Hey there, Stephen Dubner. This year will mark a pair of anniversaries for us. And even though I

ignore most anniversaries, these two have got their hooks in me. It has been 20 years since

Steve Levitt and I published Freakonomics, and it's been 15 years since I started Freakonomics Radio.

So we are thinking about making some kind of anniversary episode, and I want to know if you

have anything to share. Maybe it's a story about how you were influenced or inspired by

something from Freakonomics. Maybe it's some kind of memory or coincidence that you'd like to tell us

about. Whatever it is, send us an email or a voice memo, whichever you prefer. Our address is

radio at freakonomics.com. Thanks in advance for that. And as always, thanks for listening.

In the fall of 2022, a new job listing was posted on a New York City government website.

The ideal candidate, the listing read, is highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty,

determined to look at all solutions from various angles,

including data collection, technology innovation, and wholesale slaughter.

And what kind of government job requires wholesale slaughter?

Here is the man responsible for this listing. Rats do something to traumatize you and I hate rats. That is Eric Adams,

the mayor of New York City. If you walk down the block and a rat runs across your foot,

you never forget it. Every time you walk down that block, you relived that.

As you may have heard, Adams was indicted last year on five federal criminal charges, including bribery and wire fraud.

Although, in a remarkable departure from legal precedent, the Trump administration justice department just ordered those charges dismissed.

Through it all, the mayor's anti-rat fervor has been undiminished.

Fighting crime, fighting inequality, fighting rats,

public enemy number one, many of you don't know, are rats.

If you're not scared of rats, you are really my hero.

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