"Mayor Caligula, Your Horse is on Line One": Welcome to Bill De Blasio's NYC

I've got a new column up at The Daily Beast. It's about the policy agenda of newly sworn-in Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, whose first agenda item is to…shut down Central Park horse-carriage rides.

Here's the start of the col:

If historians debate whether Caligula's apocryphal attempt to make his horse a consul of Rome signified serious mental illness or was just the emperor's idea of a joke, contemporary New Yorkers should have no doubt that their new mayor, Bill de Blasio, is nuttier than a squirrel's turd.

Upon taking office, de Blasio has made it his absolute highest priority "to quickly and aggressively move to make horse carriages no longer a part of the landscape in New York City." Seemingly paraphrasing Richard Crenna's Col. Trautman in the first Rambo movie, he flatly told a pre-inauguration press conference, "It's over." A hundred-plus years of tradition and a hundred-plus jobs (for humans) gone, just like that, because de Blasio believes that horse-drawn carriages "are not humane." In their place will be "electric, vintage-replica tourist-friendly vehicles that provide jobs for current drivers."

And New Yorkers thought that the days of bizarre, Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria-style edicts had finally ended when three-term Mayor Mike Bloomberg finally left City Hall. Among many other things, Bloomberg even banned food donations to homeless shelters because bureaucrats couldn't verify the gifts' salt content. What is it that perpetually outdated columnist Cindy Adams likes to say? "Only in New York, kids, only in New York."

Read the whole thing.

Watch "The Mike Bloomberg Legacy: 12 Years of Little Tyrannies in 2 Minutes":

Comments

[invisible furry hand]

Nick, you really have excelled yourself with this:

And yet here's de Blasio, hell-bent on becoming the Simon Bolivar of the Mr. Ed crowd. In fact, he's not just going to free our four-legged friends. He's even pledged to "provide a humane retirement of all New York City carriage horses," thus loading even more pension and health-care liabilities on his preferred beasts of burden, the city's taxpayers.

[PapayaSF]

I liked that, too.

[Metazoan]

god this is going to suck

[Aresen]

Do you miss Bloomberg yet?

[UnCivilServant]

I haven't taken the shot.

[SugarFree]

You knocked this one out of the park, Nick.

[Skip]

Everyone keeps saying that NYC losing taxpayers through De Blasio making them move is a good thing. But the only thing that is going to do is make New Jersey, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, etc. more Leftist. These "refugees" will just immediately start electing the same kind of idiots they elected in NYC, who will make Chris Christie look like Ronald Reagan.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Well that doesn't say much for the intelligence of native Pennsylvanians or upstaters.

[Drake]

I don't care. I just want to sell my house in NJ to one of those leftist assholes at an inflated price in a few years and get far away.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Are there any non-progressives still living in NYC and if so how can they stand to be treated like this? There is no amount of good shit that the city provides that could possibly offset the tyranny.

[sarcasmic]

It's so cold out there I saw a lawyer with his hands in his own pockets.

A hooker offered to blow on my hands for twenty bucks.

[Professor Booty]

-2 here in Portland

[sarcasmic]

-1 outside last I looked.

[Specail Sauce]

Imagine how cold it would be without global warming.

[Snark Plissken]

5 degrees here in Prague.

But that's in Celsius.

[UnCivilServant]

So, pretty warm then.

[Snark Plissken]

Yeah, can't complain.

[Anomalous]

So cold the flashers are just describing themselves.

[Francisco d Anconia]

40 in MT, but -12 by Sunday night.

[sarcasmic]

Funny. It's below zero here, but by Sunday it's supposed to rain.

[R C Dean]

So, will NYC's decline be gradual, or will it be more of a threshold being crossed and a cascade?

[John]

I think it will be a bit gradual since even DiBlasio is not stupid enough to stop policing the city the way Dinkins did.

If you keep the bums out of the nice parts of the city and the tourists coming, the city will at least not turn into Detroit, at least not at first. But his lunacy will eventually run out everyone who isn't really wealthy or on the dole and the police force won't even be able to hide the decline anymore. Someone has to rent all of those apartments and there are only so many trust fund lefties and billionaires.

[Drake]

That is a good question. There really isn't much of a middle class left in the city. It's more a Disney park for rich adults with lots of low-end jobs for the people who cater to the rich.

If the rich leave and take their businesses with them, things fall apart quickly.

