Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more.
Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more
33 Broad Road
33 Broad Road, of the Belle Haven peninsula but not in it, reports a contract. Asking $4.695 million, which is about a million less than it started at in February 2019, but even in this time of cholera, you can’t always get what you want.
139 old church road
On the other hand, it looks like the owners of 139 Old Church Road did get what they wanted. They asked $5.195 million, and have it locked up in just 9 days.
Capt. Kristin Griest is having none of this nonsense
WASHINGTON — The Army could adjust how it scores its new Combat Fitness Test to account for the “biological differences” between men and women, a service spokeswoman said Friday.
The reevaluation of the ACFT comes weeks after Congress delayed its implementation over concerns the new test created an unfair disadvantage to female soldiers.
… The test was designed as a gender- and age-neutral fitness evaluation meant to simulate strength and conditioning challenges faced by soldiers in combat.
Congress later stepped in and ordered in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that the Army halt further implementation efforts until a study of the test by a non-Pentagon entity determined whether it was fair for women and its impact on retention and recruiting. Congress cited initial Army data that showed women struggled to pass the test, especially its leg tuck event, in which soldiers hang from a pull-up bar and tuck their legs up to their chins.
Army testing showed women failed the ACFT at a consistent 65% rate, while men failed at about a 10% rate, according to Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who sought the pause on the service’s implementation of the ACFT.
But Ranger School graduate Captain Kristen Griest calls bull shit:
The woman who became the Army’s first female infantry officer is now speaking out against lowering fitness standards for females in a test that evaluates troops’ combat readiness, arguing that doing so would "not only undermine their credibility, but also place those women, their teammates and the mission at risk."
The comments from Capt. Kristen Griest, an Army Ranger School graduate, come following reports this month that the U.S. Army is considering revamping the way it scores its new Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) to account for the biological differences between men and women.
Doing so would stray away from the Army’s original plan for the six-event test to be entirely gender neutral, Military.com reported.
"The intent was not to ensure that women and men will have an equal likelihood of meeting those standards. Rather, it is incumbent upon women who volunteer for the combat arms profession to ensure they are fully capable and qualified for it," she continued. "To not require women to meet equal standards in combat arms will not only undermine their credibility, but also place those women, their teammates, and the mission at risk."
…. "While it may be difficult for a 120-pound woman to lift or drag 250 pounds, the Army cannot artificially absolve women of that responsibility; it may still exist on the battlefield," Griest wrote in an essay published Thursday by the Modern War Institute at West Point. "The entire purpose of creating a gender-neutral test was to acknowledge the reality that each job has objective physical standards to which all soldiers should be held, regardless of gender.
Griest also wrote that "under a gender-based system, women in combat arms have to fight every day to dispel the notion that their presence inherently weakens these previously all-male units."
"Lower female standards also reinforce the belief that women cannot perform the same job as men, therefore making it difficult for women to earn the trust and confidence of their teammates," she added.
"As the Army’s first female infantry officer, I have long awaited the elimination of a gender-based fitness test," Griest wrote. "The drastically lower female standards of the old Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) not only jeopardized mission readiness in combat units but also reinforced the false notion that women are categorically incapable of performing the same job as men.
"The new Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) promised to alleviate these issues by finally assessing women on the same fitness scale as men and setting minimum physical standards based on branch requirements rather than gender," she added, while also noting that "due to an initial ACFT fail rate of 54 percent among women, activist groups have raised concerns that the test will disadvantage female servicemembers."
In 2016, Griest -- one of two women who graduated from the Army’s Ranger School the year prior -- became the first woman named as an infantry officer.
Connecticut residents may remember that Blumenthal was exposed for lying about his own military experience some years back when it was revealed that, instead of serving in Vietnam as he’d claimed, he’d actually spent his time supervising the Marines’ local “Toys for Tots” campaign in Washington, D.C.
