The Definition Of Insanity
Albert Einstein once said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but each time expecting a different outcome.” Judging by this standard, one can only conclude that America is absolutely out of its mind. It would seem that America is bent on repeating failed and even dangerous policies ad infinitum. Two examples:
First, consider the recent shooting at the Navy Flight Service Base in Pensacola Florida. We have learned that the perpetrator of this mass murder, Mohammed Alshamrani, was sympathetic to jihadist causes and militancy. This, of course, is not terribly surprising. But what IS surprising is that Alshamrani, a Saudi Arabian national, was ENROLLED IN A FLIGHT TRAINING PROGRAM at the base!… What the hell??!!….
As the reader will certainly recall, it was Saudi nationals, IN FLIGHT TRAINING in America, that perpetrated the mass murder of 9/11. According to law enforcement officials and press reports, the 19 suspected terrorists received flight training from at least 10 U.S. flight schools. And, at least 44 people sought by the FBI for questioning in connection with the attack were found to have received some flight instruction in the US. (Source: Steve Fainaru and James V. Grimaldi, The Washington Post, September 23, 2001). Three of the 9/11 terrorists actually listed their address as the Pensacola Navy base. What in the world are we doing, STILL, in 2019, by continuing to train Saudi citizens in America on how to fly??!!… Did we think that THIS TIME the outcome would have been different? Did we think that THIS TIME the Saudi Nationals would be grateful for their training in the United States and return peacefully to Saudi Arabia as America’s friends????
Although the REASON that the flight training of Saudi nationals in the US still goes on is not hard to fathom (Saudi Arabia purchases a significant number of high cost military aircraft from us and, in return, we train their pilots), the safety of American citizens must never be sacrificed for monetary gains, no matter how great. Thinking that bringing Saudi Nationals to America’s flight schools THIS TIME will have a different result is, as Einstein would say, insanity. If pilot training is a precondition for aircraft sale, then it must be provided overseas, or the insanity will continue.
Next, consider law enforcement policy in New York City. Recently, residents of the New York were horrified to learn of the brutal stabbing death of a Barnard College freshman, Tessa Majors, in Morningside Park, by a group of THIRTEEN AND FOURTEEN YEAR OLD THUGS. Stab wounds were found on her arms, neck AND FACE. Although this horrific crime got the media’s attention, it is by no means an isolated event. New York is still smarting from the brutal stabbing death in 2018 of innocent 15 year old Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz by MS 13 gang members in a case of MISTAKEN IDENTITY. And there are many more.
As Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins put it, New Yorkers “are watching the city slowly erode, with shootings, stabbings, and an increase in homicides.” Murders are up nearly 9 percent this year in the city, while robberies and felony assaults have also increased. As the Daily News put it: “New York’s self-confidence is being tested almost daily by the chaos in its subways, by the in-your-face panhandling on its streets, by crime and rumors of crime.” New Yorkers fear a return to the state of lawlessness that griped the city during the term of Mayor David Dinkins from 1990 to 1993. The following graph of New York City Murders by year (source: en.m.wikipedia.org) will make this point quite clearly:
Although the NYC murder rate had been increasing under the previous mayor, Edward Koch, it peaked in 1990, the year Dinkins was elected (he took office on January 1, 1990). Although the murder rate marginally decreased from the 1990 peak over his next three years in office, the murder rate did not DRAMATICALLY decrease until former District Attorney Rudy Giuliani became mayor in 1994. As the graph clearly demonstrates, the drop in murders under Giuliani is breathtaking.
How did Giuliani do it? With tough law enforcement policy: “quality-of-life” and “broken windows” policing, tough sentencing of convicted criminals, and “stop and frisk” policies, all of which were designed to identify criminals and get them OFF the streets.
Although these strategies were tremendously effective (and were continued largely unchanged under subsequent mayor Michael Bloomberg), they have been systematically dismantled by de Blasio. In addition to cancelling “stop and frisk”, he is in the process of closing Riker’s Island Prison, cutting down or eliminating bail requirements, and arranging for the early release of so-called “non violent offenders”. (Although early release for “non violent” criminals might seem like a reasonable thing to do, it is important for the reader to note that, although criminals in NYC are often categorized as “non violent”, many of these perpetrators WERE actually violent, but acquire the “non violent” designation through plea bargaining whereby violent charges are dropped in return for easily adjudicated guilty pleas, thereby reducing pressure on overworked prosecutors). I think it’s easy to see how these policies will get criminals BACK ON THE STREETS! Does de Blasio think that, THIS TIME, these criminals will suddenly have a change of heart and become peaceful and law abiding citizens? It has been reported by Human Rights Watch, in a study released in 2010, that 39.6% of all arrested New Yorkers ALREADY HAVE a record of prior convictions. THIRTY NINE POINT SIX PERCENT! (www.hrw.org) And, a sizable portion of those will have not one but multiple prior convictions.
And, don’t be fooled by some of the de Blasio “statistics” which claim crime reduction under his “watch.” Under the command of de Blasio’s hand picked Commissioner, James P. O’Niel, police officers have been directed simply to make FEWER ARRESTS!… and, violá, crime STATISTICS go down (but, unfortunately, not crime itself). As the New York Post puts it: “Few reasonable people take any de Blasio administration stats seriously. Its eagerness to cook the books is most apparent.”
So, by returning to the flawed policies of yesteryear, de Blasio’s expectation that THIS TIME something different will happen is, again, the definition of insanity.
Hope springs eternal. Unfortunately, so does insanity.