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New York City is in need of a mayor.
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Sadly, the current man at the helm is an embarrassment to the city and has served as instigator to problems, division and conflict as opposed to solver of them.
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Yesterday, Mayor Bill deBlasio blamed the media for "creating division" in the wake of heated anti-police protests that have occurred over weeks in New York City -- in many cases choking off traffic, shutting down bridges and assaulting police officers. This past Saturday, two police officers were gunned down while sitting in their patrol car. The violent deaths of officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu are a seeming wake up call to thousands of New Yorkers that matters have quickly spiraled out of control and our mayor appears asleep at the wheel -- or busy deflecting blame to the press, as he did yesterday.
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Bill deBlasio was swept into office with only 18% of the registered vote on an anti-establishment and anti-police platform which appealed to only the far left factions of the city. As matters turned out, most registered NYC voters didn't vote.
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DeBlasio's primary opponent during the primaries was City Council Speaker, Christine Quinn who was taken down partially by more than a million dollars funneled through NYCLASS (New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets) to depict her as an "animal hating" supporter of NYC carriage horses (or as NYCLASS put it, "supporter of animal abuse.")
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By contrast, Bill deBlasio had promised NYCLASS and other extremist "Animal Rights" groups that he would "ban" carriage horses on his first week in office. (I put quotes around Animal Rights because its highly debatable how much this crusade has to do with actual animal rights and protection as has previously been pointed out in this blog.)
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DeBlasio of course did not ban carriage horses during his first week in office (an impossibility to anyone who understands how government and laws actually work). But he has since pushed for a bill to be introduced to the city council to banish the horses from New York City by 2016.
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Such action has stymied most New Yorkers, the overwhelming majority of whom (67% to 22% according to latest polls) support keeping the carriage horses in the city.
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Nevertheless, despite the wishes of most New Yorkers, opposition from every credible newspaper in the city, testimonies from equine experts, veterinarians and even rescuers to the health (both physical and mental) and excellent care of carriage horses, extremist AR groups have continued to protest and harass carriage drivers and tourists every week at the hack line at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue.
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Perhaps the worst example of this can be seen in the video below shot several months ago during the Victor de Souza fashion show in New York City which propped models in horse driven carriages:
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Though not known then, the above video was a foreshadowing of things to come in New York City.
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In the past, police lines and barricades are usually set up to separate protestors from those they are protesting against. Such is done to allow for free speech, while at the same time, ensuring safety for both agitators and the accused and to prevent matters from spiraling out of control.
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But, such was not done during the protest against the fashion designer which in actuality created a potentially and very dangerous situation -- one in which protestors are seen waving signs and screaming insults literally in the faces of models and horses. Fortunately, none of the horses "spooked" (which says much for the actual composure of these animals under duress and the literal face of adversity) and models and drivers held their cool. Otherwise, it was a recipe for actual disaster.
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DeBlasio has stated that protestors should have the freedom to "vent."
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But, when do such freedoms cross the line?
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Do they cross the line with protestors up in the faces of those they hate and accuse? Do they cross the line when protestors have physical access to those they hate and accuse? Do they cross the line when protestors can shut down bridges, disrupt businesses and choke off traffic? Do they cross the line when protestors can yell death threats and assault law enforcement officers?
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The latter questions we would have to face mere weeks following the seemingly innocuous (or what deBlasio would deem, "peaceful") protest against the fashion designer and horse carriage drivers.
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But, make no mistake. There was nothing "peaceful" about the protest against the carriage horses that warm September 3rd evening and little that was actually peaceful in the anti-police protests that later followed. Rather, in both cases, the protests were mostly hateful if not in some instances, actually violent.
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One can certainly understand the frustration and despair of people (especially families) in instances of overzealous police force -- especially when that force results in the unnecessary death of an otherwise unarmed individual. But like it or not, we have a justice system to deal with such matters. And while we may not always agree with the decisions of grand or court juries, the fact is, they have access to far more actual evidence than does the general public.