[MJGreen]

There is a huge middle class, if you bother looking outside the rich parts of Manhattan. The majority of people in the outer boroughs are neither poor nor wealthy.

I'd hope people here aren't buying into de Blasio's class warfare rhetoric. There's no obvious split between exceedingly rich and near-destitute in the city.

[Drake]

I forget that Staten Island is part of the city. Bloomberg treated them like shit and I bet de Blasio continues that tradition.

[Bill Dalasio]

Actually, DeBlasio will probably ramp up the shit-treating. They're the only Republican borough. --waiting for BCE to come around and say "who cares"--

[MJGreen]

Well sure, but plenty of other areas too. Most of Queens, a lot of Brooklyn, I'm sure lots of the Bronx.

[Cro's Innumerous Basterds]

I think what you might have meant to say was that there is not much of a middle class left in Manhattan. The outer boroughs have had a thriving middle class since at least the early 1950s. Lower-middle and upper-middle class enclaves exist in all the outer boroughs.

For example, I was raised in Woodhaven, Queens in the 1970s, which was a mixture of Italian, Irish, and German lower-middle (working class) and upper-middle professionals. Forty years later, the only thing that appears to have changed are the ethnicities of the residents: the Europeans eventually moved out and the current residents appear to be a mixture of South Asians and South and Central Americans.

My brother is one of those who moved out -- he simply relocated two miles north to Middle Village, which remains a middle-class, mostly Italian and Irish neighborhood of building trades workers (electricians, plumbers, carpenters, sheetmetal, HVAC), financial sector workers, and municipal workers (cops, firemen, sanitation).

When you are in midtown Manhattan, take a look at the commercial vans and small trucks you see parked at the curb. You will notice that nearly all of them are for building and maintenance tradesmen with addresses in the outer boroughs. That is where the working class is located these days.

[Drake]

You are right, but you also make my point - if the companies and executives flee Manhattan, the rug gets pulled out from under the rest of New York - since they pay those tradesmen. Then you have Detroit East.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Fast or slow? There is no place on earth so financially secure that progressives can't fuck it up.

I'd guess NYC has more going for it than Detroit did and will take longer to dismantle.

[DRM]

There's a lot of ruin in NYC as long as they're getting a 3.648% cut of Wall Street incomes plus the taxes from the wages of the people that those incomes ultimately employ.

On the other hand, if the Krugmanites manage to get those incomes taxed at the 1950s-style rates (minus 1950s-style sheltering) that their prophet keeps talking about, NYC goes Detroit in 24-36 months while Toronto becomes the financial capital of North America.

[Bob Straub]

What would Jean Shepherd have said of this? One of his better remarks was about humorists and commentators like himself, watching the old parade (in this case, NYC) going over the cliff, with all flags flying. Westchester and Nassau Counties, take a hatchet to the hawsers and move back!

[Plisade]

"...take a hatchet to the hawsers..." Great metaphor.

[CharlesWT]

Perhaps he wants to shut down Central Park horse-carriage rides because he thinks people will be reminded of him any time they ride in a carriage.

[Gilbert Martin]

Any carriage rider who observed the horse taking a crap as it walked along would definitely be reminded of him making a speech.

ANY speech.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...is nuttier than a squirrel's turd.

Purple prose is often not in the interest of making a point, as awesome as this may be.

[Scott Wilson]

Yet another acting monarch who speaks and businesses go out of business.

One would think he's building his credentials for a run at the White House.

[CosmoWenman]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yAxBPnNrsJM

[Kid Xenocles]

I have often said that the major difference between then and now is that at least Baby Boots gave Rome the entire horse.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

For those of you who have never watched the entire I, Claudius I highly recommend you do. It is available on YouTube. Great acting by great actors, and BOOBS!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The one miscast in that series was Brian Blessed as Augustus. His personality is far too Dionysian for someone as priggish, cunning, and reserved as Augustus was. The rest of the cast was outstanding, though--John Hurt really gave Jay Robinson a run for his money as best Caligula ever.

[Aresen]

A hundred-plus years of tradition and a hundred-plus jobs (for humans) gone, just like that, because de Blasio believes that horse-drawn carriages "are not humane."

(emphasis added)

No tyrant can be as cruel as a politician intent on 'doing good.'

[Jordan]

"Doin' right aint got no end."

[John]

And the whole thing is done in the name of placating animal rights activists. Yet, no one asks what will happen to these horses after their jobs are banned. Either they will be sold off to do the same thing in another city, which means this law accomplishes nothing, or they will not find a home and end up being slaughtered. So in the name of "animal rights" the progs are going to get a bunch of innocent horses killed.

