Okay, we're back, after a week-long mental shutdown

Ladies who lunch insist that they need social workers, not cops, to fend off rapists

Last week my mind just rebelled against the constant newsfeed of hatred, distorted news, and the Whu Hu Flu “crisis”, and I inadvertently took a mental health holiday. “Inadvertently” because I initially thought I’d just take a day off from news and blogging, but as the week wore on, every time I checked the Internet, I just rebelled at writing or commenting on anything, even including real estate.

But here we are again, inspired in part by the news that Greenwich Invisible (a group I’ve written about before to slightly negative reviews), the “non-partisan” group that invaded our RTM four years ago and been a relentlessly pro-Democrat TDS mob ever since, is supporting the defunding of our police department. Here’s what the national organization is calling for:

It is not enough to discuss a need for bias trainings or an increase in body cameras -- we must demand transformative change. Following the lead of Black-led organizations like the Movement 4 Black Lives, we believe it is critical to defund the police and reinvest in community services that keep everyone safe. 

While the protests were born from the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others, they are a response to the systemic racism in our police and criminal justice systems that manifest in horrifying brutality against Black and brown people. There is a national crisis of violence against Black people that spans centuries. Now is the time for visionary and radical change, that you can be a part of. 

Call on your own local and state officials and tell them to defund your local police department and invest those funds in resources people need in Black communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color. 

To be fair, our local branch of ladies doesn’t specifically call for the elimination of our own police force, but it does link to the national site and makes no effort to distance itself from its parent organization’s demand.

“Well here in Greenwich there will always be room for bobbies on bicycles, two by two”, Greenwich Invisible founder Joanne Swomley, wife of failed First Selectman candidate Sandy Livtvak, told FWIW, “but for that, we need what; maybe a storage shed to shield the bicycles from inclement weather? A phone to notify the parents of any rosy-red cheeked children gone wandering and found by our cops? Other than that, let’s not spend money on our systemic oppression of blacks and indigenous Siwonoys, and devote those funds to building model low-income housing in Belle Haven instead.”

Look for Swomley’s proposal to appear on the next RTM agenda.