The FBI broadens its investigation into Charlie Kirk’s assassination, New York mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani scores a major endorsement, and the White House threatens Brazil after its Supreme Court sentences the “Trump of the Tropics.”
It’s Tuesday, September 16, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
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<h2 style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;">FBI Probes Larger Plot In Kirk Assassination</h2>
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Topline: As conservatives rally following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the FBI says it’s investigating radical left-wing groups for potential ties to the killer. 
Among those being investigated is the far-left pro-transgender group Armed Queers Salt Lake City. It deleted its Instagram account shortly after the shooting, but a membership form online listed its core principles, which included “the armed and militant protection of queer and trans communities,” “trans liberation,” and an “organized revolutionary movement.”
The Bureau is also investigating a number of social media accounts that seemingly displayed foreknowledge of the assassination. In one instance, a leftist X user wrote a week before Kirk’s killing: “it’d be funny if someone like Charlie Kirk got shot on September 10th.” According to FBI Director Kash Patel, suspected assassin Tyler Robinson told at least one person beforehand what he planned on doing.
What they’re saying: White House Deputy Chief Stephen Miller vowed to channel his “righteous anger” to go after “networks” of leftists in a special edition of The Charlie Kirk Show hosted by Vice President JD Vance on Monday.
“It is a vast domestic terror movement, and with God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have&#8230; throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks&#8230; and we will do it in Charlie’s name,” Miller <a href="https://x.com/avaricum777/status/1967627688711250054">said</a>.
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Establishment Dems Begin To Fall In Line With Mamdani</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-972677 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></div>
Topline: New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul has endorsed far-left NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a sign that the Democratic Party establishment is moving behind the 33-year-old radical.
Hochul notably kept her distance from him during the New York City mayoral primary – Mamdani is an open democratic socialist and has some extremely far-left ideas, including the establishment of <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/05/us-news/socialist-nyc-mayoral-candidates-city-run-supermarket-plan-under-fire/">government-run grocery stores</a>. But Hochul’s flip could draw other prominent Democratic leaders into Mamdani’s camp.
Hochul said in an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/opinion/hochul-endorsement-mamdani.html">op-ed</a> in The New York Times that she’s backing Mamdani because of his focus on “affordability” and resisting President Donald Trump.
Step back: Mamdani is favored to be New York City’s next mayor, barring some major shakeup – so Hochul will likely have to work with him. She is also running for re-election in 2026, but is so disliked by folks in the NYC suburbs and most of upstate New York that some politicos <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/09/14/us-news/ny-gov-kathy-hochul-expected-to-endorse-zohran-mamdani-this-week-sources/">believe</a> she’s trying to lean harder on the urban vote, where Mamdani has strong support.
Trump weighs in: On the heels of Hochul’s endorsement, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115207991871277413">labeled</a> Mamdani the “‘Liddle’ Communist” and described his frontrunner status as a “rather shocking development, and a very bad one for New York City.”
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Lengthy Prison Sentence For Jair Bolsonaro Strains U.S.-Brazil Relations</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-972679 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></div>
Topline: After a two-week public trial, Brazil’s five Supreme Court justices sentenced former President Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison after he was found guilty of an attempted coup. The Trump administration is now threatening severe consequences.
Expert opines: Andres Martinez-Fernandez, senior policy analyst for Latin America at The Heritage Foundation: “This is a case which has a lot of question marks around it, and particularly with this sentencing, which is dramatic, over 25 years, for this person who just a few years ago was occupying the top office in Brazil, is very controversial at the moment. So a lot of Congress in Brazil and others are exploring very actively the need to take action to bypass this sentencing.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in response to the ruling that the United States would “respond accordingly to this witch hunt.”
Martinez-Fernandez: “There&#8217;s a disconnect, I think, that a lot of people see, and this administration certainly sees, between the pursuit of justice and the political priorities that we see the supreme court in Brazil pursuing … and that’s what the administration is really seeking to counter, leveraging the United States&#8217; economic heft and influence in that country. But, it&#8217;s clearly going to be a very significant challenge here.”

