Exactly right

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child protective services raid; say goodbye to little nell

Ironically, I was out in the woods stalking Bambi’s extended family yesterday — opening day, dontcha know — and didn’t have an opportunity to comment on this, but David Strom did, and did it well.

(Bambi’s parents are both doing far better than Peanut, by the way, at least until Monday. There were a couple of noisy wild squirrels however, probably rabid, so ….)

David Strom Why Peanut the Squirrel Matters

If you live on Twitter/X (or any of the social media platforms), you will likely have heard the story of Peanut the Squirrel. 

Peanut has been a social media celebrity for seven years. An animal rescue nonprofit was built around him, saving hundreds of animals, from rodents to horses, from abuse, neglect, or simply bad luck. His story and his antics charmed millions of people, and helped people escape from the grittier and nastier realities of living in an unforgiving world. 

Until the New York government decided to raid his home and kill him. They executed a search warrant, trashed a home, seized him and his buddy Fred the Raccoon, and executed them next. 

In the midst of the decisive election campaign of our lifetimes, why talk about Peanut the Squirrel? Aren't there more important issues like the polls, turnout, shenanigans, and all the day's news?

Yes, all those things matter. But the story of Peanut matters because it is a microcosm of what we are facing. A nameless, faceless, and merciless bureaucracy with no sense of proportion or empathy can, at a whim, upend people's lives over what amounts to nothing. It can seize a beloved family pet, the mascot of an organization that does enormous good, just because some nanny-stater decides they don't approve. 

Interesting — why would CNN suddenly decide to pretend to be a news organization now?

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Are they worried that their candidate will lose, and want to jump off the bandwagon before it topples, or are they so sure the election has been locked away that they can afford to look neutral? As I say, interesting.

Ignoring its X poster’s histrionic claim that this video showing Kampalla’s dual, antithetical positions on Israel “destroys” her campaign, the question of “why now?” is still a good one.

"Fraud in the defense of the deep state is no vice"

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Glenn Greenwald: “The US has no functional president and has not had one for months, and it’s barely noticeable and barely matters because there’s a permanent unelected machine that runs the government.”

Which fits nicely with this report:

PA Fraudulent Voter Forms Connected to Company Linked to Democrats

False names; false addresses, filed in bulk — but not to worry, this was done by one of those “non-partisan” organizations that we recently let into Greenwich’s elections, and would our own Republicans let us down?

Another score for Dom DeVito

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248 Round Hill Road, purchased for $3.5 million in May 2023 and renovated by Dom for, what, another $2 million?, is pending after just 107 days, asking price $11.9 million, I wrote about the original house back in ‘23.

Dom’s a good guy: I met him back in 2013-14 or so, and though we’ve lost touch since, I always enjoyed his sense of humor and somewhat crazy take on life. So I’m happy to see him succeed here.

Back in 2014, when NYT reporter  Landon Thomas spent a number of days touring Greenwich with me for an article about this blog “Gadfly of Greenwich Real Estate”, I introduced him to Dom as a colorful character well worth interviewing. Langdon was so impressed with the man that, he told me, he was tempted to rewrite the story and focus on Dom. I’m glad he didn’t; I benefitted from the exposure that article brought, but I understood the sentiments and, secretly might have agreed: Dom and his life-story would have have made for some fascinating reading.

Pre-Renovation, 2023

It took 188 days to take a price cut, but that did the trick

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549 Rogues Hill Road, now priced at $3.999 million, is reported pending. I commented on the “price improvement” back in September, and obviously, someone noticed the change, if not this blog.

7. 42 acres; enough land, the listing claims, to build a 20,174 sq. ft. home, which ought to be large enough to accommodate even the largest ego. The 1775 house that once stood here is no longer.

These owners paid $4.5 for the property in 2009 on an Ogilvy price of $5.250 million, and it probably seemed like a bargain at the time. It wasn’t.

But very nice land, and it will make an attractive parcel to build on.

Gone and forgotten

(Update: Nice obituary of the (late, obviously) owner, Francis K. Brooks, who died at age 90 in 2009. An interesting, accomplished woman).

Our homegrown prevaricating moron speaks

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What Trump actually said:

“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her,” Trump said. “Okay, let’s see how she feels about it. You know when the guns are trained on her face — you know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building”

What Murphy (and the rest of the den of rats) said, after editing the clip:

While we're reporting breaking news from Maine ...

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it’s lonely at the top

Male Runner Dominates Maine Girls Cross-Country Track Competitions

Under the Maine Principals Association's rules, male runners who identify as female may participate in girls athletics

The student, a junior at the Maine Coast Waldorf School in Freeport, dominated at the Western Maine Conference Championship in Standish on Wednesday, Oct. 16.

He took first place in the five-kilometer cross-country run.

The dominant long-distance runner defeated the second-place finisher, Zoe Carroll from York High School, by one second, finishing the 5k in 20 minutes and 29 seconds compared to Carroll’s 20:30.

Although he took first place competing against the girls, his performance was far from impressive when comparing his times against the other high school boys who ran the meet.

The top male runner, Aiden Ring, finished the 5K in 16:58 … [as the top “girl’ runner, the unnamed runner would have finished 43rd against boys.]