Enemies of their constituents, friends of our enemies.

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Surprisingly, the Hartford Yahoos are displaying a reasoned reaction to the “revelation” that Houston-based Avelo Airlines, which also conducts operations at New Haven’s Tweed Airport, has renewed a contract with the federal government to fly deported illegal aliens out of the country from Arizona. What is not at all surprising is that our fatuous governor and The Man Who Would Be Blumenthal, State Attorney General Tong, have seized on Avelo’s Connecticut connection to publicly side with the criminals, and denounced their removal from the country. Worse, their stance has nothing to do with principle: Avelo’s contract with the government was originally made during the Biden administration, and we didn’t hear a peep of protest from these two; it’s all about Trump, and pandering to the TDA sufferers in their base.

Avelo is being protested, but Connecticut officials aren't penalizing airline

That celebration continued late last year when Avelo announced plans to expand with flights out of Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks.

But that enthusiasm quickly dissipated in recent weeks when it was learned that Avelo planned to run deportation flights as a contractor for federal immigration authorities. The deportation flights have even led to protests, some boycotts and an online petition with tens of thousands of signatures. Connecticut's Democratic leaders have expressed disappointment that such flights are being operated by a company they have worked closely with and one that has benefited from some incentives in the state.

….. But while there have been calls from some, including state Attorney General William Tong, to pull support from Avelo, that is unlikely to happen.

“We are not doing anything. We gave the industry a two-year hiatus on the fuel tax as an attempt to produce growth in that industry,” said State Rep. Maria Horn, D-Salisbury, co-chairwoman of the tax-writing Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee. “Early in the legislative session the industry asked for an extension, then we got the news on renditions. First, Avelo has not advocated for an extension and I am not interested in extending it. These are state resources to promote growth and we make choices and they make choices.”

Tong, in a letter to Avelo, requested assurances that deportation charter flights the company plans to run from Arizona won't violate the rights of immigrants. On Thursday, a spokesperson for Tong said they have not received updates, despite requesting answers by an April 15 deadline. He also requested the company's contract with federal officials.

[Tong Letter]

"Let’s be clear what these flights are doing. These are flights separating parents from their children. These are flights where people—men, women and children — are shackled in handcuffs, waist chains and leg irons, where flight attendants have said there is no safe plan to evacuate people in an emergency," the letter states."No one is forcing Avelo to operate these flights. If reporting is accurate, Avelo has freely chosen to profit from and facilitate these atrocities. The State of Connecticut has an obligation now to review this business decision and to consider the viability of our choice to support Avelo."

…. It is the policy of the State of Connecticut to support, honor and protect families, to uphold public safety and to defend the rule of law.]

Avelo spokesperson Courtney Goff, responding to a request for comment by email, said, "We flew these charters under the Biden administration and our new contract won’t start until mid-May.” [bolding added] The company has requested Tong seek the contract through the Department of Homeland Security. [Politese for “pound sand” — Ed]

“We also flew these charters under the Biden administration. Regardless of the administration or party affiliation, as a U.S. flag carrier when our country calls and requests assistance our practice is to say yes. We follow all protocols from DHS and (the Federal Aviation Administration), honoring our core value of Safety Always.”

A proposed bill to redraft the state’s Trust Act to end state subsidies to companies to aid in deportations is still pending, but Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, confirmed that it probably wouldn’t impact Avelo, even if it were signed into law.

"Avelo doesn’t get state subsidies, so that bill didn’t do anything to hurt them,” Ritter said. “They take advantage of a tax. They said, ‘Anyone who enters in a state contract.’ Avelo doesn’t have a state contract. They do take advantage of the fuel tax.”

nd in steps Ned:

While future deportation flights will be run out of Arizona, a spokesperson for Gov. Ned Lamont said state officials are "watching to ensure they do not operate such flights here in Connecticut."

Why? Is Lamont advocating against deporting all illegal aliens, and leaving our borders open to the world, or does he just object to seeing it done here (Arizona, actually), the way he and his fellow hypocrites demand that the metals required for producing battery cars be mined out of sight on the other side of the world by impoverished, enslaved children, and only then shipped here?

