Paul is on vacation, so you have to put up with me this week.
Mamdani Said What?!
The NYPD had another tough week. Although crime is down 5.7 percent, and homicides are way down, cops are feeling the pressure after the sentencing of Sergeant Erik Duran. Duran threw a cooler at a man who was attempting to evade arrest on a scooter. The man was killed in the subsequent collision. Duran will be serving 3-9 years in a prison upstate. That is not good for morale of the cops on the street.
Cops keep doing their jobs, despite the fear of prosecution from cop-hating prosecutors that populate most boroughs and the attorney general’s office. On Friday, officers responded to a mentally deranged man who began stabbing elderly straphangers in the Grand Central subway station. The man stabbed three individuals before the police arrived and used deadly force to end the threat to public safety.
It was yet another failure of the city and state’s mental health apparatus. The machete armed man had undoubtedly cycled in and out of the mental health system before finally meeting his end at the hands of cops. We have often called for changes in mental health law, but politicians leave the broken system in place for cops to deal with. These politicians usually hide their failure to take action by criticizing cops when they are faced with an impossible situation like the one Friday.
Support came from an unlikely source regarding that shooting. Communist Mayor Zohran Mamdani has taken every opportunity to demean and criticize New York’s Finest. His surprising missive on the deadly Grand Central incident stated, “I’m grateful for the NYPD for their quick response and preventing additional violence.”
That tepid praise is shocking coming from the mayor, who has shown nothing but disdain for the profession of policing for his entire career. I had to read his post twice to make sure there wasn’t some backhanded compliment or carefully worded slight at the brave officers who faced the machete wielding madman.
This is, in no way, an apology for his past remarks, but perhaps the mayor is realizing that managing the Big Apple is not as easy as it seems. Cops and mayors alike can’t be expected to solve every problem with the ease of a Monday morning quarterback. De-escalation is not a magic spell that can end every conflict with a hug. Problems cannot be solved with smiles and platitudes.
The mayor may now see that, as his own job approval rating is in the toilet. Mamdani’s approval rate is polling at 48%. That is below such mayoral luminaries as the corrupt Eric Adams (61%) and the incompetent Bill DeBlasio (49%) at their 100-day mark.
We expect that number to keep falling. Mamdani’s socialist ideas can’t get off the ground as anyone with a brain could have predicted. Perhaps in the next election we will be graced with a competent and grounded mayor after Mamdani is relegated to the ash heap of failed leftist politicians. One can only dream, as Mike Bloomburg appears to be the last New York City politician with a lick of common sense and grasp of reality.
At least the cops get a brief reprieve from the beating that they have been taking from Mamdani. Enjoy it while it lasts. Every cop is one bad headline from being back in Mamdani’s crosshairs, and they know it.
NYPD Cop Sentenced
Sergeant Eric Duran was, by all measures, a good cop. He worked in some of the busiest commands in New York City, including the 44th Precinct, where a Saturday night is often a marathon of violence.
He was not like many cops, who would, after years of working a tough beat, look to find a soft landing. Perhaps somewhere behind a desk. Sergeant Duran volunteered for an assignment in Bronx Narcotics, putting himself in harm’s way to help eradicate the scourge of drugs on our streets.
In August of 2023, Sergeant Duran and his team were out doing a buy and bust operation on Aqueduct Avenue in the Bronx. An undercover officer bought crack from Eric Duprey. When the arrest team moved in, Duprey attempted to flee past the officers on a scooter. Sgt. Duran grabbed a nearby cooler and threw it at Duprey, striking him and causing him to fall off the scooter. Duprey suffered major head injuries and died.
In Sergeant Duran’s 15 years of service to the City of New York, he received one solitary substantiated complaint. A Terry stop (stop, question, and frisk) in 2023 was ruled unjustified, and Duran received a schedule “A” command discipline – the lowest level of official punishment in the NYPD’s discipline matrix. Duran had no prior allegations of excessive force.
The Sergeant’s actions were grounded in accomplishing his job but certainly did not comply with NYPD procedures. In the heat of the moment, Duran showed poor judgement that day. Perhaps he was worried about the safety of the detectives that he supervised, but a man died. That cannot go unaddressed or unpunished, but a long stint in prison is uncalled for.
