The last 3 paragraphs of this article are about Curtis Sliwa:
Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for mayor, lives with his wife and six elderly cats in a one-bedroom apartment on West 73rd Street between West End Avenue and Broadway. His proximity to several of the reported rat hubs, and his well-documented love for cats, informs his solution to the rat problem should he win the November election: more cats.
Specifically, Mr. Sliwa hopes the city will partner with volunteers who maintain colonies of feral cats, whose population swelled during the pandemic to as many as half a million. When a rat problem is reported anywhere in the city, he said, the keepers could move their cats in.
“I’m an expert in this area because I stay up at night,” when more rats come out of their holes, Mr. Sliwa said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “You’re never going to win a war against rats. You only can have détente.”
Grammar point: "His proximity to several of the reported rat hubs, and his well-documented love for cats, informs his solution...." It should be "inform" (not "informs"), because there's a plural subject, "proximity" and "love." And both commas need to go. But I admit that I'd accept "inform" if it had been: "His proximity to several of the reported rat hubs — not to mention his well-documented love for cats — informs his solution...." Anyway, rewrite the whole thing. Proximity and love inform solutions? Not good. I have the leisure to go on about subject/verb agreement and punctuation because I'm not tormented by rats. Or cats. Or mayoral madness.
As for "the keepers could move their cats in" — that sounds like herding cats, the epitome of things that won't work.
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59 comments:
What's the commie's solution to the rat problem?
Rats are in the same category as progressives and criminals.
If not properly suppressed they cause problems for everyone and start stealing your stuff.
"What's the commie's solution to the rat problem?"
Stocking the Government run grocery stores with Soylent Rodent.
'What's the commie's solution to the rat problem?' racism, systematic oppression, cis white males and Trump. Commies have no solutions to problems, never have had any.
For several years, NYC kept a herd of goats on the hill near Grant's Tomb to clear out the undesirable vegetation. The city had moved them to another park when I was there, since they'd finished their work clearing the slope, but there was a sign. They were quite popular I gather.
I bet you could make a tourist attraction out of a "midnight run with the cats" experience. Give everybody a sharp stick so they could join in.
Herding goats... that's about the most common thing to be done with goats.
Herding cats... that's famously the thing you can't do.
Rats have no fear anywhere. This is not a NYC thing. Norway rats found a way to get on every ship worldwide. They hang with cockroaches and tardigrades and mosquitoes in the survivor pantheon.
"One rat in a stroller" and people get all het up about it. Is that sort of like "you f--- one goat...."
There's even a song in "The Sound of Music" — "The Lonely Goatherd."
"Herding cats... that's famously the thing you can't do."
That may have been true before the invention of the laser pointer.
Without reading other comments, I can say pretty definitively that a single rat in a stroller would certainly induce panic in me.
Is no one going to go here?
Herding cats
Rats in strollers I can handle. But when they start riding Bicycles, they're out of control
A goatherd wouldn't be lonely in New York. Not even hanging around Grant's Tomb.
Cats can help control the problem but rats are clever and hard to catch. Further, how healthy is it for cats to eat sewer rats? Diseases must be transmitted.
"I'm not tormented by rats. Or cats. Or mayoral madness."
Cats are proposed as solution to rats. Mayoral madness, on the other hand, is hurty words all the way down.
NYTs -which before hated Silwa- is now trying to push him. Mandingo must have them scared.
Rats in strollers can break my bones, but hurty words can never hurty me.
DemocRATS
"City data actually suggest that rat sightings are declining. "
Sure.
City data actually suggest that rat sightings are declining...
Isn't this a bit hypocritical? We've got people who are upset that Trump has made crime go down in DC because getting mugged every so often is part of the "charm" of city life. Shouldn't the occasional rat in a stroller be considered the same?
In the UK they use terriers to go after rats. That's what they're bred for.
"RCOCEAN II said...