These are ugly people.

David Strom writes a column "Sunday Smiles", but his preface leading up to the funny memes is anything but

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And it’s just as gloomy rereading it this Monday morning; gloomy, because I fear he’s right.

Liberals marinate in hatred for all things Trump, including any person even tangentially related to him. When I was flying back from Washington, I was chatting with my seatmate, and Trump's name came up. A woman across the aisle blew up at the mention of his name.

As I have written many times, much of the hatred for Trump comes down to the fact that he serves the role that the Tribunes of the Plebeians served in the Roman Empire. In a highly aristocratic society, the plebs needed a voice, and even the Roman Oligarchs recognized that the long-term survival of the Republic depended on the plebs not feeling so put upon that they rose. 

In the generation before the Caesars came to power--all emperors were Caesars, named after Julius himself--the Tribunes of the Plebeians became powerful political figures precisely because the aristocrats grew increasingly out of touch with the ordinary people. The Gracchi Brothers were the most powerful and politically threatening Tribunes in the late Roman Republic, pushing for reforms to empower the plebs and reform a system that was impoverishing the ordinary Roman. 

Like Trump, they came from money. Like Trump, they bucked the Establishment. They were killed, while Trump has so far not suffered the fate of assassination or being tossed in jail, although both have been tried. It took liberals 5 minutes to go from denouncing violence against Trump to explaining why he deserved it. 

The classic "I don't approve of violence, but..." exemption that liberals have embraced. Riot, vandalize, call for violence, or even shoot somebody, and it's A-OK as long as you can justify it with some BS that sounds liberal. 

*******

Trump trolls the establishment, and this, as much as anything, drives the elite nuts because he exposes their hypocrisy as well as undermines their social and political power. If doing so is an end in itself, each troll is a minor triumph, but all the trolling in the world will not change the course of our decline. 

What will is cutting the funding of the elite, which, as we all know, stems mainly from their decades-long control of federal funding and looting of the Treasury. DOGE has exposed a great number of the grifts the left has been running--the amounts of money being funneled into left-wing projects and pockets are truly astonishing. Hundreds of billions a year. 

Create a project, throw a pretty term like "promoting democracy" or "renewable energy" on a program, and the gusher of money flows out of the Treasury like oil strikes in Pennsylvania in the 19th century. Stacey Abrams can open a bank account with $100 and get a grant for $2 billion in a flash. 

Finding the grifts is not enough, though, and just like "owning the libs," the follow-up is what matters. As Trump fights in federal courts to make his cuts stick, the people who could solve Trump's problems are sitting on their hands at the Capitol Building down the street. All the legal challenges- indeed, the judiciary's right to even slow Trump down- could be stopped instantly if the appropriate legislation were passed. 

Chances are, it's not going to happen, because just enough Republicans will stall his agenda and refuse to sign onto budget cuts that will not be reversible by any court. ….

Forget (for now) donating to the blog: here’s a Greenwich resident who really needs your help

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The blog donation/fund raiser exceeded my expectations, with 66 readers sending contributions totalling around $4,400.00. The blog will continue on, and the MLS expenses have been paid. Individual thank yous will be sent out over the next day (PayPal makes it incredibly labor intensive to dig out email addresses) but thank you all, now.

In the meantime, the New York Post has just published a state-by-state list of each state’s richest person, and although it’s gratifying to see that Steve Cohen has brought the state title home to Greenwich, I feel for him, and for the town: a mere $21.3 billion, which is practically nothing compared to the top dogs like Elon, the Zuck, and Warren. Hell, even the loathsome Mike Bloomberg’s amassed $105 billion.

It’s not as though Mr. Cohen needs more money to live on, or run a flailing baseball team, but pride, man, pride of place! Do we want to see Greenwich holding such a lowly rung on the ladder of success? I think not, and I’m sure Cohen doesn’t either. Searching the net, I can’t find a specific fund raising site for the man, but we here at FWIW will be glad to serve as his collection agent and pass it on. A billion here, a billion there, and it can be done. So let’s do it; let’s get the man up to at least 2nd place!

