Gov. Kathy Hochul slammed the brakes on New York&#8217;s data center boom Tuesday, handing China a gift-wrapped win in the global tech arms race.
A <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-impose-countrys-first-statewide-moratorium-data-centers-rcna587429">report</a> stated she would sign an executive order that freezes state permitting for massive AI server farms. It halts new hyperscale data center approvals and orders state regulators to establish rules on energy use, water consumption, and other environmental impacts before any more projects move forward. Hochul framed it as consumer protection, saying she couldn&#8217;t sit by while server farms threaten to increase utility bills and drain New York&#8217;s water supply.
But tech industry backers say the real story is who&#8217;s actually driving the anti-data-center movement — and it isn&#8217;t people worried about their electric bills.
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie and fellow Republicans recently fired off a <a href="https://d1dth6e84htgma.cloudfront.net/2026_06_04_Letter_to_PCAST_and_FBI_on_Foreign_Influence_AI_Data_Centers_99f6aa6cda.pdf">letter</a> to the FBI and White House science advisers demanding answers on what they call a coordinated foreign influence campaign involving China.
“Investigations by the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) and Power the Future (PTF) have exposed new information regarding how foreign influence campaigns — many originating from China — have engaged in a coordinated effort to slow U.S. growth in AI development and the building of infrastructure supporting AI data centers,”  they wrote. “Equally sinister, PTF’s report details how billionaire donors filter money through a complex financial web to fund America’s non-profit ecosystem — often with strong political or ideological leanings — to skew public opinion against the buildout of AI data center infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, OpenAI reported catching Chinese-linked bot networks using ChatGPT to gin up fake outrage over electricity prices.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5931292-data-centers-influence-campaigns-china-republicans/">didn&#8217;t mince words</a>, declaring, “Any place that’s trying to build data centers is getting bombarded with foreign-directed propaganda to try to block these from being built.” Investor Kevin O&#8217;Leary, backing a $100 billion Utah project, said his team traced suspicious social media surges to what he flatly called &#8220;the CCP at work.&#8221;
A Facebook group with 170,000 members, &#8220;Say NO to Data Centers,&#8221; has also become the online engine of the resistance. Its digital mapping guru, George Duarte, who built a nationwide tracker of data center projects, moonlights as a strategist at a D.C. consulting shop whose client roster reads like the Democratic Party&#8217;s who&#8217;s who — the DNC, the DCCC, the DSCC, and the Democratic Governors Association, as The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-soros-linked-dem-operatives-weaponize-the-anti-data-center-push">reported.</a>
Money trails lead straight back to George Soros. Records show Soros’ Open Society Foundations funneled more than $7.6 million to Indivisible, the activist network that has organized data center protests from Texas to California. Soros also poured $23.7 million into the Working Families Party — the same outfit now recruiting data center opponents to run for office in swing states.
Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss chipped in too, reportedly routing another $1 million to Indivisible last year through his Berger Action Fund, according to tax filings. A spokesperson for the Wyss foundation stated, “The Wyss Foundation does not provide funding to block or oppose data centers. These reports are false, misleading, and an attempt by special interests to manipulate the public into accepting data centers.”
One watchdog group tallied more than $39 million in foreign money flowing to a dozen organizations fighting data centers nationwide.
Hochul&#8217;s Republican rival, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, wants local governments — not Albany — deciding whether to strike deals with tech firms. He argues the moratorium sacrifices jobs and cedes American ground to Beijing in the AI race.
For now, New York joins a handful of states flirting with similar bans — even as evidence mounts that the &#8220;grassroots&#8221; revolt against America&#8217;s AI buildout has some very well-funded and very foreign fingerprints on it.

Data center under construction at Waltham Cross, England.

Liberal State Takes A Major Step In The AI Data Center Fight

Hochul Pulls Plug On Data Centers In NY, As Foreign Actors Fuel The Backlash

Communist China

Data Centers

George Soros

Kathy Hochul

New York

Investigators have not ruled out arson in the fire that destroyed a historic Brooklyn church last month, the latest in a series of recent incidents involving New York City churches. 
The June 19 fire destroyed the steeple of South Bushwick Reformed Church, causing it to collapse. Investigators are reviewing surveillance footage of a person seen leaving the area shortly before the fire,  according to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/12/us-news/investigators-probing-possible-arson-in-blaze-that-tore-through-landmarked-173-year-old-nyc-church/">New York Post.</a> 
The church, which was built in 1853, sustained extensive damage, complicating investigators&#8217; efforts to determine the cause of the blaze.  
On July 8, a man was arrested after allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails at two different houses of worship in Queens, according to <a href="https://abcnews.com/US/man-arrested-allegedly-throwing-molotov-cocktails-queens-houses/story?id=134617313">ABC News</a>. Around 11:35 p.m., the NYPD 102nd Precinct received a call about a man throwing an &#8220;incendiary device” at the Iglesia Bautista El Mesias Church in Ozone Park. 
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A man has been arrested for allegedly firebombing two New York City churches late Wednesday night. The suspect, identified only as a 36-year-old male, was caught on video throwing Molotov cocktails at the Iglesia Bautista El Mesias church and the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah&#8217;s… <a href="https://t.co/mvAkurXU7R">pic.twitter.com/mvAkurXU7R</a>
— D. Scott @eclipsethis2003 (@eclipsethis2003) <a href="https://x.com/eclipsethis2003/status/2075565066699632955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Authorities arrested a 36-year-old man after he allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at two Queens churches and another nearby building.  
In April, a 138-year-old church in Astoria was destroyed by a five-alarm fire that remains under investigation. 
The recent incidents have prompted criticism on social media from users who questioned why Mayor Zohran Mamdani has not publicly commented on the fires. 
Another post again highlighted Mamdani’s silence over the church fires adding, “I wonder why.”
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Not a single word from Mayor Mamdani on 4 recent &#8220;church fires&#8221; in NYC
I wonder why <a href="https://t.co/I6QgjLhI5r">pic.twitter.com/I6QgjLhI5r</a>
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/2076143618151141447?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
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173-Year-Old Church Burned Down. It’s Not The First In Recent Months.

