"I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world."—New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

  • Brainspore

    Careful what you wish for, Bloomberg. Regicide is a well-documented health risk in that vocation.

  • http://twitter.com/AwesomeRobot AwesomeRobot

    No no no no no no no no no.

  • http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai

    This “joke” would have  fallen on different ears a year ago.  Unfortunately, it appears to be all too telling.  I voted for Mister Bloomberg, but his actions recently– especially with his private army!– have been shameful.

  • That_Anonymous_Coward

    It might be time to have his private army disbanded and brought up on charges.
    Joking or not, this is not what an elected official should say.

  • Cocomaan

    What the fuck is going on here? Between this, the LA/Philly evictions, the senate vote on an indefinite detention amendment to the defense authorization bill, the arrest of that poor guy in San Diego… what the fuck, guys? I am sincerely worried.

    • http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios

      Gee, ya think? Hopefully you aren’t just NOW noticing this as there have been plenty of voices in the wilderness crying out about this for years. They have usually been labeled “conspiracy theorists” though and people just laughed.

  • Stonewalker

    Fuck that guy.  Maybe some other states can gang up and declare war on him then.

  • Guest

    I wonder how “his” army feels about that?

    • digi_owl

      Likely a shrug as long as they get payed…

  • Steven Barrett

    Democracy: You’re Doing it Wrong!

  • Stonewalker

    Speaking broadly – giving the authority to “move troops”, or rather, compel police to fulfill the will of an elected person just seems fundamentally wrong.  Seems like it makes cops Thugs instead of Law Enforcement Officers.  You know, guys who enforce the law.  A politician’s will is not law, ever.

  • mary_aspinwall

    Time for him to go #ResignBloomberg  Sign today:
    http://www.change.org/petitions/resign-bloomberg-ows-petition 

  • Mister44

    You know who else had an army of police…

    • http://twitter.com/doggo doggo

      No. Who?

      • http://www.vastermonster.com thrashr888

        Gadhafi?

      • Felton / Moderator
        • Mister44

          You, sir, win an internet!

          And assuming the previous posters weren’t joking – the answer was Hitler.

  • http://twitter.com/ScytheNoire ScytheNoire

    Off with his head!

  • EH

    is the site supposed to look like this now?

  • http://grumer.org/ Avram Grumer

    Great, he’s modeling himself on Fernando Wood. 

  • flickerKuu

    Hey I know, if you have such a big, bad-ass army, why don’t you do something with it and arrest all the people on Wall St. that ripped off people like my mom and her IRA account.

  • http://twitter.com/erik_erikson Erik Erikson

    Isn’t taking this quote out of context a little hyperbolic? If anyone dares to click the source, this is the first in a list of comparisons to the powers of the President and why he prefers being Mayor.

    I hate the guy too but this post is kind of nuts.

    • AirPillo

      The quote may not be meant to say what we’re taking it to say, but it is remarkably ironic considering the nature of the speaker.

      If you believe in Freudian slips, this might count as one.

    • Quothz

      I disagree. I read the full article and there is no mitigating context – he believes the NYPD is his Army to command, analogous to the President and the US Army.

  • EH

    So? Politicians lie all the time.

  • bluest_one

    FAO HRH Bloomberg:

    Peel’s Principles of Policing

    1.The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.
    2.The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon the public approval of police actions.
    3.Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observation of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.
    4.The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.
    5.Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.
    6.Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice, and warning is found to be insufficient.
    7.Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
    8.Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions, and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
    9.The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelian_Principles

  • http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Mari Lwyd

    First Berlusconi was only “prime minister in my spare time.”

    and now Bloomberg has “the seventh biggest army in the world.”

    The politicians are hilarious lately.

  • lavardera

    romancin’ the pitchfork

  • That_Anonymous_Coward

    “We have the United Nations in New York, and so we have an entree into the diplomatic world that Washington does not have,” Mayor Bloomberg said.”

    And they have members of his army stationed around the world helping them learn to stop terrorists.  I’m sorry NY is not the center of the universe despite your desire to make it such.  I think we have wasted enough time and resources of the rest of the nation to keep you safe from your imagined threats.  We’ve seen how you beat people who protest and then lie about their misdeeds.  I think it is high time we stop paying for your personal army and take a good hard look at your fiefdom.  Corruption is rampant in your army, so they must have learned that from their leaders.  Lets keep working up the food chain and see how far it goes.

  • hungryjoe

    What a flawed statement.  With 45,000 officers of various types, the NYPD is nowhere near the world’s seventh largest army.  Honduras’ armed forces are slightly larger.

    The NYPD budget is comparable to Egypt’s annual military expenditures.  They’re tied for 41st place.  However, the NYPD is more poorly armed and is 3% of the size of Egypt’s military establishment.

    In fact, Honduras has a military that is comparable in size to the NYPD, better armed, but with only 6% of the NYPD’s budget.

    My point being that Bloomberg is not a very effective commander-in-chief.

  • SoItBegins

    “The police’s job is not to create disorder; the police’s job is to preserve disorder!”
    ~ Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago circa 1968

  • http://www.xradiograph.com/ OtherMichael

    It’s like living in a Jack Womack novel.

    If only we could go back in time and get Elvis to save us….