Here’s the Post article:

These are the richest people in every state in the country

This group of filthy-rich Americans — entrepreneurs, investors and heirs — are the wealthiest people in every state and are worth a staggering $2 trillion combined, according to Forbes.

That’s $400 billion more than the combined worth of last year’s titleholders.

At the top of the 54-person list — some states had ties — is Elon Musk of Texas, worth $388 billion. The Tesla and SpaceX founder is the richest man in the world.

Elon Musk is the wealthiest in America, followed by Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. Michael Bloomberg is the richest New Yorker.Donna Grace/NY Post Design

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, based in Florida, was No. 2 with a net worth of $206 billion. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg of California, worth $189 billion, came in third.

It's still early days, so PJMedia’s headline seems a tad hyperbolic, but its certainly what many of us predicted would happen as these renegade judgements reached higher courts

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Trump Just Got a Game-Changing Legal Victory

…. In a landmark ruling on Saturday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals handed the Trump administration a decisive legal victory—one that could fundamentally change how activist judges and forum-shopped cases interfere with executive authority. 

The appeals court's 2-1 ruling Saturday emphasized the judiciary's deference to executive authority in matters concerning federal employment and contractual decisions.

The court noted that the district court likely lacked jurisdiction to interfere with the administration's personnel actions and funding decisions, particularly regarding grant agreements with non-federal entities like Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

[The court upheld] Trump's March 14 executive order (EO), which aimed to dismantle USAGM operations.

This ruling effectively reins in district courts that have been sidestepping proper jurisdictional channels in cases challenging Trump administration actions. The decision serves as a clear reminder that courts themselves must operate within their prescribed legal boundaries.

According to Margot Cleveland, senior legal correspondent for The Federalist, the D.C. Circuit’s ruling hinges on a critical point: jurisdiction, which has sweeping implications. As Cleveland explains, many of the legal challenges being hurled at the Trump administration involve employment decisions—precisely the kind of disputes Congress has explicitly said federal district courts have no authority to adjudicate.

The court’s decision also strikes at the heart of a broader legal strategy being used by leftist groups to stymie Trump’s reforms—namely, the claim that the administration is engaging in “wholesale dismantling” of agencies. But as the ruling makes clear, the Administrative Procedure Act was never designed to handle such broad-based political grievances, and Congress never waived sovereign immunity to allow them.

In another key point, the court found that the lower court also overstepped its bounds by trying to restore federal grants—something Congress assigned to the Court of Federal Claims, not the district courts. All told, the decision is a sharp rebuke to the legal overreach being used to obstruct the Trump administration’s agenda.

The significance of this decision extends far beyond these specific cases—it establishes clear jurisdictional parameters that could affect dozens of pending lawsuits against Trump administration policies. While the administration won't prevail in every case, this ruling suggests courts may need to more carefully consider their jurisdictional authority before issuing sweeping injunctions against executive actions.

Legal commentator Margot Cleveland has a long X thread on the decision, with much more detail:

“Maryland Man” has grown stale; meet the next media darling, “Brooklyn Man”, Señor Felix Rojas

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“Hey, we do that to our idiot constituents all day, every day; not to worry”

The story of Mr. Rojas, who was caught raping a dead subway passenger “per anus and per os”, as criminal statutes would have it, received scant attention by such august news sources as the NYT: his act of depravity filling the wrong cavities was briefly reported, and then disappeared. But now that Rojas has been revealed to be an illegal alien, look for a spurt of fond, even orgasmic adoration and a flurry of visitors to his jail cell as he awaits release on no bond.

Man accused of raping corpse on New York subway train is illegal immigrant who repeatedly crossed US border


Felix Rojas, aged 44, had crossed the US-Mexico border without authorisation“on several occasions” during the 1990s, before being intercepted by Border Patrol agents and voluntarily departing, an ICE spokesperson said, according to the New York Post.

Rojas subsequently re-entered the country undetected until his arrest by NYPD on Sunday evening. The arrest was in connection with the violation of Jorge Gonzalez, a 37-year-old family man who had passed away on an R train approximately three weeks prior, officials confirmed.

