Thank you NY POST: The more he talks, the more Mayor Bill de Blasio sounds as if he’s talking in code to aliens. Emerging from the White House on Monday, he told reporters, “We have to ensure that all our children are safe and living in justice.” We know what “safe” means, but what the hell is “living in justice”? Welcome to progressive-speak, the language of another planet, one where Al Sharpton is a respected civil rights leader, looters and arsonists are victims, and cops are the problem. It’s the planet where Occupy Wall Street’s fetid, crime-infested encampment in lower Manhattan was an example of “civil rights” and rousting it was “morally wrong.” It’s a planet that uses the “tale of two cities” to argue that success is always abetted by fraud and privilege. Progressives also believe that charter schools are the devil and the teachers union the angel. And if you don’t agree, you are a racist, the immaculate accusation because it can never be disproved. Aliens, indeed. Long gone are the days when being mayor meant picking up the garbage, putting out the fires and doing your best to represent all law-abiding New Yorkers. Now it’s about using power to reward favored groups and punish others. It’s all done openly, obscured only by semantic tricks that temporarily screen the malevolence. Consider how the word “justice” has been appropriated by the radicals in our midst. To them, it’s a meaningless noun unless modified by “social” or “economic” or “environmental” or another adjective that is a dog whistle to the committed. You are a proud supporter of the concept of blind justice? That just proves you are part of the problem. What’s the problem? If you have to ask, you are part of it. And so it goes, as established norms and the people who subscribed to the cherished New York concept of the melting pot are trashed as biased, unfair, and unjust. In the revolutionary rush to flatten society and overthrow the past, merit must be abolished because not every ethnic and racial group prospers equally. Standardized tests are bad because some children don’t pass them. Teacher evaluations are gutted in the name of worker solidarity (not to mention the union’s willingness to deliver money and votes). Diversity is code for racial and ethnic quotas. Police officers will wear body cameras because, de Blasio said, “It’s one of a number of strategies we have to use to create trust between police and community.” Note that the burden of creating “trust” goes in one direction only. And “community” is another code word — did you ever hear it used as a synonym for whites? Crime is just a cry for help, an understandable reaction to oppression, and soon we’ll be back to discussing the “roots” of race riots. This pathology, where people inexplicably burn down their own neighborhoods, is an accepted form of expression because America never delivered “social justice.” It is no exaggeration to say that the two decades from 1994 to 2013 marked a Golden Age in Gotham. The era reflected two simple dynamics: Crime went down, prosperity went up. Perfection was nowhere, but progress was everywhere. Old neighborhoods were reclaimed and new ones created based on the truths that public safety is the most important civil right and that a job is the best social program. The two mayors involved, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg, were different in many ways, but shared a fundamental understanding that crime is a scourge that must never be excused and that work is essential to individual happiness. That era has passed and New York is now run by a man who has a very different agenda and value system. Bill de Blasio is part of a rabid political movement in America, one estranged from the nation’s ideals of tolerance, moderation and respect. He, like Sharpton and their soul mate in the White House, are driven by resentment and that deepest of maladies, the desire for unchecked power. They use class and race as wedges, claiming they will heal society even as they pour gasoline on its fires. They help nobody except themselves and their cronies. History has seen their kind before, yet too often fails to recognize the danger of demagogues until the damage has been done. Will this time be different? Will New York wake up in time to save itself? Strange case of chuckie-come-lately It’s been a week since Sen. Chuck Schumer carpet-bombed his party over ObamaCare, but his motivation remains a mystery. Among the questions: What took him so long? Why now? Is he serious about trying to push Democrats toward the center? Schumer, in a speech before Thanksgiving, said, “Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them. We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem — health care reform.” He also complained his party “lost in 2014 because the government made mistakes that eroded the electorate’s confidence in its ability to improve the lives of the middle class.” Them’s fighting words to the White House, which trashed him as more pained about politics than policy. Even Nancy Pelosi slapped Schumer, saying, “We come here to do a job, not keep a job.” One explanation for his attack is that Schumer is distraught, his goal of being Senate majority leader in peril because of the GOP landslide. Yet it is impossible to square his words with his actions for the last six years. Schumer was a lock-step vote for every cockamamie liberal idea, ObamaCare included. He did not break with the president on a single substantive issue, including the harsh attacks on Israel. He joined Harry Reid in heaping abuse on the Koch brothers for using their money to oppose the Dems’ agenda. It’s mighty strange for Schumer now to admit he shared some of the Kochs’ doubts even as he tried to silence them. I have warned for years about Schumer and other Dems following Obama over the cliff like lemmings. If he’s truly coming to his senses, he’ll prove it with his votes. Sadly funny The Post story about two members of the New Black Panther Party charged with plotting to blow up the St. Louis Gateway Arch contained this gem. The suspects “bought what was believed to be a pipe bomb and tried to acquire two more — but couldn’t until the welfare-benefits card of one of their girlfriends was replenished, the sources said.” Problems ‘multiply’ School failure is not limited to the five boroughs. A charter group, Families for Excellent Schools, uses state data to show that only 3 percent of high school students in Rochester are college-ready. Yes, 3 percent. That sounds like a rounding error. Worlds apart Amazon’s Jeff Bezos wants to see “millions of people living in space.” That’s a great idea. Where do I send the list of people I know who belong out there?
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 23:44:48 +0000