Morning Brief: Kirk Probe Expands, Hochul Backs Socialist Mamdani & U.S. Rips Bolsonaro Sentence

Morning Brief: FBI’s Kirk Probe Widens, Hochul Backs Mamdani, U.S. Rips Bolsonaro Prison Sentence

Brazil

Charlie Kirk

Jair Bolsonaro

Kathy Hochul

Marco Rubio

Media

Morning Wire

New York City

Politics

United States

Zohran Mamdani

Actor Michael Rapaport expressed his disdain for repeat offenders being released in New York City as a way of protesting the election of far-Left NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
“I’m sorry you’re a psychopath. I’m sorry you’re mentally ill. But I don’t need you walking around me. I don’t need you walking around my wife. My wife was groped in New York City in broad daylight,” the 55-year-old comedian said.
Rapaport went on to relay the story of how his wife and her friend went to see a show in the city. After they left, they were walking down the sidewalk when a man approached her and “rubbed up on her.”
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I don’t want my Wife walking around men that have been arrested 14 times sorry.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nyc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nyc</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/crime?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#crime</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ZohranMamdani?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ZohranMamdani</a> <a href="https://t.co/M53okIJXoI">pic.twitter.com/M53okIJXoI</a>
— MichaelRapaport (@MichaelRapaport) <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelRapaport/status/1966882635042746739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“Violated my wife in New York City,” the actor seethed during a clip from his podcast that he shared on X.
“I don’t want people like that walking around my wife,” he added. “I don’t want people that have been arrested 14 times, for whatever reason, walking around my wife, walking around my kids. Nor should you, and it has nothing to do with politics.”
“Put them in a f***ing zoo,” Rapaport concluded.
The comments were filled with followers applauding the celeb, likening his rant to a red pill moment.
“Watching a liberal metamorphosis into a conservative after life happening to them is like watching a caterpillar turn into a beautiful butterfly,” one person <a href="https://x.com/harr72247/status/1966914027600441545">wrote</a>.
“I love to see Michael’s complete 180 transformation. That’s what happen[s] when you start to see things for how they are and not what you’ve been told they are,” another <a href="https://x.com/TexasTraderOne/status/1967071669689696534">said</a>.
Once an outspoken liberal and critic of Donald Trump, Rapaport, who is Jewish, has come out publicly in support of Israel following the October 7 attacks and has begun to distance himself from the Democratic Party. Besides being a pro-Israel advocate, the comedian has also spoken about crime before, filming a viral video documenting retail theft at a Rite Aid in NYC in 2022.
Days ago, Rapaport spoke out against the way many people were reacting to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
&#8220;Any public person that would, in any way, shape, or form, support, laugh at, excuse, the public killing of Charlie Kirk, is sick. Really, really, really twisted,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/michael-rapaport-blasts-liberals-cheering-163223626.html">said</a>.

Michael Rapaport

Michael Rapaport On Repeat Offenders In NYC: ‘Put Them In A F***ing Zoo’

Michael Rapaport On Repeat Offenders In NYC: 'Put Them In A F***ing Zoo'

Celebrities

Crime

Entertainment

U.S.