A court proceeding this week revealed what Rojas allegedly did after finding Gonzalez dead or dying on a subway bench on April 8. According to prosecutors, surveillance footage shows Rojas first going through Gonzalez’s pockets to rob him, then returning to sexually assault his body. 

They said Rojas repeatedly zipped up his pants and adjusted Gonzalez’s trousers whenever the train stopped, trying to avoid being caught in the act. Prosecutors said the assault lasted over 30 minutes. Gonzalez's death was likely due to natural causes, several reports said.

Court records indicate Rojas remained present when an MTA employee discovered the body at approximately 12:25 pm. Emergency services instructed Rojas to exit the train whilst they examined Gonzalez, who was pronounced deceased at the location. Rojas faces charges including rape and grand larceny, and is being held without bail. [So far — give a woke judge a chance —Ed]. He entered a not guilty plea and is due to appear in court on May 5.

Prosecutors revealed he had presented "a passport from another country" upon surrendering to the NYPD. The ICE spokesperson noted that Rojas's most recent illegal entry date remains unknown. ICE officials in New York City filed immigration detainers against Jeronimo's release with Manhattan Central Booking on Monday, and with the Department of Corrections at Rikers Island on Wednesday following his remand order, the spokesperson confirmed.

An ICE spokesperson, referring to the accused as Felix Jeronimo-Rojas, confirmed Border Patrol encounters in 1998 (three times) and 1999 (once), with Rojas voluntarily returning to Mexico after each instance.

Sorry, pal, but I already claimed that seat (Updated)

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UPDATE: The world’s worst person suddenly finds Catholicism; JD Vance answers.

There are no solutions, only choices. — Thomas Sowell.

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press-ganged Operation Quiet Yards “volunteers” tidy up bruce park under the watchful eye of foreman “AL”

And every choice has consequences — good, not so good, and bad. Here in bucolic Greenwich, the “Quiet Yards” group teamed up with the Al Gore crowd and a year ago January persuaded the RTM to ban gasoline-powered leaf blowers. The consequence: millions to be spent by private lawn maintenance companies replacing their current machines(a cost that will be passed on to property owners retaining their services); and at least a half-million dollars required to convert half the town’s arsenal of blowers and double that when the transition is complete, money that will be imposed on all property owners, including those who eschew hired Mexicans, and use goats or small Congolese children to keep their lawns trimmed, or simply choose to grow a lyme tick haven. Naturally, the banning crowd doesn’t want to hear that their solution will require higher taxes, so they have simply denied reality and insist that, like electric cars, leaf blowers can be run at no cost by powering them on, to quote (the other) John Kennedy, “pixie dust and unicorn urine.”

The ban was approved, but not the money, and this is the consequence.

Greenwich has just six electric leaf blowers as summer ban nears: 'Operational inefficiencies'

GREENWICH — Summertime restrictions on the use of gasoline-powered leaf blowers take effect later this month, but a couple of town departments are going to have to be good at sharing to comply.

The town Departments of Public Works and Parks and Recreation had sought a combined total of roughly $476,000 to buy new electric leaf blowers, but the Republicans on the finance board voted to remove that funding from the budget in April. ….

The departments had planned to buy enough electric blowers to replace half their fleets, but town leaders now intend to get by with much less.

Parks and Recreation hoped to buy 21 blowers and DPW wanted 15, as well as various batteries and chargers, according to town documents, which would have converted half the respective fleets from gas to electric.

But instead of heading into summer with more than 30 blowers, the two departments will have six blowers between them.

…. Gasoline-powered leaf blowers cannot be used in residential zoning starting at 6 p.m. the Friday before Memorial Day through September 30, except for properties of two or more acres, where the prohibition ends the day after Labor Day. This year, the blower rules take effect on May 23 at 6 p.m.

The blower rules apply to residents, businesses and town workers operating in residential zones.

The town departments first sought blower replacement funds — $265,000 for Parks and Recreation and $211,000 for the DPW — in December. The request was denied at the time and departments were told to include the money in the regular budget process, which happens early each year.