Every single thing they do has the exact opposite effect that they claim it will.

[sarcasmic]

Yet, no one asks what will happen to these horses after their jobs are banned.

That requires actual thought. People who support things like this do not get past the emotional rush of freeing slave horses from their evil carriage driving masters.

[Zeb]

There was something in the article about the horses getting a humane retirement of some sort.

But still, who but idiot super vegan PETA types think that using horses to pull carriages is cruel? Are those people really that influential?

[John]

With the Democratic party in NYC they are.

[Zeb]

Apparently. I still find it surprising.

[creech]

So why aren't they celebrating the internal combustion engine as the greatest liberator of horses of all times?

[Zeb]

ICEs also did an enormous amount to clean up cities. It's hard to imagine the volume of horse shit there must have been in the streets before automobiles.

[Kid Xenocles]

There was a passage in SuperFreakonomics on the subject, IIRC it got piled up in vacant lots up to ten feet deep or something ridiculous.

[a better weapon]

Also read this. They shoveled them up onto the side walk where it would pile up until removal to the vacant lots. It's why all the buildings at that time were built higher and had "stoops." It's so you wouldn't get barracaded in by horse shit.

It's hard to pick a "most interesting fact" from that book, but this one is up there.

[SusanM]

While I'm sure that a)there are more important things in NYC and b)there's a more libertarian way to go about it, I'm still thinking it's a good idea.

They have some of these down here in Philly and it's awful to look at these horses standing in traffic with their faces in diesel exhaust clouds and bodies covered in the same soot and grime that people write graffiti over trucks with.

But as has already been discussed, it's not about ethical animal treatment but unethical people treatment, isn't it?

[CampingInYourPark]

They have some of these down here in Philly and it's awful to look at these horses standing in traffic with their faces in diesel exhaust clouds and bodies covered in the same soot and grime that people write graffiti over trucks with.

Sounds HORRIFIC! Is this the same diesel exhaust clouds and soot on the sidewalk? Are people actually handling this grime to write graffiti? OMG

[The Late P Brooks]

Obviously, this is a huge endorsement of the reign of Bloomberg the Beneficent. After all, the city must be in terrific shape if this has moved to Priority Numero Uno.

Well done, Mayor Mike! A grateful constituency salutes you.

Also, Fuck NYC, and everyone in it.

[fish_remote]

"Every politician exists to burnish the reputation of his predecessor......."

[Sudden]

That is one of the better quotes I've seen. Attribution to fish_remote? Can't find it elsewhere in the interwebz

[fish_remote]

As much as I'd like to claim credit it's not mine!

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I'm only here for one more day. Can you wait until tomorrow?

[Bob Straub]

And who's going to pay for those "electric, vintage-replica tourist-friendly vehicles?" And what would Hizzoner do if there were any Amish living in NYC?

Truly, NYC residents are getting the government they deserve.

[MJGreen]

Seriously, that proposal immediately identifies him as a total control-freak loon. "Let's get rid of those horses, and instead they could use vintage cars or something. That'd be pretty cool, right? Yeah, make them do that."

Of course, if it were such a good idea, de Blasio or one of his friends could make a pretty penny by starting up a vintage-car-tour business. Not that he or one of his friends won't make a pretty penny off of this, but you know what I mean.

[JD the elder]

I'm actually not convinced De Blasio will have that much effect...for one, he's already showing himself to be pretty conformist in some regards, like appointing William Bratton police commissioner and a Goldman Sachs executive (Alicia Glen) deputy mayor for housing and economic development. Also, I just don't think he has the personal force or style of a Giuliani or Bloomberg. But we shall see.

And a semi-related observation: people think NYC is all liberal, but if you want to hear some serious Tea-Party-style rhetoric, all you have to do is talk to pretty much any small businessman from the outer boroughs. These people are systematically excluded by the political and social elite, but they sure as hell are there.

[John]

Staten Island would like to leave the city. New York is like a miniature California. You have this super rich uber liberal elite in Manhattan that lives in a fantasy world and embraces every sort of profoundly ignorant and destructive government policy available at the expense of the middle class in the rest of the city. California is just a bigger version of that with the ignorant rich living in Silicon Valley, San Fransisco and Hollywood.

[Andrew S.]

Don't forget the leftist trust fund hipsters of Brooklyn.

