agent) describes as a "pasta pot filler". These have been a standard feature in luxury homes here in town for the past decade or so, and I've complained about them before: what is the point of running expensive plumbing over to the stove  to fill a pot with cold water? Anyone can lug a pot of cold water from sink to stove, it's carrying that same pot, now filled with boiling pasta water and a pound of hot macaroni, back to the sink that's the difficult part. Either place a drain next to the stove, or skip the expense

It reminds me of that scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where our heroes have signed on as payroll guards in Bolivia, and as they descend a mountain to pick up the money in town, they're jumping at every sound, preparing for an ambush at every likely spot. Their exasperated boss finally's had enough, and says something like, "you idiots, we're going to get the money — we don't have it now, so they're not going to rob us now. They'll hit us on our way back". 

A pasta pot faucet is an empty payroll bag.