Islam

Zohran Mamdani

New York City socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked America&#8217;s 250th anniversary Friday by painting a dark, sinister picture of the greatest country on earth.
Mamdani delivered a speech in which he invoked the history of immigrants who came to America&#8217;s shores, describing them as “weary from long journeys” who were greeted by “a towering monument to freedom, her torch glowing worldwide welcome.”
He soon turned toward the dark: “Each of these new arrivals peered through portholes onto a city that was changing as fast as the nation. They saw merchants peddling their wares on the docks, streets being laid out on a grid, buildings rising into the clouds. They could not yet see the nativism they would face, the jobs they would be refused, the landlords who would not rent to them, and the abject labor and living conditions they would withstand.”
He then twisted history, insisting that immigrants did not freely seek to come to America but were sent by the world: “For generation after generation, we have been told that when the world has sent its people to our shores, it has not sent its best. It sent Puritans and Sikhs and Quakers and Muslims and Jewish people who were banished for praying the wrong way, worshiping the wrong gods, angering the wrong people, it sent peasants and serfs from slums and shtetls who were treated as less because they hardly owned clothes, let alone land.”
He then revealed what he believes America truly is: “It sent immigrants from whom power was something someone else had. &#8230; You each hold a special power, the power to determine what America means. The powerful have always known their answer. America, in their view, is an arena of supremacy, where only a select few are allowed freedom, where not all are created equal. America, if you ask them, becomes less the more people it welcomes. America, they will tell you, belongs only to those with the right accent or the right shade of skin. The rest of us, they insist, should be grateful for merely being allowed to visit, how small they are, how weak, how unoriginal.”
He continued, “At every moment in our past, those who led through exclusion and isolation have tried to win power and enrich themselves by turning us against one another. Division is the oldest trick in politics, and the cheapest, but time and again, including 250 years ago, though those forces of division have been vanquished by the forces of progress.”
His depiction of modern America was equally bleak:
<blockquote>
As we mark 250 years, what do we see? We see a city of contradictions within a nation of contradictions. We see the wealthiest country in the history of the world, one where children go to sleep hungry, while the world’s first trillionaire hungers for more. We see monopolies that dominate every industry and oligarchs who buy elections. We see massed agents terrorizing our streets, eating food cooked by our undocumented neighbors before spiriting them away in unmarked vans. We see a nation whose immense wealth has been built by those with calloused, dirt-streaked hands, those who toil on factory floors and chisel into stone, and we see a nation that has allowed so much of that wealth to be held instead in the soft hands of a precious few. &#8230; We see America in corporate landlords for whom negligence is a business model. &#8230; We see America when we spend our tax dollars on bombs and bailouts, when we sell our elections to the highest bidder.
</blockquote>
After claiming that “ICE invades our neighborhoods,” he issued a call for action: “Patriotism is every act of righteous dissent. It is every march led under the heavy sun. It is every protest held a decade before its time. It is precisely because we love this nation that we will not leave it. After all, who loves America more than those who have sacrificed so much to make it free?”
Take note: this is the same mayor who signed off on a budget that cut funding for the Department of Veterans&#8217; Services by roughly <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/veteran-services-face-1-million-cut-under-zohran-mamdanis-nyc-budget-11952694">$1 million</a>.
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Mayor Mamdani Commemorates America’s 250th Anniversary