[John]

They are more self indulged upper middle class. They only live in Williamsburg because they can't afford Manhattan. Sure they all claim that Brooklyn is just so more real than Manhattan and really the place to live. But every single one of them would move across the bridge if they had the money.

[Bill Dalasio]

"But every single one of them would move across the bridge if they had the money."

Not anymore. The UES is actually cheaper than Williamsburg. It's the old Yogi Berra quote - "No one eats there anymore. It's too crowded" - in reverse.

[Ted S.]

If I'm not mistaken, DeBlasio lives in Park Slope, the first of the Brooklyn neighborhoods to gentrify back in the early 70s.

[Bill Dalasio]

Yeah. When I was getting my MBA and CFA, I lived in Bay Ridge. Once I started getting promotions, I decided I wanted to move somewhere a little more convenient than the end of the R line. I got a severe case of sticker shock looking at Williamsburg and Park Slope.

[Zeb]

And lots in Queens too. But shit loads of people live in those boroughs and the hipster crowd is still a small minority.

[The Late P Brooks]

In their place will be "electric, vintage-replica tourist-friendly vehicles that provide jobs for current drivers."

Let them eat golf carts.

[John]

They had to be electric because everyone knows electricity is free and comes from the light socket. Di Blasio told me so.

[fish_remote]

In their place will be "electric, vintage-replica tourist-friendly vehicles that provide jobs for current drivers."

FUCK THAT....

In keeping with the tone of the Di Blasio administration we might as well skip the electric cart phase and go straight to having handsome cab drivers jump straight to the rickshaw puller phase of their careers....I mean shit... we're paying for their health care those fucks should drop a few pounds!

[Pro Libertate]

I'd say rickshaws are the inevitable consequence. Pantomime horse rickshaws.

[fish_remote]

It dawns on me that in keeping with the make work nature of lefty employment schemes.....two guys, a horse suit.....instead of a hundred guys umemployed......we add two hundred horses asses to the tax payer base of Manhattan.

I should do policy for a living!

[Nikki just says no]

But then what new job will they invent for the current rickshaw drivers?

[Pro Libertate]

They'll institute a licensing regime and unionize the pantomime horses. Different unions for the head and the rear.

[R C Dean]

They will runbehind the rickshaws clopping two coconut halves together.

[Kid Xenocles]

I would actually consider taking such a ride.

[Pro Libertate]

Bravely bold Sir Robin
Rickshawed from Central Park.
He was not afraid to ride,
O brave Sir Robin!
He was not at all afraid
To be wheeled in hasty ways,
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin!

[Swiss Servator, Mehr Schnee!]

+1 eaten minstrel

[Zeb]

Members of the board have questioned the need to employ any pantomime horse at all.

No, there is no redundancy scheme.

[Pro Libertate]

I see. Well, it's a difficult decision. But in accordance with our traditional principles of free enterprise and healthy competition I'm going to ask the two of you to fight to the death for it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Horses evolved to walk on the earth, not on pavement. They are not here to breath[sic] exhaust from internal combustion engines, they were not made to navigate fast moving traffic.

None of us were. Close down NYC.

[Nikki just says no]

Fast-moving traffic? Uh, not such a problem there.

[Nikki just says no]

Will no one think of the children who will never go on horse and buggy rides through Central Park now?!? This would have destroyed my four-year-old soul.

[Pro Libertate]

Next up, banning pizza, bagels, and hot dogs.

[anon]

Next up, banning pizza, bagels, and hot dogs.

Leaving officially zero reason to ever visit New York City. I mean, unless you really really just love people telling you what to do while randomly stopping you for anal cavity searches. Literally.

[Pro Libertate]

Almost forgot--ban the exploitative practices of live theater and the trading of financial instruments.

[anon]

They're already working on that.

[The Late P Brooks]

This would have destroyed my four-year-old soul.

It would have saved you from becoming the warped, cruel, bipedarchic monster you are today.

[The Late P Brooks]

If de Blasio had any sense of style, he would issue a decree requiring those carriages to be pulled by clockwork horse simulacra, designed by students at the New School, and assembled by teams of Italian craftsmen paid one hundred dollars per hour.

JOBS!

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

Artisanal Simulacra!

[Ken Shultz]

This guy might be just what the doctor ordered.

The left has been getting all kinds of mileage out of using Bachman, Palin, et. al. as whipping boys. Now, maybe, the Republicans have a whipping boy of their own.

