And Elsewhere In The News (Some Quick Hits)

Nicolas Maduro.  He had already been indicted in the US in 2020 for drug trafficking, narco-terrorism, money laundering and corruption.  So Trump had US forces arrest him.  Good.  Both sides of the political spectrum here already agreed that he stole the last election in Venezuela.  

Muslim terrorist.  This terrorist was just sentenced to life in prison for plotting to hijack a US plane and fly it into the 55 story Bank of America tower in Atlanta.  This terrorist was part of al-Shabaab, a terrorist group affiliated with al Qaeda.  Thank you to the FBI.

California.  According to the NY Post, California's non-partisan auditor said there were eight state agencies at "high risk" for "waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement."  These agencies also failed to take "adequate corrective actions," per the auditor.  Yay, California.  Newsom for president!

Nigeria.  Nobody in the Western world and the Western media seems to care very much about the slaughter of Christians by Islamic terrorists in Nigeria.  Nobody except Donald Trump.  Trump ordered what the AP described as a "powerful and deadly" strike against the terrorists.  IS in Nigeria is thought to be part of the terrorist group Boko Haram.  Our Secretary of Defense thanked the Nigerian government for their support and cooperation.  Although, shouldn't they be thanking us?

The Heritage Foundation.  The conservative think tank is continuing their downhill slide, as the leaders of three of their departments bolted.  They went over to former VP Mike Pence's Advancing American Freedom Foundation.  The Heritage Foundation has been losing people and support ever since the president of Heritage refused to condemn Tucker Carlson for hosting a Holocaust denier and a Jew hater.  Said Pence:  "They (the ones who left Heritage) see us as being a consistent, reliable home for Reagan conservatism."  Personally, I always liked Pence.  

VP JD Vance.  "Let me be clear.  Anyone who attacks my wife (Usha Vance), whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, can eat shit."  Good for you, Mr. VP.  Good for you.  But then I'm confused.  Why did you make an excuse for Tucker Carlson in his feud with Ben Shapiro?  Vance, at the Turning Point USA Conference:  "President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless, self-defeating purity tests."  So, if Carlson hosts Nick Fuentes (he did), and doesn't challenge Fuentes' antisemitism, that's because we don't want to put him through a purity test.  But if Fuentes condemns your wife for her ethnic background, now we can run the purity test?

C'mon Mr. VP - be consistent.  Condemn Fuentes for his attacks on Jews, and Carlson for hosting him, just like you condemn Fuentes when the attack is on your wife's ethnic background.    

This Is Who The People Of New York City Elected As Their Mayor - The Real Zohran Mamdani

Mamdani was sworn in as Mayor at midnight on January 1, 2026.  He proudly admits to being a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.  Please.  He is a communist.  From a wealthy family.  So he will never lack for anything.  Why do I say he is a communist?  This is from his inaugural address:  "We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism."  "Rugged individualism" is attributed to President Herbert Hoover, calling to mind the pioneering spirit of America, and American self-reliance.

The concept of "collectivism" is about as anti-American an idea as one can imagine.  In a collective, the interests of the group are thought to be more important than the interests of the individual.  In America, everything is centered around the individual.  We speak of individual rights and liberties.  This does not mean that we do not help each other in America.  Americans are a very giving and generous people.  But each individual has the choice as to how their spend their money.  And what to do with their time. 

 
What did rugged individualism do for this country?  Everything.  Such individuals built American industries.  They explored the West.  And went into space.  What did the "warmth" of the collective get the world?  The deaths of tens of millions of people in communist China and communist Russia and Nazi Germany.  Because the individual had no value greater than the state.  The state was everything.  But our system of capitalism has not only created more wealth for more people than any other system; and not only lifted more people out of poverty; but by its very nature gives us our freedoms - not the least of which is economic freedom.

So, the largest city in the country elected a communist as Mayor.  What else can we say about Mamdani?  I think we can add he is a Jew-hating antisemite.  What was his focus on his first day in office?  Israel and the Jews.  What was that all about?  He previously had accused Israel of genocide (a lie), while refusing to condemn the actual genocidal intent of the phrase "globalize the intifada."  He previously said that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered New York City, he would have the NYPD arrest him.  Never mind the interference with US foreign policy, which even the Mayor of NYC has no say over.  

On Mamdani's first day in office he reversed outgoing Mayor Adam's order that prevented city agencies from supporting the BDS movement against Israel.  BDS - Boycott, Divest and Sanction.  Mamdani gave the heads of city departments the permission to treat Israel like an enemy of the United States.  Did he encourage BDS movements against the Russians for their brutal war against Ukraine?  How about China?  Or Nigeria, where the radical Islamists have been slaughtering Christians?  And only after being criticized for remaining silent about the mullahs in Iran killing their own people, did Mamdani finally speak out.

Here is something that Mamdani thought was important.  He removed the extra security that had been provided to synagogues throughout the city.  Demonstrating his supposed fairness, he also removed the extra protection from churches and mosques.  Please.  Where are the threats being made?  Against Jews and synagogues.  And why wouldn't he remove protection from Jewish houses of worship?  If he won't condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada," that tells me he is fine with the killing of Jews.  So why would he want to protect Jews in NYC?  

