6 October—It appears The Monitor’s history editor was taken in by an alleged production error in the Hearst Republican-American compounded by that rag’s unusual but customarily dilatory correction & clarification of the egregious misstatement.

Readers may recall that three days ago, taking the word of Hearst’s Today in History panel as gospel, The Monitor contended that epidemiological history needed to be rewritten because Donald Trump had contracted COVID-19 virus in 2010, a full decade before anyone else was known to have been infected by that dreaded disease. We should have known better. Than to take Hearst’s word for anything.

Because this corrigendum appeared in yesterday’s Hearst Sunday Republican:

As usual, the misinformation is ascribed to a production error rather than an editorial error. While editorial errors abound in the Waterbury rag, as in virtually all others, given the total lack of copy editing and proofreading in that forlorn publication even before Hearst’s bean counters took it over, that’s entirely plausible. And even the Corrections & Clarifications panel suffers from that same problem, as is evident at the end of the clarification & correction.

In other news, Ohmygod! The new Archbishop of Canterbury is a woman. When you consider that you don’t have to believe in the God or even a conventional mainstream god to be an Anglican priest, it’s not surprising.

Before you know it, the so-called spiritual leader—but in reality, as in any religion, the political leader—of the Roman Catholic Church will be a female pope. Of course, as everybody doesn’t know, the Church of Rome may already have had a distaff pope: Pope Joan, from 855 to 857. And she may have been English.

Pope Joan is called Ioannes Anglicus—English John—because she was a woman who disguised herself as a man, a monk called John, presumably with some connection to England, in order to do things the church didn’t allow women to do. Kind of a shiksa Yentl.

Clearly not constrained by church orthodoxy, Joan was said to be talented and learned. And although she disguised herself as a man, she wasn’t a cross-dresser or transsexual—nor continent, because she may have done the Yentl thing at the behest of a lover, whose identity and motivation are unknown. And by whom she had a baby, the birth occurring—during a papal procession, as the story goes.

If that wasn’t a pretty good reason to end Joan’s papacy, she died shortly after the surprise birth, either through natural causes or murder, neither of which would be out of the question in the circumstance.

The Vatican is said to have deleted Joan from its official lists. And it devised a ritual to ensure that future popes were male. Those who aren’t privy to the notoriously secret workings of the Vatican can only speculate as to the ritual. But one wonders if it goes beyond a candidate peeing a cross in St. Peter’s Square.

Pope Joan’s existence was generally accepted as true until the 16th century. The officially accepted pope during what may have been Joan’s reign is Benedict III, who is credited with having served from 29 September 855 to 17 April 858. But who can be sure?

And until someone has full, unrestricted access to the notoriously secret and restricted Vatican libraries and muniments, it can’t be said for sure that the Church of Rome wasn’t led by a woman for at least two years . . .

5 October—The subject line of today’s first email from The Telegraph read “A quiet reshaping of the monarchy,” so it was only natural to assume the story was about machinations within Donald Trump’s corrupt court (euphemistically called his administration) to give the scummy tyrant king even more power than he already has. Because it’s no secret that he craves even more power than his supporters who bring unprecedented shame to the Supreme Court majority have given him.

And it’s also no secret among the unbenighted that while Trump and his court flunkies (judicial and otherwise) profess unprecedented transparency, the scumbag ruler and his courtiers are in reality as opaque as the Black Hole. To his credit as a performer and demagogue, however, Trump’s journalistic hangers-on famously ignore and manipulate facts to support the myth of their hero’s transparency. In fact, just yesterday a minor typically xenophobic Trump votary called Joe Guzzardi wrote:

“Even President Donald Trump’s millions of critics cannot deny one central aspect of his character that has kept him at the forefront of U.S. presidential politics for more than a decade: Trump takes all questions, even from the most hostile reporters who have written bias [sic] stories about him. When Trump finishes his reply, everyone in the room knows exactly where he stands.

“Most politicians, as they climb the political ladder, encourage questions but then do their best to dodge actually answering them. Trump breaks this mold.”

Yeah, right. Like all Trump admirers and/or defenders, Joe Guzzardi obviously has his head up where the sun don’t shine. Because Trump has a well-documented history of, among other things, controlling which questions he answers as well as insulting, ignoring, and dismissing reporters. If he doesn’t feel like answering a question, for instance, he’ll call it “stupid” or “nasty” and/or change the subject. And of course he’ll insult the reporter who asks it.