Mamdani Paints Sinister Picture Of America In Speech Honoring 250th Anniversary

America 250

Democratic Socialism

New York City

New York City&#8217;s freshly-inked <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/01/us-news/mamdanis-nypd-cops-cut-blindsided-city-council-leaving-lawmakers-bracing-for-other-surprises-in-126b-budget-they-passed/">$126 billion budget</a> shows exactly where Mayor Zohran Mamdani&#8217;s priorities lie — and it&#8217;s not with the men and women who served in uniform.
The City Council, with Mamdani&#8217;s sign-off, carved out roughly $7 million for so-called &#8220;trans equity&#8221; initiatives, including $6.45 million funneled to a laundry list of LGBT advocacy groups and another $40,000 specifically earmarked for &#8220;Drag Story Hour&#8221; programs in city schools and libraries, The New York Post<a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/01/us-news/nyc-budget-funnels-7m-to-transgender-programs-drag-story-hours"> reports</a>. Council Speaker Julie Menin alone kicked in $10,000 for drag readings in her district, while six other council members, Shaun Abreu, Tiffany Caban, Julie Won, Shahana Hanif, Gale Brewer and Crystal Hudson, chipped in $5,000 each.
Meanwhile, over in the Department of Veterans&#8217; Services, the story is the opposite: a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/veteran-services-face-1-million-cut-under-zohran-mamdanis-nyc-budget-11952694">roughly $1 million cut</a>, shrinking the department&#8217;s budget from about $7.6 million to $6.6 million — a drop of more than 13 percent. The mayor&#8217;s plan would also scrap the &#8220;Homecoming of Heroes&#8221; ticker tape parade in favor of a cheaper substitute march, and trim funding for annual events honoring former service members by about $60,000 a year through 2030.
Put plainly: the city is spending more on gender-identity programming and drag performances than it&#8217;s spending on services for the roughly 200,000 veterans who call New York home.
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For the record, Drag Queen Story Hour now receives more city funding than the Department of Veterans Services.
Understand where we are. <a href="https://t.co/vwQxqBVxUK">https://t.co/vwQxqBVxUK</a>
&mdash; Hon. Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) <a href="https://x.com/VickieforNYC/status/2072473558786134098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Critics wasted no time pointing out the math. State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar questioned why police funding lags while cash flows toward what he called fringe initiatives, saying, “Why isn’t there more money for police? There are countless dollars going toward extreme, far-out programs. This goes way beyond recognizing transgender individuals into spending millions of taxpayer dollars to promote transgenderism.”
Nassau County Executive and GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman echoed, “Only in [Democratic Gov.] Kathy Hochul’s New York are your hard-earned tax dollars funding drag queen story hours instead of new police officers, roads, and schools. It’s a slap in the face to every New Yorker who goes to work every day to provide for their family, and it ends when I’m governor.”
Veterans advocates are similarly furious. Marine Corps veteran Osbert Orduna called the cuts insulting to disabled veterans who sacrificed for the country.
But this is par for the course for a mayor who hates what America stands for.

2025 New York City Pride March

Mamdani Budget Bankrolls Drag Queen Story Hour While Veterans Take a Hit

Drag Queen story hour

Drag Queens

Transgender

Veterans

A Somali flag that Buffalo, New York, city officials raised in Niagara Square earlier this week to celebrate the foreign country&#8217;s independence was cut down in the dead of night on Wednesday. The flag robbery took place one day after city officials canceled Buffalo&#8217;s Fourth of July fireworks celebration.
Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan said &#8220;unknown vandals&#8221; removed the Somali flag at some point late on Wednesday night, <a href="https://www.btpm.org/local/2026-07-02/somali-flag-cut-down-and-stolen-from-niagara-square-amid-city-fireworks-outrage">according</a> to Buffalo-Toronto Public Media. Ryan added that the Buffalo Police Department is investigating the incident. The Somali flag has been raised in Niagara Square for the past four years on July 1 to celebrate Somali Independence Day.
“Buffalo is a proud, diverse city, and our administration remains committed to honoring and celebrating the many cultures that make our community stronger,” Ryan added.
The Somali flag-raising has stirred controversy in the city, especially since it falls so close to the Fourth of July and the celebration of America&#8217;s 250th anniversary. As they raised the Somali flag in the city square, Buffalo city officials were also blasted for scrapping the Fourth of July fireworks celebration.
&#8220;City Hall canceled its downtown fireworks display, leaving Buffalo as one of the only cities in Western New York without a public Fourth of July celebration, and instead raised the flag of Somalia outside City Hall,&#8221; Erie County, New York, GOP Chairman Michael Kracker said. &#8220;No one is questioning the contributions of Buffalo&#8217;s immigrant communities. But this week belongs to all of us, as Americans.&#8221;
Mayor Ryan announced in early June that the city planned to revive its patriotic fireworks display for America&#8217;s 250th birthday. Buffalo hasn&#8217;t put on a Fourth of July fireworks show in decades as the city focuses on a big New Year&#8217;s Eve fireworks display. This week, however, Ryan said the patriotic show wouldn&#8217;t take place.
&#8220;After exploring potential locations, an appropriate site could not be identified that would provide a safe and widely accessible viewing experience for residents. As a result, the City will not be hosting a downtown fireworks display this year,&#8221; he said.
Buffalo isn&#8217;t the only American city to raise the Somali flag on government property to celebrate the foreign country. Columbus, Ohio, which is home to the second-largest concentration of Somalis in the United States, also announced that it would hoist the Somali flag on July 1, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/on-americas-250th-red-states-capital-city-flies-somali-flag?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=On+America%E2%80%99s+250th%2C+Red+State%E2%80%99s+Capital+City+Celebrates%E2%80%A6+Somalia">reported</a>.
The Columbus Parks and Rec Department deleted the post announcing the Somali flag raising moments after The Daily Wire asked about it.