It isn't enough to demonize someone like Pelosi. They need someone who really wants to open his mouth and say the really stupid shit--because he believes it.

Someone who's sort of like Obama, when he goes off script (You didn't build that!), except without Obama's charisma.

[John]

And he is a middle aged white guy. So no one is going to be afraid of laughing at him. I suspect Di Blasio is going to quickly become a national joke.

[Skip]

The Democrats still pretend Biden is really really smart and convinced enough people he was smarter than Palin, so I doubt this will have much of an effect.

[John]

They tell themselves that. But everyone outside of the Prog hive, which is maybe 20% of the population knows Biden is an idiot.

[anon]

But everyone outside of the Prog hive, which is maybe 20% of the population knows Biden is an idiot.

Which is why I'm really hoping for a President Biden. Fingers crossed. I'll put it on that unicorn list from yesterday.

[PapayaSF]

Don't even joke about such a thing.

[Andrew S.]

If the country's going down the toilet anyways, I'd at least like it to be entertaining. President Biden would definitely provide that.

[a better weapon]

That's only because Biden has to answer to Obama and they keep a tight lid on him.

De Blasio actually holds power and answers to no one in his realm. He will be off script often enough and constantly in power-drunk stupor that will make him the fodor Biden never could be.

[BigFire]

Oh New York will get it hard and deep. If only I'm not in California, I'd break out popcorns and watch the thing from my end. As it is, my corner of America is fulfilling that Steely Dan song, My Old School.

[anon]

I suspect Di Blasio is going to quickly become a national joke.

When did you become the eternal optimist John?

[R C Dean]

They need someone who really wants to open his mouth and say the really stupid shit--because he believes it.

Sounds like Pelosi, to me.

[Ken Shultz]

Pelosi relishes the role of villain. And does Pelosi say the really stupid shit?

We're looking for more of a Liz Warren, who's completely shut up since she won that election. She's been off writing her "Man from Audacity of Hope" book.

"Henry Holt and Company, one of the nation's oldest publishers, announced it had obtained the rights to publish the book, which it characterized as telling both "Senator Warren's improbable rise from a working class family in Oklahoma to the United States Senate," as well as providing "a rousing call for protecting the middle class."

http://tinyurl.com/k2ruxzj

It's supposed to come out in a few months, and that's when the media blitz starts. So, yeah, we'll have her to cap on, too. We can usually get some good mileage out of Hillary, but she's been off in her bunker making her evil plans for world domination, too. I guess you're supposed to lay low before the media blitz--gotta worry about overexposure.

[Ken Shultz]

"Which it characterized as telling both "Senator Warren's improbable rise from a working class family in Oklahoma to the United States Senate."

The only thing improbable about her rise was faking Native American ancestry until you make it.

[RightNut]

"Senator Warren's improbable rise from a working class family in Oklahoma to the United States Senate, by shitting on one of the least powerful and most exploited groups in US history."

[anon]

So... Straight out of the DNC playbook?

[JWatts]

"Someone who's sort of like Obama, when he goes off script (You didn't build that!), except without Obama's charisma."

You just described VP Biden.

[Ken Shultz]

But no one's afraid of a President Biden.

I don't think you guys see what we should be going for--maybe becasue when the Democrats do it, it's completely ineffective on you? But it's actually a big part of why the Democrats have such a stranglehold on those deep blue states.

The Democrats have convinced people that the Republicans are a threat to the American way of life. They've convinced a big chunk of the swing vote that if [insert upcoming candidate] has his or her way, they're going to impose the Bible on all of us--the Bible and all sorts of crank theories on the economy.

And it scares them--and when I say "them", I mean that big chunk of the swing vote. "They" see the Tea Party as a conglomeration of bible-thumping fundamentalists and racist conspiracy theorists--and they attach that image to people like Bachman and Palin. Palin's so crazy! She thinks she can see Alaska from her back yard!

Did you hear what Bachman said?!

That's why they obsess over every little thing Rand Pauls says, too--they're looking for something they can use to scare the swing vote.

Anyway, we need to get those results, too, if we can. We need to use the stupid shit the Progressives say to scare the swing vote into thinking that the Democrats are obsessed with demonizing the middle class or whatever stupid shit comes out of these guys mouths.

[Palin's Buttplug]

"They" see the Tea Party as a conglomeration of bible-thumping fundamentalists and racist conspiracy theorists

Because its true.

