Persons of color, Asians and Greeks barred from celebrating Halloween tonight

At least, I assume that’s the logical extension of the past decades of liberals’ wailing about “cultural appropriation”. Halloween is a celebration imported from Ireland, with a version that came over from England. No room for non-whites to participate.

The utter stupidity and ignorance of the liberals on this (and all other issues) has become numbing, but Halloween always brings out the worst of the hysteria. Idiots on college campuses, led by teachers and administrators lead the charge, but their mush-brained pupils follow right along. And the movement has now extended all the way down to kindergarten, where children are warned this yer against wearing super-hero “Black Panther” costumes.

“Cultural appropriation” has become a common term on campuses and is receiving broader meaning with each passing year. In Utah, a high school student was denounced for wearing a Chinese dress to her prom [ form of dress adopted from the Portuguese on Macao - Ed.]. White students wearing hoop earrings or dreadlocks have been denounced, while there have been protests over serving sushi at Oberlin College [and the “traditional Vietnamese sandwich because the baguette wasn’t “authentic. The baguette! Intruduced by the French colonialists], holding yoga classes at the University of Ottawa or having a “Mexican food night” at Clemson University. The reason behind such limitless forms of cultural appropriation is its limitless meaning. Fordham University law professor Susan Scafidi has defined the term as encompassing the “unauthorized use of another culture’s dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols” and more.

(The full article this paragraph was excerpted from can be found at the link above; well recommended)

Let’s not even go here

Depreciation, even in Riverside

19 Stoney Ridge, on a very decent street, sold for $3.450 in 2014, and that buyer placed it back up for sale in 2017 at $3.650. It had to be marked down to $2.650 before it found a buyer, reported today.

I always admire an aggressive price cut

10 Andrews Road (off lower North Street) dropped its price today in one fell swoop from $5.975 million to $4.875. That may not be enough to move it: who knows?, but it’s significant enough to catch buyers’ attention, or it should be.

Sold new in 2008, just as the market was collapsing, for $4.850, the house was resold to the present owners in 2011 at $3.945. They’ve made some major improvements since their purchase, but their original pricing last February at $5.975 proved aspirational, rather than realistic.

Not an architectural style to my taste, and the pond it backs up to can be a turn-off to parents with young children, but Andrews is certainly a convenient location and, judging from the interior photos, there is some serious, very expensive millwork in this house. If you don’t mind driving up to a barn when returning from work, a nice house will await you.

Who new there was such a thing as a zebra cabinet?

Or for that matter, zebra chairs?

Quick Land (?) sale off Cat Rock

19 Dartmouth Road, $1.1 million, accepted offer in mere days, contingent contract in nineteen. 1965 construction, no a/c, with electric heat, I’m guessing that building new is the right option here, and probably will be.

Two-and-a-half acres, though at least part of that area appears to be wetlands.

Looks damp

New twist on the Twinkie defense

Lawyers for terrorist bomber blame Trump, cite “Spinal Tap” as authority.

“Lawyers for a man convicted of a terrorist plot to bomb a Kansas apartment complex are blaming President Trump for stoking their client’s fiery rhetoric about Muslims.

Attorneys for Patrick Stein — who was found guilty of planning to kill Muslim residents of Garden City, Kansas — claimed that Trump’s “brand of rough-and-tumble verbal pummeling” contributed to Stein’s homicidal thoughts.

“The court cannot ignore the circumstances of one of the most rhetorically mold-breaking, violent, awful, hateful and contentious presidential elections in modern history, driven in large measure by the rhetorical China shop bull who is now our president,” the lawyers wrote in a sentencing memo filed on Monday.

The lawyers are asking for a lesser sentence in part due to the argument that Stein was a Trump supporter and the president inflamed Stein’s anti-immigrant hatred — ultimately influencing the man’s attack plans.

“A person normally at a 3 on a scale of political talk might have found themselves at a 7 during the election,” the lawyers wrote.

“A person, like Patrick, who would often be at a 7 during a normal day, might ‘go to 11.’ See SPINAL TAP. That climate should be taken into account when evaluating the rhetoric that formed the basis of the government’s case.”
”

To be fair, this is no different than the main stream media’s simultaneously blaming Trump for the pro-Trump mad bomber down in Florida and the rabid anti-Semite, anti-Trump murderer in Pittsburgh, but it’s certainly another indication of Trump Derangement Syndrome. If (most) polls are to be believed, next Tuesday will see a return of control to the Democrats, but if lightning were to strike and the Republicans keep the House and Senate, oh my, oh my: grab the popcorn, and a helmet.

Missing comments?

A number of readers emailed me yesterday saying they’re having trouble posting or replying to comments. I too noticed a dearth of comments for a period yesterday, but some are coming in now. Are they working again? I’m no problem from this, the administrator end, but that’s not necessarily useful inf.

So if you’d do me a favor, either post a reply or, if that’s still impossible, email me at christopher.fountain@gmail.com and I’ll try to figure out what’s going on.

Thanks

CF

Price "adjustment" on Pecksland

125 Pecksland Road, purchased new in 2011 for $11.1 million, and put back on the market for $12.9995 in 2016, has been marked down to $9.750. At 14,500 square feet (and “garaging” for a dozen cars), it’s a tad large for our current market, and Pecksland itself seems to have lost its desirability in recent years, but it’s also available for rent at $40,000. Some stiff negotiation on that rental price and this might be attractive.

Do you think the feeding area on the left is for staff?

Still hanging around on Rogues' Hill

449 Round Hill, north of the Merritt and near the church, is back on the market today, relabled (per tax card) as a 1950 house instead of its previous description as 1990, is now priced at $6.650 million, a bump up from the last price it failed to sell for, $6.450. The house has been with us for a while: it started at $7.950 in 2011, quit, temporarily, in 2012, and then reappeared in 2014 at $8.250 in 2014, dropping slowly in price earlier this year to the aforementioned $6.450 million.

Nice house, good land, but a bit far north for today’s market, which would explain the market’s rejection of its charms over the past seven years.

Raising the price of a house that refuses to sell has always struck me as a rather bone-headed move.

Lost opportunity cost, but nice house for living

1044 North Street, right on the Banksville border and asking $1.050 million is under contract. That’s the same price paid for it in 2013, and pretty close to its $995,000 purchase price: in fact, assuming some negotiation from its current price, it’s probably the same, or even less.

Part of the house was built in 1834 and even with an architecturally-unfortunate edition (which made it livable for today’s lifestyle), it’s a pleasant home. But this northern area of Greenwich has always been a tough sell.

No surprise here (to me, at least)

29 Cottontail Road, just off Stanwich and asking $895,000, reports a contract after 26 days. Perfectly decent, livable house on a good street, but priced as land, so in effect a free house. My guess is that this house will be replaced by a new, far more expensive one, but it would certainly work as what in Greenwich passes as a “starter home”.