some days, you gotta love the post

The Department of Homeland Security cut the allocations for New York City and Washington, DC by approximately 40% in the current round of grant allocations. The Post helpfully points out the ridiculous nature of this decision. (In case you can't read the sub-headline, it says, "Feds slash our funds to boost hicks in sticks." Hee hee.)
Reasons for the decrease include not wanting to pay for overtime, since New York City doesn't have any national icons. Um, whatever. We used to have one, but it was destroyed by terrorists. There's that little statue in the harbor, but the Frenchies gave it to us so it's not so vital to America. Also, evidently the NYPD is one of the worst prepared police departments in the country. According to a 60 Minutes piece from a few months ago, the NYPD is the only police department in the country to have officers and agents stationed abroad. A NYPD officer was on the scene in Madrid before any federal agent. Studying to learn how NYC might be better able to handle a similar situation.

One of the sad things about being a student of public policy is coming to terms with the fact that policy is always trumped by political interests. Always. So, the two cities that have experienced terror attacks in the US voted (roughly) 90% for the other guy in the last presidental election. Now security funding is slashed. Coincidence? I think not.

(I'm trying to puzzle out the Chicago situation, and why that blue city got more money in this round. All I can figure is that someone in DHS really likes Jennifer Aniston and since she's a Windy City-er now, they have to make sure she's safe.)

No knitting going on. Very little drinking too. Very sad state of affairs all around.