Caroline Graham of the Daily Mail:
Murder figures have skyrocketed and a combination of the coronavirus pandemic, Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and weak political leadership is in danger of achieving what Osama Bin Laden never could: bringing the Big Apple to its knees.
Those murder figures are jaw-dropping.
According to figures released by the New York Police Department, for the first six months of this year, there were 176 murders, an increase of 23 per cent on the 143 killed during the same period last year.
The number of shooting victims has gone up 51 per cent to 616 this year. In June alone, there were 250 shootings compared to 97 in the same month last year. Month-on-month, burglaries are up 119 per cent and car thefts up 48 per cent.
It used to be that even liberal mayors wouldn’t have allowed a mob to take over their streets — for any reason. The city’s only black mayor, David Dinkins, drastically lowered the crime rate, put hundreds of more police on the streets, and during riots in Crown Heights after a black man stabbed a Hasidic Jew, he quickly deployed an overwhelming force to quell them.
But de Blasio is no liberal. He’s a radical left ideologue with a yellow streak a mile wide. And his inaction has cost the city dearly.
“This mayor is atrocious,” [former NYPD Commissioner Ray] Kelly told John Catsimatidis on his 77 WABC radio show in a Sunday interview. “If I had a magic wand I’d remove him. But, unfortunately, what’s waiting in the wings is no better.”
Kelly called the New York City Council’s cutting $1 billion from the police department a “kind of kabuki financing,” adding “we have de Blasio here for another 18 months.”
Kelly, who served as commissioner under former mayors David Dinkins and Michael Bloomberg, said de Blasio is kowtowing to protesters rallying against the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 and his actions have “sapped the strength of the department.”
De Blasio’s shortcomings in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak have been well-documented, including allowing the transit system to continue to operate for weeks after the lockdown began. This proved to be catastrophically stupid as it turned the outbreak into an out-of-control pandemic, leading to tens of thousands of deaths.
But it’s in the streets that de Blasio’s utter incompetence has been revealed for all to see.
“Crime is raging out of control here in New York City,” Kelly said. “I don’t see anything that’s going to change the trajectory of that continuing to rise. There are disorderly groups all over the city challenging police officers. … Police are generally backing off … because their political leaders, the mayors … are telling cops to back off.”
And Kelly is astonished at the silence of Democrats.
All the while, Kelly said Democrats have remained quiet.
“It’s such a change from years ago. You just don’t hear anything from [Democrats],” Kelly said. “They’re sitting on their hands. Or they’re being very supportive [of] taking down the statues. … That’s what they’re interested in. That’s what they’re supporting. Rather than, ‘Hey, let’s get some good old basic law and order.’ What about everyday citizens?”
What will New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other big American cities look like in five years? Ten years? With only the very poor and very criminal elements left, Snake Pliskin won’t even want to go there.
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