Cheers erupted for President Donald Trump at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night, as he was in attendance for the game on the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Yankees recognized the 9/11 anniversary before the game, and welcomed &#8220;back to Yankee Stadium the 45th and 47th president of the United States,&#8221; showing the native New Yorker on the Jumbotron as the crowd applauded.
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President Trump is announced to the crowd at Yankee Stadium. <a href="https://t.co/YQQbUsxOS6">pic.twitter.com/YQQbUsxOS6</a>
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) <a href="https://twitter.com/YESNetwork/status/1966287421529555147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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At another point during the night, many in the crowd began chanting, &#8220;Donald Trump! Donald Trump!&#8221; as the president waved from a suite.
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Happening Now—The👑of New York is so BACK! 🇺🇸🦅 <a href="https://t.co/WtP74uAB8w">pic.twitter.com/WtP74uAB8w</a>
— Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) <a href="https://twitter.com/Scavino47/status/1966317431217115388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
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During the National Anthem, Trump was shown again on the screen to the cheers of many of the 41,000 fans in attendance.
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NOTHING BUT LOVE FOR OUR PRESIDENT IN NEW YORK CITY — GOD BLESS AMERICA! 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/73w0ozUfJT">pic.twitter.com/73w0ozUfJT</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1966316878441116159?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The fans were really nice,&#8221; Trump told Fox &amp; Friends on Friday morning during an interview in the studio. &#8220;You never know what you&#8217;re going to get in New York, but we got a tremendous applause because they love this country.&#8221;
The Yankees remembered 9/11 during remarks before the game, and the team&#8217;s scoreboard showed an American flag alongside the inscription, “September 11, 2001, We Shall Not Forget.”
Despite the warm welcome for Trump, his security remained intense. Fans were &#8220;strongly urged to arrive as early as possible&#8221; due to the heightened security, and the Secret Service encouraged fans to leave bags at home, according to the Associated Press. Trump watched the game from the Yankees owner&#8217;s family suite behind three panes of bulletproof glass, the Post reported.
Trump attended the game just one day after the assassination of his loyal supporter and influential conservative, Charlie Kirk. On Wednesday night, the Yankees observed a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-yankees-honor-charlie-kirk-with-moment-of-silence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">moment of silence</a> in honor of Kirk.
Trump spoke to the Yankees in their clubhouse before Thursday night&#8217;s game against the Detroit Tigers, telling them, &#8220;You&#8217;re gonna win,&#8221; The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/09/11/us-news/trump-cheered-on-at-yankee-stadium-by-fans-accurately-predicts-victory-youre-gonna-win/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_source=twitter">reported</a>. The president&#8217;s prediction was correct as the Yankees, led by their star slugger Aaron Judge, beat the Tigers 9-3. In his first at-bat in the first inning, Judge launched a home run 413 feet to center field, and the Yankees&#8217; best player wasn&#8217;t finished, smacking another 434-foot home run ball to center field.
Judge&#8217;s incredible performance came after Trump praised him in the clubhouse before the game.
&#8220;You’re a fantastic player. … You’re an unbelievable player,&#8221; Trump told Judge, according to the Post.
Judge said that meeting Trump was “a surreal moment,” the Associated Press reported.
“He came in here, and he told us we were going to win, so I think that gave everybody the confidence in this room to go out there and do it,&#8221; Judge added. &#8220;I guess we’ve got to have him around more often.”
The Yankees also posed for a photo with Trump.
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The Yankees posed for a photo with Donald Trump during his clubhouse visit
(via <a href="https://twitter.com/DanScavino?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DanScavino</a>) <a href="https://t.co/dfQKfG7RSt">pic.twitter.com/dfQKfG7RSt</a>
— Talkin&#8217; Yanks (@TalkinYanks) <a href="https://twitter.com/TalkinYanks/status/1966284205459214443?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Detroit Tigers v. New York Yankees

