after noodling the scandal and snaring New York Mayor Eric Adams, I still can’t decide what the splashy story is all about. There are at least three possibilities racing through my mind, line cops, or in this case, ex cops like Adams grifting New Yorkers because, after all, that’s built into their brand, or corrupt politicians. Hey, is there any other kind who knows? Maybe it’s a combination of all three. Perhaps more than one thing went wrong here in terms of both the alleged crimes and a possible cover up

Adams, who is only the second African American to serve as Mayor of Gotham was recently indicted on five federal charges related to bribery, wire fraud conspiracy and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals. The 57 page indictment alleges illegal action stretching back to 2014

when the retired New York police captain was still serving as Brooklyn Borough President. The indictment charges, quote, for nearly a decade, Adams sought and accepted and proper valuable benefits such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople, at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him. End, quote, Adams is accused of becoming particularly cozy with representatives of the Republic of Turkey. He allegedly received luxury travel and other benefits from a Turkish official when he visited the country on official business, and then later reciprocated by pressuring the New York City Fire Department to open a Turkish councilor building in the city without first complying with necessary fire and safety requirements. This quid pro quo was covered up by Adam staffers. According to authorities, they must have understood just how bad it all looked, if true, that adds another layer to the alleged conspiracy. Someone Sure looks guilty of something.

For his part, the mayor denies any wrongdoing. He insists he’s innocent and he’s still on the job like nothing happened.

In fact, he’s urging constituents to, quote, wait and hear our defense before making any judgments. End, quote, he vows to aggressively defend himself and the city, regardless of how we got here, there seems to be a consensus emerging among residents of New York City as to where things should go from here, according to a new poll by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, 69% of New Yorkers think Adams should resign. That includes 71% of Adams’ fellow Democrats and 59% of black residents, only 30% of respondents think the mayor should serve out the rest of his term.

In the various profiles and features of atoms that I’ve read in New York media, a picture emerges. It’s one that should be familiar to many Americans. We’ve seen it before. It’s the portrait of someone who grew up poor but Ultra ambitious and with an insatiable hunger to gather enough wealth to one day enjoy the finer things in life, dinners and expensive restaurants, nights in fine hotels, first class flights to exotic places you’ve always wanted to visit but never thought you would, and all the rest that comes With the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

Now it’s great for someone to work hard his or her life.

Now, it’s great for someone to work hard his or her whole life and earn those sorts of nice things on the natural

but Well, some people may think, if you have to trade for those things and pay them off with favors along the way, well, that’s okay, too.

What matters, they say, is that you deserve the good life or put another way you’re entitled to it. So go ahead and grab it. People like that are all around us. They’re not wrong for wanting nice things. They have that right, but they should never go into politics as a way of obtaining those nice things. That’s where the problems start.

And no matter what else is going on here, this much is certain. New York Mayor Eric Adams has got problems.

Okay, good, we’re going with that version, the last version. There’s one mistake near the end.

Okay, I think you have one mistake in both.