How The Post reported 'Crossroads of Conflict'
World
How The Post reported 'Crossroads of Conflict'
May 5, 2025 | 6:33 PM GMT
The Post's Rachel Chason gives us a look at her reporting for 'Crossroads of Conflict,' a series about Africa's new epicenter of jihadist activity.
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New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
Zohran Mamdani's fiscal armageddon could bring NYC back to the bad old days
Ah, it's getting easier to long for the good old days — when Gotham was dominated by machine politics, corruption and fiscal mismanagement. Yes, it led to the dreaded fiscal crisis of the mid- to late 1970s, near bankruptcy and a deep city recession that hit hard at the working class in the five boroughs and even the suburbs, including my own family in Westchester. How the city fell into this fiscal abyss, which actually lasted a few years into the next decade, and climbed out is all laid out in gruesome detail in the extremely readable prose by Rich Farley, a lawyer who works on financial transactions. He's the author of 'Drop Dead; How a Coterie of Corrupt Politicians, Bankers, Lawyers, Spinmeisters, and Mobsters Bankrupted New York, Got Bailed Out, Blamed the President and went back to Business as Usual (And it Might Be Happening Again),' released in April. The title is a mouthful and it's not 100% accurate. New York City never declared bankruptcy. There's a debate that it even technically defaulted on its debt when the trigger for the crisis — investors losing confidence in the city's financial condition — boycotted buying city bonds. But those are mere quibbles as I dive into this trenchant historical account of how Gotham — with all its wealth and commerce on Wall Street and real estate and then a lot more — was brought to the brink, a near Detroit-style fiscal meltdown. Follow The Post's coverage of the NYC mayoral race In reading Farley's work, it does dawn on me that for all the grease and grime of those years, the city was immensely savable. The financial crisis did come to an end, but not until after a surge in crime because we couldn't afford cops, arson (The Bronx was literally burning), and unemployment (people like my dad, who lost his construction job because of a halt to city infrastructure spending). It was fixed, at least for decades, after the political leadership did re-establish itself as a stabilizing force. The saviors The saviors were people like Hugh Carey, the governor, who instituted reforms that repaired the confidence of investors and businesses. And Mario Cuomo (yes, that Mario Cuomo), who would succeed Carey and keep a close eye on his hometown for three terms during what's best described as a mini renaissance. And an upstart US congressman named Ed Koch, who inspired confidence that the city must and could survive. He ran for mayor on the slogan 'How Am I Doin'?' and won three terms. Don't forget that federal prosecutor named Rudy Giuliani, who took on the mob and municipal corruption with equal zeal, set the stage for becoming mayor and ushered in a real rebirth in Gotham of low crime and a booming business community. Here's the latest on NYC mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani There was also an engaged business community — people like investment banker Felix Rohatyn — that wasn't afraid to step up and say enough of the nonsense. And here's why I would love to turn back the clock, as crazy as that might sound. None of the gumption shown by those civic and political leaders is evident anymore, as a more serious existential threat looms — worse than 'Fat Tony' Salerno of Genovese fame, Tammany's Carmine DeSapio and graft in the Parking Violations Bureau. All of their lawlessness was snuffed out as the establishment re-established order. The fiscal Armageddon I fear comes in the form of a smiling socialist named Zohran Mamdani, who just won the city's Democratic mayoral primary over the son of the great Mario Cuomo. Mamdani outhustled Andrew Cuomo at every turn. Based on what we know, Mamdani seems like an honest fellow, which is good — and very, very bad. Bad because he's a noxious breed of politician who isn't afraid to promote his weird behavior and sell it as gold to an uninformed electorate. Even worse, no one in our political class or the business elite has really stepped up to call him out. He wants to tax to death those businesses and wealth producers that remain and employ our working class. He wants to give stuff out for free like bus rides. He wants to socialize grocery stores. He wants to defund the police, a sure recipe for more business flight. He has not disavowed the phrase 'globalize the intifada,' which many New Yorkers can reasonably interpret (as it was during those vile campus protests) as a form of antisemitism. There are more than 1 million Jews living in the Big Apple, but how much did Cuomo make of Mamdani's acquiescence to this sick rhetoric? Very little. NYC is still the epicenter of finance, the nation's largest bank run by Jamie Dimon. He has his headquarters and home here. But not a word from America's banker. In this city and state led by Dems, seasoned politicians — people like Chuck Schumer, a Brooklyn assemblyman and later congressman who is now US Senate minority leader — have been quiet as a mouse, except for congratulating Mamdani on his victory. Cuomo and Schumer should ask themselves if their precious political futures are worth not calling out this nonsense and angering the AOC wing of the party. Business leaders need to ask themselves if the price of doing business here is worth allowing a lefty loon to run the epicenter of capitalism. Our budget is in better shape from the morass of the 1970s. If you look at the numbers as I do, NYC is always a recession away from trouble. Couple that with rank socialist policies like defunding the police, and you see how things can and will go sideways if Mamdani wins — and you will miss the mess of the 1970s.