During budgeting, Harry Fisher, chair of the Board of Estimate and Taxation, said the town government should not comply with the blower rules, so he and his Republican colleagues voted to cut the money from the town's spending plan.

"We're not accepting the mandate from the RTM, which we think is an undue burden on the town," he said on April 3.

Siciliano, in past remarks, has said his department is tasked with maintaining more than 2,000 acres of land throughout the town.

"The limited number of electric blowers will cause operational inefficiencies," the joint statement said, while acknowledging that buying a few electric blowers is better than nothing. "Staff will work collaboratively to prioritize usage across town properties and operations to ensure the most effective deployment of equipment."

In the statement, Siciliano and Michel said they considered three options for how to deal with the lack of funds and decided it was best to just buy what they can and share as needed.

The town was warned of what was coming back in December, but chose to push on ahead with the ban:

Cost to convert entire Greenwich fleet to electric leaf blowers 'shellshocking,' officials say

By Andy Blye, Staff Writer Dec 14, 2024

GREENWICH — Town officials voted to enact a summertime ban on gas-powered leaf blowers earlier this year and now the bill is coming due.

The Departments of Public Works and Parks and Recreation have asked finance officials for $476,000 to buy new electric leaf blowers and upgrade facilities to store the new gear.

…. DPW and Parks and Recreation leaders told the Board of Estimate and Taxation on Dec. 10 that the $476,000 is basically the bare minimum they need to go electric and comply with the legislation.

“We're not over-asking,” Parks and Recreation director Joe Siciliano said. “We're just asking for what we think we need based on our work capacity and also the amount of acreage, which in Parks — it's over 2,000 acres.”

The $476,000 request includes $265,000 for Parks and Recreation and $211,000 for the DPW, according to documents submitted to the BET.

The total would allow the two departments to convert half of their respective blower fleets to electric, Deputy Commissioner of Public Works Jim Michel said.

"If we were to truly do this for the whole fleet, full power and so forth, we'd probably be looking at all new (electric) services, basically from the (utility) poles out on the street," he said. “Which would have been a significantly higher number than you even have in front of you today, which we knew was going to shellshock (the BET) because it was shellshocking us.” 

Parks and Recreation wants to buy 21 Stihl backpack leaf blowers, dozens of accompanying batteries, handheld leaf blowers and 21 portable power stations to charge up in the field. DPW is requesting the same equipment in smaller quantities.

The bulk of the cost, Siciliano said, comes from the batteries. The Parks Department asked for 21 primary backpack batteries which cost $1,529 each, according to BET documents, and each of the 42 backup batteries cost $1,299.

The departments have also asked for money to upgrade electrical panels in storage sheds so they can handle the excess power demands as well as money to buy specialized cabinets to hold the batteries. The cabinets are designed to stop the spread of fire if a battery fails and combusts. [Oops! That’ll have to wait for another year, or decade, or until one of the maintenance sheds blows up.]

Each battery lasts about two hours, officials said, but that can vary depending on how vigorously the batteries are being used. A light job may extend battery life past two hours, but intense blowing will drain the charge quicker.

Given that capacity, officials are working off the assumption that a blower will start a work day with two full batteries and one filling up on a mobile charger. As batteries are drained, they will go on the charger — and even then crews may run out of juice.

“I do think that the three (batteries) are gonna get us through the day, just barely, in most of our jobs,” Daniel Carlsen, assistant director of parks and recreation, said.

The leaf blower debate started in 2022, when Quiet Yards Greenwich, a community group dedicated to limiting use of gas blowers, outlined their request for officials to limit the use of gas blowers in town.

Advocates …. took their plan to the Representative Town Meeting in hopes of modifying the town’s noise ordinance. [The RTM approved the leaf blower rules in January 2024 and they took effect for the first time last year.]

…. Parks and Recreation and DPW leaders came forward with their request to buy new equipment now, they said, outside of the regular budget cycle, so the gear gets ordered and arrived before the variance expires.

Some members of the BET did not find the timing argument convincing.

