We the People: Hillary’s finished … again

Bernie Sanders is ahead by a point (41 percent) over Hillary Clinton (40 percent) in the newest Quinnipiac poll In Iowa.  Of course, every conservative pundit is racing to say, “See, I told you … you heard it here first … Ding, dong …”

The wicked truth is that you will never get the real story from the Sean Hannity crowd today or any day. A barrage of bad press has not swayed political experts and insiders who still believe that Mrs. Clinton’s campaign organization and experience will lead her to victory in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Senator Sanders is getting a boost in the polls, like Donald Trump, due to the fact that the people are tired of politics as usual but the poll numbers will not transform into primary votes. It is an American tradition for insurgent challengers (like Howard Dean or Bill Bradley) to have a moment before the primaries but that does not propel them through to November.

Mrs. Clinton must pay more attention to the early primaries because if Senator Sanders wins both Iowa and New Hampshire, it could give the donors and organizations that support Mrs. Clinton such a chill that her whole campaign catches a cold.

Mrs. Clinton could ignore the polls and secure the nomination anyway with enough primary victories on March 1. However, the manufactured controversies that hound Mrs. Clinton should prompt her to pay more attention to Iowa and New Hampshire even though she should win due to the strength of her campaign organization and the strength of her credentials as a candidate.

The furor over her use of a private e-mail server when she was Secretary of State has been a difficult-to-defuse magnet for criticism. She did offer a tepid apology while interviewed on ABC News — “That was a mistake. I’m sorry about that. I take responsibility” — which was not enough to satisfy critics from the right as well as critics from the left.

Mrs. Clinton should be concerned and put the e-mail controversy to rest by addressing it head on and taking the opportunity to connect with the electorate.

Mrs. Clinton remains popular with Iowa Democrats and other polls indicate that she is viewed favorably by a 76 percent to 20 percent margin.

Senator Sanders has received high poll numbers for trustworthiness and leadership ability. It is doubtful that a very liberal senator from a very small New England state will have the appeal to transform those good poll numbers into a national victory.

That is why the conservative media funded by Koch money will continue their rabid attack on the character of Mrs. Clinton until Election Day. That can only go so far and it is likely that the wave of contrarian angst and conservative ire that has propelled the Sanders campaign has already peaked.

On the GOP side, the question is will Republican voters hold their noses and select Donald Trump, who has a huge lead over other candidates in polls, as the candidate to recapture the White House. It will be interesting to see how the next GOP debate treats The Donald.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton insisted that the city will experience an overall decrease in crime even if there are spikes of serious crimes in certain areas of the city. In a radio interview, Bratton said, “Shootings are down” and the police “are doing pretty well from my perspective.”

However, he admitted that detectives were investigating 13 more homicides this year than at this point in 2014. East New York remains an unsafe neighborhood for its residents with a 21 percent jump in shootings and a 55 percent increase in homicides.

An anonymous police source pointed to the elimination of “stop and frisk” activities which produced gun seizures as the reason that gun violence is up. The ATF reported that 3,552 firearms were seized in New York City in 2014 compared to the 7,062 firearms seized in 2006.

The real victims of the failure to find a police policy that allows appropriate proactive work and supports proper community interaction are the families of the victims of gun violence.  They must mourn and ask why innocent bystanders and citizens are gunned down in the streets.

A Harvard-educated attorney Carey Gabay was shot in the head before the West Indian Day Parade. He is in a coma and on life support instead of at home with his family. He was the unintended target of gangbangers with no qualms about spraying semiautomatic gunfire into the streets of Brooklyn.

Mr. Gabay is an aide to Governor Cuomo and is described as a wonderful and kind man who was living the American Dream. We need a better gun strategy on a federal and local level to stop tragedies like this from happening.