Getting back to “A quiet reshaping of the monarchy,” then, the Telegraph story turned out to be about the British monarchy. And who cares about that? The Telegraph is a British rag, after all. At least the British royal family isn’t malignant and spiteful. And it wouldn’t matter if it were, because it’s even more powerless than it is useless . . .

4 October—Donald Trump is lording it over the most lawless, tyrannical, repressive government ever suffered by the United States of America from even before it was the United States of America. And Trump’s is also the most unstable regime this nation has ever experienced, doubtless a reflection of his notorious and undeniable narcissistic and sociopathic instability.

Trump and his flunkies have fired more nonpolitical civil servants as well as political appointees than any preceding administration—for blatantly trumped-up reasons that everybody knows are really political and vindictive. Trump doesn’t actually deny the malign motivation of his irrational and often spiteful executive orders, but his devoted flunkies embellish, obfuscate, and euphemize everything he and they say and do in the most altruistic terms.

Trump, like any dictator (and anybody else, truth be told), also rewards loyalty—largely the financial kind. That’s why virtually all top-level and many mid-level federal jobs in the most corrupt administration in American history are held by distinctly unqualified—and usually disqualified—donors and ass-kissers.

So Trump’s highly unqualified ass-kissing warlord Pete Hegseth announced yesterday that, one, he had fired yet more highly qualified senior Pentagon officials and, two, the military had conducted yet another illegal attack on a boat. Of course, that’s not quite how he put it.

The most senior victim of the sack is—was—Jon Harrison, chief of staff to the Secretary of the Navy. Don’t confuse him with the Chief of Naval Operations, by the way; Trump had canned Admiral Lisa Franchetti not long after he resumed his dictatorship because she’s not a he. But Jon Harrison was—as far as we knew—a Trump flunky who, since being hired in January, had been helping fellow flunky Hegseth re-screw-up the Pentagon’s screwed-up bureaucracy. (It’s not unusual for that sort of thing to happen in the corporate world, of course.)

And what flunky Hegseth described as a “lethal, kinetic strike” against a boat allegedly affiliated with a designated terrorist organization allegedly carrying narcotics is just another of the serial murders Trump has authorized and rationalized as “armed conflict with unlawful combatants.” And the scumbag-in-chief doubtless will get away with it because his majority of admirers on the shameless Supreme Court has made him all-powerful and unpunishable.

How long must we put up with an unstable nut in the White House?

3 October—Exclusive to The Monitor on the job front, directly from the U.S. Department of Labor: A man walks into the Hiring Office in the West Wing. “I’d like to apply for a job with the administration,” he tells the clerk. So the clerk gives him an application to fill out.

The applicant comes to the question: “Are you circumcised?” So he asks the clerk, “Is this question really necessary?”

The clerk replies, “I’m sorry, sir, but if you’re circumcised you can’t be employed by this administration.”

“What possible difference could it make if I’m circumcised?” the bewildered applicant asks.

“It’s quite simple, sir” the clerk replies, “To work for the Trump administration you have to be a complete prick.”

On that subject, the world learned only yesterday from the Hearst Republican-American that Donald Trump must have been among the first people to have contracted COVID-19. It had been thought that the dreaded viral disease first appeared in China in 2019. But when an unimpeachable source like Hearst tells us that Trump had been infected with it all the way back in 2010, it’s safe to assume that epidemiological history needs to be rewritten.

Here’s the actual announcement from the HRA’s “Today in History” panel:

The accuracy of the Hearst announcement is confirmed by the absence of a correction in today’s Waterbury rag. Remdesivir, a so-called broad-spectrum antiviral, would have been new to the market in 2010 and the unspecified experimental drug cocktail administered to Trump must be the same one that was administered to hamsters and monkeys. Did those poor creatures make out as well as Trump?

And Trump likely was referred to as president in 2010, six years before Hillary Clinton got him elected, only because he was president of the Trump Organization.

In closing, then, the bad news is that after 177 years, Hammacher Schlemmer is going out of business, killed by the same sort of financial predation that has infected and corrupted capitalism the world over. HS will be missed, just like all the other great companies that are now dead or might as well be . . .

2 October—Several readers have inquired about the criminal complaint I’ve been trying to file with whichever Litchfield resident trooper I’m able to touch base with whenever I may be so fortunate. Well, no one should be surprised that the complaint is or will be about Litchfield’s popular man about town and favorite wannabe luxury condominium or skyscraper affordable housing developer, Michael Peloquin. Remember him?