Cheers Erupt For Trump At Yankee Stadium On 9/11 Anniversary

9/11

Donald Trump

Executive

General

New York Yankees

The terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, were a wake-up call for America, and I sincerely hope it is not one we as a nation have forgotten. There are still folks out there who hate our freedoms and our way of life.
We are no longer protected by oceans and geographical distance from potential enemies. We must always remember we are a nation at risk and be prepared for the next attack. I do believe in peace through strength.
I was the Assistant Division Commander for the U.S. Army’s 4th Infantry Division on the 11th of September in 2001. I was in the middle of packing to head to the airport when my wife Sarah asked me to turn on the television. Those TV images are still etched in my mind today, even though the event occurred 24 years ago.
<div id="attachment_971107" style="width: 783px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-971107" class="size-large wp-image-971107" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1374462-773x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 11: (JAPAN OUT) (VIDEO CAPTURE) (Series 1/4) Hijacked United Airlines flight 175 flies towards the south tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 in New York City. The plane is one of four hijacked that morning and is the second plane to be flown into the World Trade Center buildings. (Photo by CNN via Getty Images)" width="773" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1374462-773x576.jpg 773w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1374462-300x224.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1374462-768x572.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1374462.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 773px) 100vw, 773px" />CNN via Getty Images</div>
In the past, I deployed to Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Kosovo. Since the attacks on 9/11 I deployed to Iraq three times in varying capacities. And clearly, I am not alone. All uniformed military have had shared similar experiences. As I reflect back on that time, we went from a nation enjoying peace and prosperity to a nation at war.
In order to maintain our freedoms we need a strong military. We cannot afford to let the Department of Defense become a bill payer for programs not directly tied to our national security. We need to ensure all branches of our military are a ready fighting force — well equipped, well trained, and prepared to rapidly respond to any threat at a moment’s notice.
We also must actively support our nation’s veterans and their families because they sacrificed much to ensure we have the freedoms we enjoy today. Less than 1% of our country’s population serve in uniform at any one time, but we all enjoy the freedoms provided by that select few. Unfortunately, 76% of our population acknowledges that they have no idea what our veterans are going through because they just don’t know any veterans. That is wrong and must be addressed.
I remain concerned about the future of our great nation and want to ensure our kids and grandkids enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy today. As Ronald Reagan reminded us, freedom is only one generation removed from extinction. Let’s use today to reflect on those freedoms and commit to do everything we can to maintain them for generations to come.
* * *
Rick Lynch was privileged to serve 35 years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a Lieutenant General. During his time in the Army he commanded at all levels, from a platoon of 30 soldiers to a corps of 65,000. His last job in the Army was commanding all U.S. Army installations, with a workforce of 120,000. He now is the President of R. Lynch Enterprises, focused on building concerned, caring, adaptive leaders across our nation. He is the author of &#8220;Adapt or Die,&#8221; &#8220;Work Hard, Pray Hard,&#8221; and &#8220;We&#8217;re Not Robots.&#8221;
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Correction: A previous version stated that the author had deployed to Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Kosovo after 9/11. Those conflicts took place before 9/11. The correction has been made.

World Trade Center Attacked

I Was An Army Commander On 9/11. I’m Still Concerned About America’s Readiness.

I Was An Army Commander On 9/11. I'm Still Concerned About America’s Readiness.

