This is good news; assuming our P&Z doesn't shoot it down

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Development Dodged: Greenwich's Last Commercial Horse Farm Preserved

Kelsey Farm—a 10-acre fixture at 1016 Lake Avenue and Greenwich’s last remaining commercial horse farm—has changed hands after 77 years. The sale marks an exciting victory for backcountry equestrian life and open space preservation, ensuring the storied property remains a working farm rather than a high-density residential subdivision.

From Playland Ponies to Backcountry Staple

Founded in 1949 by Elise "Sis" Kelsey and her husband C.W., the farm began when Sis brought home two Playland ponies—Peter Pan and Tiny Tim—to offer winter riding lessons. That humble start grew into a beloved community institution featuring 18 horses, riding rings, a long-running Pony Day Camp, Pegasus Therapeutic Riding program and vital access to the Greenwich Riding and Trails Association’s (GRTA) 150-mile trail network.

In 1989, daughter Elise "Easy" Kelsey took over management, eventually buying out her siblings in 2019 to preserve the working farm. For generations, local families cherished its annual, unrated horse show—a relaxed, low-stress tradition where kids showed off their skills without the pressure of circuit competition.

New Ownership

This October, Ruth Nicodemus and her husband Ted Grogan will relocate Serenity Show Stables from Redding to 1016 Lake Avenue. Alongside competitive training, the farm will host The Serenity Project, a non-profit equine therapy program executive-directed by Ted. To support both programs, the owners have requested a Planning & Zoning permit to increase the farm's horse count from 14 to 24.

Our P&Z specializes in making most land use projects difficult, especially when a change would allow a commercial venture to survive, so we’ll have to wait to see what happens here. Break a leg!

"The Rule of Law" or “Rule of Judges?” He claims the first, practices the second

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Can We Start Impeaching Judges Now?

David Strom:

Judges are supposed to use judgment. 

It's in the name of the position. They aren't supposed to become a second executive branch or override the legislature unless it violates the Constitution, and they certainly aren't supposed to become political actors who run campaigns to influence public opinion. 

…. A case in point is Judge Patrick Schiltz, who sat down with The New York Times to discuss the conspiracy among Minneapolis federal judges to thwart the Trump administration's efforts to deport criminal illegal aliens from Minnesota because they didn't like the policy. 

He explains, in loving detail, how they threw out their responsibilities to judge cases by the facts before them and created a system that pretty much automatically impeded the application of federal law. And he's proud of it as a card-carrying member of the #resistance. 

Now, I am a big fan of the rule of law, and I believe the law applies to all of us; if the president or his agents break the law, they should be held accountable. 

But the same holds true for judges: it is not their role to create systems that decide which laws apply to them and which do not, and they should not take pains to thwart the enforcement of laws they do not like. Creating systems where the decisions are not based on the application of the law and just rubber-stamping decisions not applicable to the case before you is banana republic stuff.

At issue, Schiltz says, was ICE's failure to follow court orders in a timely manner, but he leaves out a basic fact that changes the story entirely: the orders were churned out at such a pace because the judges never actually considered the cases that it was literally impossible for ICE to keep up. 

In other words, the judges intentionally made it impossible for ICE to meet the deadlines, and then the judges used that as an excuse to torture ICE's lawyers and the federal officers doing their jobs. 

One of the key issues left out of the Times story was this important fact: as the cases went up the ladder to the Supreme Court, the Trump administration was vindicated in most of them. It was the judges who were ignoring the underlying law, not the Trump administration. Most of the decisions were intentional delaying tactics, using cookie-cutter, often sloppy reasoning based on feelz, not the law. 

David Strom’s not the only Minnesota lawyer who’s appalled by this judge, there’s Bill Glahn, of PowerLine:

The rule of judges

…. Until he aged out a few months ago, Schiltz served as chief judge of the Minnesota federal district. He was appointed to the bench by George W. Bush in 2006.