It seems that late last year, as Doctor Judge Peloquin was harassing my son and me, I prevailed on the resident trooper to warn him off. The harassment was more a pain in the ass than anything else, truth be told: mostly idle, inconsequential, nonviolent threats if I didn’t remove everything I’d written about him from The Monitor’s website.

My son has been especially peeved because Dr. Peloquin insists on addressing all his literature to Paul Rosenberg Sr. (which I am not) or most recently to Paul Rosenbery Sr., but at my son’s PO box—even though post orifice personnel have made it clear to the old cowboy that he’s been using the wrong address. At least he’s stopped using his interpretation of my middle name, which has been, inter alia, Morreiriccaa and Morroeieices on his envelopes.

So the warning from law enforcement appeared to have worked, because my son and I hadn’t received any mail from Judge Peloquin for several months. Then, earlier this year, the threats resumed. They’re largely photocopies of previous threats. With additions, of course.

Like for instance: “I give you 5 days to remove all and every article you wrote about me – Michael J. Peloquin – in your past Litchfield Monitor.COM or . . . Five (5) days Sir!”

And: “Mr. Rosenberg: Would you like to ‘Outwrite’ my lawyer Alexander Taubes? MJP”

I had no idea what MJP meant by that. So I got in touch with Alexander Taubes, who is representing the owners of the land Peloquin wants to build condos or affordable housing skyscrapers on, but he neither confirmed nor denied being Peloquin’s lawyer. I still have no idea what MJP meant.

On the other hand, as of 13 June Alexander Taubes has a $100,000 mortgage on Peloquin’s North Street manse (the former mortuary), subordinate to the $400,000 one the owners of the litigated land filed the same day, both payable by next June.

That half-million should help Peloquin pay some of the remaining six figures of way-back income taxes he still owes the IRS, the five figures of back property taxes he owes the town, and the four figures of back property taxes he owes the borough.

All that said, don’t count Michael Peloquin out. For better or worse, like his exemplar D***** ****P, from whose biography TrumpNation he sent me a photocopy of an underlined page, Peloquin is a survivor . . .

1 October—It would appear that the two state police officers currently serving as Litchfield’s resident troopers can’t be bothered dealing with Litchfield residents and thus would prefer to give their jobs back to town constables. Here’s the story: Litchfield’s senior, long-term, dependable resident trooper—who really is a town resident—has been incapacitated after surgery, so the town is at present being served by a stand-in trooper as well as the new junior resident trooper. One, I’ve been told, has the day shift, the other has the night shift.

Just over three weeks ago I had reason to file a criminal complaint. So I phoned the Litchfield police number. Nobody being in the police office at Litchfield Town Hall to answer the phone, my call was shunted to the dispatcher at the Troop L barracks right down the road. He dutifully took my message and said he’d relay it to the resident trooper on the day shift. I assume he did.

But a few days later I mentioned in passing to an employee at Town Hall that I hadn’t heard from the day trooper and was told that’s probably because he was rather casual about checking his voice mail, so I’d be better off contacting him through the barracks dispatcher. Okay. So I left another message with the dispatcher and, just for the fun of it, I left a couple of messages on the trooper’s voice mail. What the hell. In all events, I still didn’t hear from him. Talk about casual.

So a few days after that, I mentioned in passing to the first selectman that I hadn’t heard from the day trooper so she told me she’d have him call me. And indeed, another few days later—on 17 September, according to the caller ID—I found a message from the resident trooper on my answering machine. (I use an old-fashioned answering machine rather than voice mail.)

As it happens, though, the message was from the other resident trooper—the one supposedly on the night shift, not the one I had tried to contact. What the hell. So I returned the call to him at the barracks number he left and was told by the barracks dispatcher that the trooper was on another call but would get right back to me.

Two weeks later I’m still waiting for the resident trooper—any resident trooper—to get right back to me. It must be noted, by the way, that Litchfield’s two certified constables who retired in 2022 didn’t retire because they wanted to . . .