Somali Flag Buffalo

Patriots Rip Down Somali Flag In American City Square After Officials Cancel July 4 Fireworks

Buffalo

Fireworks

Fourth of July

Somalia

Democrats have figured out that voters are furious about their electric bills and hope to capitalize on the outrage in the upcoming midterm elections. Perhaps blue-state politicians should look in the mirror before scapegoating everything from the <a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/dems-go-all-in-on-energy-price-messaging-will-it-work/">removal of federal subsidies</a> for wind and solar to new <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/10/democratic-senators-blame-white-house-ai-data-centers-for-rising-electricity-prices.html">data center buildout</a>.  
BlueStatesHighRates.com, a new <a href="https://www.bluestateshighrates.com/">interactive index</a> from Always On Energy Research and the Institute for Energy Research, shows that the steepest increases in energy cost sit in the bluest states across the 50 states and Washington, D.C.  
Eighty-six percent of states above the national average in the continental U.S. are reliably blue states — that voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in the 2020 and 2024 elections. In contrast, 90% of the 10 states with the lowest electricity prices are reliably red.  
Nowhere is the effect of blue-state policies clearer than among the 13 states that declared independence in 1776.  
Blue states tend to have aggressive renewable portfolio standards and clean energy mandates that require states to source a specific share of electricity from intermittent wind and solar, <a href="https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2025-08/State%20Electricity%20Resource%20Standards-2025%20Data%20Update.pdf">driving up consumer bills</a>. The same states usually layer on full retail-rate net metering, which credits rooftop-solar owners more than the generation is worth to the grid, shifting fixed costs onto neighbors without panels. Their regulators also allow investor-owned utilities to adopt their own net-zero pledges and commit to retiring the coal and gas plants that ratepayers will need to pay to replace.  
For instance, Rhode Island is the 3rd-most expensive state in the U.S. in 2025, posting an average all-sectors rate of 25.86 cents per kilowatt hour. Rhode Island’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) stampedes toward 100% renewables by 2033, the fastest of any state. In the 2026 legislative session, lawmakers <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/06/02/metro/ri-budget-renewable-energy-climate/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">rejected</a> Gov. Dan McKee’s (D) proposal to push the 100% deadline back to 2050, which his office argued would <a href="https://governor.ri.gov/press-releases/governor-submits-budget-amendment-finalizing-1-billion-energy-relief-plan">triple compliance costs by 2031</a>.  
Other politicians, like Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in New York, have had more success pushing back overambitious climate goals, after a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/27704025-nyserda-analysis-of-cost-to-comply-with-clcpa/">finding </a>that cutting emissions 40% by 2030 would impose costs exceeding $4,000 annually on upstate households and at least $2,300 in annual costs for New York City residents. Budget negotiations replaced the binding 2030 obligation with a 2040 target of 60% reductions. 
Overarching most of New England and the Mid-Atlantic is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) — a cap-and-trade program that adds compliance costs to coal, oil, and natural gas generators that spill into customer bills. RGGI prices cleared at <a href="https://www.rggi.org/sites/default/files/Uploads/Auction-Materials/72/PR060526_Auction72.pdf">$35 per ton</a> of CO2 in June 2026, the highest ever, spurred in part by <a href="https://www.opis.com/blog/rggi-carbon-prices-surge-as-virginias-return-sparks-supply-jitters/">Virginia’s reentry</a> to RGGI. Almost every RGGI member channels its carbon-tax proceeds into green energy slush funds, except for New Hampshire, which rebated <a href="https://www.rggi.org/sites/default/files/Uploads/Proceeds/RGGI_Proceeds_Report_2023.pdf">93%</a> back to ratepayers in 2023.  
These factors discourage investment in new natural gas pipelines, which leads to an inadequate supply of natural gas that unnecessarily increases fuel costs and wholesale power prices. New York has proven actively hostile to new pipelines, repeatedly denying water permits to the proposed Constitution Pipeline and Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) projects. The latter only broke ground this April thanks to <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/gov-hochul-oks-key-permit-for-trump-favored-gas-pipeline-for-nyc-north-jersey">sustained pressure</a> from the Trump administration, but Hochul <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrQ0CIfg_s">skipped</a> the groundbreaking ceremony. So has Massachusetts, which has killed <a href="https://www.bluestateshighrates.com/states/massachusetts/">multiple</a> major pipeline expansions. 
Contrast with the states among the original 13 colonies whose rates fell below the national average in 2025: Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Georgia has no RPS standard, no net-metering mandates, no carbon pricing schemes, and has adopted reasonable data center consumer protections. North Carolina does have a 100% carbon-neutral mandate, but its interim 2030 goal was repealed in 2025 after recognizing the costs associated. South Carolina’s non-binding RPS expired in 2021, and it is phasing out full retail-rate net metering. Virginia’s blue-state policies are the odd man out, but it has more commercial sales than other states, which flattens the all-sectors average.  
Now that affordability has become the buzzword, Democratic politicians are quick to pin the blame for high electricity prices on anyone but themselves — despite knowing, mere years ago, that higher prices were the point. In floor debates about New York’s climate law in 2019, then-state senator Todd Kaminsky (D) <a href="https://www.news10.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/64/2026/04/CV_25_1957_Citizen_Action_of_New_v_Citizen_Action_of_New__AFFIRMATION___73.pdf">acknowledged</a> that it would “ask people to make sacrifices.” 
Red states let their grids run on what works. Blue states ask their residents to make sacrifices because of their electricity policy choices. 
***
Sarah Montalbano is an energy policy analyst, and Isaac Orr is vice president of research at Always On Energy Research, a nonprofit modeling firm. BlueStatesHighRates.com is a project of Always On and the Institute for Energy Research.

