The Election is Crazy... Peanut The Squirrel Bomb Threats, Joe Rogan vs Billie Eilish, & More
PDS Published 11/05/2024
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Peanut the squirrel
Somehow the least political story of the past week has become the most political story on election day, so let’s talk about Peanut the squirrel.
Right, this is 34-year-old Mark Longo; he’s a man in New York whose life changed forever seven years ago. [Lead B roll into clip]
With him crossing a busy street one day when he saw a mother squirrel get hit by a car. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 00:48 - 01:01] Caption: “And as I got closer to the intersection, there was a little baby, and he was trying to cross the same street so I tried to step in front of him and get him out of the street. And instead of running away, he actually crawled up me. So that’s when our journey began.”
With Mark taking Peanut home, intending to care for him while he looked for a vet or a rehab.
But nobody would take him, so Mark did the rehab himself.
[Clip, 01:08 - 01:28] Caption: “About eight months into the rehab, I actually released Peanut back outside in hopes that he would live a nice, wild life and thank me for what we did. But unfortunately a day and a half later, Peanut did get attacked. He ended up losing half of his tail. And he found his way home, and that was the end of Peanut’s wildlife career.”
So Mark gave up trying to get rid of this adorable little boy and just welcomed him into his home. [B roll, 00:31 - 01:40]
With the pair growing close over the next seven years, posting videos to Instagram, where they now have nearly 700,000 followers. [Same B roll]
With Peanut doing tricks, jumping into his owner’s arms, wearing funny hats and eating waffles. [Same B roll]
Also, Peanut’s social media fame directed a ton of traffic to Mark’s OnlyFans page, where he makes content with his partner.
And with that influx of cash, the couple bought a property last year in upstate New York and opened P'Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary. [Quote, find “2023”]
Where they care for around 300 animals, including horses, goats, and alpacas, though the star was always Peanut. [Same quote]
And, as of several months ago, Fred, the raccoon Mark rescued and brought indoors alongside Peanut.
But all of that came crashing down last Wednesday, when the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation showed up to Mark’s front door.
Right, apparently, they had received anonymous complaints about the animals’ living conditions.
And it’s illegal to house wild animals as pets in New York without a license, so the state barged in and seized both Peanut and Fred.
[Clip, 00:22 - 00:40, 01:00 - 01:06] Caption: “Ten to 12 DEC officers raided my house as if I was a drug dealer. I was sat outside my house for five hours. I had to get a police escort to my bathroom. I wasn’t even allowed to feed my rescue horses breakfast or lunch. … Four departments and a judge signed off on a search warrant for a squirrel and a raccoon.”
So that news had people outraged enough, but then, not long afterward, Mark posted this video to his Instagram.
[Clip, 01:40 - 01:49, 02:00 - 02:09, 02:24 - 02:33] Caption: “Hi everyone. I don’t know how I’m gonna say this. … Peanut was the best thing that ever happened to us, and we got confirmation that they put him down. … Please continue to help us raise money for the ongoing legal battles and for our nonprofit so we can keep Peanut’s name alive.” [B roll, 00:00 - 00:29, show this alongside them crying]
Right, according to the state, Peanut bit one of the investigators during the raid.
So to test Peanut and Fred for rabies, the state euthanized both animals.
Now all that happened last week, and normally I wouldn’t cover a story that old, but of course, this is the United States of America; politics got involved.
With Trump’s campaign blaming “Democrat bureaucrats” for “needlessly murdered” Peanut.” [Quote]
And Elon Musk writing, “The government should not be allowed to barge into your house and kill your pet! That's messed up.”
And adding, “Vote For PNut! For Liberty! For Freedom!”
[Clip, 07:01 - 07:09] Caption: “They’ll let in 600,000 criminals across our border, but if someone has a pet squirrel without a permit, they go in there and kill the squirrel.”
[Clip, 02:38 - 02:44] Caption: “They took the squirrel and murdered it for no reason at all.”
[Clip, 03:08 - 03:10] Caption: “They murdered Peanut the squirrel.”
[Clip, 00:02 - 00:05] Caption: “Democrats in the New York State government murdered a squirrel.”
[Clip, 03:24 - 03:29] Caption: “It is a microcosm of everything this election is about.”
