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This has turned into a matter of life and death.
After weeks of blessed silence, The New York Times, a newspaper that never misses a chance to slap the heroic men and women who keep fellow citizens safe, has jumped with both left feet into the “bash Ray Kelly’’ party.
The Newspaper of Record has chosen sides. And it would rather see New York again hit with airplanes than allow authorities to mess with a favored minority.
The paper that enjoys outsize influence among the liberal chattering classes (or is that redundant?) and in halls of government weighed in last weekend on a smoldering controversy whose conclusion could determine New York’s very future:
Was the New York Police Department dead wrong for keeping an eye on mosques, cafes and Muslim-heavy schools in New Jersey? Anywhere terror might breed?
More importantly, should the men and women on the police front lines be investigated by the federal government — for their efforts at keeping us alive?
The Times says a resounding “Yes!’’
How soon they forget.
A breathtaking bit of writing screamed off the Times’ editorial page. It began with a lie.
According to the Times, Mayor Bloomberg and his top cop “wisely’’ beefed up the NYPD’s counterterrorism efforts post 9/11.
The paper didn’t mean it. Immediately, it let rip with a grammatically suspect run-on sentence so perplexing and infuriating, I can only conclude:
1. The writer and editors possess the brains of Snooki, or;
2. They were drunk.
“Unfortunately, they did not provide for sufficiently strong supervision of this formidable and far-flung intelligence operation,’’ the paper wrote about Bloomberg and Kelly, “to check the well-known tendency of all such agencies, operating in secrecy and under murky rules, to abuse their powers.’’ Wow.
Take a deep breath, people. I presume the abusive, “murky’’ agency to which the paper refers is the NYPD.
The Times went on to state, without equivocation or shame, “that Muslim-Americans have paid a real price,’’ and that surveillance of mosques, cafes — even a Muslim-attended whitewater-rafting trip, as reported gleefully by The Associated Press — “lack[s] any apparent link to suspected criminal activity, or any obvious payoff for public safety.’’
Let me see if I’ve got this right. No attack has claimed lives in the city, or in New Jersey, since terrorists took off from Newark Airport on Sept. 11, 2001.
So one might conclude that surveillance of Muslims, some of whom planned the fatal 1993 Trade Center attack in a Jersey City mosque, had been wildly effective. Right?
Wrong, said the paper.
A crisis is facing the NYPD. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has idiotically demanded that Kelly apologize for keeping his own citizens alive.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker is insisting on a federal probe.
The Times called on the feds to look into the surveillance, with the intent of making Kelly back off. Never mind that anyone with an Internet connection and a car could easily perform the kind of surveillance the Times deems “constitutionally suspect.’’
If Kelly gives in, people will die.
The commish is now being dogged by protests, including a rally Sunday by Fordham University law students downtown.
“The problem here is that they’re holding the Muslim community responsible for actions of a very small — I mean it’s not even worth calling them a small minority — a dozen people,” said student Adaner Usmani, inadvertently underscoring the grave need for police to check out his “dozen’’ dangerous people.
“Criminals inside the global and US Muslim population joyously planned, then murdered, 3,000 fellow commuters of our generation on 9/11 — 746 of those killed were New Jersey residents!’’ said Tish Ferguson, who lives in New Jersey.
“Those who want to kill us, our kids, your kids and all grandkids are counting on us to grow weary and tired.’’
I’d like to sleep at night knowing we’re in safe hands. Ray Kelly, do not give in.
Annoying strife-styles of the rich and famous
There ought to be a law banning celebrity reproduction.
Christie Brinkley, 58, and her porn- and teen-loving ex-hubby, Peter Cook, 53, are again ripping each other to shreds in the sequel to their vicious 2008 divorce. Christie wants $140,000 for nasty e-mails Peter allegedly sent her about selling their boat docked in the Hamptons. Peter told ABC Christie is trying to “publicly castrate’’ him for publicity.
Meanwhile, Madonna, 53, is cursing ex-hub Guy Ritchie, 43, whom she reportedly paid off to the tune of $92 million in their 2008 marital bust-up. Her Ritchie-inspired song “I Don’t Give A . . .’’ is on her new album, “MDNA.”
“I tried to be a good girl/I tried to be your wife/Diminished myself/And I swallowed my light/I tried to become all/That you expect of me/And if it was a failure/I don’t give a [bleep].”
But these furious Madge lyrics were played for a select crowd last week at a New York soirée:
“Bang bang, shot you dead/Shot my lover in the head/Now my lover is dead/And I have no regrets/He deserved it.’’
The well-preserved gals have much in common: They’re rotten at picking men. And each is raising a pair of kids with despicable ex-spouses.
Luckily, they can afford the kids’ therapy bills.
Bawls & strikes
Bad news: Revenues at the Mets’ home, Citi Field, have plummeted more than 30 percent since the ballpark opened in 2009. Attendance is down 26 percent.
Worse news: A bankruptcy trustee can try to snatch $86 million from Mets owners, money they reaped in phony profits by investing with Ponzi crook Bernie Madoff, a federal judge ruled.
Worst news: Third baseman David Wright has a sore rib cage. First baseman Ike Davis likely has valley fever.
Tragic news: Watching the hurting team play still sets a family back a bundle in tickets, hot dogs, beer and parking.
Stop the bleeding.
Pray for ailing tot
From the boardroom to the playground, the NYC Dads Group is one of a kind. While their wives work, some 500 guys, and growing, perform the world’s hardest job — they’re stay-at-home dads. Now, tragedy has struck my favorite bunch of Mr. Moms.
Andrew Aidan Legar, just 2, has been hit with a rare brain tumor. He has just weeks to live. Andrew’s dad, Roi, and mom, Michelle, are both staying home to be with their baby.
I urge New Yorkers to visit Andrew’s Web site, andrewlegarblogspot.com.
And pray for a miracle.
The poor rich
The recession hammers the 1 percent, too. A sprawling Southampton mansion is in foreclosure.
With seven bedrooms, six baths and an indoor pool, the shack, which sits on 5.2 wooded acres, can be yours for $1.8 to $2 million — the price of some Manhattan two-bedrooms!
Of course, taxes and upkeep are killers. So is the commute.