Cats can help control the problem but rats are clever and hard to catch. Further, how healthy is it for cats to eat sewer rats? Diseases must be transmitted."
Not really. Cats are more suited for smaller prey. Mice, voles, moles, baby rabbits, birds.
Rat Terriers are better at rat control than cats. Although we have a friend with a farm upstate who has a Rat Terrier that works as a hunting team with two barns cats. Amazing to see.
Back in the '60s and '70s you could shoot crows around here in Texas... in fact they made crow calls to attract them. Then they banned shooting crows cause of some treaty with Mexico.. now Crows walk on your lawn and kill small animals... cause they know humans will not kill them.
I suspect in NYC it's the same way with rats.
AI is a godsend : "The blog references the NYT article titled "Rats in a Stroller: The Central Park Playground Panic", which notes that even a single rat sighting in a stroller can trigger widespread panic, despite data suggesting rat sightings are actually declining.
The phrase is used to highlight the emotional intensity and public fear surrounding rats in NYC—especially when they invade spaces meant for children."
The alliteration hints at criticism of the new generation of inmates. (see My Dinner with Andre clip)
I was thrown off by "rats in stroller". I thought it might be code for NYC liberal white women aversion to having children of their own — let alone the children they see getting strolled around by others.
@Curious George: "Cats are more suited for smaller prey. Mice, voles, moles, baby rabbits, birds."
The solution is obvious: bring in bobcats, panthers, cheetahs, leopards, wolves, tigers, and lions. Match the hunters to the hunted.
The Instagram crowd would take many selfies and may become collateral damage.
Rat sightings are declining.
Well that’s one possibility, or the sightings have become so much the norm that no one ever notices.
My solution has been for (some time) to arm the youth with suitably powered single shot pellet guns. And offer a bounty.
I’m fine with providing them suitable training in both marksmanship and gun safety. As for the bounty well that’s negotiable. In rural America young people hunt for the fun of it, in the city there could be a range of rewards, perhaps a public scoreboard where you attain status based on success, or the traditional cash, or as crazy as it may seem reward them with the thing they want most, weed.
The fact that cats are also in this picture, cemented the misimpression that it had to do with NYC liberal white women.
AI: "Rats in strollers" is a vivid, unsettling phrase pulled from a New York Times article referenced in the blog post you're reading."
"It’s not literal in the sense of rats being lovingly wheeled around like babies—it’s a sensational image meant to capture the public's visceral reaction to rat sightings in places associated with safety and children, like Central Park playgrounds."
Herding cats... that's famously the thing you can't do.
You can’t? I assert that up on Capitol Hill Mike Johnson does it on nearly a daily basis.
In rural America young people hunt for the fun of it.
The sons (and many daughters) of the poorest families in rural America hunt to put protein on their families’ tables.
They need to mount 50-caliber machine guns on the back of the cats if they want a true Rat Patrol.
@Wince: " mount 50-caliber machine guns on the back of the cats"
1. The weight would crush any cat smaller than a lion or tiger. They are more suited for horses and oxen.
2. The recoil and blast would slam the cat so hard that they'd either quit working or be dead.
They ought to use Boston Dynamics robot dogs to hunt the rats. AI robots with guns. What could possibly go wrong? Maybe they'd be trained to hunt down the black Nazis that Google AI presented?
"Enigma said...
@Curious George: "Cats are more suited for smaller prey. Mice, voles, moles, baby rabbits, birds."
The solution is obvious: bring in bobcats, panthers, cheetahs, leopards, wolves, tigers, and lions. Match the hunters to the hunted."
I live in Milwaukee, and near me they were putting in new sewers as part of a street rebuild. That flushed the rats out and we had an abundance of coyotes and foxes come in to take advantage of the situation.
Cats can be herded. I’ve done it myself.
If a rat walked across my foot, it would be a dead rat, assuming I saw it in time and was wearing a good pair of shoes. I subscribe to the Rooster Cogburn school of rat control: You can't serve papers on a rat, baby sister. You gotta kill him or let him be.