Houston Chronicle

Why You’re Paying The Price To Live In A Blue State

Blue States

DW Opinion

Energy Policy

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Renewable Portfolio Standard

A New York woman was arrested and charged with attempting to send money to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Department of Justice <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/upstate-new-york-woman-arrested-charged-attempting-provide-material-support-palestine">announced</a> Tuesday.
Catherine Beth Washburn, 37, of Irondequoit, New York, was charged by criminal complaint with attempting to provide material support and resources, namely currency, to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, also known as Al-Quds Brigades. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to the report, Washburn is a leader of the Direct Action Movement for Palestinian Liberation, or DAMPL, which the Justice Department described as an extremist organization formed after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Prosecutors said DAMPL rejects peaceful protest and engages in “direct action,” including sabotage and property destruction, in support of the Palestinian cause and against entities it associates with Israel.
“As alleged, <a href="https://x.com/DOJNatSec/status/2072070845640433955">Washburn repeatedly voiced support for violence against Israeli civilians</a> and attempted to provide material support to the Palestine Islamic Jihad by sending cryptocurrency to an individual who claimed to participate in its attacks,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said. “Those who aid foreign terrorist groups will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Federal investigators said the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force executed search warrants in February and March 2026 and recovered electronic messages between Washburn and an individual who identified as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighter in Gaza. The individual allegedly claimed to have taken part in attacks against Israel.
In one message cited by prosecutors, Washburn allegedly wrote, “If I lived in Gaza, I would fight alongside the resistance.” She also allegedly wrote, “I wish every day were October 7th,” and said she hated Jews “very much” and wished Israel “would disappear.”
Prosecutors said Washburn and the individual discussed alleged Palestinian Islamic Jihad attacks on Israel, weapons, and ammunition. In another message, Washburn allegedly wrote, “I feel excited every time I see news of the killing of an occupation soldier.”
An analysis of financial records determined that Washburn made approximately 80 cryptocurrency transfers totaling about $30,116, to an account used by the individual, according to the Justice Department.
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo for the Western District of New York said Washburn was stopped before her alleged efforts could continue.
“Despite her alleged attempts, including cryptic communications with a fighter involved in violent attacks in an area thousands of miles away, Catherine Washburn was stopped and so too were her efforts to support violent extremism,” DiGiacomo said.
Acting Assistant Director Coult Markovsky of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division said the FBI remains focused on cutting off funding to terrorist groups.
“The FBI is committed to cutting off funding to terrorist groups and will continue to work side-by-side with our Justice Department partners to make sure anyone who engages in terrorism or provides assistance to such organizations is held fully accountable in our justice system,” Markovsky said.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York and the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

Islamic Jihad Hold Gaza Rally

Feds Arrest American For Trying To Fund Jihadists

Terrorism

A Long Island school district clerk allegedly tore up legitimate votes, coached a custodian to secretly haul away evidence, and watched as the part-time DJ she was helping waltzed out of her office the night before the election, carrying more than 100 absentee ballots — all to rig a school board race.
New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa<a href="https://nypost.com/2026/06/25/us-news/new-york-state-orders-new-school-election-in-long-island/"> threw</a> out the results of the Hempstead Union Free School District&#8217;s May 19 trustee election on Thursday and ordered a new vote within 60 days, acting on a 51-page petition that laid out a sprawling ballot fraud scheme orchestrated by District Clerk April Keys.
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New York state orders new school election after Long Island clerk accused of trashing ballots to help her candidate win <a href="https://t.co/2NWlCgegEs">https://t.co/2NWlCgegEs</a> <a href="https://t.co/a1Ysbv6mqq">pic.twitter.com/a1Ysbv6mqq</a>
&mdash; New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://x.com/nypost/status/2070280041498370083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The beneficiary of the alleged scheme was Victor Prett, a three-term trustee who moonlights as a local DJ under the name DJ Vic-Lover. Prett won his seat by just 81 votes — a margin the district&#8217;s attorneys argue was manufactured through systematic fraud.
The numbers told the story on their own. Prett finished third among candidates in head-to-head machine voting, capturing just 27% of those ballots. Yet he somehow claimed 87% of absentee votes and 55% of early mail ballots — a statistical anomaly that triggered the internal investigation.
What investigators found was damning. The night before the election, surveillance footage captured Prett inside Keys&#8217; office for roughly 90 minutes. He left carrying what appeared to be a stack of up to 125 absentee ballots. When confronted, he said he had no memory of the envelopes and no idea where they had gone.
Days after the vote, Superintendent Gary Rush entered Keys&#8217; office and found an oversized cafeteria garbage can — out of place and suspicious. Inside was a tied bag stuffed with ballots. Keys&#8217; office was immediately placed on lockdown. When investigators returned four days later, the garbage can had vanished. A custodian, Owen Peters, had quietly carried it to an outdoor dumpster that morning — a move investigators say Keys orchestrated, allegedly instructing him to take a different staircase to avoid being spotted.
Peters eventually led investigators to the bag, which sat in standing water in the dumpster. Inside: ripped-up cast ballots, shredded mail-in applications with voters&#8217; names still legible, and unused tally sheets. Nine ballot applications appeared to have been written by the same hand, and all nine were stamped as received within a three-minute window on the day Prett was in Keys&#8217; office.
The Nassau County District Attorney has opened a criminal investigation. A temporary clerk has been appointed to oversee the new election.

