Co-founder of the Federalist continues the Orweillian ignorance act

Perhaps it's not a shock, but Sean Davis, CEO and co-founder of the Federalist, has indicated he's against the war on Iran's tyrants, despite previous research telling there are Americans who believe Iran's Islamofascists should be brought down, and tries to frame it all as some kind of "neocon/never-Trump/RINO" conspiracy, all the while not willing to admit he actually represents such disgraceful movements:

It is inarguable that the war in Iran is a massive drag on Donald Trump’s numbers, as well as those of the Republican Party heading into November. This is largely driven by consistently high gas prices, which also drive up the price of everything else.

Trump obviously knows this, which is why he’s been searching for an off-ramp for months. He knows he was elected to get gas prices down and the economy in shape (which he did until the war jammed up the gears).

But a major problem for Trump’s presidency right now is that nearly everyone outside his inner circle pushing for this war — and this includes the entirety of so-called conservative pundits who never found a war they weren’t willing to make others fight and pay for — also hates Trump (and especially J.D. Vance) and sees the war’s negative effect on his popularity as a secondary benefit of the war they’ve been salivating over for decades. To them, his declining numbers are a feature, not a bug.

With the Iran war, the NeverTrump neocons have gotten everything they ever dreamed of — war (which they love), and a massive political quagmire for Trump that threatens to consume the rest of his presidency and destroy any future political chances of J.D. Vance and the entire MAGA/America First movement.

Boy, this guy sure is clever and cunning, trying to do what the British call "fobbing off" the blame on everyone else but himself, all the while pretending he's actually a Trump supporter himself, but in reality, chances are very high he's actually a Vance supporter for all the wrong reasons. Assuming he supposedly opposes having an Islamic caliphate established in Europe, what Davis is doing decidedly contradicts any claim he might make that he's against having Islamofascism conquer Europe. Seriously, I'm not convinced people like him are against the Religion of Peace at all. Period.

I sadly predicted the Federalist would not debate the points of the Tea Party Patriots' polling research, and Davis' bizarre propaganda screed certainly confirms that, more or less. The Federalist is once again proving they're a blight upon conservatism, and an insult to anybody who's against totalitarianism conquering the world. What if it turns out Davis has no genuine issues with NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani, or even communism? He also ignores very valid reasons why Iran's Islamofascist leaders should be taken down, and is practically undermining efforts to protect the USA in the long run. We can only hope the Federalist's losing audience they don't need over their disgraceful behavior, which again only obscures challenging polls that tell a different story than the ludicrous narrative they sadly want to follow.

Insular Haredi society is becoming a national security crisis

So here's a writer who's talking about how the Haredis, in their own way, are taking attention away from more pressing issues like Islamofascism by imposing their belief systems on other Israelis, as they pave the road to hell with "good intentions":

The Oct. 7 war turned a simmering political dispute into a national crisis.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis answered the call to reserve duty. More than 900 lost their lives. Families endured repeated deployments while businesses struggled without employees, and parents went months without seeing their children.

At precisely the moment when the country needed every able-bodied citizen, thousands of Haredi men continued to avoid military service.

The Israel Defense Forces has repeatedly warned of severe manpower shortages, and Israel’s courts have ordered the government to enforce the draft of Haredim. Successive governments, however, have refused to apply the law. Given the reaction to the 16 arrests this year, it’s hard to imagine any government arresting thousands of Haredi draft dodgers; those arrests triggered violent demonstrations that blocked highways, shut down rail traffic, attacked detention facilities and assaulted police officers, including one whose son was killed in Gaza, and even targeted the home of a Supreme Court justice.

Instead of enforcing existing law, the Netanyahu government has sought legislation that would equate Torah study with military service and limit the arrest of draft evaders. In 2024, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered the Labor Ministry to cut daycare subsidies for the children of ultra-Orthodox yeshivah students who disobey military draft orders.

Netanyahu, however, wants to restore such subsidies. In other words, the government has moved from enforcement to reversal.

Whenever the issue of Haredi draft dodging comes up, I’m reminded of the U.S. military’s practice of shaving recruits’ heads as part of standardization. Imagine if the IDF did that to the Haredim. Instead, the army bends over backward to accommodate the demands of even the more moderate Orthodox soldiers who may refuse to serve in units with women or to be trained by them. The army recently backed down after leaders of Hesder yeshivas (institutions that combine Torah study with military service) threatened to stop sending their students to the Armored Corps over the proposed inclusion of women in tanks alongside men.

The ultra-Orthodox fear that their children will lose their religion in a secular army, though thousands of observant Jews proudly serve in the IDF. Nevertheless, many Israelis would gladly accept some alternative form of national service for those unwilling to join. Even that compromise has largely been rejected by Haredi leadership, which insists that Torah study alone fulfills their national obligation.

While there are valid issues to find here, the only problem is whether the writer's being altruistic. If he's just attacking Netanyahu - but wouldn't attack a left-wing politician who did the same - what good is this critique?

That aside, it's pretty clear at this point the Haredis aren't going to accept even simple national service, based on their increasing belief in segregation from wider society. That's wrong, as was the attack on a supreme court justice while distributing leaflets that looked like Israeli flags with a swastika in the middle. That incident amounted a most anti-semitic act, and as a result, how are the clans who do such a repulsive thing any different from antisemitic movements in non-Jewish societies?

What began as David Ben-Gurion’s original exemption—intended for a few hundred exceptional scholars—has evolved into a blanket exclusion for an entire community. This is no longer simply a question of fairness. It is a question of national survival.

Today, roughly one-quarter of Israelis reaching military age are Haredi. By 2050, that figure could approach 40%. If current exemption rates continue, then the burden on the shrinking pool of secular and national-religious soldiers will become unsustainable. As that burden grows, reservists will serve longer and more frequently, imposing growing costs on families, employers and the economy.

Equally concerning is the economic model that successive governments have enabled. Many Haredi schools provide no instruction in mathematics, English or science, leaving graduates ill-equipped for modern employment. Hence, the employment rate among Haredi men remains dramatically below that of other Jewish Israelis, while many employed Haredi women work in lower-paying or part-time positions. [...]

