Comment by timr | Hacker News Reader

Comment by timr | Hacker News Reader

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It's so depressing that the entire Mamdani debate has become mired in Israeli politics. You can completely ignore that issue, and still have plenty of questionable stuff to talk about. He has repeatedly talked about defunding the police. Literally, not figuratively, and not that long ago [1a-c].

He said he wanted to close down Rikers Island, right in the middle of the debates [2]. He said that prisons are unnecessary [3]. He said he wants to empty jails [4-6]. His comments on crime and policing, in general, are quite extreme. I could set literally every other topic to the side, and this would be a voting issue for me.

These are his words. I'm not taking them out of context or reinterpreting them. About the only response to this stuff a reasonable person can muster is "he doesn't believe that now". Yeah, OK. I guess we'll find out...

[1a] "NO to fake cuts - defund the police." https://x.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1277414510131916801

[1b] more on his historical comments on defunding: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/31/politics/mamdani-defund-p...

[1c] "dismantle" the police (in this case, the Vice squad): https://x.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1336087694636707841

[2] "Yes, we have to close Riker's island" https://www.facebook.com/reel/1380642053476909

[3] prisons unnecessary: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/out-of-touch-ma...

[4] "the goal must be to abolish [prisons]" (plus multiple other variations on that theme) https://x.com/peterjhasson/status/1937682021276410317

[5] "The entire carceral system is an unreformable public health hazard. Defund & dismantle." https://x.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1328828240757215234

[6] "what purpose do [prisons] serve?" https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1945929553274196188

[1] does not mean no more police. The NYPD has $11 billion in funding and has offices all over the world for some reason when they should really just be city-sized for NY. They are overfunded, and he believes they should not be.

[2-6] indicate that our current prison system is punitive and does nothing in the way of rehabilitation or reform. No, he will not close every prison. Yes, in an ideal world we would not need hundreds of prisons full to the brim because we would actually rehabilitate and release people. This is hardly a fringe opinion and it is in fact a very common criticism of our prison system. Interpreting these statements as "he is just going to stop prisons and let all the violent criminals out in one go!!!" with no further though IS reinterpreting his words uncharitably because obviously that would be stupid.

Re [1], he explicitly says the opposite in the posts I linked to. You're just ignoring what he literally says and writes, and substituting your own feelings on the matter.

Regarding prisons, again, he is explicitly talking about closing down prisons. He has moderated his rhetoric more recently on this issue, but no, your interpretation of the subject is not what he's saying here, and it clearly isn't what he means, even today.

He has a long history on these topics. I'm not misinterpreting his comments.

He does not literally say the opposite. Either way, you'll see what I mean when none of this goes the way you think that it will. He's in office now anyways.

He literally says the opposite. It's why I quoted what I did. Very first link:

> We don't need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.

> What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.

> But your deal with @NYCMayor uses budget tricks to keep as many cops as possible on the beat.

> NO to fake cuts - defund the police.

The only way you can say this doesn't mean "defund the police" is by re-defining his words using Orwellian double-speak ("he doesn't really mean defund"), and then, when you get to the last line, ignore the part where he explicitly tells you not to do that. No fake cuts! Defund!

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