Dustbin, full with plastic garbage

Clerk Rigged Board Election For DJ Pal — Then Stashed Ballots in Cafeteria Trash Can

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School Board

President Donald Trump took a shot at the far-Left wing of the Democratic Party on Thursday and sent a message to &#8220;communists&#8221; after radical candidates won multiple elections in New York earlier this week.
Trump suggested that he wasn&#8217;t surprised to see far-Left candidates, such as Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Brad Lander, win their primaries for the U.S. House. Valdez, Chevalier, and Lander are all backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — and Chevalier and Lander defeated Democratic incumbents.
&#8220;The Communists are finally making their move,&#8221; Trump wrote on <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116813173401388945">Truth Social</a>. &#8220;I’ve been waiting and preparing for this for a long time. It’s easy to be a Communist — All you have to do is say, &#8216;I’ll give you everything,&#8217; but that means you’re taking it away from others that have earned it. Over thousands of years, that Ideology has not worked once. The game is on. Enjoy watching!&#8221;
While the New York radicals who won their primaries identify as &#8220;democratic socialists,&#8221; they have been accused of pushing ideas that are indistinguishable from communist talking points. Chevalier was even asked recently to respond to people describing her as a communist, and she refused to address it.
&#8220;You know, I think that framing is one that I&#8217;ve been very proud to say that I don&#8217;t respond to, one in which I have been very intentional to say I won&#8217;t be reactive,&#8221; Chevalier told MS NOW anchor Ali Velshi. &#8220;We are presenting a vision of what we&#8217;re fighting for, and I think that for far too long, we have had politics that is reactive to what Republicans are doing. What we need is Democrats who are actually going to present a positive vision, one that sets the tone for what we should be talking about, which is the issue of affordability.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Velshi: &#8220;How do you respond to allegations that you&#8217;re a communist?&#8221;
Darializa Avila Chevalier: &#8220;For far too long, this reactive conversation of what we should be afraid of has prevented us from being able to have a politics Democrats can identify win.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/sAKGmQcYju">pic.twitter.com/sAKGmQcYju</a>
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) <a href="https://x.com/greg_price11/status/2069995578100998577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Along with calling for the government to seize private property, Chevalier has also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrats-newest-pick-is-their-most-radical-yet">called</a> to abolish police and borders, disparaged the American flag, and refused to condemn Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
Valdez and Lander have also pushed leftist economic views, such as rent freezes, a policy being actively pursued by Mayor Mamdani in NYC. Valdez, meanwhile, has called for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, expanding universal healthcare, increasing taxes on higher earners, and strengthening labor unions.
Shortly after New York democratic socialists won on Tuesday night, Trump said, “America the Beautiful will NEVER be a Communist Country!!!”

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Trump Declares ‘Game On’ As America’s Communists Make Their Move

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The father of a neglected three-year-old who died from a lice infestation was sentenced by a New York judge on Monday.
Matthew Dylewski, 34, admitted neglecting his three-year-old daughter Joycelynn Ann Dylewski, who died February 19, 2025, due to horrible living conditions in the family’s Corinth apartment. A picture of their home <a href="https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/disturbing-photos-raise-questions-after-childs-death-in-corinth">showed</a> the floor piled with debris and garbage. 
“You failed as a parent,” said Saratoga County Judge James Davis. “Your entire job was to keep her safe.”
In March of 2026, both parents pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, and in May, Joycelynn’s death was ruled a homicide due to acute and chronic neglect, CBS 6 Albany <a href="https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/matthew-dylewski-to-be-sentenced-in-toddler-daughters-death-homicide-neglect-samantha-joycelynn">reported</a>.
On Monday, Joycelynn’s father was given 16 months to four years in prison. &#8220;I wish it was me that died to this day,” he said in court during his sentencing.
On June 8, Samantha Dylewski, Joycelynn’s 33-year-old mother, was also <a href="https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/mother-headed-to-prison-in-neglect-death-of-3-year-old-daughter-samantha-matthew-dylewski-corinth-lice-condemned-child-neglect">sentenced</a> to 16 to four years.  
Investigators discovered that the girl’s teeth were “rotten and black” and a cockroach fell out of her winter hat, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/06/24/us-news/ny-girl-3-dies-from-lice-infestation-severe-neglect-after-hoarding-parents-subjected-her-to-horrific-conditions/">according</a> to the New York Post. Bugs were also found on her face and scalp. 
The three-year-old was diagnosed with anemia due to a lice infestation, which caused damage to her heart and organs, and was also dosed with clonidine, a blood pressure medication, said Saratoga County Sheriff Jeffrey Brown. 
Last year, first responders arrived at the Dylewskis’ apartment in response to Joycelynn, who was having trouble breathing. She was pronounced dead at the hospital from a combination of those factors, <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/corinth-father-sentenced-death-neglected-daughter-22311517.php">according</a> to the Times Union.
Initially, both Matthew and his wife were charged with five counts of endangering the welfare of a child, for each of their five kids, according to CBS 6 Albany. The Dylewskis’ four surviving children were placed with relatives, and a protective order was issued so the parents are not allowed to contact them until 2038.
New York State Senator Jim Tedisco (R, C-Ballston Lake), Assemblyman Matt Simpson (R, C-Adirondack), and Saratoga County District Attorney Brett Eby advocated for “Joycelynn’s Law” on June 23. This new legislation’s purpose was to increase the maximum prison sentence for criminally negligent homicide of a child to 20 years to life, <a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/james-tedisco/tedisco-simpson-and-eby-call-new-joycelynns-law-20-years">according</a> to the New York State Senate.
“Joycelynn Dylewski deserved a happy childhood and to grow up and reach her full potential in a loving home,” Tedisco said. “The sentence these individuals got under the current law is not justice for Joycelynn.”