New York Post
12 hours ago
- New York Post
Zohran Mamdani's rise should teach NYC's non-radicals to invest in the long game
Now that tossing $25 million into last-minute spending to promote Andrew Cuomo failed utterly to stop pro-Intifada, anti-cop socialist Zohran Mamdani from winning the Democratic mayoral primary, perhaps New York business leaders will finally realize that political 'investment' requires an eye on the long game, and fostering an entire infrastructure that can produce credible centrists candidates. 'Crying over Mamdani is, as they say, a bit rich when it comes from the rich,' snarked The Post's Charles Gasparino, since the 'city's business class sat idly by' as the local left grew ever more powerful. New York magazine's Errol Louis was even more on-point: 'The same people dumping millions into last-minute attack ads should have been investing time and money to recruit, educate, and encourage young leaders.' Advertisement Dumping a ton of cash in at the last minute can work when it comes to passing or defeating a single bill, or influencing any particular government decision — but altering the political climate requires steady attention and investment. 'The city's business community,' writes Gasparino, 'is the most politically neutered class of people I have ever met.' Partly that's just fear of sticking your neck out; partly that so many think of themselves as 'liberal' or 'progressive' without ever noticing how drastically the meaning of those labels has shifted; partly the knowledge deep down that they just don't understand how politics works. Advertisement And a 'go along to get along' mindset in a Democratic Party-dominated city and state has resulted in very little pushback as the hard left came to dominate that party. The political-talent pipeline in this town is no longer about community-based clubhouses; it's about social-service nonprofits and public-sector unions that feed off the taxpayers on a scale that dwarfs Tammany Hall's wildest dreams. Each in his own way, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg were political unicorns — Rudy rising to prominence as a federal prosecutor; Mike popping in with a huge fortune that still wouldn't have won him office except for the crisis atmosphere in the immediate wake of 9/11. And all through the 20 years of their mayoralties, the left has been creeping up from the bottom of city government, gaining City Council seats once held by moderates, with every successive borough president, comptroller and so on steadily more progressive than the last. Advertisement Meanwhile, supposedly 'nonpartisan' reforms — taxpayer funding of campaigns; the 'ranked choice' voting rules — further added to insiders' advantages, making it that much harder for fresh faces and voices to break in unless, like Mamdani, they had the support of a political machine like the Working Families 'Party' or the Democratic Socialist apparat. Building such infrastructure takes years; interests that feed off the public put in the time, talent, care and effort to do it. Hiring an expensive consultant for a single campaign can't match those results. Advertisement Even if the city and the business community somehow dodge the Mamdani bullet this fall, the left will keep coming back, ever stronger, unless and until the folks that get fed off of start doing 'political investing' for the long term. That means finding and fostering young political moderates, supporting institutions (even, yes, the city's near-extinct Republican Party) that will oppose the left on a million minor battles that never make a single headline — and not thinking you can fix things by paying attention at the last minute.