Ironically, Israel’s Arab citizens increasingly demonstrate the opposite trajectory. While significant socioeconomic gaps remain, Arab participation in higher education, professional occupations and the workforce has steadily increased as more seek to improve their standard of living. The Institute for National Security Studies has noted that whereas much of the Arab sector is moving toward greater economic integration, Haredi leadership largely seeks to preserve the existing system of dependency and exemption.

The Haredi leadership is no longer content merely to preserve its own way of life; it increasingly seeks to extend its religious norms into Israel’s public sphere.

For years, the ultra-Orthodox have imposed their standards at the Western Wall, where restrictions on women’s prayer and the rejection of non-Orthodox religious practices have alienated many Israelis and much of the Diaspora. Their ambitions now extend well beyond holy sites. In Bnei Brak, municipal rabbis recently ordered gender segregation on the sidewalks of two major streets. At the national level, Netanyahu’s coalition has advanced legislation allowing universities and colleges to offer gender-segregated master’s and doctoral programs—a proposal so troubling that Israel’s university presidents and medical school deans publicly warned it would undermine academic freedom and equality.

These are not isolated disputes. They reflect a broader effort to redefine Israel’s public institutions according to ultra-Orthodox religious doctrine.

On the part about Bnei Brak, the municipality did appear to reverse their plans after backlash, but for all we know, they could still enforce them without signposts too. As for the legislation, yes, that's sadly a dumb move, because it's just implying Netanyahu's trying to survive at all costs, rather than make an effort to convince the Haredi public it'd be better to vote for Likud instead. He certainly shouldn't be letting them blackmail anybody on the right.

Since we're on the topic, there's also a troubling item about plans to give the old Bikur Holim hospital building to a Haredi girls' seminar:

The fate of the capital’s oldest Jewish hospital, Bikur Cholim – opened on Straus Street in 1925 after moving from the Old City and closed in 2020 – will determine whether downtown Jerusalem is accessible to all its residents.

So said Havilio, the longtime community activist and politician who, for decades, has represented the voice of the secular, pluralistic, and traditional community in the haredi (ultra-Orthodox)-dominated municipality and is a deputy mayor heading the Ha’ihud Ha’Yerushalmi faction.

The municipality had approved plans to allocate the historic and much more beautiful eastern building for a seminary for 1,000 haredi teenage girls run by the Slonim Hassidic community, triggering an uproar among liberal Jerusalemites. Havilio said the mayor’s plan was illegal, and various opponents threatened a lawsuit.

“This is a historic mistake,” Havilio told In Jerusalem. “At present, the border between haredi residents and institutions and non-haredi ones is on Hanevi’im Street. A haredi seminary would move the border by a few meters south to Jaffa Road. The city center will then not be allowed to have places of entertainment, cafés, or stores that could remain open on Shabbat or any liberal projects.

I think it is wrong to turn what could make an important museum into something isolated, Now, here's yet another, more troubling piece that certainly confirms what the first one's allegedly concerned about:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemns “horrific” comments made by Rabbi Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Degel Hatorah political faction, who said yesterday that religious soldiers were committing murder by serving in the army.

Lando denounced those in the religious Zionist community who serve in the army, at a meeting with heads of the Mir Yeshiva, at his home in Bnei Brak: “I am speaking about those with knitted kippas that are required to go.”

“If the state sends people, soldiers, for the honor of the state, and they kill people, is that also permissible? It’s very much murder. So they incite murder. They wage wars not only for the sake of salvation, but for the honor of the state,” he said.

In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu condemns the comments.

“IDF soldiers, secular and Haredi, leave their homes, their work and their families, and risk their lives in order to protect the State of Israel, its citizens and all of the nation of Israel,” Netanyahu says.

“They deserve deep appreciation, gratitude, and full support from all segments of the public, and certainly from the world of Torah,” the statement reads.

One could reasonably wonder if Lando sympathizes with Islamic jihadists. His words certainly tell exactly what the Hamas would want to hear, and Lando's effectively desecrated the memory of millions of victims of barbarism in all forms. Based on this, how can such Haredi clans claim they're not antisemitic/self-haters? In this report, it notes that:

Rabbi Lando accused Religious Zionist figures who support IDF enlistment of encouraging “actual murder," claiming that soldiers are sent to fight “not only for the sake of saving lives, but also for the honor of the state."

Here, it sounds like he's saying it's inherently wrong to save innocent lives, and acting as though honor for the state is also wrong. And then we wonder how else October 7, 2023 occurred, in addition to irresponsible military officials. Lando's lack of moral compass is another reason why the tragedy occurred. He shouldn't be recognized as a rabbi at all. He's nothing but a shoddy fraud in a black suit and hat who's more addicted to the socialist ideology than serious liberty and freedom. People like him are exactly what's taking us back to the dark ages.

So as far as national security crises go, Lando's definitely providing examples of why we need to be on the lookout for 5th column inciters who're as bad as their more leftist counterparts.

JD Vance shows his true colors on Joe Rogan's podcasts

The USA vice president is proving to be the one of the worst omens for Israel, and making matters worse is that he aired horrific viewpoints on the podcast of a man who already gave indications he was hostile to Israel too:

U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested on Wednesday that some elements within the Israeli government backed an influence campaign aimed at undermining the Trump administration’s negotiations with Iran, while emphasizing that Israel remains a U.S. ally.

Speaking on Joe Rogan’s podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Vance said, “I think you have seen this very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign to try to derail the negotiation and try to derail the deal.”

“There was a Times story that came out yesterday that basically there are certain influencers in America who are being paid in order to attack the deal,” Vance said. “It lists a bunch of people who have quite literally been paid by a former Trump campaign person who was himself paid by certain elements within the Israeli government.”

He said he has been accused of taking “marching orders from Tucker Carlson” and that “there’s just so much bullsh** out there when what I’m actually trying to do is accomplish what the president of the United States told me to accomplish.”

The vice president said he had no objection to Israel attempting to influence U.S. policy, calling such efforts a routine part of international diplomacy.

