Who needs scientists, when we have Fauci?

Uh, … uh, …

Biden on “new” studies on the relative efficacy of various face masks showing some don’t work: What? What? Oh hell, what do I know? Just put something, anything around your face — I’m sure it doesn’t matter.

They’re finally allowing studies to come out proving that the little blue surgical masks we’ve been forced to wear do nothing to prevent spreading or getting Whu Flu. That’s the news from last week, buried under the Afghanistan surrender, but the mask’s uselessness, even their causing harm, has been known since last year, when the masks were first mandated.

But it’s about control: just as Bidenknelt in obeisance to the Taliban and the National Girls Basketball Team today, so, too do our leaders demand obedience from us. For that, any symbol, any face mask, cloth, paper, bandanna or monkey face will do..

I don't know what Fauci's endgame is. Breakthrough infections will always be with us, even if everyone's vaxxed. And the CDC's threshold for "substantial" transmission is so low that, as he says, it now ropes in highly-vaxxed, low positive-rate parts of the U.S. So: mask forever? https://t.co/7c1bBrRfx2

— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) August 24, 2021

Related: In Australia, the government will never yield back the power it’s taken. “Even with zero cases, 80% vaccination, the rules will still apply: social distancing, masks [and so on]”

Australia announces COVID law will never end.

Hello, new normal. pic.twitter.com/a3J7em6OHr

— Aaron Ginn (@aginnt) August 24, 2021

Who needs friends, when we've got enemies?

“Wait, we’re still there? Where’s there?”

Biden bows to the Taliban, rejects pleas from G7 leaders to extend Afghan evacuation beyond August 31st after Taliban insists there can be no extensions - despite secret meeting with CIA - and BANS Afghans from leaving

President Joe Biden delivered a snub to his international allies on Tuesday, dismissing the desperate pleas of G7 leaders to extend the Kabul evacuation beyond August 31, after the Taliban issued a chilling warning to western forces who stay and banned Afghans from leaving.

The move gives the Biden administration just seven days to evacuate thousands of American citizens and local allies still stranded on the ground. 

And it means that officers will have to begin ordering U.S. troops home within days in order to meet the deadline for clearing the airport.

…

Biden agreed with the Pentagon's recommendation to stick with the withdrawal date, according to multiple reports, despite intense pressure from NATO leaders and western allies to leave troops in place and avoid a humanitarian disaster. 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were among the leaders who urged Biden to keep boots on the ground longer during the Tuesday meeting. European leaders are worried there is not enough time to evacuate everyone who wants out. 

Biden spoke for seven minutes during the virtual meeting, according to officials.

He was scheduled to deliver an update on progress at midday, but the time came and went without word from the White house.

Restoring America’s reputation and respect abroad. That’s what we were assured by the “experts” who’ve been running our country for decades and who are still in control today:

“Former Republican National Security Advisors for Biden”, August 20, 2020

“We believe Joe Biden has the character, experience, and temperament to lead this nation. We believe he will restore the dignity of the presidency, bring Americans together, reassert America’s role as a global leader, and inspire our nation to live up to its ideals.”

Meh — at this level, that's pocket change

Putting up a modest front, but total square footage is 11,500

1 Winding Lane, whose owner bought it from Martin Zweig in ‘05 for $7.4 million, closed yesterday at $4.750. It started back in 2018 at $6.950.

It’s an odd, 1963 Colonial, using that term loosely, that was expanded out of all proportion by Zweig. That $7.4 price in 2005 surprised me, but, given the property’s proximity to town, I suppose a number in the $4s isn’t so startling.

People Sleep Peacefully in Their Beds at Night Only Because Rough Men Stand Ready to Do Violence on Their Behalf

gentlemen, start your laptops

Which is, sort of, what Libs of Tik Tok does for users of the web. It scours the internet and surfaces the worst of the worst Tik Tok videos to present to us so that we don’t have to be driven completely mad watching hours of madness. It’s very much like Twitchy.com in that regard, which screens the inane tweets in Twitterland. Mind you, if not for these heroes’ efforts, I just wouldn’t engage at all, but then, I’d miss out on some fun.