New York Post
14 hours ago
- New York Post
Electing socialist Zohran Mamdani NYC mayor would spur cop exodus, rising crime: experts
A New York City led by socialist Zohran Mamdani will mean a two-pronged breakdown of public safety — crime spiraling out of control, and NYPD officers leaving en masse — experts and veteran cops say. Critics of the Democratic mayoral nominee and frontrunner heading into November's general election aren't buying Mamdani's 11th-hour vow that he won't 'defund the police' or shrink the NYPD's workforce if elected — a reversal of of his longstanding positions. Instead, they believe the U-turn during the final weeks of his primary campaign was just a craven political move to score votes with undecided voters. 'The city would be totally unsafe for people who live here,' predicted Scott Munro, president of the NYPD Detectives' Endowment Association. Advertisement 'I go to bed and worry about the phone ringing. I'm worried about my members getting killed. I don't want to plan any funerals,' he added. 7 A New York City led by socialist Zohran Mamdani (pictured) would mean public safety spiraling out of control with crime rising and NYPD officers leaving in masses, experts and veteran cops told The Post. Christopher Sadowski 'If you put a guy like him in there, our people are going to get hurt, and nobody's going to want the job. It's going to put recruitment back five more steps,' Munro said. Advertisement NYPD brass are quietly bracing for a potential mass exodus unless Mayor Adams, a Democrat and retired NYPD captain seeking re-election as an independent, or GOP mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa, pull off an upset. 7 Fare beating in subways and other low-level lawlessness would all but be ignored under a Mamdani administration, many law-enforcement experts contend. Christopher Sadowski 'I've had guys call me and say 'If he wins, I'm quitting,'' a police source said of Mamdani. 'It's just weird that New York City would vote for him. I know he's not here for the police.' An NYPD officer planning to soon retire after nearly two decades on the job said the city's predominantly far-left leadership — especially on the City Council — already favors criminals over cops, and he believes such sentiment would grow worse under Mamdani. Advertisement 7 Mamdani a long history of calling for huge cuts to the NYPD but he now claims he has no plans to shrink the police force. 'This guy thinks the entire NYPD is racist,' the veteran said. 'I think right now the department is more diverse than it ever was before. I don't think this guy has even stepped foot in a precinct. He's completely clueless to what the police department is today. He's just going off a narrative that if you hate cops you're going to get elected.' 7 Mamdani won Tuesday's Democratic mayoral primary. Paul Martinka Advertisement Mamdani's far-left platform doesn't include hiring more cops, a vow most other mayoral candidates made. Instead, he wants to create a new Department of Community Safety that operates separately from the Police Department. It would dramatically expand so-called 'violence interrupter programs' and mental health teams that respond to 911 calls — especially in the city's subway system, where violent attacks by unhinged homeless people have been commonplace. 'He's trying to take the existing Police Department and turn them into social workers,' said Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels. 'He wants to . . . neuter the Police Department. 'Cops would not be able to function as they have taken their solemn oath to do, to protect us, to go out there and grab those who are committing crimes and to have them locked up,' Sliwa added. 'He has a weird notion of how policing is, as if it should be people like Mahatma Gandhi walking around, you know, functioning as a social worker. That does not work.' Under Adams' NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who Mamdani has said he'd consider retaining if elected, major crimes – including homicides, robberies and shootings — are down 2% to date compared to last year and 8% since 2019. A longtime NYPD detective said he envisions the Big Apple under Mamdani's leadership morphing into a crime-ridden 'Gotham City' — straight out of 'Batman.' 7 Mamdani doesn't want NYPD cops dealing with the homeless in most situations — including those who are violent. Stephen Yang Advertisement The detective also said it is 'hypocritical' of Mamdani to accept round-the-clock, police-detail protection as a mayoral candidate while clearly disliking the NYPD. 'You have police protecting you, but you don't want to protect the people of New York City?' he said. 7 Former Mayor Bill de Blasio said he believes Mandani has been unfairly 'demonized' as anti-NYPD. Robert Miller However, far-left ex-NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said he believes Mamdani has been unfairly 'demonized' during the campaign – especially by ex-Gov. and mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo — and that New Yorkers shouldn't expect mass lawlessness under the 33-year-old socialist pol. Advertisement 'He wants to keep the city safe,' de Blasio insisted to The Post. 'He understands as a local elected official how important public safety is to people, and it's not going to help him achieve his economic agenda if the city isn't safe. 'He has a chance to choose a leader who shares his vision of getting more mental healthcare work done by healthcare professionals, rather than police officers,' added the ex-mayor, an avid Mamdani backer. 'I think a lot of police officers would agree with that. 7 Scott Munro, president of the NYPD Detectives' Endowment Association, said he believes there could be a mass exodus of cops leaving the NYPD if Mamdani is mayor. 'Nobody will take the job,' he said. Helayne Seidman Advertisement Mamdani did not return messages. Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime consultant of Democratic campaigns and law-enforcement agencies, said he's not buying Mamdani's claim that he won't gut the NYPD if elected mayor. 'His supporters say' he'll defund the police, said Sheinkopf. 'That's who he is, and that's what's gonna happen, and we can't afford to lose a single cop. If this guy gets in power, we're gonna lose a lot of cops.'