“A lot of other countries do,” Vance said. “I think some are better at it than others. I think the Israelis are definitely more effective at it than most. But I wouldn’t say that they’re the only effective country by any means that tries to influence American politics.”

“I mean, why wouldn’t you?” he said. “It’s a country of 9 million people. We have 330 million people. And so, of course, they’re going to try to persuade Americans. They’re going to try to move Americans in one direction or another. I think that’s just the nature of the beast.”

I think the use of the word "beast" is disturbing, and no matter what he says about not objecting to Israel trying to influence USA policy, it's clear he is disturbingly biased. Ruthie Blum addressed the news like this:

As much as I dislike citing Maya Angelou—and absolutely loathe using a single plural pronoun to describe a single noun—one of the late activist-poet’s famous quotes is so spot on that it bears repeating: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

This certainly applies to U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who illustrated it most recently on “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

Yes, during a nearly three-hour chat with the most-streamed podcaster on Spotify, Vance yet again showed us just who he is.

Not that it was tough to do with a host like Rogan, who didn’t challenge a word his interviewee said. Oh, other than asking him what “MoU” stands for and expressing surprise that “dove” in the political context is the opposite of “hawk.”

Where blaming the Jews and Israel for the doomed memorandum of understanding with the Islamic Republic was concerned, there was no pushback. On the contrary, Rogan goaded Vance to keep going down his embarrassing rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.

These included the groyper line about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s deep ties to the Mossad or the CIA. It was as though anti-Israel political commentators and podcasters Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens prepped the VP for the one-on-one. They undoubtedly were pleased with his performance.

Take the following passage, for instance:

“I definitely think you have seen this very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign to try to derail the negotiation and derail the deal,” he said, referring to the MoU with the Islamic Republic that his boss, U.S. President Donald Trump, had declared dead in the water mere days earlier.

Nonetheless, Vance continued in this vein, totally omitting two facts: that Tehran has been blitzing the Gulf (his only mention of the countries in that region is to say that they’re gung-ho for the MoU); and that Israel has been totally out of the fray for many weeks.

Well he certainly isn't helping to end the Iran war sooner than it could be done. Stuff like this also puts his sincerity regarding Europe into doubt. What if it turned out he had some responsibility for getting former Hungarian premiere Viktor Orban voted out? It remains to be seen if Vance will apologize for causing all the trouble he's going to cause with his conspiracy theory tactics, which aren't helping the situation one bit. Just plain embarrassing.

Update: here's what Fox News' Brian Kilmeade has to say about the subject.

USA administration cannot abandon the Iranian people who're oppressed

Jamie Fly and Katie LaRoque at Freedom House make a vital point why it's wrong for the USA administration to take any steps that would enable a sadistic dictatorship to remain in place and continue subjecting its citizens to horror stories:

In early 2026, when Iranian surgeon Alireza Golchini saw protesters with gunshot and stab wounds from the regime, he did what doctors are trained to do: he treated them. For that, Iranian authorities arrested him, charged him with “waging war against God,” and threatened him with a sentence that can carry the death penalty. His alleged crime was not violence or espionage; it was providing medical care to wounded Iranians.

His story is a reminder of a simple reality: the Islamic Republic is one of the world’s most repressive regimes. Just recently, a woman was sentenced to 74 lashes for singing in a YouTube video without a hijab, and a 17-year-old swimmer and boxer was sentenced to death for participating in a protest. The regime just executed another dissident, bringing the total number of political executions in 2026 to at least 45.

[...] For the Iranian people, however, the US-Iran deal as currently formulated is likely to deepen repression. It will strengthen the authorities that only months ago were imprisoning, executing, and killing Iranians in the streets for demanding basic freedoms and improved living conditions.

Late in 2025 and early 2026, millions of Iranians took to the streets in the most significant challenge the Islamic Republic has faced in decades. Authorities answered with a crackdown that left thousands dead and tens of thousands arrested. The regime also imposed a near-total internet shutdown that lasted for months, cutting Iranians off from one another and from a world that might otherwise have witnessed the scale of the violence. Yet reports indicate that a final agreement could bring this same regime sweeping sanctions relief, access to frozen assets, and billions of dollars in new investment. For Iranians who risked their lives demanding change, the likely outcome is not a more moderate government, but a more entrenched and repressive one.

[...] At a minimum, the United States should make any relief conditional on five things: the release of Iran’s political prisoners, an end to the executions handed down in protest cases, a binding guarantee against another nationwide internet shutdown, and the return of the Americans now imprisoned in Iran or barred from leaving—six by the assessment of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. Tehran should also be required to come clean about the fate of kidnapped former FBI Agent Bob Levinson and help his family recover his remains. These are among the clearest and most immediate signs of whether Iranian authorities are prepared to act in good faith.

See, these are vital reasons to topple a savage dictatorship, along with exiling monsters from what you would think civilized countries. I notice that Federalist editor John Daniel Davidson, who previously took disturbing positions that put his supposed understandings of reality under question marks, is now seemingly making valid points about the state of Europe while discussing SCOTUS' defeatist positions on birthright citizenship in the USA:

In countries like France and Britain, which have large numbers of Muslim migrants, this means multigenerational communities of non-citizens with a totally different cultural and political worldview — one that’s openly hostile to the host country. They will eventually, as they are beginning to do now, carve out their own insular polities within the nation, Balkanizing the country and destroying the possibility of republican self-government or even the possibility of national survival. An Islamified Britain will no longer be Britain, but something else.

Obviously, this can't go unopposed, but then, why did Dumberson oppose the war against Iran? Considering their Islamic tyrants were financing jihadism overseas, they could also be financing infiltration into the USA through illegal immigration, and does that sit well with Dumberson? Does it sit well with him that an innocent and defenseless woman could already have been tortured over an Orwellian Thoughtcrime? If he's not willing to approve of taking serious action against sadists in Islamofascist countries like Iran, then this current editorial of his rings totally hollow. That's why what he's saying now should be approached with caution, because it's not enough to defend just your home country, and to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the plight of innocent foreigners in distress is offensive, morally or otherwise.

