Collin’s Dictionary recently announced its word of the year (“brat”), but it also published a shortlist containing other new phrases that were in the running, one of which was the term “delulu,” defined as “utterly mistaken or unrealistic in one’s ideas or expectations” (obviously a slang take on “delusional”).

Well, Janno Lieber, CEO of the Manhattan Transit Authority, is totally delulu—New York’s new congestion pricing toll increase just hit, which people can’t afford, but understandably so they don’t want to surrender the safety of their personal vehicles and ride the subway. According to Lieber though, all that danger is just “in people’s heads” and the crime surge is simply a figment of our imagination, because, “The overall stats are positive.” Here’s the story, from a Breitbart article today:

‘Some of these high-profile incidents, you know, terrible attacks have gotten in people’s heads and made the whole system feel unsafe,’ Lieber said, addressing the recent subway crimes…

[snip]

‘Last year we were actually at 12 and a half percent less crime than 2019, the last year before COVID,’ the MTA chair and CEO said.

I mean it’s only been two weeks since one of Joe Biden’s “newcomers” lit a sleeping Debrina Kawam on fire and watched her burn, while a police officer in uniform walked on by, completely unconcerned with the human barbecue on the subway car:

BREAKING: The woman who was set on fire, killed on NYC Subway has been Identified as a 61-year-old Debrina Kawam, of New Jersey, who briefly spent stayed in homeless shelters. pic.twitter.com/OecgNiq3pF

— Gene Mikhov (@genegmb) December 31, 2024

It’s also only been a matter of weeks since Daniel Penny’s yearslong legal ordeal for protecting innocent people from a deranged man who was shouting homicidal desires at people on the subway finally ended.

It’s only been less than a week since a man was randomly shoved in front of a train and nearly killed by the impact, and since a retired MTA worker in her 70s fought off four teenage-looking attackers after being punched in the face and stomped on….

For the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone is reluctant to trust the word of the MTA?

Here’s an update:

🚨 NYC subway riders are all terrified of being shoved in front of a train. pic.twitter.com/HCXmcRJ69S

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 5, 2025

Despite all that though, Lieber accuses those of us noticing the negative trends and recognizing the very obvious why behind the changes of being confused—I wonder how today’s crime rates would compare to the Rudy Giuliani years?

As someone in the comments noted:

‘Don’t believe your lying eyes’ is always a poor strategy, but one the totalitarians always cling to when their policies are proving to be failures.

Image: Schvaxet, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.