This blogger is proud to claim credit for at the same time tracking down the Dick’s Harvard record and reporting that, rather than being a member of the Harvard Varsity Swim Team as stated on his campaign resume, our state’s Toys for Tots participant was in fact merely a member of his dorm’s intramural swim team, which spent its time dressed in itsy bity Speedos and splashing around in the campus pool with fellow Harvardians and never risking the dangers of leaving campus. Both claims: heroic service in the Mekong Delta, and competing against the ruffians of Worcester Tech, disappeared simultaneously. Tee hee hee; I take my small victories where I find them.
But how could a test that discriminates between men and women pass muster under the proposed Equity Act, which Blumenthal co-sponsored and Gillibrand also supports? Can it be reconciled with these two idiots’ demand that there be two separate fitness tests, one with a lower passing score that recognizes, the “biological differences” between men and women?
I don’t think it can, which, if it means that the new Combat Fitness Test is adopted, would be bad news for the Equity Act proponents and good news for soldiers in actual combat. Blumenthal probably can’t grasp the concept of battlefield rescue because, had he tripped over a Raggedy Ann doll in Washington while facing a scary mob of children, he could simply have called his mom and she’d have dispatched the chauffeur to pick him up and take him home. But a soldier wounded in actual combat would surely prefer a comrade, of any sex, who was capable of dragging or carrying him from the battlefield.
So for the sake of our fighting soldiers, let’s hope that the new, gender-neutral ACFT comes to pass.
Washington State activists demand that mandatory bicycle helmet laws be repealed.
Why? Because they say minorities and homeless people can’t afford helmets, and they should not be barred from riding their bikes just because the government has decreed that you can’t ride without one.
Baruchman notes that several activists have “joined a chorus of individuals and organizations calling for the repeal of the King County law that requires bicyclists to wear helmets because of disproportionate enforcement, especially among Black, Native and homeless riders.”
I resent any government tool telling me what I must do to protect myself, even if I personally wear a helmet, and buckle my seat belt while driving because seems a smart thing to do (by the way, did you know that there’s a move afoot to require people in cars to wear helmets? Apparently, head injuries are far more frequent in cars, so let’s make a rule. I’m not kidding).
But to frame opposition to those laws in the waaascist category instead of personal liberty is just ho hum, more of the same. Pretty soon, maybe some reasonable liberals (okay, oxymoron) will join the rest of us and oppose this entire pile of steaming excrement.
oh, the oppression!
You go back into the basement, old man, and stay there!
Does anyone have a Biden to English dictionary? pic.twitter.com/xLLNzQNP2k
— David Webb (@davidwebbshow) February 24, 2021
And we’d be remiss if we didn’t bring back this old chestnut
BIDEN: “I’ll lead an effective strategy to mobilize trunalimunumaprzure.”
— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) October 30, 2020
pic.twitter.com/TAkj7bJndN
Governor Kristi Noem lays out the truth
Hannity had South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on his program to talk about the quote from Biden advisor Anita Dunn, who called the coronavirus pandemic "the best thing that ever happened" to President Biden.
Noem’s response:
I gave my people all the information I had, told them I trusted them, and gave them personal responsibility to make the best decision for their families. And allowed them to put food on the tables too.
[snip]
What Anita Dunn said here confirmed exactly what I've been saying for months, is that the media and democrats were using this virus to promote fear and a political agenda. They wanted to scare people in order to control them. And they did it to push an agenda where really they could take over this country and change what America looks like. So we need to wake up and understand that this was calculated, it was on purpose. What she said confirms what we have thought and have said out loud for many, many months. And it should be alarming to the everyday hard working Americans who really do love this country.
Noem for President
score!
Chris Talgo, American Heartland Institute:
COVID Rescue Plan is Just a Blue State Bailout
For years, states like Illinois have been hoping for a federal bailout. Illinois currently carries a mind-boggling $224 billion debt burden.
