Let’s start here.
https://x.com/fredemonium/
“If you want to red-pill America, raid their homes and murder their pets.” --- Greg Gutfeld
“Never shoulda killed Peanut.” --- Sweet Meteor O’Death, on X.
We’ll never know what effect on the 2024 election this terrible event caused. But the invasion of Mark and Daniela Longo’s home and subsequent killing of their friendly little squirrel and his harmless raccoon companion quickly became a stunning example of government overreach under Democrat leaders in 2024. It’s fitting that Trump took that moment in his victory speech last night to say, “This will forever be remembered as the day the American people regained control of their country.”
For years now, the people who most crave power have pointed at President Trump and projected their own evil desires onto him. They raided Trump’s home to take possession of classified documents that he’d had the authority as President to declassify. And if they’re in power, they’ll raid YOUR home to take possession of your pet, your gun, maybe even your child if you insist on calling him or her by the correct pronoun and balk at butchering his or her body irreversibly.
Kurt Schlichter put it well in his Election Eve column: “[Kamala] represents the party of the people who think it’s OK to go to someone’s house and take their beloved pets and murder them simply because they can. If you think Peanut the Squirrel and Fred the Raccoon are one-offs, you are in denial. They killed Ashley Babbitt because they could. They imprisoned their political opponents because they could. They censored Hunter’s laptop because they could. They locked old people in COVID-ridden nursing homes because they could. If they got their wish and disarmed you, what do you think they would do to you?”
“...The horror of the cruelty of killing a beloved and innocent little animal aside, this illustrates what the real stakes are.”
https://townhall.com/
According to Natalie Hoage at YAHOO!NEWS (“Pet Helpful”), it was “anonymous complaints” that led to this travesty, but the source of those complaints might well turn out to be a bigger story, especially if it was someone who has clout with state government. So far, no media outlet has confirmed the involvement of that photographer in Texas, who has nevertheless been branded online as “the Karen who killed Peanut.”
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in New York State said in a statement that they’d “received multiple reports from the public about the potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies and the illegal keeping of wildlife as pets.”
Peanut was a social media phenomenon with over 685,000 Instagram followers. Last Friday, two days after the animals were taken, Longo broke the news on Instagram that the family had learned that both Peanut and Fred had been euthanized. This was ostensibly to test for rabies after Peanut allegedly bit an agent during the confiscation, a claim that seems dubious, given agents’ heavy protective gloves.
Heartbroken fans quickly left over 20,000 comments.
It’s true that an animal has to be euthanized to test for rabies; they need a full cross-section of brain tissue. But Peanut had lived indoors for seven years and had shown no sign of illness.
“The squirrel isn’t just a squirrel,” reads one post on X that had 1.9 million impressions as of Monday afternoon. “Peanut is for everyone who has ever feared that someone more powerful than you could walk into your home and take something that you absolutely cherish away from you, for absolutely no good reason, with no recourse.”
It was Peanut’s huge social media audience that helped fund the Longos’ animal sanctuary, which they moved to last April. Peanut was more than a pet --- he was a business model.
“Despite our passionate outcry for compassion, the agency chose to ignore our pleas, leaving us in deep shock and grief,” Longo said on Instagram. “To add to our anguish, they informed the media of their decision before even notifying P’nuts Freedom Farm, his loving home. This demonstrates a troubling lack of respect and empathy. Their lives were precious, and we refuse to accept this loss in silence.”
https://reason.com/2024/11/04/
Tyrus quipped on GUTFELD Monday night, “I don’t have any animals, Greg,” though, of course, viewers know he has many, particularly tropical fish and sea creatures. “You think I want those mother-(bleepers) comin’ to my house?”
“This bothered me on a personal level,” he said. “...Their excuse was that Peanut bit them. What did Fred [the raccoon] do, giggle? This is what these officials do.” Tyrus then proceeded to tell the story to a suddenly hushed audience about his own dog being euthanized after simply being “a good dog” and doing his job, as trained, to protect their property. The animal control officials had lied to him, telling him he would get his dog back.
