Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more.
Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more
He’s been fiercely loyal to Trump these past years, and Trump is understandably concerned with loyalty as much as competence, but in this case, he seems to have gone strictly with loyalty, and chosen a lightweight.
UPDATE: Professor Reynolds shares my skepticism, but points out, Hey, it’s an improvement on what we had:
(Another) Update: Just saw this on X this morning.
Last year, China sent a surveillance balloon over most of the continental United States, including Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, where nuclear weapons are stored. China’s craft surveilled Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska, home of U.S. Strategic Command, in charge of the nation’s nuclear forces. China’s balloon also got a close look at Whiteman Air Force Base, home to the B-2 stealth bomber, capable of delivering nuclear and conventional payloads.
China’s craft was first sighted by a private photographer, picked up by national media, and only then acknowledged by the Biden-Harris administration. The Communist regime claimed the balloon was for “mainly meteorological purposes,” that the craft had “limited self-steering capability,” and that “westerlies” blew it off course. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, echoed China’s claims.
“Those winds are very high,” Milley told CBS News, “the particular motor on that aircraft can’t go against those winds at that altitude.” Pressed as to whether the aircraft was on a Chinese intelligence mission, Milley said, “I would say it was a spy balloon that we know with high degree of certainty got no intelligence, and didn’t transmit any intelligence back to China.” For a different perspective consider Dr. Marina Miron, a researcher in the War Studies Department at Kings College London.
Dr. Miron earned her PhD at the University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy. She has advised NATO on counterinsurgency and serves at the Kings College Centre for Military Ethics. As Dr. Miron told the BBC:
The balloon could be controlled by operators on the ground, who could raise or lower the craft to pick up different wind currents. You would want to be able to make it linger over a spot to collect data. This is something you can do with a balloon which you cannot do with a satellite.
The ground operators could be any of the nearly 300,000 Chinese students now in the USA.*
Nobody leaves China without approval of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which sends “students” on a mission. For example, Juan Tang, supposedly a cancer researcher at UC Davis, was a member of the CCP and the Liberation Army (PLA) the force that slaughtered peaceful demonstrators at Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Gen. Milley doubtless knew that stateside ground operators could easily download the intel. So in the style of Maj. Kong (Slim Pickens) in Dr. Strangelove, Milley was taking evasive action. That might be expected from the man who compared President Donald Trump to Hitler and Trump’s supporters to brownshirts.
Milley also hinted that he would tip off China in the event of an American attack he thought Trump might be planning. The general actually called Chinese Gen. Li Zuocheng and defended the call as conducting the duties of his office. In effect, Milley appointed himself commander-in-chief, a move not exactly authorized by the Uniform Code of Military Justice or consistent with common sense and basic morality. As Sir Bedevire (Terry Jones) might say, who is this who is so wise in the ways of history and warfare?
Mark Milley received his commission from the Army ROTC at Princeton, where he majored in political science, and his master’s from Columbia was in international relations. Milley never attended West Point, unlike Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, who as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe played a major role in taking down Hitler’s National Socialist regime. In 2021, Gen. Milley presided over a humiliating surrender in Afghanistan that made the Taliban the best-armed terrorist force in the world. Yet Gen. Milley boasts more U.S. military medals than Gen. Eisenhower. See here and here, and another comparison comes to mind.
* According to the Department of Homeland Security, as of April, 24,376 Chinese nationals were apprehended at the border and March saw a 50 percent increase from 2023 and a 2,000 percent increase from 2021. In addition, “more than 1,000 Chinese nationals have crossed the northern border every month for the past five months.”
Yesterday, word came out that Trump is considering a drastic cleansing of the stables:
The Trump transition team is considering an executive order that would send into retirement any three- or four-star general deemed "lacking in requisite leadership qualities." If fairly applied, that standard would force a super-majority of the 44 four-star and 162 three-star officers off active duty.