Schiltz and the Times look back to the period early this year when Operation Metro Surge was in full swing and habeas corpus petitions, seeking to free detainees, were being filed at a rate of more than one per hour. We’ve already debunked the lie that “hundreds” of court orders were defied by the Trump Administration. Not a single order was ever disobeyed. Not one. Not once.

As it happens, it is Judge Schiltz who is defying the law. Back on March 25, the regional 8th circuit court of appeals ruled that the applicable law says that aliens facing deportation “shall be detained.” Schiltz ended up on the wrong side of this issue.

I have been tracking every one of the more than 350 habeas cases filed in Minnesota since the 8th circuit ruling. You can see the list here.

Judge Schiltz has decided 12 cases since late March, denying two habeas petitions and releasing 10 detainees. So much for “shall be detained.” Luckily, since moving into semi-retired status, he has not taken on any new cases since late June.

It’s not just being wrong on the facts, and wrong on the law, it’s the sanctimony, Schiltz and his fellow judges, as quoted in the Times and relayed by the outlet Minnesota Reformer,

The federal judges described to the Times a chaotic environment where the number of cases ramped up as more people challenged their detention in court. The judges described being constantly near their devices in case they missed a petition.

“The cost of me enjoying a movie could be somebody waking up in New Mexico the next day when they shouldn’t have,” Schiltz told the Times.

“New” Mexico? Rest assured that this concierge, bespoke-level of 24/7 service isn’t available to mere citizens. It is only provided to those that everyone involved acknowledges to be in open defiance of America’s immigration laws.

For my friends, everything.

For my enemies, the law.

As for that interview with the Times? Schlitz may have aged out of his position as Chief Judge of the Minnesota Federal District, but he’s still active, still deciding cases, and so is very much still required to obey the Federal Code of Conduct; he didn’t. Immigration cases are still active, Schlitz is still deciding them

AI Overview

Federal judges are not allowed to grant interviews or comment publicly on active or pending cases.

The Rules on Active Cases

  • No active case comments: Under the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, federal judges must not make any public statements about cases currently before them or cases that may come before them on appeal.

  • Speaking through the court: Judges communicate strictly through their written legal opinions, orders, and statements made during official court proceedings in the courtroom.

  • Avoiding bias: This ban protects the integrity, fairness, and impartiality of the judicial process so that outside public pressure does not influence a ruling.

General Public Speaking and Interviews

  • General topics: Outside of pending litigation, federal judges are generally permitted to speak at educational events, law schools, or bar associations, or discuss the general administration of justice.

  • Remaining cautious: Even during general interviews or lectures, judges avoid expressing personal views on controversial political or legal issues that could reasonably cast doubt on their impartiality i

Ask the Model Code: When may a judge talk to the press?

A: The Model Code does not expressly prohibit a judge from speaking with the press. Judges may speak with the press at any time—but not about any matter.

Educating the press and the public about the judicial process is always OK.

But judges should avoid speaking to the press or making any “public statement that might reasonably be expected to affect the outcome or impair the fairness of a matter pending or impending in any court … or might substantially interfere with a fair trial or hearing” (Rule 2.10). Translation: Don’t comment on a trial that is in progress or about to start, whether or not it’s your trial.

In Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, 536 U.S. 765 (2002), the Supreme Court ruled that judicial candidates may air their views on disputed legal and political issues. However, any active judge who decides to speak with the media to announce a view can be subject to discipline for failing “to perform all duties of judicial office fairly and impartially” (Rule 2.2).

Judges likely already know that their decision to become a judge comes with limitations on judicial speech.


Game Over

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(only the arch bishop’s garb has been (ever so slightly) altered: her friends’ costumes remain untouched)

What's the Point Anymore? Archbishop of Canterbury Celebrates Islamic Extremist

David Strom:

Prince Charles is no longer the Defender of the Faith, and the first female Archbishop of Canterbury has awarded a Pakistani radical Islamist an award for his Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation work. He is a big fan of Osama bin Laden and advises Pakistan's government on blasphemy laws. 

What's the point of pretending that England is a Christian, or even Western, country? It is in the process of submitting to the Ummah. 

