Panic

Ambassador: Australia may keep its borders locked down for years, until the entire world is vaccinated.

Australia's man in Washington has suggested the border could stay shut until the entire world is vaccinated.

US Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos told an online forum for the Hudson Institute that although border closures are costing Australia's economy billions, it might be years before citizens get on a plane or return home without having to quarantine.

There were hopes that when Australia's Covid vaccine rollout is completed late this year the border shutdown, which has been in effect since March, 2020, would come to a end.

But Mr Sinodinos said it may take a lot longer given how scared Australians citizens are and how popular strict lockdown measures have become with the public as a result - giving politicians plenty of incentive to support them.

Australia has seen 19,500 COVID cases and 910 deaths, total, since this panic began 14 months ago.

Sold in Khakum Wood

6 Khakum Wood Drive, $4.6 million. Bought for $8,999,888 in 2014, it’s been on the market since January ‘17. when it began at $7.9.

Not since the Revolution

Price war in Hillside Park. 97 Hillside, @ $1.695 million, five days. Sold for $1.7 in our last bubble in ‘04.

(Circling back) It occurs to me that I should explain the perhaps obscure reference in the title to the time (1776) when Washington’s army, marching from Boston to NYC, camped in what was then a large meadow at the top of Palmer’s Hill, now Havemeyer, across the King’s Highway from what’s now Hillcrest Park.

Who the hell knows what's going on in the world these days?

Man caught smuggling songbirds into JFK

A man was caught at JFK Airport on Monday allegedly trying to smuggle in 35 live finches from Guyana — stuffed inside plastic hair curlers and concealed inside his clothes, authorities said.

Kevin Andre McKenzie is just the latest alleged would-be songbird smuggler busted using the hair-accessory method to bring in the coveted creatures, which are used in high-stakes singing contestspopular in Brooklyn and Queens

After McKenzie deplaned from a JetBlue flight originating in Georgetown, Guyana, CBP agents found the small seed-eating birds inside the curlers, which were covered with a mesh cloth, and then concealed inside his jacket and pants, according to the criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of New York.

McKenzie allegedly told them he had been offered $3,000 to traffic the finches into the US.

Although there are American finches, the Guyanese variety is more desired for the singing competitions, which can involve steep wagers, the feds said. 

“In such contests, often conducted in public areas like parks, two finches sing and a judge selects the bird determined to have the best voice,” the complaint states. “A finch who wins these competitions becomes valuable and can sell for more than $10,000.” 

Earlier this month, a 26-year-old from Guyana was also busted at JFK with 29 live birds stuffed inside pink and orange plastic rollers.

Another birdbrain tried to smuggle 70 finches hidden in orange hair curlers inside a black duffle bag in 2018.

A year later, a Connecticut man arrived at JFK from the Caribbean country, with 32 live songbirds that he said he planned to sell for $3,000 each.

I’ve come to terms, sort of, with the endless stories about young female teachers having sex with their students — weird, but sex seems to inspire all sorts of odd behavior. But smuggled finches? Song bird competitions? I’m losing my mind.

Heading On Down

111 Conyers Farm was marked down today to $5.1 million. It’s been on the market since November ‘17, when it was priced at $8.595. The owner bought the land itself for $1.5 million in 1992, so somewhere between there and here, a solution will be found.

Former producer of “The Jeffersons”. More here, if you care.

One a minute

212 Taconic Road sold yesterday for $3.950 million. It sold new in 1999 for $3.750, $4.9 in ‘08, and $3.248 in 2016. In my opinion, the buyers overpaid, each time. It was a poorly laid-out house originally, and each remodeling has only made it worse.

As well they should

And the Chinks too, says Yo-yo ma: “Oh, the humanity!

Charlotte, N.C. Arts Council Apologizes for funding orchestras since 1958: “Negroes can’t possibly appreciate classical music, and we are so very, very, sorry that we didn’t drop down to their primitive level of comprehension — on to wet ass pussy, and the end of racism!”

Contract, after many years

297 Round Hill Road, now asking $3.495 (it started at $5,699,500 back in 2011).

I wrote up the price history on this property back in March, when it took this latest price cut. It sold for $4.5 in ‘03, $5.7 in’06, and $5,210,500 in 2010. I suggested last month that $3.495 was approaching “a decent value”, and apparently, someone has agreed.

There are many, many good cops; these aren't among them

Cops whoop and holler reviewing bodycam video of them throwing a 73-year-old, senile, 5-foot, 80 lb, “shoplifter” ($14) to ground, and then against patrol car, dislocating her shoulder. Watch, if you wish, them spending an hour coordinating their stories, discussing whether to charge her with a felony, and just having a grand old time while she’s handcuffed in a holding cell, in great pain, with a dislocated shoulder and shattered elbow.