[DenverJay]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but... it won't work. The only reason demonizing the right works is because the 3 major networks have become full time whores for the Democrats. Most people don't share our interest in politics, so they don't spend much time researching policy and such. Instead, they form their opinions from the half hour of news they get during dinner, or from David Letterman's jokes, or from what Jon Stewart says.

[Anomalous]

de Blasio has appointed himself Derpmaster General.

[ChrisO]

It'll be interesting to see who profits off of all this stupidity.

[Ken Shultz]

A couple of things he said in his inauguration speech:

"We will require big developers to build more affordable housing. We'll fight to stem the tide of hospital closures."

----Bill de Blasio

Does he know why housing in New York is unaffordable?

Does he know why New York's hospitals have been forced to close?

This guy needs to do a little of that root cause analysis I keep hearing about.

[sarcasmic]

Does he know why housing in New York is unaffordable?

Does he know why New York's hospitals have been forced to close?

Greedy rich people! What else could it be?

[Ken Shultz]

If he drives enough wealthy people out of the city, he might actually succeed in making housing more affordable.

Call it "The Detroit Model".

[anon]

The thing is, the Detroit Model also kills all the jobs that would let you even live in Detroit.

I'm going to call it the "dumb shit" model instead.

[MP]

Are you kidding? Detroit is probably the only city in America where you can have a single breadwinner making minimum wage and still save up for a house down payment in six months.

[PapayaSF]

Some houses there are basically free.

[CampingInYourPark]

Detroit is probably the only city in America where you can have a single breadwinner...

What's their name?

[BigFire]

Nope. Two words: Rent Control. That's what's making housing unaffordable.

[sarcasmic]

What are you talking about? Rent control is intended to make housing more affordable, not less! How could the results differ from the intentions? That's not possible!

[Kid Xenocles]

The problem is obviously that previous mayors allowed landlords to raise housing prices and hospital owners to close. He won't do that.

[CampingInYourPark]

Riffing on the justice-for-all tone of his campaign, de Blasio suggested streets would be cleared evenly, with no one area getting special privileges.

"I'm just not going to allow certain neighborhoods to suffer while other neighborhoods are clear," he vowed. "We're going to move the resources we have to where they're needed to make sure the people get served."

De Blasio also had high praise for Sanitation Department chief John Doherty, who's still on duty from the Bloomberg Administration.

"I definitely think this is a case here where we saw the storm coming and we tried to get ahead of it right away," the mayor said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blo.....lling-tips

What a blubbering idiot

[R C Dean]

Actually, that's a very clever way of prepping the public for what will likely be another colossal failure to clear the streets.

The po' folks are used to waiting, anyhow. And now he can tell everyone else that they'll have to wait because equality.

[Bill Dalasio]

Sure, because a back lot in the South Bronx should take every bit the priority of Times Square, right?

[anon]

A hundred-plus years of tradition and a hundred-plus jobs (for humans) gone, just like that

And that's not even counting the Ferriers, Stables, Feed shops, distributors (for the feed & horseshoes), wagon wheel(!) makers, and a host of others I'm probably not even considering.

Is there any economic activity Proggies don't hate?

[sarcasmic]

Is there any economic activity Proggies don't hate?

I believe that if they were honest they'd have to admit that they are communists who believe that everything should be supplied by wise people in government instead of evil profit-seeking capitalists.

[JWatts]

Too be fair, most of the old school Communists understood the value of industry and indeed wanted to control it. The modern Animal Rights Eco Progressive wants to eliminate industry.

[The Late P Brooks]

Does he know why housing in New York is unaffordable?

The nodders on Morning Joke who were cheering him on the other day certainly haven't the first clue.

[Andrew S.]

When has anybody on Morning Joke shown any cognizance of anything? If i didn't know better, I'd say that everyone on that show is a robot with simple programming: IF THEN "approve" ELSE "disapprove".

[Andrew S.]

Er, what happened to my comment? Was supposed to be "IF said by democrat". Blasted squirrels.

[Andrew S.]

Er, what happened to my comment? Was supposed to be "IF said by democrat". Blasted squirrels.

[Andrew S.]

And now the squirrels punish me for questioning them.

[a better weapon]

The squirrelz came back to finish you off!!

I predict squirrel attacks in 2014 will be record setting.

[The Late P Brooks]

de Blasio suggested streets would be cleared evenly, with no one area getting special privileges.

Say it with me, now...

When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.