If Donald Trump approves the order, it could fast-track the removal of generals and admirals found to be “lacking in requisite leadership qualities,” according to a draft of the order reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. But it could also create a chilling effect on top military officers, given the president-elect’s past vow to fire “woke generals,” referring to officers seen as promoting diversity in the ranks at the expense of military readiness.
As commander in chief, Trump can fire any officer at will, but an outside board whose members he appoints would bypass the Pentagon’s regular promotion system, signaling across the military that he intends to purge a number of generals and admirals.
The draft order says it aims to establish a review that focuses “on leadership capability, strategic readiness, and commitment to military excellence.” The draft doesn’t specify what officers need to do or present to show if they meet those standards. The draft order originated with one of several outside policy groups collaborating with the transition team, and is one of numerous executive orders under review by Trump’s team, a transition official said.
The warrior board would be made up of retired generals and noncommissioned officers, who would send their recommendations to the president. Those identified for removal would be retired at their current rank within 30 days.
BACKGROUND:
The upper echelons of the US military are broken. There is no visible interest in readiness or warfighting. The focus is on whatever social justice idea that is coming down the pike. This rot has spread deep into the rank and file where sexual proclivities and other non-essential traits determine if a successful career is possible (see Unexpectedly, the USAF Finds Itself With a Critical Shortage of Pilots While It Says It Has Too Many White Officers). Stories abound of officers and noncommissioned officers being afraid to discipline women or sexual minorities for fear of being reported to the Star Chamber for some career-ending offense. In the aftermath of the USS Bonhomme Richard burning down, there were tales of US Navy petty officers buffing floors while sailors lounged about because they feared being accused of harassment. And who can forget the active network of "pup" fetishists operating rather openly in the Army? See Army Starts Sham Investigation Into Bondage Fetish Colonel and His Friends Because They Think You're Stupid for details.
But some former officials believe the potential Trump administration is looking to politicize the military.
“Do they start wearing MAGA hats in formation to signal who’s where?” asked one former senior Pentagon official. “The potential for this to go wrong is infinite.”
...
This seems like a reasonable objection, however:
U.S. troops take an oath of office to the constitution and vow to not follow any illegal order, and Congress must approve the promotion of general officers.
But establishing a board separate from the current process, which uses serving officers, could undermine the idea that generals refrain from sharing their political views within the Pentagon. It could also potentially prompt officers not to speak out against orders they believe are illegal, says Eric Carpenter, professor of military law at FIU College of Law.
“This looks like an administration getting ready to purge anyone who will not be a yes man,” said Carpenter, a former Army lawyer. “If you are looking to fire officers who might say no because of the law or their ethics, you set up a system with completely arbitrary standards, so you can fire anyone you want.”
A reasonable objection, but not necessarily one that should kill the idea, at least according to the author of the article I’m quoting from:
Like any other great idea, it isn't without high risk. The justness of this retention board's actions will rest on the credibility of its members. It will be difficult to get retired four-star officers to sit on a panel that orders the involuntary retirement of former colleagues. Even if it is not perceived as fair, we're no worse off than today, and a strong message has been sent about the purpose of the Armed Forces.
My opinion is that, if it rid the Army of other General MIleys lurking in the shrubbery at the Pentagon, it’s probably worth trying.
495 Den Lane, Pemberwick, was listed at $925,000 on October 20th, went to contract in three days, and closed today at $1,000,000.
70 Round Hill Road, $2.850 million asked, 65 days on market. A 1930 cottavge on 1.2 acres in the R-2 zone, the listing describes it as “a Beautiful 1930's home which includes a charming carriage house with a renovated three bedroom apartment.”. One bathroom for the three upstairs bathroom, including the master, and any “renovations” performed to that carriage house were probably completed during FDR’s second term.
That said, if does have, as the jargon goes, “potential”.