Well, Illinois lawmakers must be breathing a big sigh of relief, considering it appears more likely than ever that the federal government will pump out $350 billion to states and local governments, under President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
The bill, which also includes provisions for $1,400 stimulus checks, a $15 federal minimum wage, and all sorts of pork-barrel spending projects, will likely head to Biden’s Oval Office desk by the end of March.
This could not come soon enough for blue states drowning in red ink. Case in point is Illinois.
For decades, Illinois lawmakers have kicked the debt can down the road.
Here is a snapshot of Illinois’ finances: $224 billion total debt burden, $6 billion deficit for the current fiscal year, more than $8 billion in outstanding bills, and hundreds of billions in unfunded future pension liabilities.
Because Illinois cannot print money like the federal government can, Illinois is supposed to have a balanced budget every year. The last time Illinois had a balanced budget: 2001.
Yes, for 20 straight years, Illinois, my home state, has been operating on borrowed money. That is fiscal ineptitude on steroids. However, Illinois is far from the only blue state with money problems due to profligate spending and out-of-control public pension obligations.
The same scenario is playing out throughout the United States, from New York to California.
Such is why many blue-state lawmakers are absolutely giddy about the prospects of a $350 billion federal bailout.
Just a few quibbles with Talbo: before it gave up the charade, Illinois “balanced” its budget by simply moving its massively underfunded pension liabilities off the books, just like New York and Connecticut have done Second, these states weren’t just “hoping” for a federal bailout, they were counting it, and have been spending away, knowing that, sooner or later, the right combination of Democrats would gain control and pay off much of the debt with other people’s money.
This reduction of the states’ debts will just free them to continue their spending spree, so look for a repetition of the “crisis” soon; maybe they’ll invent another flu pandemic..
Of curse, we’ve been doing this on a national level for just as long as the states, but the feds can extend the day of reckoning far longer because it can print and inflate its way past the graveyard, until it can’t.
oh, for the good old days
Contract on 2 Glen Avon Drive, $2.295 million, 17 days on market.
Glen Avon starts near the northern terminus of Club Road, and this house offers an easy walk to the train, Eastern and Riverside school, and the RYC. Given the speed with which this went to contract, and the dearth of homes in this price range, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were multiple bids.
Average retail, $2,000 — $3,000, per (purr?)
FBI joins the Lady Gaga circus
The feds are investigating whether the kidnapping of Lady Gaga’s dogs was politically motivated since she sang at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, according to a report.
Ah huh. Gotta check, because the shooting/dog theft might have been committed by some right-wing terrorist group that told by Trump to follow the aging star back home from Washington and put a whack on her dogs; “that’ll teach her!’. The only problem with that theory is the (human — I’m surprised they bothered to interview him at all)) victim’s description of the would-be murderers.
Police are describing the first suspect as "a male black, 20-25 years of age, blond dreadlocks, wearing a black hoodie and armed with a semi-automatic handgun."
A second suspect is described as "a male black, 20-25 years of age, wearing dark clothing."
Notwithstanding my reluctance to stereotype anyone because of the color of his skin, these two just don’t strike me as likely Trump supporters. In fact, I suspect that thieves in swanky areas of California know the value of the respective breeds, and target accordingly.
But that’s just me.
Two down
Mobster Peter Gotti, the one-time Gambino crime boss and successor to brother John “Dapper Don” Gotti, died in North Carolina where he was serving time in federal prison. He was 81.
Gotti, who had been sentenced to 25 years in jail after being convicted in 2003 on racketeering and other charges, died of natural causes at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, the Associated Press reported.
The Bronx native served more than 17 years behind bars and had been recently seeking an early release because of his poor health.
No rejoicing — I hope I’m not that kind of man, but no particular sorrow, either. Before being shoved aside by the Albanians, the Mafia was a blight on the entire New York area, including Greenwich — ask anyone, say, who ran a garbage business before going on to local politics.
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