30 September—This is the feast day of St. Jerome, born Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus, marking the anniversary of his death in 420 (AD, of course). His magnum opus is the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Old and New Testaments, from Hebrew and Aramaic of the Old and Greek of the New. Well, he did most of it, anyway. The Vulgate and as of 1979 the New Vulgate are among the biblical versions approved by the Roman Catholic Church. (The Douay-Rheims Version is the first English translation of the Vulgate, by the way, the New Testament published in 1582 and the Old Testament in 1609 and 1610.)

So El Conservatissimo, reacting to the current “What a Republican!” panel in the sidebar, questions the appropriateness of depicting Donald Trump’s head as an elephant turd in motion: “everyone knows you don’t like him mordy but he is the elected president and so thats why deserves your respect.” More to the point, perhaps, knowing what vindictive creeps Trump and his flunkies are, El worries they’ll get me “like they get everyone else” so, “for you own sake and safety why not apologize.”

Good point. It appears that El Conservatissimo is really a nice guy and his solicitude is most appreciated. So I do humbly apologize. To elephant shit—for associating it with Donald Trump.

Moving on to the matter at hand, then, the figures we’ve all been waiting for are in. The United States Postal Service requires periodicals—including but not limited to newspapers and magazines—to file Form 3526 every year by 1 October. And a copy—or all the information therein—must be printed in the specific periodical. The annual Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation, as it’s called, is supposed to provide proof that a publication is eligible for mailing under a so-called periodical permit. Presumably the figures can be trusted.

So the Hearst Republican-American and Hearst Sunday Republican filed and printed as required. And the figures are better than expected. The two related but discrete rags are both called Republican American in the forms but have different publication numbers and figures. For some reason, however—negligent form-filling, perhaps—the other information is the same, including the annual subscription of $1,300 in both filings. (That’s what the $25-a-week “subscription offer” presented in the “How to reach us” panel works out to. And of course it bears no relation to reality. Cover prices rarely do.)

So the paid circulation of the Hearst Sunday Republican, as of 10 August 2025, was 15,698 (with another 2,000 copies not distributed). That’s down from the Pape Sunday Republican’s 20,210 in 2024 (with another 330 copies not distributed), a decline of only 4,512, about 22.5 percent.

And the paid circulation of the Hearst Republican-American, as of 14 August 2025, was 16,253 (with another 2,513 copies not distributed). And that’s down from the Pape Republican-American’s 20,156 in 2024 (with another 330 copies not distributed), a decline of only 3,903, about 19.3 percent.

It’s surprising that more Republican-American hard-copy subscribers haven’t jumped ship with the inauspicious advent of Hearst. But we don’t know about internet-only subscribers, who just may be bolstering rates for display advertising that nobody reads and sales of longer obituaries . . .

29 September—Several readers were good enough to email comments about yesterday’s disquisition on Region 20’s cellphone policy, all—to a one—applauding the policy as far as it goes but agreeing that a total ban during class would be better. A few lamented that a formal policy was even necessary.

One reader was good enough to include this diversion, presumably alluding to the ubiquity of cellphones—even in Catholic schools:

Imagine yourself a nun sitting at her desk grading these papers while trying to keep a straight face and maintain her composure. These are answers from a Catholic elementary school test on the Old and New Testaments. They have not been edited:

1. THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE IS GUINESSIS AND GOD GOT TIRED OF CREATING THE WORLD SO HE TOOK THE SABBATH OFF.

2. ADAM AND EVE WERE CREATED FROM AN APPLE TREE. NOAH’S WIFE WAS JOAN OF ARK. NOAH BUILT THE ARK AND THE ANIMALS CAME ON IN PEARS.

3. LOTS WIFE WAS A PILLAR OF SALT DURING THE DAY BUT A BALL OF FIRE DURING THE NIGHT.

4. THE JEWS WERE A PROUD PEOPLE AND ALL THE TIME IN HISTORY THEY HAD TROUBLE WITH UNSYMPATHETIC GENITALS.

5. SAMPSON WAS A STRONGMAN WHO LET HIMSELF GET LED ASTRAY BY A JEZEBEL CALLED DELILAH.

6. SAMSON SLAYED THE PHILISTINES WITH THE AX OF THE APOSTLES.

7. MOSES LED THE JEWS TO THE RED SEA WHERE THEY MADE UNLEAVENED BREAD WHICH IS BREAD WITHOUT ANY INGREDIENTS.

8. THE EGYPTIANS WERE ALL DROWNED IN THE DESSERT. AFTERWARDS MOSES WENT UP TO MOUNT CYANIDE TO GET THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

9. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT WAS WHEN EVE TOLD ADAM TO EAT THE APPLE.

10. THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT IS THOU SHALT NOT ADMIT ADULTERY.

11. MOSES DIED BEFORE HE EVER REACHED CANADA AND THEN JOSHUA LED THE HEBREWS IN THE BATTLE OF GERITOL.

12. THE GREATEST MIRICLE IN THE BIBLE IS WHEN JOSHUA TOLD HIS SON TO STAND STILL AND HE OBEYED HIM.

13. DAVID WAS A HEBREW KING WHO WAS SKILLED AT PLAYING THE LIAR. HE FOUGHT THE FINKELSTEINS THAT WERE A RACE OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN BIBLICAL TIMES.

14. SOLOMON WAS ONE OF DAVIDS SONS AND HAD 300 WIFES AND 700 PORCUPINES.

15. WHEN MARY HEARD SHE WAS THE MOTHER OF JESUS SHE SANG THE MAGNA CARTA.

16. WHEN THE THREE WISE GUYS FROM THE EAST SIDE ARRIVED THEY FOUND JESUS IN THE MANAGER.

17. JESUS WAS BORN BECAUSE MARY HAD AN IMMACULATE CONTRAPTION.

18. ST. JOHN THE BLACKSMITH DUMPED WATER ON HIS HEAD.

19. JESUS SAID THE GOLDEN RULE THAT SAYS TO DO UNTO OTHERS BEFORE THEY DO ONE TO YOU. HE ALSO EXPLAINED A MAN DOTH NOT LIVE BY SWEAT ALONE.

20. IT WAS A MIRICLE WHEN JESUS WOKE UP FROM BEING DEAD AND MANAGED TO GET THE TOMBSTONE OFF THE ENTRANCE.

21. THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED THE LORD WERE CALLED THE 12 DECIBELS.

22. THE EPISTLES WERE THE WIFES OF THE APOSTLES.

23. ONE OF THE OPPOSSUMS WAS ST. MATTHEW WHO WAS ALSO A TAXIMAN.

24. ST. PAUL CAVORTED TO CHRISTIANITY AND HE PREACHED HOLY ACRIMONY WHICH IS ANOTHER NAME FOR MARRAIGE.

25. CHRISTIANS HAVE ONLY ONE SPOUSE AND THIS IS CALLED MONOTONY.

28 September—It was 14 years ago today that 437 people in Calgary, Alberta, dressed as Superman to set a world record.

In other news, just the other day the superintendent sent out an email expressing his “heartfelt gratitude to the incredible staff and faculty of Region 20 for their unwavering dedication and tireless efforts, which ensured a smooth and successful start to the school year.” Jeffrey A. Villar, Ph.D., was “proud to say that Region 20 is on a path that will lead to continuous improvement and success.” Amen.

The super super went on to update community members on “several changes in policy and or regulations,” including one “governing the use of cell phones during school.” He seemed rather apologetic about the new cellphone policy. But he needn’t have been, because it’s reasonable to a fault and accommodates even the helicopter parents who “value the connection that a cellphone provides between them and their children.” (One wonders what they’d have done in the bad old days.)

Truth be told, there’s absolutely no justification for pupils—or teachers, for that matter—to have any digital or other devices during classes other than those actually being used for the classes. Period. Full stop. That’s all there is to it. And infractions by pupils and teachers should be punished accordingly. Especially those by teachers. (As if the union and arbitrators would allow that to happen.)

So here’s Superintendent Villar’s eloquent apologia followed by the cellphone policy. At least it doesn’t involve those ridiculous Yondr lock pouches:

The development of the policy was challenging because there are many firmly held beliefs about both the benefits and drawbacks of students possessing and using cellphones, especially at school. Through its discussions, the committee recognized that many parents value the connection that a cell phone provides between them and their children. Additionally, many children need to communicate with family members after school hours, especially older students who may work or participate in after-school activities. On the other hand, a growing number of studies are revealing the disruptive nature of cell phones in schools, particularly because they provide access to social media platforms. These platforms, when unregulated access is allowed, are increasingly linked to increased mental health challenges in youth.

The phenomenon has become so prevalent that the Connecticut State Board of Education released a position statement that strongly recommends that each Board of Education establish a cell phone policy that “restricts the use of cell phones during the school day to ensure student engagement in learning, support emotional well-being, and strengthen students’ interpersonal skills, peer interaction, and social communication.” You can find this position statement here: https://portal.ct.gov/governor/-/media/sde/board/position_statement_cell_phone_use.