If the Trump administration continues to allow the Islamofascist dictatorship in Iran to continue governing, it's always possible that could ruin election chances in mid-term. And if that's what happens, it'll make clear that when serious action isn't put to use, no matter the turnout, you cannot be surprised if the public will ultimately be disillusioned with the notion certain movements like conservatives really support responsibility, and applying equal standards everywhere. Also note how the Daily Caller is writing reports that're potentially hostile to Israel, which seem to be lamenting that Israel's military wanted to terminate "negotiators" from Iran, and you know something's wrong. If those very "negotiators" harbor Islamofascist beliefs themselves and are loyal to the dictatorship, why are they considered valuable? There are no doubt movements in the country that can be considered far better candidates for replacing the tyrants, and refusing to consider them only worsens the situation.

Socialism continues to have a terrible effect in New York, this time under Zohran Mamdani

3 Democrat candidates for Congress in NYC who were endorsed by their first Muslim mayor, Mamdani, won primaries, including at the expense of an incumbent who's reportedly pro-Israel:

Zohran Mamdani’s growing influence over the Democratic party was on show in New York City on Tuesday as three congressional candidates endorsed by New York’s democratic socialist mayor won closely watched primaries, while voters in Maryland, Utah and South Carolina cast ballots in primaries and runoffs.

Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller who also ran for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani, won his race comfortably, defeating the Democratic representative Dan Goldman.

Another Mamdani ally, Claire Valdez, a state lawmaker and former union organizer, defeated Antonio Reynoso, the preferred successor of retiring Democratic Representative Nydia Velázquez in New York’s seventh district, encompassing parts of Brooklyn and Queens. And in a stunning upset, the public defense investigator Darializa Avila Chevalier toppled Representative Adriano Espaillat, the powerful five-term incumbent who chairs the Congressional Hispanic caucus, in the state’s diverse 13th congressional district, which covers Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.

What makes this additionally disturbing is that Goldman was attacked in a social media post by Poetica Coffee, which is reportedly owned by Uzbek managers, for his pro-Israel positions. The DOJ opened an investigation into this incident, but sadly, the damage is done in more ways than one, given that Mamdani saw success with his repellent endorsements.

It would definitely seem much of NYC's residents are now revoltingly in favor of both socialism, and Islamism, if what Mamdani oversaw says anything. This is another terrible defeat for 911 Families, and also pro-Israel advocates.

Even naturalized citizens have to be exiled if they commit offensive crimes

The USA Senate is looking for ways to deport naturalized citizens who commit severe offenses:

There are few remedies for removing foreign nationals who committed violent crimes, joined terrorist groups, or engaged in large-scale fraud after they became American citizens, lawmakers noted at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

Ken Cuccinelli, a former acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, pointed to two key cases that he said show the current law isn’t working, in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution.

In March of this year, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone, opened fire in a classroom at Old Dominion University, where he killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, an ROTC leader. In 2017, Jalloh pleaded guilty to providing material support to the Islamic State. He was reportedly sentenced to 11 years in prison but released early after completing a drug treatment program.

“Despite his terrorism conviction, Jalloh was never denaturalized and deported. Under current law, terrorism is prima facie evidence of fraudulent procurement only within five years of naturalization,” Cuccinelli said. “Because Jalloh’s conduct fell outside that window, the government had no clear path to remove him. A brave American soldier died because of that gap.”

Cuccinelli brought up another example: Mirsad Ramic, a Bosnian national who became a naturalized citizen and lived in Kentucky before he was convicted last year of providing material support to the Islamic State terrorist group.

“We must act on multiple fronts, strengthen the front end, so adjudicators conduct meaningful inquiries, and every applicant is thoroughly tested for hostility to American principles,” Cuccinelli said.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., the subcommittee chairman, sponsored the SCAM Act, short for “Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation.” In other cases, he noted, naturalized citizens joined the Islamic State terrorist group or al-Qaeda or joined a drug trafficking cartel.

“If a man takes the oath of allegiance and then joins ISIS, the fraud likely began long before the battlefield,” Schmitt said Wednesday. “If the man swears attachment to the Constitution, then spies for a foreign country, the betrayal likely began before the indictment. If a man claims good, moral character and then steals millions from the American people, the lie may have been present at naturalization.”

He said his bill would make it easier to denaturalize and remove immigrants who naturalized in the country and then committed a felony.

“We need a serious nationwide denaturalization effort against fraudsters, felons, terrorists, spies, and anyone who obtained American citizenship by deceit,” Schmitt said. “If the government never revokes citizenship obtained by fraud, the oath becomes theater. The application becomes a game.”

In simpler terms, one could say what's called for here is a clear law making it easier to exile foreign nationals who commit severe offenses, and it's something tons of countries that want to remain civilized are in dire need of. We have to hope the GOP will make a serious effort to pass such bills through if they want to make the USA safer again for starters. Then, Europe will definitely need it next.

John Daniel Davidson is wrong to use Spain's 15th century expulsion of Jews as an analogy

Well, it looks like Federalist editor Davidson's crossed the line big time, and demonstrated why his news site has to be taken with a serious grain of salt. Case in point: he's taking issue with SCOTUS justice Neil Gorsuch in relation to topics like immigration, and along the way, he employs a horrific analogy with Jews as a subject:

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has done a series of interviews this week to promote his new children’s book about the Declaration of Independence and very clearly has a set of talking points, including a familiar liberal trope that’s no less false and incoherent for being familiar. America, says Gorsuch, is a “creedal nation,” essentially a set of ideas that anyone can subscribe to and become an American. What’s more, Gorsuch claims America was founded as a creedal nation — a creed that enshrines the three ideals of equality, inalienable rights, and the right of self-government.

“What unites us is not a religion, it’s not a race, it’s a belief in those three ideals,” Gorsuch told NRO in a recent podcast. To Nick Gillespie of Reason he said, “Our nation is not founded on a religion. It’s not based on a common culture even, or heritage. It’s based on those ideas. We’re a creedal nation.”