What else did Mamdani immediately do?  He reversed a city order defining "antisemitism" used by the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance), and accepted by the EU and 35 states and our federal government.  Some of the examples given in the IHRA definition include denying that the Holocaust occurred, and essentially claiming that Israel exists as a colonial, racist state.  

I don't give a damn that some self-hating Jews work in the Mamdani Administration.  I don't give a damn that Jewish actor Mandy Patinkin entertained at Mamdani's inauguration.  Were these people swayed by Mamdani's fake smile?  Did they support him because he hates Trump?  None of that can justify the way those Jews shamed themselves and turned against their own people, who have been suffering greatly since October 7, 2023.  Shame on them is the nicest thing I can say.  And shame on the people of NYC for electing a radical Islamist/communist as their Mayor.              

Minneapolis - My Take

(Note.  Yes, it's been a month since I last posted.  But life happens, such as a very large tree crashing through your house in the morning of Christmas Eve.  And then living in a hotel ever since.  So perhaps some of these stories are dated, given that we operate within a 24 hour news cycle.  I do hope that I add some information.  Then, of course, there's my take.)

On January 7, 2026, with ICE officers out in force in Minneapolis, Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer.  Good had parked her car sideways across a street, intentionally blocking traffic.  There are various camera angles of the incident, with some audio.  Good could be heard saying:  "That's fine dude.  I'm not mad at you."  Good's wife said:  "You want to come at us?  You want to come at us?  I say go and get yourself some lunch, big boy."  

An officer tells her to get out of the car.  She doesn't.  Rather, she turns the steering wheel and starts to drive away.  The officer says she hit him with her car.  The last video I saw, sent by a friend, seems to support the officer.  Someone can be heard yelling "woah!, woah!"  There are gun shots.  Eventually, Good's wife can be heard screaming "I killed her."  

My take.  Let's back up.  People (probably mostly leftists, and probably many paid protesters) were protesting the presence of ICE officers in Minneapolis.  I would ask them if they also protested the 10 million people that Biden allowed to enter the country illegally.  Did they protest Biden ceding the sovereignty of the United States of America?  Because Trump would not have needed to send ICE out across the country if Biden had enforced the immigration laws.  I would also ask these protesters why they don't want criminals here illegally (murderers, rapists, gun and human traffickers) to be deported.  Why do they want them here?

Clearly, I grew up in a different era.  An era when we were taught to respect law enforcement officers.  Taunting the police was out of the question.  As was assaulting police.  I saw the protesters throwing snowballs at the officers.  I saw them disobeying the police, and engaging in physical altercations with them.  I don't understand any of it.

I am not sure how many laws Good violated.  Blocking traffic.  Disobeying a police order.  Evading the police, and in the process possibly hitting an officer with her car.  To be clear, most of that does not warrant the use of lethal force by the police.  But if the officer had a reasonable belief that the person was trying to cause serious bodily injury or death, then it's my understanding that lethal force may be used.  My judgment?  I'd like to see the full investigation report.  Calling the officer a murderer immediately after the fact was so wrong.  But perhaps these are the same people who celebrated/justified the murder of Charlie Kirk.

The Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, made one wrong comment after the next.  "They (ICE) are not here to cause safety in this city."  "They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense.  Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly that is bullshit."  And this:  "To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis.  We do not want you here."  Great job, Mr. Mayor - if you're trying to stir up violent protests.  I guess he did not think that political leaders should be voices of reason.  (And no, it is no excuse to say that Trump is not a voice of reason, so why should the Mayor be.  Trump is not always a voice of reason.  I've said that previously.  But if you justify Frey's remarks, then you've just justified all of Trump's remarks.)

And I agree that the Administration could have been more circumspect in defending the officer.  Probably better to say "we believe he acted in self-defense, but there will be a complete and thorough investigation."  While I have read that ICE officers do not have the authority to arrest American citizens, that on its face sounds preposterous.  At the very least it would seem to be obstruction of justice, for which the offender could be taken into custody.  Even if then turned over to the local police.  Although obstruction is likely a federal offense as well.  

Frey:  "We all know the agenda of this Trump Administration is to create chaos."  Assuming for the sake of this argument that Frey is correct, just what does he think he is doing with his crude language?  Is it chaos to remove from the streets of his city illegal aliens who have already been convicted of murder, sexual assault, drug trafficking or domestic violence?  Those are the people he wants to protect from Trump?  

I'm with the New York Post on this:  "The left bears full blame for this bloodshed."  There has been nonstop criticism of ICE, even after all the assaults, and the shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas (which resulted in the killing of 2 illegal immigrants).  The left has even posted the home addresses of ICE officers.  To what end?  Isn't the job dangerous enough.  But the left wants to eliminate ICE and defund the police.  Let the criminals run wild?  Until someone in their own family is raped or murdered.  One Democrat official after the next has been egging on the protesters.

The Post:  "He (Mayor Frey) and Walz (the Governor of Minnesota) need to start calming the waters, lest more bloodshed flow...If the civilians had just left the law enforcers alone, Renee Nicole Good would still be alive."  Instead, this 37 year old woman, and mother of 3 children, is dead.  It's tragic.  And I agree with Governor Walz on one thing:  her death was "preventable" and "unnecessary."  He just puts the blame in the wrong place.