The following outlines the new regulations I have developed to implement the Board of Education’s new policy.

● Elementary School: No use of a cell phone/smartwatch or other personal communication device will be permitted during school hours. These devices must be turned off and left in backpacks, stored in a student’s locker/cubbie, or other place designated by building administration.

● Middle School: No use of a cell phone/smartwatch or other personal communication device will be permitted during school hours. These devices must be turned off or on silent and left in backpacks, stored in a student’s locker, or other place designated by building administration.

● High School: Cell phones/smartwatches may be used in non-classroom areas as designated by the school administration. While the possession and limited use of a cell phone/smartwatch, or other personal communication device in school is permitted, the device must be turned off or on silent and kept out of sight in classrooms during the school day.

Regulations Applicable to all Grade Levels

● Cell phones mustn’t be a source of distraction at school. Cell phones should not be set to vibrate or to make any noise that may disrupt instruction. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that cell phones remain powered down during the school day.

● The availability of school-provided electronic devices (iPads) eliminates any instructional purpose for cellphones in the classroom.

● The use of a smartwatch is defined as using the smartwatch to access content, communicate, or do anything other than checking the time of day.

● Cell phones/smartwatches that make noise and or disrupt the classroom or violate other district policies and or regulations may result in disciplinary action.

● School administrators are empowered to confiscate cell phones, smartwatches, or other wireless communication devices at any time for failure to follow administrative regulations. We are committed to maintaining a focused and respectful learning environment for all students.

Responsibility/Liability

Any student who chooses to bring a cellular telephone or other wireless communication device to school shall do so at his or her own risk and shall be personally responsible for the security of his or her cellular phone or wireless communication device. Neither the school personnel nor the Board of Education will assume any responsibility or liability for loss, theft, damage, or vandalism to a cellular phone or other wireless communication device brought onto school property, or for the unauthorized use of any such device.

If your child possesses a cell phone, smartwatch, or other electronic communication device, please take a moment to review the regulations together. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your child’s building principal directly. They will be happy to speak with you about how this policy and accompanying regulations are implemented at their school.

27 September—What’s a Banana Republican? That’s right, it’s a Trumpublican, a benighted MAGAphile who actively or passively enables the ruthlessly depraved dictatorship of Donald Trump that’s transforming America into a banana republic.

Moving on, then, let’s for a moment focus on a benevolent dictatorship closer to home: the Borough of Litchfield. Certainly not the borough! you exclaim. But consider that the borough charter and code (bylaws) vest virtually all legislative power in the borough’s Board of Warden and Burgesses and the Connecticut General Statutes contain no provision for impeachment or recall of non-criminal elected officials.

But unlike the slimebags doing Donald Trump’s malignant and spiteful bidding, Litchfield’s warden and burgesses are good people doing what they consider best for the borough. That’s why the Borough of Litchfield is a benevolent dictatorship.

Problem is, one man’s benevolence may be another man’s malevolence. So here’s one resident’s case for that:

“NO KINGS” SIGNS ARE IGNORED BY BOROUGH

“No Kings” is an organization with perspectives on various political views. Everyone has the right to free speech and I have no problem with any organization expressing what it believes in, except in the Borough of Litchfield. I have addressed this issue with two emails to Borough Warden Gayle Carr. There were no replies, and it seem they weren’t important enough to mention at the board’s September meeting.

The Borough Board of Warden and Burgesses deals with variations in the level at which subjects are treated. Is this part of preserving the character and integrity of the district by the Historic District Commission? No Kings shouldn’t have the right to post signs in the borough that continue to be ignored by the borough board and the HDC. Yellow ribbons to honor our military were not ignored. We were told they were against the borough code.

When it came to veterans, the code of the borough was the law adhering to established legal rules and regulations. For veterans, the board was willing to spend a few thousand dollars of tax money fighting the original compromise to ensure there would be no yellow ribbons to honor our veterans.

To continue the board’s non-support of veterans, parents of a veteran were willing to purchase a bench to replace the yellow ribbons to honor our veterans. After attending several board meetings, a compromise was supposedly agreed to. The compromise didn’t materialize, and the final board vote was no bench for the veterans on an application presented to the board in May of 2023.