For conservative-minded Americans of a certain age, repeating this mantra that we’re a creedal nation, not a blood-and-soil nation like bad old Europe, has become something of a reflex — a defensive posture meant to deflect charges of racism and xenophobia from the left.

But it’s obviously false. One way you can tell it’s false is that no one who espouses this America-as-creed idea would ever follow through on its implications. If we were really a creedal nation, and in order to be fully American you had to believe and live by a certain civic creed derived from the Declaration and the Constitution, enshrining those three ideals Gorsuch mentions, then millions of our fellow citizens today would not be considered true Americans — to say nothing of the millions of recent immigrants who have never even heard of the ideals supposedly at the heart of our creed.

If we’re a creedal nation, such people cannot be our countrymen. If we were serious about our creed, we would denaturalize and deport them. We would expel heretics and unbelievers as readily as King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled all unconverted Jews from their kingdoms in 1492. That’s what creedal nations do.

Wow. If he'd made a case why Moslems need to integrate and assimilate or leave, that would've been impressive. Instead, Dumberson - as perhaps his nickname should be - chose to fall back on classic antisemitic allegories, and fail to make any distinctions between good and bad religions, if anything. If he doesn't think the USA should be founded solely on Judaism, that's one thing. But to say it was literally justified for Spain's monarchy to expel the community that founded the religion in remote times goes way too far, and I couldn't find anything about Islam in the "op-ed" Dumberson wrote. Suggesting that perhaps he really is that kind of a coward that he can't bring himself to research and point out anything disturbing about the koran's contents, and then, he even has the gall to say:

It’s telling that those most likely to invoke this notion of a creedal nation are the least likely to support something like mass deportation and denaturalization. They will declare that we’re a creedal nation but recoil if you suggest we should act like one. That’s because they either don’t understand what they’re arguing or don’t really believe it, and instead believe America isn’t a nation at all but an economic opportunity zone where anyone from anywhere can, with enough determination and skill, strike it rich.

Alas, based on what he previously told, that's why Dumberson's argument here falls flat, because he doesn't seem to either, and let's not forget his unwillingness to support a ground raid in Iran. And if he won't take an objective view of Islam, then it's hard to buy he's a devout Christian any more than the very pope he chose to whitewash. Does Dumberson also believe Jews/Israelis only came to the USA to "strike it rich"? That sounds eerily reminiscent of socialist cliches.

Amazingly, unlike Dumberson, another Federalist writer, Chris Bray, did show the courage to bring up the issue of Islamofascism while discussing Britain's election where Nigel Farage made significant gains. But it doesn't excuse the harm Dumberson's causing with his loathsome lectures, and if their staff is smart, they'll do what they can to give him the pink slip. He's as awful as Tucker Carlson, and clearly comes from almost the same school of thought.

2 failed premiers who precipitated October 7, 2023 join forces again

Daniel Greenfield addresses the reteaming of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, who both have some responsibilities to shoulder for bringing about October 7, 2023, which most local leftist press outlets won't clearly admit:

The Israeli Left, which controls the media, judiciary and the cultural opinion shapers in that country, obsessively hates Netanyahu, not because of anything the generally mild-mannered and moderate prime minister has actually done (limited market reforms, refusing to make completely excessive commitments when pursuing dead end negotiations with terrorists) but because he symbolizes their inability to take and retain power.

That’s something the Left did to itself by successively alienating every immigrant group, Holocaust survivors, Middle Eastern Jewish refugees, Russian Jews, with their arrogant abuses.

The Israeli Left is unable to win elections outright and Clinton and Epstein pal Ehud Barak remains the last remnant of a time when the Left could win an election (with a lot of help from Bill Clinton.)

Israelis (outside Tel Aviv and a few of the ritzy suburbs) hate the Left so much that it can only hope to win through a coalition of new fake ‘third way’ parties, along with the usual Muslim Brotherhood parties.

The fake ‘third way’ parties usually involve a retired celebrity general, in this case Yashar with Gadi Eisenkot, who stand for absolutely nothing except making the most of their 15 minutes, and some fake reformist third party promising to use ‘common sense’ to fix things which actually carrying out the left’s program.

In this case, it’s a comeback coalition for political losers Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett. Lapid was a vapid nepo baby celebrity TV show host and Bennett, formerly the post-Netanyahu hope on the right, sold out to careerism so badly that he previously allied with Lapid in an alternating prime ministership that turned over gas fields to Hezbollah and allowed Hamas terrorists disguised as ‘workers’ to roam Israel.

The duo get much of the actual credit for Oct 7 though the media would never dare suggest such a thing since Bennett and Lapid are the only real hope of the Left reclaiming power.

Bennett has shed his ‘right wing’ credentials and is now running as a Silicon Valley style technocrat.

Which was actually rather obvious for years now. Worst, what if the twosome actually do end up winning the election? If they do, it'll be awful.

2 apologists for the Religion of Peace will be attending a 911 memorial service

Two most disgraceful politicians, Zohran Mamdani and the UK's King Charles, will be attending a 911 memorial service where neither one belongs:

King Charles III is expected to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in Manhattan next week, where New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is also anticipated to be among the officials present, according to Politico.

The event is scheduled for Wednesday, April 29 in downtown Manhattan during the king’s visit to the United States, Politico reported, citing two sources familiar with the plans. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, and other New York government officials are also expected to attend.

“The mayor will not meet privately with King Charles,” said Joe Calvello, a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “He was invited to join a number of New York elected officials next week at a wreath laying at the 9/11 memorial with members of the British royal family.” [...]

Mamdani’s expected presence at the ceremony follows prior criticism of his remarks and associations connected to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In October 2025, Mamdani posted photos of himself with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, whom the New York Post identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Mamdani described Wahhaj as “one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community.” Wahhajhas denied being a terrorist. The photo prompted backlash from Republican lawmakers and public figures, including Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Ted Cruz, among others.

Michael Barasch, a leading 9/11 attorney whose firm represents more than 45,000 clients, told Breitbart News in October that survivors, first responders, and victims’ families were “disgusted and outraged” by Mamdani’s decision to campaign with Wahhaj. Barasch said the episode was “an insult to every 9/11 survivor and family member” and warned, “We can’t let Mamdani into City Hall.”

