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 Worse, their stance has nothing to do with principle: Avelo’s contract with the government was originally made during the Biden administration, and we didn’t hear a peep of protest from these two; it’s all about Trump, and pandering to the TDA sufferers in their base.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.