In other professions such as medicine, bad decisions are usually pawned off on insurance companies or civil lawsuits. It is only in the policing profession that a bad but well-intentioned decision can get you sent upstate for 3 to 9.
Irish Outrage
We saw Ireland erupt in protests this week. Ireland has seen relative peace in recent decades, but if one recalls the centuries of revolt and revolution on the Emerald Isle, protest should not come as a surprise. Demonstrations were seen in all corners of the country, with farmers tractors and teamster’s trucks blocking intersections.
The immediate issue at hand is fuel prices. Like everywhere else, gas…er petrol, has been spiking. This has caused hardship for farmers, truck drivers, and small businesses.
This, however, is only one of the issues, and for the most part, the only one being reported. Protestors also have complained about the general increase in the cost of living and a shortage of housing.
Of course, a spike in fuel costs will drive up prices for most goods, but to see such outrage in such a short period point to other causes as well. And housing shortages have nothing to do with fuel prices.
Ireland has seen unrest in recent years over immigration issues. Migration to the nation of 5.5 million people has doubled since 2022, with estimates of about 140,000 people a year in 2024 and 2025. That’s about 2.5% a year of population growth just from immigration. There are currently about 900,000 non-citizens living in country. Ireland doesn’t have the vast expanses like the United States to accept that many people.
That contributes to higher prices, with more people vying for goods. And obviously more people require more housing – hence the shortage.
There are other causes as well, and many are the same that Americans are seeing. The Ukraine War raised energy costs even before the current Iran war. Insurance rates are through the roof. Inflation has spiked in recent years.
For reasons I cannot explain, the Irish people overwhelmingly voted Catherine Connolly for their president in October 2025. Connolly is about as left wing as they come – and that is saying something for the notoriously liberal country. She is fully supportive of more immigration, claiming that Ireland needs more workers and wants to help marginalized peoples. Most Irish citizens still remember the days when they were considered a marginalized people, but Connolly seems to have left her voters behind. She has said that “The language of saying ‘Ireland is full’ is abhorrent”. If you disagree with her immigration stance, you are abhorrent - typical.
She also checks all the left-wing boxes – pro Palestine, environmentalism, equity and inclusion, anti-military, etc.
Connolly is a socialist. And like most socialists she is making a fiscal mess of things. Granted, many of these international issues are out of local control, but she is not helping matters. The President of Ireland does not have the same power as our president, but she is the public face of the government. The Irish people are facing a crisis – and she is silent.
The biggest gripe of the current protestors is the cost of fuel. When you fill up your tractor or truck in Ireland, 59% of the cost is going to taxes. That is outrageous. Connolly, who would likely rather see Ireland run on solar power and unicorn farts, has done nothing to ease the pain. The Irish government should be looking to lower the high taxes on fuel, but as now they have done nothing. Connolly has said that she wants a “fair transition to a Europe free of fossil fuels.” That tells you all you need to know about her intentions of solving this problem.
Instead of lowering costs, Ireland’s Prime Minister has released the army into the streets to disperse protestors and clear intersections.
Ireland will have plenty of time to dwell on their voting error. As per the Irish Constitution, the Uachtarán na hÉireann, or President of Ireland, serves a 7-year term. That will give Connelly plenty of time to work on her mission of achieving a socialist utopia. Get ready for a new wave of Irish immigration to the shores of America.
TDS Takes a Hard Turn
This week in Los Angeles, cops were subject to a most demeaning act from Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers. The ill group of demonstrators gathered outside the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA to protest the enforcement of immigration law.
In a desperate effort to gain attention and point out their own reckless regard for dignity, the group began throwing rubber dildos at the LAPD cops who were there to keep the peace.
The sex toys, apparently made from the finest silicone were imported from Minneapolis for this special occasion. Five of the protestors were arrested and removed to the hospital for treatment for their condition. Doctors around the country are still desperately working to find a cure for TDS, but as of now there is no cure. Perhaps a Biden moon shot would do the trick.
One of LA’s Finest was overheard saying, “People are always telling me to go fuck myself, but these folks really mean it.” Oh, the joys of policing!
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Could there be a possibility that Rosie O'Donnell moves to Ireland then everything turns to...you know the word.
Ireland is often pro-Palestinian because the British are pro-Israeli. If the British support something, the Irish will oppose it. Most overt in Belfast, where there are murals supporting the arabs. When asked why, the answer is clear- we cannot support the UK.