Pentagon

Radical Islamic Terror

U.S. Army

U.S. Military

It’s difficult to believe that 24 years have passed since that fateful September morning in 2001 when a group of radical Islamic terrorists slammed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a rural field in Pennsylvania, murdering 2,977 innocent people.
So much had changed in New York City in the years leading up to that day. The city had been rescued from the throes of an unprecedented period of violent crime and disorder, fueled by a crack epidemic that ran from the early 1980s into the early 1990s. But in the decade leading up to September 11, 2001, the Big Apple had blossomed into the safest big city in the world. Businesses were flourishing. Tourism was booming. There was an atmosphere of safety and law and order in the streets. New York City was once again the mecca of the western world. I saw it happen and it was a beautiful thing to watch.
Under the leadership of Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton the NYPD was transformed from a rudderless, leaderless, reactionary force of report takers with no direction into an organized army of crime fighters who identified and attacked high-crime areas with a zero-tolerance policy, targeting hardcore crooks and putting them behind bars where they belong. I was a proud member of that army. It took a lot of blood sweat and tears to reduce crime to levels no one would have imagined just eight years earlier.
The city was like a shiny, old, classic car. It had a few dents and even a few ugly rust spots but the engine was humming and millions of citizens, tourists and businesses were riding around with the top down enjoying the sweet music and the cool breeze blowing through their hair. And then, on 9/11, when those planes smashed into our city, it felt like a cinderblock crashing through the windshield of that classic car.
I was at home that morning, getting ready for work when the first tower was struck at 8:46 AM. I was a Detective Lieutenant in the NYPD’s Intelligence Division. My first thought was that the plane striking the North Tower was an accident. Then, 17 minutes later, the second plane struck and there was no doubt we were under attack. I grabbed my suit jacket and raced toward the city.
I met up with a few members of my team on the side of the highway. We piled into one car and headed for Manhattan. There was no conversation. We drove in silence, listening to the frenzied traffic on our portable radios and the haunting, gut-wrenching transmissions of our fellow officers already on the scene pleading for help, some coughing and wheezing in the rubble, perhaps taking their last breaths. It was heartbreaking.
<div id="attachment_971053" style="width: 857px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-971053" class="size-large wp-image-971053" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1376061-847x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK CITY - SEPTEMBER 11: (FILE PHOTO) (PUERTO RICO OUT) This is a view from West Broadway Avenue of the downtown Manhattan area of the World Trade Center towers after they were hit by two planes during a terrorist attack September 11, 2001 in New York City. (Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora via Getty Images) ***PUERTO RICO OUT ****" width="847" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1376061-847x576.jpg 847w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1376061-300x204.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1376061-768x522.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1376061.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 847px) 100vw, 847px" />Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora via Getty Images</div>
As we approached the Queens Midtown tunnel, we saw the North Tower crumble and disappear from the skyline. It was another cinderblock crashing through the windshield of our classic car. I was seething.
We raced down the FDR drive headed south toward the Trade Center where we came upon a ghostly parade of terrified people covered in grey dust running north in the opposite direction we were headed. One of the guys in the car with me mumbled, “I think we’re going the wrong way.” I turned to him and snapped, “No. We’re going the right way.”
We eventually came to a stop just south of the Brooklyn Bridge because the FDR Drive had become an apocalyptic parking lot jammed with abandoned cars. We set out on foot crossing over from the FDR Drive to the side streets where we flagged down an empty ambulance and asked the driver to take us as close to the Trade Center as possible. We climbed into the back and slammed the door shut. As we moved through the narrow streets of downtown, the small rectangular window in the back of the ambulance only grew darker and then the ambulance stopped. This was as far as the driver could take us.
