“I’ve seen this movie before, so I know how it ends.” This is actually political wisdom I learned from a friend in Tucson, a veteran, successful business owner, and citizen activist with decades under his belt, whose limited government and pro-freedom principles had been betrayed by Arizona “Republicans” nearly every single time they’d promise to uphold and fight for them.

Well, his quip is what comes to mind when I read a new story about how the city of Boston, grappling with a massive rat population, is attempting to mitigate the problem. After a commissioned report authored by “urban rodentologist” Dr. Bobby Corrigan, Boston unveiled a “new initiative” known as the “Boston Rodent Action Plan” or BRAP, and is a collaborative effort between a host of government agencies to tackle the crisis. (Now, I’m not sure how much of an expert Corrigan really is, because he partly blamed the cobblestone and brick streets for the problem—pretty sure it’s the hordes of foreign invaders camped around, and the Democrat-permitted filth and unsanitary conditions, that are drawing the rats, not streets made out of stones instead of asphalt.)

Here’s what Boston’s mayor, Michelle Wu reportedly said:

‘We’re working hard to make Boston a home for everyone — except for rats,’ Wu said in a statement. ‘Our rodent action plan, which is informed by this data-driven report, will guide our approach across our neighborhoods.’

Yeah… well that’s what Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, once said too, before she eventually surrendered the city to the rats, and pleaded with the people of the city to peacefully coexist with the filthy little disease-carriers. From a Politico article last year:

After years spent battling vermin, this week Hidalgo’s administration announced it intends to take a different approach and attempt to achieve a more peaceful state of coexistence with the rodents.

‘With guidance from the mayor, we have decided to form a committee on the question of cohabitation,’ announced Anne Souyris, the city’s deputy mayor for public health, during Thursday’s meeting of the Council of Paris. She added that the group would be tasked with finding the method of dealing with the rats that proved to be both ‘effective’ and ‘not unbearable’ for Parisians.

What’s funny is that “not unbearable” is a pathetically low bar for civic life, but nonetheless, reaching the “not unbearable” benchmark would actually be quite the accomplishment for progressive leftists running cities, states, and nations into the ground.

This same thing happened in New York too. This past September I penned a blog on Eric Adams’s approach to the Big Apple’s rat problem; Adams opted to create a “rat czar” position that came with a six-figure salary, but again, spoiler alert, the government employee didn’t handle the problem, and now here we are, from an X post yesterday:

But, the imports from third world slums, accustomed to eating whatever they can find, have found a way to turn the rat problem into a business!

And this:

“Diversity” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The “sights” and “smells” of America’s big cities used to be beautiful and aromatic, but now they’re nauseating and putrefied.

Image: Public domain.