“This should be in the budget cycle,” BET chair Harry Fisher said. “They should go back to the authorities and request another (noise) extension.”

… The BET budget committee voted 2-2 along party lines on Dec. 10 to reject the requests worth $476,000, with Republicans opposed and Democrats in favor. Without a majority, the item failed.

Gentlemen, start your goats.

A Saturday morning (mourning?) treat, and Not the Bee's got it!

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A trio of best of clips showing that intellectual giant from Georgia’s 4th congressional district Hank Johnson in action, including his latest adventure into The Land of the Brain Dead. Mr. Johnson has been elected and reelected by his constituents 9X, just in case you’re wondering. Like knows like.

Verified genius Rep. Hank Johnson has thoughts about Latinos at Home Depot. Please enjoy.

Peter Heck:

He's a legend.

There's no two ways about the fact that whenever he leaves office, Representative Hank Johnson will leave behind a legacy of one of America's greatest legislators. Representing Georgia's 4th congressional district, he may be unassuming at first, but behind the façade of just another unassuming man in a suit, walking the streets of D.C., lies a dizzying intellect, and one of the most articulate minds ever to appear under the Capitol Dome.

Before you accuse me of drenching my words in sarcasm, let me remind you that had it not been for Johnson's foresight, the tiny island of Guam might not even exist today. More on that in a minute. But first, here is the charismatic visioner himself, back in action this week, addressing the immigration issue with a biting precision and a cultural sensitivity that only he can deliver:

Yes, that's Johnson's riff on the famous Martin Niemöller poem, confessing his sins in not speaking up for the targets of Naziism in his native Germany. I never considered that anyone's version could match up with the power of the original, but the "Latinos at Home Depot?" Pure gold.

But wait, there’s more!


You can damn well bet they won't let their gardeners and nannies unionize

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The lady communists of Greenwich Invisible celebrated May Day by assembling at the Havemeyer Building and screeching “Power to the People, Right On!” They then retired to the Field Club for tea and martinis, and a grand time was had by all. The girls had saved the nation once again.

Greenwich Indivisible said they gathered on May 1st—International Workers’ Day—not just to remember the past (“And who could ever forget that wonderful day we occupied the cafeteria at Vassar for an entire morning?” gushed Greenwich Invisible president Valarie Smith-Hopkins), but to stand firmly in the present and fight for a better future.

The Greenwich event was organized by Indivisible Greenwich and was one of over 1000 “May Day Strong” events held nationwide, organized and promoted by organizations, including Indivisible.org, MoveOn, National Education Association, Public Citizen and labor unions.

“The vigil was a mass display (estimated at 25-30, including reporters) of unity calling attention to the fact that Trump and congressional Republicans are doubling down on their agenda to gut essential services and programs and take other steps that are enabling authoritarianism,” Indivisible Greenwich said in a press release printed on deckled stationery that, judging from its letterhead, had been lifted from the Indian Harbor’s receptionist’s desk.

According to the release, the gathering also “aimed to call attention to the power grab by the Republican-controlled Greenwich town’s finance board (the Board of Estimate and Taxation). A few weeks ago, our town budget was passed with devastating cuts and without a single Democratic vote. These cuts targeted everyone, from heartlessly evicting seniors in the Nathaniel Witherell nursing home, to locking children in dark closets and poking them with sharp sticks, to converting the Hamill Skating Rink into a pickleball court (“well, that might be acceptable”, conceded Miss Smith-Hopkins), to tearing out the sidewalks at our elementary schools and reducing teachers’ pay to twelve dollars a year, closing Greenwich Point, and cancelling (public) school vacations.”

“Today, we honor the power of collective action and the strength of everyday people who rise up
for justice, dignity, and fair treatment. We stand in solidarity with all who labor — not our domestics, naturally — but especially our teachers and their incredible union and other unions nationwide,

“Today, we don’t just reflect. We rise. We rise in the spirit of those who came before us—and in the name of those still fighting now. We are women — well, except for a couple of freaks here with stubble on their chins and bulges in their crotches who claim they are — hear us roar!”