Three women were stabbed in the New York subways over the weekend. All three were relatively young. A 19-year-old woman with stabbed in the leg while going up a stairway. A few moments later, the same assailant stabbed a 48-year-old woman on a subway platform. Shortly after that attack, he stabbed a 28-year-old woman on a subway train bound for Brooklyn.
These events were the latest in a string of subway assaults
in New York City. Generally, the attacker is not apprehended. Twice
in recent weeks, a subway passenger stepped in to neutralize an attacker
and killed him. In both instances, the rescuer was charged with
manslaughter.
Why would anyone live in New York City? Economic opportunity?
Yes, salaries are higher in New York City than in other parts of the country. But
the cost of living is also higher, much higher. A person living in Baton
Rouge and making $50,000 a year would need to make $117,000 in New
York City just to maintain the same standard of living.
New York is an excellent city for millionaires, and New York has
more millionaires than any other American city. However, even millionaires are
fleeing the Big Apple. Twelve
percent of them moved elsewhere in the first half of 2022.
Of course, New York has more cultural attractions than any
other American locale. Do you want to attend the opera, take in a Broadway play,
or look at abstract art? You’ll find more of that stuff in New York than in Omaha, Tulsa, or Chattanooga.
Personally, I hate opera, and I detest abstract art. I'm a
fan of Western American art, which I can see at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort
Worth or the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa. More art museums appeal to my taste in Taos, NM than in Manhattan. And remember the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, and it's easy to find
a parking space.
Fine cuisine? Yes, New York has more five-star restaurants
than any other American town. But you can't beat Praise Dah Lard in Woodville,
Mississippi, for fresh cracklins. The world's best chicken fried steak can be
found at the Hitching Post restaurant in Ozona, Texas, not Gallaghers in
Manhattan, and you don't need reservations.
I love America’s cities. I spent some of the happiest years
of my life in Houston, the nation's most culturally diverse city. Unfortunately,
however, the nation’s metropolises are in decline. New Orleans is now America's
murder capital. Homelessness, rampant shoplifting, and empty office towers have laid San Francisco low, and people are leaving Chicago and New York by the thousands.
Americans are fleeing the cities, and they are smart to do so. Of course, the folks living in Flyover Country don't have a view of the Manhattan skyline. Nevertheless, I can personally attest that the skyscrapers of New York are no more beautiful than a view of the bloodred sun going down over Lake Mary, Mississippi.