“Unfortunately, this is not uncommon,” Tyrus said. “The people coming in are power-hungry.” As for the “rabies” cover story, he said, “A squirrel with rabies is not hard to figure out.” They’re “aggressive, and no owner would be holding them.” They have “a little frothy mouth” (kind of like Hunter Biden on crack, he joked, trying to add a little levity).
“It’s a terrible thing,” he said, “and, you know, it DID wake a lot of people up...So, if you’re on the ropes, if you’re not sure, if you want to get on the right team, if you don’t want to vote because Tyrus told you to, which you shouldn’t anyway, or a celebrity, DO IT FOR PEANUT AND FRED.”
Everyone knew the joke had a serious undertone. Tyrus had already confidently predicted the election outcome: that Trump would win in a blowout, and that we would know it on Election Night.
Guy Benson called the killing of Peanut “the most cartoonish, disgusting abuse of government that shows all the wrong priorities, and it’s so easy for people to understand…I think this is a horrible story but will focus people’s minds.”
The Brit on the panel, Piers Morgan, said there was something about this story that is “utterly disgusting.” The idea that they can send in ten armed agents for five hours when New York is “riddled with crime, and homelessness, and mayhem” is crazy.
And about the rabies: “Only one set of people,” he said, “seems to me, were behaving like foaming-at-the-mouth rabid animals, and it wasn’t the raccoon and the squirrel. It was the people that had been sent by the government...to eradicate the scourge of this famous little squirrel and his raccoon mate.”
“If you were making this up, it would be funny. But it’s true. And this couple have lost their beloved pet, so remember why they took on this squirrel,” Piers said, relating the story of how they’d rescued the baby squirrel whose mother had died.
“Then he has to have him wrenched away by his own government, and murdered. It is disgusting.”
Kat Timpf, a libertarian, admitted she had a hard time talking about this without getting upset (and I have to say, I would, too). “This happens in government every single day,” she said. “This is what government does.” Follow the policy, no matter how ridiculous or inhumane.
Gutfeld’s monologue on what the government did here starts at 2:36...
https://www.foxnews.com/video/
The BABYLON BEE treated the story with its trademark satire to mock on the left:
https://babylonbee.com/news/
On Sunday, J. D. Vance (now VP-elect) mentioned the story, saying President Trump is “fired up” about the “murder” of the smart little squirrel. “The same government that doesn’t care about hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant criminals coming into our country, doesn’t want us to have pets,” J. D. said. “It’s the craziest thing.”
It has seemed from the start that there must be something even more sinister behind this story. We still don’t know what it is, but when Longo appeared on Friday with Chris Cuomo on NEWSNATION, he said this was “somebody out to get me.” Why would a household be targeted this way? Mark and Daniela had moved from Connecticut to a small town in New York State to start their non-profit animal rescue, which has since saved over 300 animals.
“Peanut is the center of our organization,” he said. “I used his social media to gather the funding to continue to help animals...So I need an explanation of how the state can find the funding to bring this many people to my house to destroy my life but we can’t fix major issues that we’re having in this state.”
It’s true that the Longos have made quite a lot of money with their online ventures, and Mark theorizes that jealousy might have played a role here.
Longo confirmed that he and his wife had heard about the euthanizing on the news. “Since they left my house,” Longo said, “not a single DEC employee or state official called me to tell me what happened.”
“They got local sheriffs to approve this,” he told Cuomo. “The DA approved this. They had a criminal judge sign a search warrant to come and take these animals.
Longo just doesn’t believe the story about Peanut biting someone, because “these are professionals who deal with animals on a daily basis.” He saw their protective gloves. So much about this story is wrong.
Note the irony of the word “Freedom” in the name of this animal rescue, P’Nuts Freedom Farm. When Peanut and Fred were first seized, a GoFundMe account was set up to help with legal fees needed for recovering them. After they were killed, the account was turned into a fundraiser for the rescue, which had relied on Peanut’s social media presence to raise money. My husband and I gave, and I hope you will as well.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/
Whatever the last straw was for you in terms of government overreach, if it got you to the polls, thank you so much.
And in closing, please look at this editorial cartoon, but I warn you: have some Kleenex handy
https://x.com/still_boneless/
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