Cats can be decent mousers but don’t make great ratters. For that you need dogs. Preferably not feral dogs. You can google the videos.
But cats would be the communist solution (“Chinese system is the ‘cat that catches most rats’, says Communist Party ahead of centenary celebration“). Ergo, Curtis Sliwa is also a communist.
If the don’t have a dog, the best rat weapon for Central Park would probably be a good, stout walking stick. Still, I’d give the rat the road unless it wanted to get up close and personal.
And the rat's in the cradle and the silver spoon...
RCOCEAN II said...
Rats in strollers I can handle. But when they start riding Bicycles, they're out of control
9/4/25, 9:10 AM
They're driving cars now.
https://youtu.be/mYHMc3-f3v8?si=pYPUKOuL4ug61HT8
a single rat in a stroller is enough to set off a panic
What's the big deal about just one rat in a stroller? It's not like seeing a blond lady in a commercial.
If you stomp your foot on the rat you see, you've taken the first step towards solving the problem.
Why would anyone want to live in a place like that? Esp when it comes with rampant crime, homelessness, and filth.
And I agree with using rat dogs. Much better than cats for rats. Cats enjoy playing with their food. I have seen them take an hour to kill a mouse. Trained rat dogs are methodical. I’ve watched video of them working a barn, with a team of them methodically working their way through the garage, killing over a hundred in under an hour. Just grab it, shake it, breaking its neck, and on to the next one.
…and you’ve got bedbugs uptown. What a mess - this town’s in tatters!
This is the dog that killed the rat that lived in the house that Jack built
We bought a farm that had a corn crib on it. The previous owner had let a neighboring Amish farmer use it for his overflow ear corn. Soon he came with a wagon, shovels, and two rat terriers. When it was loaded there were a dozen dead norways and two excited dogs searching for more. Those dogs were amazing.
"Jamie said...
Is no one going to go here?
Herding cats
9/4/25, 9:07 AM "
Super Bowl, right?
Fewer rats according to the statistics.
Fewer rat eradication efforts.
Ironically, sightings of rats increase.
Fox Butterfield reports.
Rat "sightings" and rat populations are two different things. Rats aren't as dumb as most people think. There's a chance that they've just gotten better at staying our of sight as a survival instinct.
Where's G. Gordon Liddy when you need him?
@loudogblog: "Rats aren't as dumb as most people think."
Rats and pigeons were used for many behavior and learning tests back in the day. This was when university scientists sought to find universal principles or "laws" that extended across species. See the Skinner box. By the 1960s they realized that humans are indeed different than other animals. They still use animals for drug and chemical testing, however.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/what-is-a-skinner-box.html
“They’re eating the cats (which could be eating the rats)”.
Letting a bunch of rat terriers at them is the best option but not practical in NYC. Bobcats would be second-best but with severe drawbacks, though I imagine NYC already has bobcats because of their rodent problem. Feral cats can kill rats. I don't know why people doubt this. So does poison, but feral parents who don't watch their kids create a downside. Sterilization seems to ne helping. This is the sanitation department's fault, and Sliwa should not stop pointing this out.
The rat terriers have voted for rat terriers. You could sell tickets for that.
They should bring in owls to deal with the rat problem.
A form of entertainment in Victorian London was betting on how many rats a terrier could kill in an hour. The dog would be turned loose in a ring surrounded by punters. The practice was outlawed in 1835, but continued regardless.
A few months ago, there was the lost dachshund that took over the top of the food chain on an Australian island and was recovered by its family in better health than before. Maybe all the dachshunds given to kill shelters can be sent to NYC to live off the rats. And of course the NY Post can have dozens of headlines with the word "wiener" in it....RR, JSM
The next mayor can just declare the place a sanctuary city for rats, and the problem goes away.
What’s harder than herding cats? Herding feral cats. Lots of luck….
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