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The Lice Infestation At The Center Of A 3-Year-Old’s Death

Child Neglect

Marxist political commentator Hasan Piker celebrated his favorite New York socialist candidates defeating moderate Democrats in the New York primary elections, held on Tuesday.
“It feels like were painting the town red tonight, ladies and gentlemen,” Piker <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2803627514">said</a> to his Twitch audience, celebrating wins from Darializa Chevalier, Claire Valdez, and Conrad Blackburn in “tonight’s unbelievable primary race.”
“I&#8217;m so happy to be able to share this incredible experience with all of you, here in the f*cking Commie Corridor — the tip of the spear of the American Socialist Movement — an absolute f*cking blowout,” Piker said.
Piker disowned and hurled expletives at some of the more moderate members of the Democratic Party, accusing them of selling out to big business and Israel.
Piker took aim at Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso, calling him a “wonderful person&#8221; before pivoting to label him a “byproduct of the machine.” He then argued that Reynoso had come to his <a href="https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2026/03/pro-palestinian-pal-pac-endorses-claire-valdez-congress/412325/">anti-Israel position</a> — claiming that Israel was committing &#8220;genocide&#8221; in Gaza and calling for the United States to end all arms sales to the Jewish state — too late, and should be ousted from office because of it.
“And why do I say this?” Hasan added. “Becaasue Israel committed a genocide for two and a half years. And it took Reynoso to recognize that only after he was campaigning against the Commie Corridor. To me, a lot of people can smell the inauthenticity there.”
Piker also reserved harsh judgment for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), saying, “That b*tch right there — read it and f*cking weep, Hakeem!”
Piker also bragged about his own influence in the New York elections, saying that the phone bank he helped with for Chevalier had called some 90,000 people, allegedly swinging the election in the socialist candidate’s favor.
“After tonight, my price went up,” Piker said after learning the news. “You have to be a Democratic Socialist if you want some of this f*cking shine.”
Piker stated that the socialist victories in New York are ushering in “a decade of socialism” that is “coming to a neighborhood near you.”
“When I said we were going to let a thousand Zohrans bloom, this is what I meant,” Piker said. “And that’s because the American people are tired of the same old business as usual politics — the corruption, the ineptitude, the feckless nature of the Democrats that don’t want to fight back against the growth of fascism in this country. This is Americans fighting back. It’s only the beginning.” 
Piker later said that “hopefully we [The Democratic Socialists of America] won’t stop until we can elect socialists in every state and in every district.”
Not all of Piker’s New York endorsements won. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), one of Congress’s most outspoken supporters of Israel, easily <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/outspoken-zionist-dem-defeats-hasan-piker-backed-primary-challenger?row=0&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;rowType=Web+Search+Overlay">defeated</a> a Left-wing primary challenger Michael Blake, drawing an angry response from the streamer.
Piker has become known for his radical, violent rhetoric, such as saying that “America <a href="https://x.com/EYakoby/status/2048814928874655931">deserved</a> 9/11,” and <a href="https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/2048217117221065201">calling on</a> his followers to “let the streets soak in their f*cking red capitalist blood.” He routinely praises and makes excuses for designated terrorist organizations — like Hamas and Hezbollah — while criticizing the United States and its allies.
He has also faced backlash over a lavish lifestyle that is in clear conflict with his anti-capitalist screeds. For instance, Piker received pushback from his fans and critics for wearing a $1,000 <a href="https://dexerto.com/entertainment/hasan-responds-to-backlash-over-his-1000-coachella-outfit-1807194/">Gucci shirt</a> at the 2022 Coachella music festival. 
He has also recently has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/flashback-hasan-piker-admitted-to-colluding-with-cuban-regime-a-year-before-feds-investigated?row=0&amp;elementPosition=14&amp;rowType=Web+Search">subpoenaed</a> by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for his alleged collusion with the Cuban communist government.
Piker has also received some pushback for his radical positions. Piker was slated to speak at SXSW London when the British Home Office suddenly revoked his visa, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-dont-need-open-borders-for-bad-ideas-actually?row=0&amp;elementPosition=8&amp;rowType=Web+Search">stating</a> it would “not be conducive to the public good” for him to enter the country. Piker has also been barred from three Denver-area venues for his planned leftist rallies.