Tragically, much of the electorate in NYC did, and even reelected district attorney Alvin Bragg by a comfortable margin. Atrocities like that are why I don't feel like ever visiting the Big Apple ever again.

That same month, Breitbart News columnist John Nolte wrote that Zohran Mamdani “lied” after declaring in a public statement, “I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab,” while arguing that “Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement.”

Nolte explained that Mamdani has only one aunt, Masuma Mamdani, who “does not wear a hijab and who did not live in New York or even America during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,” and noted reporting that she “lived in Tanzania” at the time.

This is one more reason why Mamdani's coming attendance at a 911 memorial service is a disgrace. A vital question remaining is, do the 911 Families approve of this? If not, they should publicly object, and if any are attending this service as well, they should make clear what they think of Mamdani, along with anybody who had the gall to elect him as NYC's first Muslim mayor.

King Charles' attendance is also galling, based on his dhimmitude back home. This year, it looks like he didn't even give an Easter sermon at all, instead delivering a message for Ramadan. That's why his planned presence at the memorial is uncalled for. Even Bloomberg doesn't belong, because he did little to nothing to stop NYC from getting to where it is now. No self-respecting 911 survivor/family member attending the memorial should shake the hands of any of these figures who've done more harm than good after 911.

Defeating Hezbollah is a main objective in Lebanon

Israel's defense minister made the point now, though there's a certain point of contention to be found here:

Defense Minister Israel Katz says Israel remains committed to disarming Hezbollah “through military and political means.”

“Israel’s policy in Lebanon has been and remains clear: the top objective is the disarmament of Hezbollah through military and political means, regardless of the Iran issue,” Katz says following an assessment with military officials.

Katz says the IDF is completing its ground offensive in southern Lebanon up to the line from which Hezbollah can launch anti-tank missiles at Israeli communities.

Well I do hope they realize that allowing the Hezbollah to remain even in northern Lebanon is unacceptable, since it would give them a chance to rebuild one day, with or without Iran's backing. Something that might be called "hudna" in Islamic doctrine. And it's high time that something were done to ensure Lebanon can one day return to having a non-Muslim majority and/or government run the country again, which would make the region safer.

The raid on Iran was necessary to prevent a nuclear version of 9-11

Bob Kiffney, a former intel specialist, makes an important case for why the USA/Israel needed to attack Iran and stop its nuclear building:

On Sept. 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered in the deadliest terrorist attack in our nation’s history. The World Trade Center towers collapsed in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon was breached, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, became a graveyard for heroes who prevented even greater loss. The economic toll exceeded $100 billion. The psychological wound reshaped American life for a generation.

Now imagine those same three targets struck not by hijacked airliners but by nuclear devices.

Many hundreds of thousands—potentially upward of 800,000 in Manhattan alone—would die instantly in fireballs and blast waves. Hundreds of thousands more would suffer horrific burns and radiation poisoning. Firestorms would rage across dense urban cores. The financial heart of the free world would be paralyzed, the seat of American government devastated, and fallout would render swaths of our most populous regions uninhabitable for years. Trillions in economic damage, mass evacuations, overwhelmed hospitals, and a body count dwarfing 9/11 by orders of magnitude would follow.

That is not science fiction. That was the imminent risk a nuclear-armed Iran posed until the United States and Israel launched decisive military action on Feb. 28.

The ongoing war against the Islamic Republic is not the beginning of a conflict. It is the necessary end to one that has raged for 47 years.

He's absolutely correct. Have any of the RINOs opposing war against Iran's autocracy ever considered that? Let's be clear. If ground invasions are needed to put an end to any further horrors in the making, that's what must be done, and it's to be hoped the USA public understands that at this point, and will back the Trump administration on any decision they make in that context.

All these horrors could've been prevented long ago if anybody who actually cared had shown the courage to do so. Yet all these years, in one of the worst examples of history showing we don't learn lessons from the past, the cancer was allowed to metastisize, and regardless of the current situation and outcome, a horrific mess was left that will take ages to clean up. It's very fortunate the USA and Israeli militaries took up what missions they have so far, because sooner or later, wars to stop evil entities are entirely inevitable.

Update: Clifford May has an important related op-ed here.

Zohran Mamdani's wife is just as bad as he is

It's been reported that the wife of New York City's first Muslim mayor was involved in anti-Israeli activities, among other things just as repugnant as what he upholds:

Despite New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s repeated attempts to shield his wife from public scrutiny by labeling her a “private person,” a series of bombshell revelations has exposed first lady Rama Duwaji as being involved in a radical Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) campaign.

Duwaji, a professional illustrator, is under fire for providing the creative backdrop for the DSA’s “Palestine on the Ballot” initiative — a project that used Duwaji’s animations to mobilize voters against candidates backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and promote legislation targeting Jewish charities.

The campaign also highlighted the “Not on Our Dime Act,” a controversial bill originally sponsored by Mamdani during his time in the New York State Assembly, which would target certain nonprofits accused of supporting Israeli settlements.

Critics argue Duwaji’s “behind-the-scenes” role is a facade.

“Does anybody believe she’s a private citizen?” asked Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism. Hikind characterized the first lady as even more radical than the mayor, calling the couple “two peas in a pod” united by “vile hatred” for Israel.

The DSA collaboration is only the latest in a mounting pile of evidence regarding Duwaji’s radical leanings. Reports have surfaced showing that she used her social media accounts to endorse extreme, anti-Semitic rhetoric, including content that framed terrorist violence in supportive terms.

Duwaji reportedly “liked” Instagram posts on the day of the Hamas massacre that featured live-streamed footage of terrorists breaching the Gaza border and commandeering Israel Defense Forces vehicles. One post she approved of hailed the attack as “breaking the walls of apartheid.”

More recently, Duwaji liked a post that dismissed the documented mass rapes of Israeli women during the October 7 attacks as a “mass hoax” fabricated by the media.

Duwaji has also been credited with providing lead graphics for an essay by Susan Abulhawa, an activist who has described Jewish people as “vampires,” “demons,” and “rootless ghouls.”