A recent motion by the borough board dealt the purchase of four new benches. Were any benches made available to honor veterans, after the previous bench compromise was rejected?

The Litchfield Patriots and The American 250 Committee have discussed the possibility of installing a marker honoring Revolutionary War Participants on the center green. This will be kept as an agenda item to review most likely for a few months.

As with our military, our Revolutionary War participants should also be honored .We should honor their service and their memory and encourage all Americans to appreciate the sacrifices they made to ensure the freedom we enjoy. A code of the borough should not come in the way of this honor.

Richard Morin
Litchfield

And here’s Borough Warden Gayle Carr’s defense:

I had not seen Rich Morin’s letter. As a matter of fact, I have not received any letters from him. Any correspondence which is received is printed, shared with the Board of Warden and Burgesses, and given to the Clerk to be filed. The Borough board is completely consistent on our speech policy. It is what I have always said to people regardless of their affiliation, you can come to the Green, give voice to your issue, and then take it with you when you leave. The Green is not for the permanent placement of any particular speech or issue. I do not know of any permanent sign placed in the Green. Any time I have seen anything placed in the Green, I have requested or demanded, depending upon the person’s response, the immediate removal of the sign. I favor no speech in that regard. The Green is for everyone.

If there is a No King’s sign in someone’s lawn, that is the private exercise of their constitutionally protected, First Amendment, right to free speech. The Borough board cannot police private political speech.

Finally, as to the bench, the Carons withdrew their application. The Borough purchased the benches. They bear no speech.

26 September—As America is being driven deeper and deeper into tyranny by a self-dealing, crazed, unstable dicktator and his unprincipled self-serving flunkies, Litchfield is facing a two-pronged invasion of undocumented intruders thanks to newspapers in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Just last week a puff piece by Allison Tibaldi in USA Today touted Litchfield as one of the “10 New England towns that glow with fall foliage magic.” Allison rated what’s really Litchfield County at number eight for leaf peeping, between Lenox, Massachusetts, and—wait for it—Hartford. At least leaf peepers clog Litchfield’s roads and parking spaces only for a week or two in the autumn. A small mercy, to be sure.

But in a 2 September enthusiastically pretentious destination story in what’s known in the United States as The Times of London, Megan Agnew, a Rotten Apple-based “senior features writer” (i.e., fluff specialist), had the gall to call Litchfield “the in-the-know alternative to the Hamptons.”

Megan’s not the first, though. About a half century ago, if my senescent memory serves, The Times of New York reported the selfsame Hamptons-Litchfield relationship with American spelling and rather less self-conscious enthusiasm.

Sadly, it’s fluff like that that attracts tourists and tourists screw up my town. Year-round, no respite, no surcease. The mostly high-end hoteliers, restaurateurs, and shmatte and tchotchke vendors certainly love tourists and may even depend on them for survival. But most Litchfielders eschew the intruders.

Resident weekenders are wonderful; they pay local taxes and patronize local businesses and—most important—don’t send their kids to local schools. But Litchfield would be better off without tourists. So Litchfield should not be a tourist destination. Ever.

It appears that Megan and her friend Meredith took a train from Grand Central Terminal (which she mistakenly and typically calls Grand Central Station) to Wassaic, New York, and thence a taxi for £75 ($100) over about 30 miles to the £370 ($500)-a-night hostelry (whose name she drops, among several other trendy and costly establishments) in Litchfield.

Wassaic, as if it matters, is a minuscule hamlet (population just over 200) in Amenia, just across the state line from Sharon, and is home to the northernmost station on Metro-North’s notorious Harlem Line. So it’s really a terminal, just like Grand Central, but smaller. Well, not quite; Wassaic (terminal) Station was moved out of the dorp 25 years ago. But it’s still called Wassaic Station.

Like Megan and Meredith, George Washington and his troops passed through Wassaic on their way to Connecticut.

Naturally, Megan enthused at the “stylish” hostelries and eateries in what she called “the market town, with its wide promenade and perfect [she means expensive] shops . . . [and] wooden signs and gas-style street lamps.” “It’s so quaint,” she gushed, “that you can hardly believe it’s real.” She lives in the Rotten Apple, after all. But where the hell did she find a wide promenade in Litchfield?

In all events, in her fluffy enthusiasm Megan Agnew probably failed to notice the historically inappropriate old aluminum muntinless storm windows on the town office building. But if she ever visits Litchfield again . . .