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Juries are of course, not perfect. One could argue that many a guilty person has been acquitted because of "lack of evidence." But, how often have we heard it said that, "I would rather let 100 guilty people go free than convict an innocent person?" That is how the justice system actually works in criminal trials. One has to be proven guilty "beyond the shadow of a doubt" -- a situation that in many cases releases violent criminals back to the streets for lack of enough hard evidence to show criminal intent and either move forward to court trial and/or convict.
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Obviously, many thousands of people were unhappy with grand jury decisions not to move forward with criminal prosecutions of police involved in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner deaths in recent months.
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But, were such incidents and decisions, "racist?"
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Not having access to all the evidence that grand juries received, I personally cannot answer that. Perhaps there is too cozy a relationship between prosecutors and police. Perhaps police overreacted as seems true from video of the Eric Garner incident. (Then again, police did not have access to Mr. Garner's medical challenges -- something that sadly may have contributed towards his death. Its not clear if a healthy individual would have perished from the same police takedown and under the same circumstances.)
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All of these are legal and medical questions which I am neither expert in nor privy to.
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What is known is that people have the right to protest that which distresses them or what they feel to be unjust.
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The question is (as asked above) when do such protests cross the lines and proceed into very dangerous territories? When do they become more about anarchy than actual justice?
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Mayor deBlasio has repeatedly referred to the anti-police protests as mostly "peaceful." He has said that we should not judge the "majority" on the basis of violent actions of the "minority."
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But, isn't that exactly what deBlasio himself did when proclaiming that he warns his biracial son, Dante, to be "wary" of the entire police force?
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And when asked by a reporter about some of the hateful chants yelled by protestors and how they may have contributed towards the violent deaths of two police officers this past weekend, deBlasio avoids the question and rather, deflects blame to the media.
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Media is not responsible for this. The fact is, most major media did not even show or report on the below incident (protesters yelling, "What do we want? Dead cops!") including the reporter asking the mayor the question:
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Mayor deBlasio has perhaps for his entire career, demonized the entire police force. In fact, it was one of the main issues he ran his campaign on -- that and carriage horses.
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Are there bad cops? Sure. There are "bad apples" in any profession or job (including mayors).
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But, the overwhelming majority of police put their lives on the line everyday for the protection and safety of the public. Cops handle everything from tracking down and tackling criminals, to delivering babies, to playing peacemaker in neighbor or spousal disputes to even aiding people in car crashes or administering first aid to those experiencing heart attacks.
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Police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were working overtime to bring protection to a particularly criminally troubled Brooklyn neighborhood when ambushed and shot to death this past Saturday. These murders were directly tied to rage and hatred against the NYC police in the wake of the Eric Garner death and subsequent protests. Were that not the case, the shooter (Ismaaiyl Brinsky), would have more easily killed police in Baltimore, where he shot his ex-girlfriend before coming to NYC.
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But the deranged and violent young man specifically came to NYC with one goal in mind. This was, after all the one place where people were yelling in streets for "dead cops" and the mayor warns his son to be wary of the police. Perhaps in the warped, troubled mind of the assassin he thought he was doing New York City some kind of favor and would be exalted to status of "hero" by many.
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There is ultimately no question that the demonization of the entire police force and hatred spewing out on city streets over the past many weeks played a key role in the violence and murder that occurred this past Saturday. No question at all.
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That our mayor insists on denying any role or responsibility and rather blames the media for this horrific series of events demonstrates unquestionably that deBlasio is unfit and incompetent to be major of our great city.
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For this reason, more than 60,000 New Yorkers have signed an online petition over the past two days calling for deBlasio to resign:
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As for our mayor's efforts to ban carriage horses in New York City, deBlasio's political capital right now is zero.
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The horses will still be in NYC long after deBlasio has been put to pasture. -- And thankfully so.
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The fact is, deBlasio's departure can't be soon enough. New York City needs a real mayor and not a divisive demagogue who at this point has the respect of few, least of all, the peacemakers who serve as the finest police force of the land -- that is, a long as they are not cut off at the knees by a dysfunctional and out of touch, mayor. -- PCA
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