Main house floor plan:
come january, pete and his hubby will have plenty of free time to chest feed brutus and slim
Miriam Main, trustee and PR director of Britain's oldest breastfeeding charity La Leche League GB (LLLGB), has resigned after an "inclusivity policy" was introduced by the charity's global organization that would allow men to attend support groups.
Main said that she refused to help men "perform a poor imitation of breastfeeding" that would also put babies in danger.
Ian Hayworth, Not the Bee: “Let me stop for a moment: If you don't know, the transgender movement is trying to normalize "chestfeeding" where men pumped full of hormones "feed" their babies.
As you might imagine, giving babies "milk" from a man's nipples with the help of a chemical cocktail isn't exactly natural or safe.”
In her resignation letter, Main referenced "bullying, lies, and cruelty of recent times," adding that she hopes "that the wonderful work of hundreds of women is not lost through mixing causes and politics."
Main's resignation came after Marian Tompson - one of the American founders of the La Leche League in 1956 - also resigned because of this policy.
"This shift from following the norms of nature, which is the core of mothering through breastfeeding, to indulging the fantasies of adults, is destroying our organization," Tompson said in a letter to charity leaders.
LLLGB has said that it "supports everyone who wants to breastfeed or chestfeed in reaching their goals," and that the organization does not "discriminate based on sex, gender or gender identity."
"The situation at La Leche League is one of the starkest examples of how gender-identity ideology turns organizations upside-down," said Helen Joyce, a director at Sex Matters. "By including men who want to breastfeed in its services, LLL is destroying its founding mission to support breastfeeding mothers."
49 Indian Mill Road, Cos Cob, posted on here when it was new in September, has dropped its price from $4.695 million to $4.295.
15 Skylark Road, listed in May at $2.495 million, has sold for $2.255. The sellers paid $1.875 for it in September 2021.
Supporters of Kamala Harris gather for her concession speech at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington D.C.
A new Searsmont business will soon give its customers the chance to release any pent-up frustration by breaking glass objects, blasting loud music, bursting liquid-filled balloons and committing other forms of controlled destruction.
The operation, called The Rage Release, is due to open Nov. 22. When it does, it’ll be one of several so-called rage room businesses that have opened around Maine in recent years, though it would be the first in Waldo County.
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“It’s a fun, safe way of relieving stress, and creating new memories,” said Gail Gary Cox, the owner of the business.
Cox, who has several businesses, is opening The Rage Release in a large garage space on a residential property that she owns at 109 New England Road.
She is dividing it into multiple rooms that will provide customers with different types of experience. In some, they’ll be able to destroy or beat up a variety of objects, including wine glasses and bottles, stuffed animals or even a vehicle. Blunt objects such as baseball bats will be available. (The business is now accepting donations of old furniture and appliances people want to dispose of.)
In other rooms, customers will be able to explode balloons filled with paint or water. For those seeking a less tactile experience, there will also be options for dancing or screaming to music.
Fees will range from $10 to $250, depending on the activity, the number of participants and the length of time.
Some mental health experts caution that the increasingly popular rage rooms are no replacement for actual therapeutic treatments, and that people with certain disorders should avoid them. But when done safely, they note that they can help relieve stress, in the same way as video games or ax throwing can do.
Cox emphasized that her operation is not meant to promote violence or unhealthy reactivity, but rather to give people an outlet for any pent-up anger, grief or other emotions they may be feeling.
“For one person, breathing exercises could relieve their stress, but for someone else, they might think, ‘I have a lot of stress on me.’ Maybe breathing is not going to be enough,” Cox said. “It’s a new venture, I guess. But at the same time, giving our town something new, something to do. There’s not really another space like that around here.”
I give it the same shelf-life as those popcorn stores that sprouted across the country in the late 90s and disappeared just as quickly, but hey, ya gotta try.
As Donald Trump's energy secretary, Dan Brouillette unleashed an energy boom, with America becoming a net energy exporter and producer for the first time in 75 years thanks to record-high oil and gas production. Now, Brouillette is positioned to potentially serve in the second Trump administration, saying Trump's victory is an opportunity to "reshape U.S. energy policy" and usher in "an era of unprecedented innovation."