The revelation of Duwaji’s involvement with the DSA belies Mayor Mamdani’s efforts to present a more moderate front. While Mamdani’s office issued a standard statement condemning Hamas as a terrorist organization, his wife’s digital trail suggests a much darker affinity for the “resistance” that her husband publicly critiques.

No doubt, she tries to do a lot of the stuff he might hold his cards closer to his chest about. Of course, when Mamdani himself talks about "globalizing the intifada", that's very telling too. Just another example of how NYC's become hopeless these days.

Trump declines Kurdish offer to participate in Iran war

President Trump told that he didn't want Kurdish militias to take part in the Iran war:

US President Donald Trump on Saturday rejected the idea of the Kurds joining the war against Iran.

Speaking on Air Force One, he said, "We're not looking at the Kurds going into Iran. We're very friendly with the Kurds. We don't want to make the war anymore complex."

"I have ruled it out - I don't want the Kurds going in. They're willing to go in, but I told them not to."

Well there's a valid reason why it's better they don't take part in this war - many Kurds adhere to Islam, and it just wouldn't do to fight a regime already badly battered by the Religion of Peace using other adherents, even as backups, because we can't risk having them plot a takeover that would leave the region unchanged. After all, it's bad enough that the USA government had to recognize Ahmed al-Sharaa as the head of Syria after Bashar Assad was overthrown, and now things are getting worse, and it's unhealthy for Israel too. So for now, the Kurds in the Iranian area may not take part. But somebody has to convince Trump and company it's also bad to recognize al-Sharaa and his cronies as well. After all, what if such a region also tries to follow in Iran's footsteps to building nuclear weapons one day? What may have begun with Iran doesn't stop with them.

Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens are joined in their shoddiness by another veteran commentator

Robert Spencer talks about whether the USA military's attack on Iran led by Donald Trump will avail the Iranian people, and discusses the now classic rotten apples on the right who're just as bad as leftists. And along the way, a most eyebrow raising example comes up:

This is what most irritated Trump’s critics on both the left and the right: the fact that America was intervening at all. Both leftists and the new, antisemitic, isolationist “woke right” that sees Israel behind every U.S. foreign policy move have insisted that any U.S. intervention in Iran will turn out to be prolonged, disastrous, and unsuccessful just as the misguided and botched interventions into Iraq and Afghanistan were.

The former conservative wunderkind and gadfly Milo Yiannopoulos, now reduced to a pathetic Jew-hating attention-seeker, wrote: “O Allah, preserve Ayatollah Khamenei – O Allah, indeed we place You in their throats, and we seek refuge in You from their evils.” He was just looking for clicks and notoriety, but he unwittingly encapsulated the “woke right” ethos: if a military action is undertaken in cooperation with Israel, it must be evil in itself, and opposed to the extent of allying oneself with the regime that screams “Death to America” and has been on a war footing against the United States since 1979. Milo is just a more flamboyant and outlandish version of Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes, who are plenty outlandish as it is.

Well. This is definitely telling. I recall Yiannapoulos seemed to be trying to downplay the idea that murdering prostitutes in a video game was somehow a petty issue simply because it was all part of a mere computer program. But he ran the risk of normalizing violence in real life by minimizing it in a video game, and it's definitely not a laughing matter. As a result, Yiannapoulos made himself look as bad as that disgusting "feminist" named Anita Sarkeesian from Canada.

And now he's acting as some kind of apologist for Iran's Islamofascists?!? Groan. Just what we need, another bizarre grovelor from the fringes of the right. It's absolutely terrible. I'm not sorry he's been largely rejected based on disturbing statements he made about sexual abuse, though I suspect most leftists wouldn't care what he says at this point, save for trying to make the right look worse in every way than the left. How do creeps like Yiannapoulos manage to win favor of certain crowds before being unmasked as the frauds they are? Just plain aggravating as it's repulsive.

The Muslim Brotherhood has an agent in the Ohio assembly

Benjamin Baird reminds everybody that the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Trump administration's identified as a terrorist organization, has agents in USA politics, with one disturbing example being a Democrat representative of Columbus, Ohio:

In a highly anticipated move, the Trump administration designated factions of the global Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations last month, an executive action with profound implications extending beyond the Middle East to America’s heartland. Astonishingly, a Somali-American legislator from Ohio, State Rep. Munira Abdullahi, D-Columbus, continues to serve as a national leader for the Muslim American Society (MAS), a registered nonprofit that federal prosecutors have identified as the “overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.”

Abdullahi’s involvement with MAS dates back to at least 2012, when she served as a youth director in Columbus and later as a national program director. The organization’s youth programs have been marred by scandals nationwide, including an incident in Philadelphia where children were taught songs about beheading Israeli Jews, and a fundraiser selling merchandise glorifying Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists. Upon her election to public office in 2022, Abdullahi appeared to distance herself from MAS, updating her LinkedIn profile to indicate she no longer worked for the group.

However, her ties persisted and deepened. Now heading MAS-Columbus and part of the organization’s national leadership, she leverages her elected status to host events featuring ultra-conservative preachers and pro-Hamas activists. Though MAS officially claims independence from the broader Sunni Islamist movement, a 2004 Chicago Tribune investigation exposed how its early leaders decided to conceal their Muslim Brotherhood affiliations while aiming to “convert Americans to Islam and elect like-minded Muslims to political office.”

Campaign finance records underscore this connection: in 2022, Abdullahi received a $1,000 contribution from an MAS colleague and later donated $2,400 from her campaign to MAS-Columbus.

I'd written about this Abdullahi myself in the past 4 years, and it's clear she doesn't belong in politics anywhere. It remains to be seen if the Trump administration will take any action against her and other such interlopers who don't belong in the USA or any other civilized country.

An upcoming Congressional hearing on banning sharia in the USA

Janet Levy talks about an upcoming panel in Congress on banning Islamic sharia in the USA:

Whenever patriots rise to defend America from radical Islam, liberals dismiss them as alarmist or Islamophobic. Therefore, criticism is likely to increase after the February 10th Sharia Free America hearings of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government. But not only is the threat real, it also grows stronger from apologists who insist that Islam is a religion of peace, even though Islamist groups openly swear by its medieval tenets of world conquest.

