The Squirrel Heard Round The World

November 4, 2024–There are moments when something happens that, at the time, doesn’t seem all that important.

A few shots are fired at a bridge in Concord. A fort outside Charleston surrenders. A prison is stormed in Paris. An old guy is shot in Sarajevo.

One thing leads to another. People take note, and emotions rise. Later on, we look back and say “THAT was when it all began!”

Last Friday, a squirrel died in New York.

Peanut, aka P’nut, was the most famous squirrel on the internet—the first squirrel to hit 1 million TikTok followers, with 3 million followers across all his platforms. Seven years ago, his momma was run over by a car and he was rescued by Mark Longo, who raised him and tried to re-introduce him (unsuccessfully) to the wild. Longo and Peanut began making TolTok videos, and eventually they were successful enough to start Peanut’s Freedom Farm, a rescue animal shelter in upstate New York.

Peanut was playful, sleek, a bit overfed, mischievous, and obviously loved his daddy. He’d help daddy with cooking, and laundry, and eating waffles. He’d hold up little signs, wear little hats, and generally be adorable.

Then an uber-Karen from Texas complained to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), who got a warrant, raided the Longo home, treated the husband and wife “like drug dealers” for 5 hours while they tore the home apart, seized Peanut and rescue raccoon Fred, and left. With no body cams during the raid, naturally.

A couple of days later, Longo found out from watching the evening news that the squirrel and raccoon had been killed “to check them for rabies.”

Saturday morning, the internet exploded in outrage, not just at the senseless killing of two innocent animals, but at the tyrannical overreaction of this Alphabet Agency.

By Sunday, the tipster (real name: Monica) and the responsible NY DEC personnel had been identified by the Internet. Most either locked down or, in Monica’s case, deleted all their social accounts. Why? Because right after Peanut and Fred were seized, their daddy posted about it on their accounts to their 3 million followers, and started a Change.org petition to have them released—but then, somebody made the decision to put these animals down.

So…the official NY State conservation department took a healthy, happy pair of animals from a loving home and, against standard protocols and all common sense and decency, killed them. All based on “tips” from a Karen a thousand miles away who saw Peanut on the internet.

Yes, Monica is the new Karen.

Why did the DEC do this? Because in New York State, where this happened, it’s against their wildlife conservation rules to keep a squirrel as a pet, and some Karen had seen the squirrel on the internet and didn’t like the fact that he and his viewers were having fun.

Yes, you read that right. Because it’s against The Rules in New York State to do good like this as a private citizen. Only properly permitted and licensed people can do this, according to them.

As an aside, we have the same stupid rule in Alabama, and we’ll definitely be revisiting that little bit of nonsense in the future.

Never mind that Longo was working on getting a permit for Peanut as an educational animal, and had never had any complaints made to him by his neighbors (so far as we know). Peanut was a house squirrel, obviously well-loved and -cared for, with essentially zero chance of contracting or transmitting rabies, but The Rules are The Rules, and must be obeyed! We must respect their authoritie!

We all know how well NY rules worked for elderly people with COVID in their nursing homes, don’t we?

Medically, my opinion is that there was no need to sacrifice these animals, but like so many other things about this story, it just doesn’t make sense. What I think likely happened is that the bureaucratic CYA reflex kicked in when the bad publicity ramped up, and some midwit fool decided just to kill the animals to get rid of them. Bad move—hopefully it will come back to bite them, and hard!

There are huge gaping holes in DEC’s story and rationale for doing what they did, and I’m reasonably certain the NY taxpayers will be writing a very large check to Longo in the future. But, if things go as they usually do, the pinheads responsible, being government employees, will have little or no consequences.

Where’s the Committee of Public Safety when you need them?

Peanut, the torment of his family and his untimely demise at the hands of petty bureaucrats and Barneys with bat belts and badges was THE issue this weekend. Many on the Right immediately saw the disconnect between the resources brought to bear on the Longo family, the glaring needs of other regular New Yorkers, and the largesse being lavished on the “newcomers” by Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul’s government. We also saw the difference between the treatment of violent criminal “newcomers” in New York City (essentially ignore or catch and release) and a man whose only crime was saving a baby squirrel, keeping him as a beloved pet, and using that squirrel to raise money to rescue other animals.

New York’s treatment of its elderly during the COVID pandemic, its treatment of its people during the lockdowns, NYC’s treatment of Donald Trump and it’s coddling of “newcomers,” and now killing Fred and Peanut just because they could?

Is it any wonder Peanut has become a symbol for Democratic Blue State Government Gone Wild?

We love our pets. We didn’t like it when the “newcomers” started eating our cats. We don’t like Alphabet “Conservation” agencies killing rescue animals because of stupid pinhead bureaucratic rules. And we really don’t like massive tyrannical government overreach, when a simple visit by an Andy Taylor (without Barney and his bat belt and SWAT gear) would have resolved the entire issue easily.

“We are all Peanut” has become a rallying cry right before the election. Peanut’s death and the abuse of his family have become symbols of the progressive totalitarian “paradise” Kamala, Tampon Tim and their ilk will inflict upon the entire country, given the chance.

Some have gone so far as to speculate that Peanut’s story will give the election to Trump. I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve seen too much evidence of too much blatant voter and ballot fraud already (if you can’t find it, just scroll through my feed on X and you’ll see plenty). I’ve also seen too much preparation by the DNC to lawfare the election into oblivion, and Rep. Raskin (oddly enough, a NY Dem!) spilled the beans about their plan to block a Trump inauguration with a 14th Amendment challenge in the House.

We won’t know who will be our next President on Nov. 6th. If we're lucky, it’ll “just” be another Bush v Gore election settled in the SCOTUS. But if we’re not lucky…if the Dems try another 2020 steal…if they invoke the 14th to deny Trump another term…if they try another J6 Fedsurrection to quash the will of the American people?

Then the Democrats who stole the 2020 election, have run the country into the ground since then, and done everything in their power to destroy MAGA and our President may regret the day a squirrel died in New York.

“For God, Trump and Peanut!” That’s got a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

As always, I’ll load the references up when I put this on my Substack, including links to the info on Karen/Monica, the NY DEC people (one of whom really is named Karen!) and some Peanut and Fred videos. Until then, here’s a couple of links for you:

TMZ interview with Longo: https://x.com/tmz/status/1852772783295533237?s=46&t=Lc2EZlMEXlWLpVSTrK_Y8Q

Short video collection of Peanut memes: https://x.com/doccontrarian/status/1853227741962752110?s=46&t=Lc2EZlMEXlWLpVSTrK_Y8Q

Dr. Bill Chitwood is a retired Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist who does political consulting and media relations. He is the author of Beyond Maga, available on Amazon under his pen name, Doc Contrarian. He can be found on Substack and social media as @DocContrarian.

Opinions expressed in the Alabama Gazette are the opinions and viewpoints of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Alabama Gazette staff, advertisers, and/ publishers.