After four years of the Biden-Harris administration, which prioritized green energy policies to fight climate change and rolled back Trump-era energy policies in the process, proponents of an all-of-the-above energy strategy are excited about the possibility of Brouillette returning to the Trump administration.
The excitement underscores the centrality of energy policy to Trump's economic vision. The president-elect has made clear he views slashing energy prices as the key to battling inflation and blunting the spike in housing prices. "If we open up American energy, you will get immediate pricing release, relief, for American citizens—not, by the way, just in housing, but in a whole host of other economic goods too," Trump's vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, said during a debate.
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Trump selected Brouillette to serve as deputy energy secretary in 2017 and to serve as energy secretary in 2019, after then-secretary Rick Perry left the department. Brouillette is the only person ever to receive Senate confirmation for both roles. After serving in the administration, he was hired as the president of the energy firm Sempra Infrastructure and, two years later, as president of the Edison Electric Institute, the nation's largest industry group representing power providers.
In interviews with the Washington Free Beacon, several former Trump administration officials and energy industry officials, all of whom have extensive experience working with Brouillette, lauded the former energy secretary as someone who could advance Trump's agenda and unwind the Biden-Harris administration's restrictive regulations.
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Filling energy-related policy roles in the Trump administration, meanwhile, will likely receive an increased level of scrutiny from Trump and his senior transition staff. The president-elect campaigned on increasing energy independence and energy security and curbing burdensome climate regulations implemented by the Biden-Harris administration. Trump also promised to reinstate his first administration's energy agenda, much of which was overseen by Brouillette.
"I think the world of him," said Mark Menezes, the president of the United States Energy Association, who served as Brouillette's deputy at the Energy Department in 2020. "He's got the skillset necessary to run any agency. He showed that at DOE, whether it's a job in the White House or even international."
"Under his leadership, the U.S. became the leading producer of oil and natural gas globally, and really served as a huge counterbalance to the countries that for years had dominated the price and supply of oil," Menezes said. "That's what changed under his leadership."
While he served in the Department of Energy, Brouillette spearheaded efforts to boost America's nuclear power footprint and created a first-ever artificial intelligence office.
He also served on the White House National Security Council and National Space Council and was one of Trump's top advisers on energy and nuclear-weapons matters.
"When you look back at what DOE did under the Trump administration, Dan Brouillette is at the core of all of it," said Neil Chatterjee, who served as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission during the Trump administration. "While he certainly has conservative bonafides, I know a lot of Democrats who may not agree with all of his views on policy, but they respect it and they respect that he's a serious person and not a hack and not an ideologue."
Brouillette's work bolstering liquefied natural gas export projects to energy-needy allies in Europe and Asia is especially relevant given the Biden-Harris administration's actions. In January, the White House gave in to environmental activists' demands and issued a moratorium on permitting such projects to allow time for a federal study analyzing their climate impacts.
The Biden-Harris administration's moratorium on gas exports is ultimately something Brouillette could quickly unwind if Trump selects him to lead the Department of Energy once more. Sempra Infrastructure, the company Brouillette led after departing the Department of Energy, is one of the nation's largest developers of natural gas export projects.
"When he was deputy secretary, he went to Germany several times—Germany at that time didn't have any import terminals," a former Department of Energy official who worked with Brouillette told the Free Beacon. "It was very reliant on Russian gas. And Dan was able to get the Germans to build their first import terminal. That was the first sort of stage of American LNG coming into Germany."
"He understands energy markets," the former official added. "He understands nuclear technology, he understands renewables, he understands that all of those are needed in order to have the most stable, secure, as well as affordable and clean energy balance that we can possibly have, and not just here in the United States, but for the world. He's very pragmatic about it and I think that translates into an all-of-the-above energy strategy."
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