Fortunately, many House Republicans are standing against this growing threat. In less than a month, 26 representatives from 17 states have joined the Sharia-Free America Caucus, led by Representatives Keith Self (R-TX-3) and Chip Roy (R-TX-21). Their goal is to protect the Constitution and defend individual freedoms and the American way of life by passing laws to prevent sharia from invading our civic life and courts.

Read more. This is something that must also be taken to Europe, Africa, Asia and even Latin America, because who knows how much horrific influence of the Religion of Peace can be found in any part there? The time's come to deal with this properly, and the House hearings are just the beginning of what's needed.

NYC high school promotes hijabs to female students

In another horrific example of the effect Zohran Mamdani's election as first Muslim mayor of NYC has had, a local high school promoted "world hijab day" to female students:

A New York high school encouraged non-Muslim girls to try wearing hijabs to “dispel misconceptions.” But the event seems rather aimed to reinforce misconceptions, since it is obvious the girls were not informed about the violent misogyny inherent in and praised by Islam.

Domestic abuse, rape, bigamy, sex slavery, child brides, and honor killings are all allowed or endorsed by Islamic "sacred" texts, and the most minimal honest study of Islam makes it painfully obvious that females are always considered inferior and subject to men. For all these reasons, Islam is not compatible with the Judeo-Christian Western ethic. Yet Western leftists continue to lie to young people about Islam, particularly young women. [...]

Because Islam teaches that men are superior to women, it encourages men to "discipline" women as parents used to do to children. This includes explicit domestic abuse. Quran 4:34, for instance, reads, "Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them." In the hadith Sahih Muslim 2127, Aisha — the girl the 50-year-old Muhammad married when she was six — mentions how Muhammad struck her and called it just.

In the Ten Commandments of the Torah/Bible, it says "thou shalt not God's name in vain", yet that's tragically what the Religion of Peace has done for centuries now, and with people like Mamdani in charge, this propaganda is clearly just beginning, all at the expense of the fairer sex.

UN could be on the verge of bankruptcy

It looks like the awful UN is short on cash:

The United Nations is going broke and needs member nations to stump up cash. Lots of it. That is the plea from Secretary-General António Guterres who fears the globalist body is at risk of “imminent financial collapse” due to member states not paying their fees.

The former leader of the Portuguese Socialist Party said Friday the U.N. faces a financial crisis which was “deepening, threatening programme delivery” and money could run out as soon as July leaving the unaccountable globalist cabal destitute.

Such is the financial drama unfolding at U.N. headquarters in Geneva, signs warning of the situation have reportedly been put up everywhere. In an almost desperate attempt to save cash, the escalators are regularly turned off and the heating turned down, the BBC reports.

Guterres sent a missive to all 193 member states outlining his fears and pleading they had to honor their mandatory payments or overhaul the organisation’s financial rules to avoid collapse.

It comes after the U.N.’s largest contributor, the U.S., refused to contribute to its regular and peacekeeping budgets and withdrew from several agencies it called a “waste of taxpayer dollars.”

Let's hope this'll eventually spell the UN's closure, because they were practically ill-conceived from the start, and the USA should not have to pay any tax dollars to finance it. Interesting that Guterres is a socialist, because that ideology's caused only so much damage, just like Islam has, and the UN's undoubtably been serving as an indoctrination arm for promoting socialism as well. One more reason we don't need the UN continuing to cause trouble the world over anymore.

New documentary in the works about Zohran Mamdani that's bound to be sugarcoated

It appears the leftists in Hollywood decided to give NYC's first Muslim mayor more backing for the sake of it, by producing a documentary all about him that's bound to be mega-biased as can be:

A new documentary will chronicle openly socialist Zohran Mamdani’s rise to become Mayor of New York City, a journey that began in 2023.

The documentary will be directed Julia Bacha, who also serves as the creative director of the non-profit Just Vision, which reportedly tells stories that shine “a spotlight on the Israel-Palestine conflict,” per TheWrap.

“It was her interest in Israel and Palestine that led Bacha to Mamdani three years ago,” noted the outlet. “The Brazil-born filmmaker heard in 2023 about a group of New York activists who were calling for charities to stop using tax-deductible donations to fund Israeli settlements.”

Bacha said the documentary began as a focus on whether Mamdani and his team of pro-Palestinian lawmakers will be able to hold their assembly seats through New York’s next election cycle, but it instead morphed into him climbing to become mayor. She reportedly captured over 200 hours of footage chronicling this rise and was especially captivated by the influence of his filmmaker mother, Mira Nair.

For now, this is certainly telling enough. Another disturbing thing about Mamdani was his being "sworn in" to position as mayor on a koran instead of a bible. That says all you need to know what's going wrong in the USA, much as in Europe. This looks to be yet another documentary that gives the whole concept a bad name.

Communists in NYC accompany the increasing Muslim street prayer

From Christine Williams at Front Page, we see NYC seems to be quite a haven for communists:

🚨 JUST IN: Communist-funded paid protestors and WHITE LIBERALS are ALL OVER New York City right now, they are demanding Nicolas Maduro be freed and returned

EVERY SINGLE ONE is a traitor to America.

Sponsored by Communist funders. DEPORT THEM!pic.twitter.com/xJ2dd1nR7C

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 4, 2026

No doubt, these traitors will be protesting in front of the federal court where Nicolas Maduro will face trial soon enough. A vital query in all this mess is, who's funding these neo-communists? And lest we forget, Times Square appears to have become a leading prayer area for Muslims in NYC:

Times Square is fully BLOCKED by Muslims praying.

I can't believe this is New York.

pic.twitter.com/hDJQPllgox

— Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) January 3, 2026

Unfortunately, I can believe it is. With the worst part being how NY state has clearly become a leftist bastion over the years, one of the main reasons it's at such a dismal level now. And it's sickening to wonder what any leftists in NY today think of the victims of September 11, 2001.