I know and admire many Greenwich policemen, one of whom is a friend since high school, and the GPD has been exceptionally sensitive and caring when we’ve had “family issues” with elder parents, but Greenwich is not the world (and in my professional career as a lawyer, I’ll say that even Greenwich has its share of thug cops — not many, but they’re present). These three Coloradans don’t belong behind the Thin Blue Line. And good for the lawyer who’s going after them; her fight against injustice and abuse of the state’s power reminds me of why I was drawn to the law originally.

Shocking new video shows two Colorado cops under investigation for their violent arrest of an elderly woman with dementia laughing and cheering - and giving each other a fist bump - as they watched body-camera footage of the altercation hours later. 

They were celebrating all while the 73-year-old woman was suffering in a jail cell, the photos reveal - disheveled and seeming to lose consciousness several times. 

Loveland Police Officers Austin Hopp and Daria Jalali arrested Karen Garner on June 26, 2020, after she left Walmart without paying for a candy bar, a can of Pepsi and a t-shirt totaling $13.38. 

The store later confirmed it had recovered the items and hadn't lost any money.

City officials haven't apologized to the woman or her family, according to the Loveland Reporter-Herald. The footage of the arrest went viral on social media after its release earlier the month in the wake of a new lawsuit against the department.

The suit says during the first hour Garner was in custody, she said: 'They hurt my shoulders' 22 times and 'They hurt my wrists' 13 times. She wasn't given medical treatment.

A statement from the attorney representing Garner in a federal civil rights lawsuit against the department said supervising officer, Sgt. Phil Metzler, who also is under investigation, knew Garner was injured and allowed her to be kept in a holding pen with no care.

The incident began last June when the Loveland cops received a call from Walmart employees and caught up with Garner - whose family said she forgot to pay due to her dementia - as she was picking flowers on the side of the road on her way home. 

Footage from Hopp's body-camera shows him slamming Garner to the ground, causing her to fracture her elbow and dislocate her shoulder.  

The video went viral this month after it was released in a federal lawsuit Garner's family filed against the department and against the Hopp, Jalali and Metzler, accusing them of violating her civil rights. 

Outrage over the clip was so intense that state prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into Hopp, Jalali and their supervisor on-scene supervising sergeant Metzler last week. Officers Tyler Blackett and Sgt. Antolina Hill have been added to the suit, Garner's attorney said Monday.

Attorney Sarah Schielke released surveillance video purportedly showing Hopp and Jalali celebrating as they reviewed body-camera footage of Garner's arrest. 

Garner (pictured in a photograph taken several years ago) is  five feet tall, weighs 80 pounds and suffers from dementia 

Schielke said the officers could be heard mocking the 'pop' when Garner's shoulder dislocated while she sat a few yards away in a cell without having received any medical attention.  

Surveillance footage from the Loveland Police Department showed three officers - two of them identified as Hopp and Jalali - gathered around a computer to watch the body-camera footage. 

'Ready for the pop?' Hopp is heard saying in apparent reference to Garner's arm coming out of it's socket.

When the third unnamed officer asks: 'What popped?', Hopp nonchalantly replies: 'I think it was her shoulder.' 

'I can't believe I threw a 73-year-old on the ground,' Hopp says. 

Jalali quipped: 'It's like live TV... Body-cams are my favorite thing to watch, I could watch livestream body-cams all day.' 

The third officer suggests creating a TV show dedicated to body-camera footage before telling Hopp of his arrest: 'Impressive, buddy.'  

In the caption of her YouTube video on Monday, Schielke wrote that the officers made their commentary while Garner 'remained handcuffed to a bench in a cell just 10 feet away from them, alone, confused and crying in pain. She would ultimately go over six hours without any medical attention.'

The civil rights attorney said Garner's family hired a sound engineer to enhance audio on booking videos from the day of her arrest. 

'The video reveals a grotesque culture of callous disregard for the health and safety of citizens,' Schielke wrote.

'The officers fist bump one another multiple times in self-congratulation for both the assault on Garner and the intimidation of the citizen who attempted to complain about it.' 

She continued: 'This is utterly disgusting. These videos cannot be unseen or unheard. I am sorry to have to share them with the public. This will be traumatic and deeply upsetting for everyone to see.

'But as it often goes with bad police departments, it seems this is the only way to make them change. They have to be exposed. If I didn't release this, the Loveland Police's toxic culture of arrogance and entitlement, along with their horrific abuse of the vulnerable and powerless, would carry on, business as usual.' 

In another portion of the video, a driver can be seen stopping to inquire about the arrest. 

'Do you have to use that much aggression?' the passerby asks the cops. 

'Get out of here! This is not your business!' Hopp replies.  

Soon after, a third officer arrives at the scene and asks: 'Are you guys all good?'

'A little muddy, a little bloody, that's how it works!'  Jalali says before confirming the blood was from Garner. 

How’s she doing in her handcuffs? Who cares?

More here: charges were dismissed last year because of the woman’s mental condition.

Forget my parents: I’m not all that far from this poor woman’s age – heLP!

Totally, absolutely insane

Queen Gretchen of Michigan defies science because … reasons