Dame Sarah Mullally, the Archbishop of Canterbury, gave an “interfaith” award on the anniversary of 9/11 to an Islamic cleric who honoured Osama bin Laden, it has emerged.

Dame Sarah presented the “reconciliation and interfaith” award to Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council, a group of Islamic scholars, at a ceremony at Lambeth Palace on Sept 11.

Mr Ashrafi’s council awarded Bin Laden its highest honour in response to the UK Government giving Salman Rushdie a knighthood in 2007, describing him as a “Muslim warrior”.

The cleric praised Bin Laden, whose terror group killed 2,977 people in the 9/11 attacks, for targeting British people.

His wife, who attended the ceremony, was wearing a Niqab that covered every inch of her body except her hands and a tiny slit for her eyes. 

If you look at those photographs, you may notice an interesting detail that is easy to miss: the medal the Archbishop awarded was hanging on Ashrafi's wife, and not him. 

Guess why. It's not to honor her, but because he would not allow the Archbishop to put it on him, because women are unclean. 

… This is gaslighting, not naiveté. She must know that of all the Muslims she could choose, she was giving her stamp of approval to a particularly hostile Muslim cleric. It is little different than flying in the leaders of the Taliban to award them for their efforts to bring peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. 

There is a whole-of-government effort in the UK to punish Christians for displays of their faith. Reading the Bible in the public square is punished. Even praying silently is punished. But Muslims can close down streets on a whim and ostentatiously pray without the police even looking twice. 

Will Britain soon institute the Jizya, where non-Muslims must pay the mosques for the right to practice their own religion? That sounds absurd today, but who would have bet that the Archbishop of Canterbury would be handing out awards for interfaith reconciliation to a fan of blasphemy laws, child marriage, and terrorism?

At best, this is suicidal empathy. At worst, it is preparing the British people for the Muslim takeover. 

UPDATE: apparently, there are still a few British Christians willing to defend their faith. They’ll all be gone in a few years, of course, but as of today, can still raise a ruckus over the Church of England’s antics.

I'm far removed from children's television programming, but this lady seems to keep surfacing in my attention pool; whatever happened to Mr. Rogers?

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The heck with it; just keep him rolling to the January finish line, and all will be well, even if he isn't. As we saw with Biden, the Democrats would, and do do the same

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Mitch McConnell Is Back. Sort Of. Well, Physically at Least. God Help Us.

Well, McConnell rolled back to Capitol Hill in his wheelchair on Monday — well, someone rolled him back anyway — and it's... embarrassing. He looks thin, frail, and completely out of it. He speaks in a voice that is "faltered," according to Reuters. In other words, he's unfit to serve in the United States Senate. 

I get it. The GOP needs votes. This is a warm body in a wheelchair collecting a vote. But even that's not going exactly the way it should. 

On Wednesday, they rolled Mitch into the Senate Agriculture Committee, where they have been trying to move a farm bill since August, but it died due to the fact that there was an even number of Democrats and Republicans present on the committee and everything has to be decided down party lines it seems these days. 

Mitch's vote should have been what sent it down the pipeline to the full Senate. And now, it will be, but it didn't come easily.  

When the clerk conducted roll call, McConnell sat silently when his name was called. Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) leaned over and whispered "no" to him (Hoeven later claimed he misspoke and thought they were voting for something else) before one of McConnell's staffers told him to say "aye." Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), who chairs the committee, also leans over at one point and appears to tell McConnell to vote "aye." 

Some reports say that even the Democrats were prompting him to speak up. In the video, you can see he eventually raises half a finger and says "aye" softly. 

At some point, he also seems to freeze up — something we've seen the senator do before. No talking. Not falling asleep. Just... frozen in place. 

McConnell has been on this committee since 1985. He's been in the Senate for over four decades. If he needs to be told how to conduct a basic vote at this point, he needs to "retire yesterday," as Matt said. It's worse than Joe Biden. As Matt points out in his article, we demanded transparency from the Biden administration while it blatantly lied to us about his physical and mental health. Not doing the same to the leaders on our side only makes us look hypocritical and weakens us — something we can't afford a month and a half out from the midterm elections.   