Here, courtesy of Lib Tik Tok is an explanation of why air conditioning is racist,

Air conditioning and skyscrapers are rooted white supremacy pic.twitter.com/xht2j5TsEJ

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) August 23, 2021

Here's a term I haven't seen applied to this neighborhood before, but I can see how landlords might think so

84 Halsey Drive, 1948 construction, 3 bedrooms, one bath, window a/c and 1,288 sq.ft. was listed as a rental at $5,000 seven days ago and is already under contract.

The listing describes it as a “Pristine and Sun- filled 3 bedroom and 1 1/2 bath renovated Cape in coveted Havemeyer Park, Old Greenwich”. “Coveted Havemeyer Park”? Well, if this cape can be accurately described as “renovated” — and realtors never stretch the truth — then why not coveted? Mead Point, Field Point Circle, here we come.

But the landlord’s doing okay here. No mortgage, low taxes — $6,000 — and what would appear to be a minimal maintenance budget. What’s not to like?

Pending on Hooker's Lane

(Okay, they changed the name after successive generations of teenaged boys kept stealing the street sign, but Pepperidge Farm and I remember. I never did figure out, though, why the developer, instead of naming the street after a combination of his children and pets’ names, as is the usual practice, choose instead to honor a Civil War general whose sole claim to fame arose from the popularisation of the term Hooker, for the camp followers who tagged along behind him as a sort of precursor to the USO as he so frequently retreated from the enemy.)

In any event, 41 Stonebrook Lane, priced at $1.645 million reports a pending contract. Purchased for $1.590 in 2005, It began this time at $1.895 in July, 2020 at $1.895, but the market and the price improved, and voila.

No yard to speak of, but nicely renovated interior.

Boy Gary's Hillcrest Park home sold for just about asking price

2 Old Farm Lane has closed at $3.150 on an asking price of $3.195. I don’t know the Dellabates at all and certainly don’t know their future plans, but from what I’ve read over the years of their service on various town volunteer committees, and the many complimentary comments posted here by readers who do know them, they’ll be missed if they move away.

Back Country fire sale?

10 Tod Lane, listed as 4.7 acres of vacant land and priced at $1.595 million reports a contract. Back in 2005, when it had a decent, 1966 house, a swimming pool, and a tennis court it sold for $2.905. As recently as 2009 the owners tried for $2.495 but failed. Now, according to the current listing, the house is gone, and “the pool and tennis court are still there but will need to be replaced”.

Did the house burn down, with an insurance payment softening the blow of losing the difference between $2.905 and whatever it’s now selling for (almost certainly well below $1.595)? I don’t know — readers?

Original house, circa 2009

hard to believe that this level of professional photography couldn’t flush out a buyer back then

And no brainwave away ...

Thereby freeing them to rob 7-elevens

Biden tells parents to make their children wear masks when outdoors.

In Australia, not a single case of Covid transmission has been recorded outside from casual interactions (nor has it been observed anywhere in the world, according to the NYT, which called out the CDC’s deliberate lies on the matter).

(For readers who, like myself, refuse to pay anything to get beyond the NYT’s cash wall, here’s a summary of the article, with extensive excerpts.)

One brainwave away ...

Kampalla tells parents to buy Christmas presents NOW because global warming has hit toy supply chain — no mention of Afghanistan

Kamala Harris on Monday discussed Christmas shopping and climate change, but failed in her major foreign policy speech to mention the current crisis in Afghanistan. [Or migration or refugees, but that was last month’s problem, eh? — ED]

Harris, addressing a roundtable of business leaders before her speech, warned that climate change and the pandemic have contributed supply chain issues, The New York Times reported, and suggested parents should consider getting Christmas presents now. 

'The stories that we are now hearing about the caution that if you want to have Christmas toys for your children, it might now be might be the time to start buying them, because the delay may be many, many months,' she said.

'So across the board, people are experiencing the issue. 

'And, of course, the climate crisis is fueling a lot of this. When we look at the stronger typhoons that have disrupted shipping lanes and sea level rise, which threatens port infrastructure as an example. So these are the many issues that are that are causing these disruptions.'