[The Late P Brooks]

a host of others I'm probably not even considering.

BUGGY WHIPS

[Tim]

I suppose it's been said by now, but horses are expensive pets. The cart horses are going to end up as Canadian meat imports.

[PapayaSF]

In the inauguration speechifying, David Dinkins was praised and cheered, so you know the next four years are going to be a fun ride for the city.

[Tim]

Louis: [Louis, as the possessed Keymaster Vinz Clortho, runs out of Central Park, scaring a married couple] I am the Keymaster! The Destructor is coming. Gozer the Traveler, the Destroyer.
[Louis pants and sniffs, then notices a horse carriage; horse neighs]
Louis: Gatekeeper.
[Walk over towards the horse]
Louis: I am Vinz, Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer. Volguus Zildrohar, Lord of the Sebouillia. Are you the Gatekeeper?
Coachman: Hey, he pulls the wagon, I made the deals. You want a ride?
[the possessed Louis growls at the coachman with his red-glowing eyes]
Louis: [to the horse] Wait for the sign. Then our prisoners will be released.
[Runs amok, scaring bystanders; yelling]
Louis: You will perish in flame, you and all your kind! Gatekeeper!
Coachman: What an asshole.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, I see. The mayor is just trying to avoid the scenario in Ghostbusters.

[Andrew S.]

De Blasio is with the EPA agent right now trying to get the containment fields shut down.

[VG Zaytsev]

Hey, at least NYC descent into socialist madness will be entertaining this time.

[RightNut]

Anyone catch this gem in the comments?

"In their place will be "electric, vintage-replica tourist-friendly vehicles that provide jobs for current drivers."- That should tell you that Mayor De Blasio is going to solve two issues in the same time. First he will stop the cruel treatment of the horses, and secondly he will insure that a clean energy alternative is provided for the same purpose. So basically no one will lose their jobs and in the same time your city will be clean of horse manure. Not only that but more jobs will be created in order for the new clean energy vehicles to be produced. In summary: no animal cruelty, cleaner city, more jobs. You really gotta a "hate" a guy for trying to improve your city.

[datcv]

Yeah and I was going to troll her but registration sounded like way too much work.

[DenverJay]

And this is why it has taken so long to legalize pot..

[Suellington]

Speaking of Caligula, our fat friend over in North Korea is emulating some of his infamous execution methods.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-dogs.html

[jester]

Damn. That's some sick shit. If he were an NFL quarterback, he would get a major suspension.

[Killaz]

My bet is this guy is going to be the last of his line, and it wont be pretty for him either.

[JD the elder]

"The pack of animals spent more than an hour mauling the group in a punishment called 'quan jue', or execution by dogs, a report in Chinese newspaper Wen Wei Po said."

OK, everybody who really wants to trust a British tabloid re-reporting a single, unsourced report from one Chinese newspaper, raise your hand...

[OldMexican]

de Blasio believes that horse-drawn carriages "are not humane." In their place will be "electric, vintage-replica tourist-friendly vehicles that provide jobs for current drivers."

There is something nostalgic and romantic about a 100-year old technology that appeals to many of us. So I understand what is going on here.

I'm talking about electric horseless carriages, of course.

[Pro Libertate]

What about gas-powered horseless carriages? I understand that they are more powerful, cheaper, and have longer ranges than electric horseless carriages.

[jester]

The horse carriage gig was probably some monopoly bullshit anyway. But the rationale is what is crazy. Next thing, he'll ban eating horsemeat and sniffing glue.

[Voros McCracken]

The horse drawn carriages exist because it's a nice little tourist activity or fun date thing or whatever. Not because it's useful transportation, you can likely jog the distance faster.

So the who the hell is going to want to do the same stuff in a tricked out golf cart?

[CampingInYourPark]

So the who the hell is going to want to do the same stuff in a tricked out golf cart?

You would think the Mayor just made himself CEO of all the horseless carriage businesses in NYC

[Kid Xenocles]

This is exactly right. We did one of these horse cart tours when we visited Seville, there's no way we would have gone for an identically routed bus ride. We would have walked around to see the sights.

[Azathoth!!]

It's as if they don't understand that it's the clop of the hooves, and, in winter, the jingling of the bells that makes this a fun activity.

[The Late P Brooks]

I suppose we should expect an announcement regarding an unexpected windfall for Tesla, in the near future.

[R C Dean]

In their place will be "electric, vintage-replica tourist-friendly vehicles

Purchased at a healthy markup from a good friend of the Mayor's, no doubt.