Screw hypocrisy: Republicans have been playing the gentlemen for decades whike the Democrats trample them into the dirt. If we need a warm(ish) body to have his hand raised by an attendant to pass a vote, so be it; don’t play the Democrats’ game.

Joe Biden on Wheels:

A reader who's no fan of Mamdani wants to warn NY suburban residents that they'll soon be paying for the Mayor's generosity, so he's made a video.

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Judging from some of the hateful comments posted on the YouTube, he’s struck a nerve with Mamdanities; will the cluess New Yorkers who didn’t bother to vote a few months ago — the turn out was, what, 17%? — even notice it? Eventually, I suppose.

Never heard of the man, but the media's outraged reaction to tossing him off the stage was certainly predictable

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prosthetic “Jew nose”? C’mon, man, it’s about Palestine and israel, not all Jews. A lot of sleepy Jewish liberals want to believe that, just like their german grandparents thought german anti-semitism would get better, not worse.

From the article:

Macklemore has been dropped from the remainder of Ed Sheeran‘s U.S. Loop Tour after making headlines for saying “free Palestine” on stage and delivering a political speech during the Sept. 4 concert at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Pending on Tomac, 7 days

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Daphne strikes again: her new listing at 47 Tomac Road, listed at 3.695 million, is pending after 7 days. Carved out of hill, I remember this house from its long, unhappy sales history in years past. First offered at $2.750 million in 2009, it was on and off the market between rentals until they finally stopped trying to sll it in 2017, still priced at $2.440. Both the house and the market have improved since then.

Deceptive from the front, there’s more to it in back.

Welcome to the new America (Updated)

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Lake Worth Beach (Fla.) City Commission Objects to Candidate for Not Being — Guatemalan Enough?

A candidate for city manager in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., has criticized federal immigration enforcement and pandered to illegal aliens, but apparently the city commission is still worried he is not Guatemalan enough for a position in an American town.

Below, you can watch the city commission pondering whether or not Chris Rodriguez's Guatemalan ethnicity and limited familiarity with Spanish are enough to qualify him to be city manager. The primary speaker in the clip argues that because Rodriguez grew up identifying more with his Italian heritage and does not speak Spanish or any other foreign language fluently, he is “not a good fit for the city.” Yet the commissioner frankly admits that Rodriguez seems to have all the qualifications for the position.

BREAKING: The Lake Worth Beach City Commission moves to DISQUALIFY a candidate for City Manager because he's not Guatemalan enough. "He did not grow up very Guatemalan... he grew up pretty much Italian... he did not learn Spanish... he has no connection to the indigenous languages... just not a good fit for the city."

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 16, 2026 

I found an article from The Palm Beach Post  quoting Rodriguez, an assistant city administrator for Washington, D.C., and former CIA operative. Rodriguez bragged  about helping provide free legal representation for illegal aliens in our nation’s capital and reassured the many migrant residents of Lake Worth Beach that he would be happy to continue his anti-law efforts in the beach city. “We do not want families separated. We do not want people scared to go to school — I've experienced that in my community, in the District,” he pontificated.

Apparently, that wasn’t enough to placate all the foreigners who want to live in America and take our benefits but not assimilate or adopt any of our values. One city commissioner — seemingly Christopher McVoy  — explained, “On the Guatemalan [background], I thought initially, ‘Wow, that's cool.’ We did talk with him additionally. He did not grow up very Guatemalan. And he would be the first to tell you he grew up pretty much Italian. His mother was Italian. He did not learn Spanish growing up. He has no connection to the indigenous languages in Guatemala at all.”

With his anti-Ice position and vow to keep illegals’ children in Lake Worth’s schools, it doesn’t sound like a rejection of his candidacy for city manager will be any great loss, but still… not Guatemalan enough? For a US city?

UPDATE. Meet your new member of Congress from New York