When we spilled out onto Broadway, it was like landing on another planet. Dust was flying everywhere. There was a 6-inch layer of ash, papers and personal belongings blanketing the streets. There was a ceiling of toxic smoke hovering over downtown like a London fog. The carnage was all around us. But the thing I remember most were the shoes. Maybe because I knew they were once connected to people. I wondered if they had run out of them and escaped or if their owners were crushed and burning in the rubble. As we wandered aimlessly in a pack, toward what was once the North and South towers, it was hard to fathom what we were seeing. In some places there were 10 story sections of buildings leaning up against other buildings. Fire trucks and cars were crushed beneath the smoldering rubble. We came upon a turbine from one of the planes near the corner of Murray and Church Streets. Further down the block was a piece of the landing gear.
As we wound through the streets, we could hear and feel the rumble of explosions beneath our feet. I imagined it was gas tanks of buried cars exploding beneath the fiery rubble until we encountered a pack of dust-covered firemen wandering around like we were. They warned us the explosions were manhole covers being blown up into the air by the pressure and heat of the fires raging below us and urged us to stay on the sidewalks to avoid being killed. So, we heeded their advice, breathing in the dust, trudging through the debris looking for survivors or people in need of help but only the dead beneath the rubble remained.
<div id="attachment_971055" style="width: 841px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-971055" class="size-large wp-image-971055" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1201348346-831x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 11: The streets of downtown New York are covered in debris after both World Trade Towers collapsed from a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)" width="831" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1201348346-831x576.jpg 831w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1201348346-300x208.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1201348346-768x533.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1201348346.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 831px) 100vw, 831px" />Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images</div>
As the afternoon wore on, and communications began to settle down, we got more organized. We eventually helped set up a makeshift morgue in the lobby of a building a few blocks north of the smoldering Trade Center. I don’t recall how many bodies came in. It wasn’t more than a few. But the one I remember most was Father Mychal Judge, the Chaplain of the New York City Fire Department. Five brave, somber, exhausted firemen carried his limp body into the lobby. They knelt down and prayed over him. It was a very moving. He had been struck by debris in the Lobby of the North Tower when the South Tower had collapsed.
By the afternoon, we were deployed up to Greenwich Street, several blocks north of Building 7 where we helped set up a perimeter to keep unauthorized people out of the area. We had a clear view of the 47-story building 7 and the fire raging halfway up inside. At 5:20 PM the building began to tremble. The windows popped across it like bubble wrap. The mighty building shook one last time and then fell straight down into itself sending a cloud of dust tumbling in our direction. The worst of the cloud dissipated before it could reach us. Watching that building fall was the final gut punch. I was so angry and so sad. It was hard to wrap my head around everything we had seen and heard that day. It still is 24 years later.
Every year, when this tragic anniversary rolls around, we hear the common mantra “Never Forget.” And it is true, we should never forget. But for the other 364 days of the year, many of them, especially those on the left, wake up every day trying to find new ways to divide us.
That’s why I prefer the phrase, “Always Remember.”
Always remember the sense of patriotism and unity we felt in the days, weeks, months and years that followed this tragedy.
Always remember how people from all different walks of life, strangers, came together and rallied around each other in ways I had never seen in my lifetime.
Always remember the caravans of civilians and first responders from all over the country who poured into the city with trucks, saws, and heavy equipment or just their hands and hearts begging to help with the rescue and recovery operations.
But most importantly, always remember the heroes, first responders and civilians alike, many of whom lost their lives, rushing into those buildings to save their fellow human beings, never for a second considering the race, religion, creed or sexual orientation of those they were trying to save.
Hate lost that day. 24 years later, however, it’s making a comeback. But if we just take the time to remember those things that united us, hate doesn’t have a chance.
* * *
John Dove is a retired NYPD Detective Lieutenant and the former co-executive producer of “CSI-NY” starring Gary Sinise.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Septmber 11, 2001