[Clip, 01:40 - 01:42, 01:45 - 01:50] Caption: “So I know Don’s fired up about Peanut the squirrel. … He was like, you kno w, is it really the case that the Democrats murdered the Elon Musk of squirrels?”
[Clip, 07:21 - 07:30] Caption: “Now I’m not saying Peanut’s death just flipped New York, but you want to red pill America? Raid their homes and murder their pets.”
But now, Peanut’s supporters have gone a bit further than just voting for Trump.
With 10 offices of the New York State DEC reportedly receiving bomb threats over the incident. [Headline]
And according to the Express Tribune, a woman reportedly admitted in a now private TikTok video that she was the one who reported Mark to authorities. [Quote, find “private”]
But another woman with a similar name who has no connection to the story now says she’s been getting death threats, hateful comments and harassment from people who think she’s the first woman. [Same quote]
And of course, depending on the outcome of tonight’s election, Peanut the squirrel’s legacy could end up being even darker than all that.
So decades from now, historians may look back and say, you know how American democracy finally went off a cliff? It all boils down to this one little squirrel.
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Last Minute Election Pushes From Celebrities Roll In
And then, in the last 48 hours there has also been a major celebrity push regarding endorsements and get out the vote messaging.
Arguably the biggest came last night from Joe Rogan.
Right, he recently had Donald Trump and JD Vance on his show, and his most recent episode is with Elon Musk, and while promoting that interview, Rogan wrote:
“The great and powerful @elonmusk. If it wasn't for him we'd be fucked. He makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you'll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way. For the record, yes, that's an endorsement of Trump. Enjoy the podcast.”[]
Outlets noting that this could help Republican efforts to court young men at the ballot box, as that is a key demographic for them.[]
And so that is obviously a major one, but in recent days, we have seen more celebrities throwing support behind Kamala.
At a recent concert in Atlanta, you had Billie Eilish saying:
“Times are really scary and a lot is at stake and I know that if you’re in this room and you support me, you support women. I hope that you will vote for Kamala Harris.” (0:00-0:15)
You also had big names showing up at Harris’s final rallies, Katy Perry in Pittsburgh, and Lady Gaga and Oprah in Philadelphia.
“Four years ago, I became a mother. Best decision I ever made. Orlando and I welcomed a daughter, Daisy, and she is why I am voting for Kamala Harris.” (3:59-4:17)
“For more of this country's life, women didn't have a voice. Yet we raised children, we held our families together, we supported men as they made the decisions. But tomorrow, women will be part of making this decision.” (0:00-0:22)
“If we don’t show up tomorrow, it is entirely possible that we will never have the opportunity to cast a ballot again.” (0:39-0:50)
Then on top of all this, you just have tons of people getting out the vote, right,
Taylor Swift, who previously endorsed Harris, writing to her followers yesterday that:
“here’s a friendly but extremely important reminder that tomorrow is the US Election and your last chance to vote.”[]
Other stars like Jenna Ortega and Ariana Grande sharing posts with general voting information, reminding their followers of their rights at the ballot and giving out election hotlines.
And in Ariana’s case, also posting in support of Harris.
But it wouldn’t be a celebrity story if there were not at least a little bit of backlash, and that is where Rihanna comes into play.
Because yesterday she posted a reel joking about how she wished she could use her son’s passport to sneak into the polls, adding #VoteCauseICant.
In her caption, she also wrote:
“when protecting pussies and firing pussies can happen all in one vote.”
And a lot of people did not like her joking about trying to sneak in to vote if she is not a citizen.
But Rihanna did shoot back.
In response to someone who said we need to make america great again because people like Rihanna want to cheat to win, she said:[]
“Lol, when yall stop burning ballot boxes come check me.”
When another person said she should be arrested for trying to vote illegally, Rihanna simply hit them back with a “shut up karen.”[]
And when someone else posted a whole paragraph about border security and told Rihanna to stick to music, she said:
“Where were you in Jan 6 sis? Stick to your discounted crotch, we out here fighting for its rights!”
And it looks like some of those comment threads have since been removed, but they have still gone very viral.
And I am sure it will just be the least of whatever mess could come in the next week or so, but in the meantime, vote because Rihanna can’t!
Or for a dozen other more legitimate reasons too!
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