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New York's response to crime wave labeled 'political theater'

New York's response to crime wave labeled 'political theater'


A heavily armed New York National Guard soldier stands guard at Penn Station, Thursday, March 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

New York's response to crime wave labeled 'political theater'

The governor of New York is deploying National Guard troops to the New York City subway system in an effort to stem the rampant violence that plagues the transit system – a move that makes a claim by the city's mayor somewhat astonishing … and reveals the hypocrisy of a New York journalist's endorsement of the plan.

It's getting dangerous to ride on NYC's subway system. The NYPD reports a 15.5% jump in violent assaults under the streets of New York City – already 97 just three months into the new year. Randy Sutton of The Wounded Blue says the Guard will come and go, but the crime will likely persist.

"They have created this environment of crime," Sutton tells American Family News. "This is really, truly what I would call political theater. It's just impossible to keep that up for any length of time. So, is this what it's going to be until the election?"

Sutton, Lt. Randy Sutton

He says if the Big Apple wants to get serious about crime in the subways, it needs to stop letting the bad guys out on the street. "New York City refuses to lock up criminals – and so trying to stem the fear that they have invoked because of their policies, now they want to put an army, literally an army, into the subway system? It's absurd," says Sutton.

Meanwhile, on the same day the Guard was deployed, New York City Mayor Eric Admas tweeted out that all crime was down in his city and "the safest big city in America just got even SAFER." Sutton doesn't see how that can't be satire.

"It's like Alice in Wonderland," he exclaims. "[Mayor Adams] lives in a fantasy, probably the fantasy that he wishes it was. He's an empty suit … and his reputation within the NYPD was pretty poor even when he was a working cop."

Before ascending to the mayoral post, Adams was an officer in the NYC Transit Police and then the NYPD for more than 20 years, retiring at the rank of captain.

NY Times flip flop

The sharp increase in violent attacks in the subway isn't a good look for the city, but Tim Graham of Media Research Center says at least the liberal New York Times covered it. "We should state that the networks did cover the governor of New York putting the National Guard in the subway system in New York City. They did cover that," he notes.

Mara Gay of the New York Times editorial board wrote in a recent NYT editorial that Governor Kathy Hochul's decision to deploy 750 National Guard members and 250 New York State Police officers to the subways after a spate of attacks is "the right one."

Graham, Tim (MRC) Graham

However, during the deadly BLM riots in 2020 she was triggered and aghast at the thought of deploying the Guard. She and others in the Times' newsroom threw a hissy fit when the paper published an editorial by GOP Senator Tom Cotton suggesting that.

"The New York Times fired their editorial page editor for publishing Senator Tom Cotton saying we should need the National Guard in riot situations. They actually fired the editorial page editor for publishing a Republican," recalls the MRC spokesman.

Graham says it's quite the turnaround. "Mara Gay, who was a member of the editorial board, said Tom Cotton's op-ed made her feel unsafe – and now she's in favor of this. She's the same person who was very discouraged that she saw too many American flags."

But he doubts the mainstream media will mention the double standard. He doesn't expect the liberal hosts of "Morning Joe," on which Gay is a regular, will press her on that.