[R C Dean]

Yep, right on schedule, it turns out some hipster already has his replacement vehicle teed up and ready to roll:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....-1.1329268

For only $450K a pop.

[AuH20]

Nick, in the article, you posit that the Mets front-office problems can be solved.

As a Mets fan, let me tell you, this is impossible. Such a thing would surely be a sign that the end is nigh.

[AuH20]

The comments have been invaded by PETA over at DB:

Mr. Gillespie seems to be suffering from a severe lack of empathy. Cruelty to animals in the cause of some outdated "authentic experience" shows a refusal to come to grips with anything other than his own selfish (libertarian?) petulance. Sorry, sir, but there's more manure in your nine paragraphs than rests on the streets of NYC.

And:

Nick, why do you consider the fact that he prioritizes animal rights to be bizarre? You can judge a community -- hell, an entire civilization -- by the manner in which it treats its animals. I for one am proud that the mayor is doing this and that he thinks ending these horses' suffering is important. Also, Barbarian regarding your comment about a multi-million dollar industry, I can think of many a multi-million dollar industry that have been shut down because they were inhumane.

[Zeb]

How the fuck do these assholes know the horses' feelings on the subject? For all they know, the horses love their jobs and will live out the rest of their live in boredom and misery if the carriages are banned.

[R C Dean]

More cronyism (via Instapundit, who must be taking a break from waterboarding puppies):

"Why do journalist continue to ignore the money? You forgot to mention that one of the largest donations for his candidacy came from Steve Nislick and he has been eyeing the property where the stables are for years. Is this really about the animals or to pay off a donor?"

[DenverJay]

What? A liberal proposing moral sounding action while actually being in it for the lucre? Un-possible!

[Not an Economist]

I looked through the comments and nobody mentioned the stable lands and political payout for a rich de Blasio donor. Apparently the land where the stables are is coveted by land developers including one very big de Blasio donor. So it may have nothing to do with animal welfare and everything to do with with political payback.

[Not an Economist]

Well missed by 10 minutes, but I don't mind it being said twice. I wonder if there will be some enterprising who will pin him down on this -- who am I kidding I got a better chance at becoming a billionaire by playing the lottery than that happening.

[wadair]

In their place will be "electric, vintage-replica tourist-friendly vehicles that provide jobs for current drivers."

Yes, and send the pollution to the Ohio river valley, or wherever NYC's electricity is generated.

Why do do-good progressives think electricity is clean?

[Bill Dalasio]

I think you just nailed the answer to your own question - because they don't actually see it. If they don't see it, it doesn't exist.

[thorax232]

In Amerika, this counts as politics.

[Russell]

Whether the NeoBloomie dies of the pox or is hanged depends on which hazard he encounters first- a squirrel with AIDS or the reins of a horseless carriage

[Bob Armstrong]

What's sad is the number of commenters on Daily Beast who must never have had a working relationship with an animal and believe this "animal cruelty" crap . They don't even seem to understand they have rubber horse shoes for hard pavement and it's undoubtedly easier on the horse's feet than lots of mountain trails .

I hope the carriage drivers and stables get an effective spokesperson to communicate the bond which undoubtedly exists between most of the drivers and their partners over the years .

I did 2 decades in Manhattan but left for the Front Range of Colorado when relaxing with a cigar and a Guinness in the Paris Cafe downstairs was criminalized . While Colorado has its battles , we've started winning a few .

Logically de Blasio must seek to close down Aqueduct too .

[Art Stone]

The New York Stock Exchange is now owned by ICE, headquartered in Atlanta. Mellon has sold its transfer agent business to a company in Australia. The NY attorney general claiming jurisdiction over the finances of companies merely because the company is listed on the NYSE is the last straw. The amusing part of Occupy Wall Street is they had no clue that Wall Street is little more than a TV studio with a handful of senior citizens talking to each other about the good old days.

[Duelles]

I feel badly for NYC. Truly, I am at odds as to wheat her I can stay friends with people who shrug their shoulders an say, ' well change is inevitable. These are better jobs. Less sanitation problems.' Or the generalized, ' how are we going to pay for all this stuff' when tax issues arise, or rather taxes rise.
Americas ignorance and diffidence is mind boggling. Thank you for the years of Reason.

[ibcbet]

Bloomberg treated them like shit and I bet de Blasio continues that tradition. Nice share