2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Mark Guiducci – Arrivals

Hasan Piker Gloats Over Socialist Election Victories

Darializa Avila Chevalier

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Hasan Piker

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Socialist candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier is likely to become Congress’ most radical member after she won the Democratic primary in New York&#8217;s 13th congressional district, which has not elected a Republican under its current redistricting lines.  
Chevalier has called to abolish police, disparaged the American flag, and refused to condemn Hamas&#8217; October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. She also does not support any form of deportation — including of illegal immigrants who are convicted of murder, rape, and battery.
“The reason I say that is because we have a criminal system. It is imperfect. But it exists,” she said. “We need to make sure it is one that isn’t also discriminatory on the basis of where people were born, right?” She went further to explain that deporting someone and having them serve time in jail is “double punishment.” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
I asked DSA congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier (NY-13) about several of her previously deleted tweets, including one that read that “all deportations are wrong.”
Here’s what she said: <a href="https://t.co/T4hqi1F66J">pic.twitter.com/T4hqi1F66J</a>
— Astead (@AsteadWH) <a href="https://x.com/AsteadWH/status/2067281388236152984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2026</a></blockquote>
The topic came up as Chevalier was grilled about her controversial X posts. The 32-year-old Democratic nominee has also <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/01/politics/kfile-ny-13-darializa-avila-chevalier-deleted-tweets-defund-abolish-police-prisons-deportations">called</a> for abolishing the police and seizing private property. During the primary debate against incumbent Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat, Chevalier said she believes the best way to curb crime is through alleviating poverty via social safety net funding, affordable housing, after-school programs and addressing the opioid crisis rather than “militarized police.” Chevalier unseated Espaillat on Tuesday.
She also <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/06/16/us-news/mamdani-backed-foe-of-espaillat-apologizes-for-nasty-tweets-in-feisty-debate/">criticized</a> former Vice President Kamala Harris posting on X, “F*ck Kamala Harris.” For that she said, “I sincerely apologize. I would love to see a black woman president.” 
She told MS NOW’s Jen Psaki that the issue of affordability ultimately motivated her to run because she is “someone who has had to live with the question of whether I can afford to stay in the city I love.”
Chevalier has walked back another one of her posts that <a href="https://x.com/foxandfriends/status/2069818658910519452">read</a>, “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.” However, in an interview on Tuesday, she abruptly left in the middle of questions into her past statements, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/06/16/us-news/mamdani-backed-foe-of-espaillat-apologizes-for-nasty-tweets-in-feisty-debate/">saying</a> she felt regret for some of her past posts, but added that it was time to “fight for the things that are necessary for the community.” 
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Credit: RapidResponse47 via X
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Chevalier has spent the majority of her career in higher education. She served as an administrative assistant and research assistant at Columbia University. Before starting a seven-year PhD program at City University of New York, she served as a community organizer and activist. As an organizer, she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mamdanis-socialists-upset-incumbent-dems-in-house-primary-sweep?author=Brecca+Stoll&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Mamdani%E2%80%99s+Socialists+Upset+Incumbent+Dems+In+House+Primary+Sweep">questioned</a> Israel&#8217;s legitimacy and helped orchestrate pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University after the October 7 Hamas attacks. 
In her first interview since her election, Chevalier proudly <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=darializa+avila+chevalier+student+debt&amp;sca_esv=d8ad4d1a78452d8c&amp;sxsrf=APpeQnsa9Vicu3eevjS0tvaheX4DT1Jb4Q%3A1782316075500&amp;ei=K_w7apb3Hajk5NoPk6jq-Ak&amp;biw=1093&amp;bih=775&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjWuLrknKCVAxUoMlkFHROUGp8Q4dUDCBI&amp;uact=5&amp;oq=darializa+avila+chevalier+student+debt&amp;gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiJmRhcmlhbGl6YSBhdmlsYSBjaGV2YWxpZXIgc3R1ZGVudCBkZWJ0MgUQIRigATIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigATIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKsCMgUQIRirAkjCDVCgAli-DHABeAGQAQGYAaMBoAHNCaoBBDEwLjO4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgmgAv0GwgILEAAYgAQYsQMYgwHCAgQQABgDwgIQEAAYgAQYigUYQxixAxiDAZgDAIgGAZIHAzcuMqAH6DWyBwM3LjK4B_0GwgcFMC42LjPIBxaACAE&amp;sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&amp;vld=cid:074b82a7,vid:_a4KrN9FFp4,st:0">touted</a> that she has been “organizing my entire adult life around immigration injustice, mass incarceration, and around Palestine.” 
Chevalier was elected alongside two other socialist candidates who were also backed by New York City democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“It will take a new generation of leadership to ensure that the heartbeat of this party is once again the struggles of the working class,&#8221; Mamdani said when he <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=mamdani+endorses+chevalier+psaki+&amp;sca_esv=d5a5f35ee25e06b2&amp;udm=7&amp;biw=755&amp;bih=775&amp;sxsrf=APpeQntgcl70TIpQz8YWdLaM8U5tjkGpYw%3A1782313746974&amp;ei=EvM7avWCO7Cl5NoP4M3XgAs&amp;ved=0ahUKEwj105COlKCVAxWwElkFHeDmFbAQ4dUDCBI&amp;uact=5&amp;oq=mamdani+endorses+chevalier+psaki+&amp;gs_lp=EhZnd3Mtd2l6LW1vZGVsZXNzLXZpZGVvIiFtYW1kYW5pIGVuZG9yc2VzIGNoZXZhbGllciBwc2FraSAyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigATIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigAUigT1CZBFjfQ3ADeACQAQCYAYsBoAGvBqoBAzcuMrgBA8gBAPgBAZgCCqACjAbCAgUQIRirApgDAIgGAZIHAzguMqAHwCOyBwM2LjK4B4UGwgcFMC45LjHIBxOACAE&amp;sclient=gws-wiz-modeless-video#fpstate=ive&amp;vld=cid:a2508b1f,vid:470EuZ2UIqM,st:0">endorsed</a> Chevalier last month.

NYC Mayor Mamdani Holds Get Out The Vote Rally Ahead Of Primary Election

Democrats’ Newest Pick Is Their Most Radical Yet

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