I Was An NYPD Detective On 9/11. This Is What I Saw.

Always Remember: A Former NYPD Officer Reflects On 9/11, 24 Years Later

Islamic Jihad

NYPD

Police

The Left has decided that they are done with normal male masculinity. 

Democrats are learning that soy is not a nutritional base for all things.
They’re learning this from Zohran Mamdani, who is likely the next mayor of New York City.
Democrats have been claiming that he&#8217;s the hot new thing in the Democratic Party, that he will lead the way to a bright new socialist future for America, starting with the most powerful financial capital on planet Earth.
But since we’re speaking about power, about a supposed socialist “strongman” in Zohran Mamdani, we should note that he’s going to be hard-pressed to be a strongman.
On Saturday, Mamdani showed up at the annual Men&#8217;s Day Open Streets event in Brooklyn, where a bunch of dudes were weight-lifting. Mamdani is 33, in the prime of life, and <a href="https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1959432709224435823?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1959432709224435823%7Ctwgr%5E7601b39cb46b542c1c7c113cc55412bc04dbd7ca%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2025%2F08%2F23%2Fus-news%2Fzohran-mamdani-fails-to-bench-press-meagre-weight-while-trying-to-show-off-at-annual-mens-day-in-brooklyn%2F">tried to bench a bar</a> with two reputed 45-pound weights, a total of 135 pounds.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Lolll Mamdani tried showing off at a “men’s day” event by doing the bench press and couldn’t do a single rep without help <a href="https://t.co/JNG2SLBfI9">pic.twitter.com/JNG2SLBfI9</a>
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1959432709224435823?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @LibsofTikTok/X
If you are going to do something like this and you&#8217;re a public figure, you’d better know your limitations.
There must have been some time in his life when Mamdani was in a gym.
Maybe not.
If you don&#8217;t know how much you can bench-press, a public event in front of a giant crowd of people in the middle of a mayoral race is not a great time to try it out.
Let’s be clear: a decent amount of weight for a man to bench in the prime of his life is his own body weight. Mamdani looks like he weighs more than 135 pounds.
In any case, 135 pounds is not a lot of weight to bench-press.
For the record, I&#8217;m not a bench-press enthusiast; I max out at around 200 pounds. But I can lift 135 pounds 15 times, because that&#8217;s not a lot of weight.
So Mamdani had a heavily-muscled guy helping him try to lift the bar. Twice. They barely made it.
When he kicked a stranger’s soccer ball at the event, Mamdani had to take off his designer boots.
For the vast majority of normal men, this would be very, very embarrassing.
But the Left has decided that they are done with normal male masculinity. 
Done With It.
They have decided that the future of the Democratic Party is going to be an extraordinarily feminized party, not just because an outsized share of Democrats are now single women, but also because the kinds of men the Democratic Party wants to attract are not the kinds of men who lift heavy weights.
This is why you&#8217;ve seen, over the course of the last several years, a spate of articles talking about how lifting and going to the gym has become Republican-coded. There&#8217;s no reason it should be Republican-coded, except if you mean that testosterone is Republican-coded, and the idea that you should stay healthy and that you should lift is Republican-coded.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2266-the-ben-shapiro-show?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
This leads to this question: Why would someone want this kind of weak and feminized America?
The media clearly do. There&#8217;s a piece from Axios titled, “<a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/08/24/trump-american-identity-citizenship-immigration">Trump’s Identity Project</a>.” They write:
<blockquote>The MAGA movement&#8217;s obsession with American identity and Western civilization is shaping federal policy far more than in Trump&#8217;s first term — fueling a reckoning over who belongs and what history should be remembered. </blockquote>
I have a question: Why shouldn&#8217;t we all be a little obsessed with American identity in Western civilization? I thought that&#8217;s what America is about: what it means to be an American. A huge part of that is being the apotheosis of Western civilization. 
What are we supposed to represent? Non-Western civilizations, Third-World civilizations?
Axios continues, “In MAGA&#8217;s telling, America is the heir to ancient European civilizations, built on a Judeo-Christian foundation of white identity, meritocracy, traditional gender roles and the nuclear family.”
Notice how they slide in “white identity.” The idea of a Judeo-Christian foundation of white identity is a bizarre amalgam of two exclusive beliefs. Judeo-Christian identity is absolutely, by definition, not white identity.  Look at the history of the Catholic Church. Look at the history of Protestantism. Look at the billions of Christians all over planet Earth. And you tell me, are they all white? I don&#8217;t think so. Judaism is a Middle Eastern religion. It began in Israel, and plenty of Jews have dark skin.
Monotheistic religion is, by its very nature, non-racially based.
American identity, Axios and the media are telling me, has nothing to do with Biblical values, meritocracy, traditional gender roles, and the nuclear family.
That would come as a shock to every single one of the American founders.
Meritocracy, for the Left and the media, is apparently all about racism. But you cannot simultaneously hold to a belief in a meritocracy and to a belief in white identitarianism. Those two things are mutually exclusive. If you are for a meritocracy, that means that the person who is most meritorious, regardless of color, is the person who should get the job, who should advance in society.
Traditional gender roles are a part of Judeo-Christian foundations, of Biblical belief, and a foundational part of science, because it happens to be the case that men and women are different.
This is why dudes are making fun of Zohran Mamdani for not being able to lift as much as a pregnant lady could. There is something bizarrely effeminate about Mamdani’s performance.
It&#8217;s strange and it&#8217;s weird — and Democrats love it.
Perhaps they&#8217;re into the sort of androgynous Mamdani candidacy.
All of this does speak to the Democratic Party and the move to the Left that is being fostered by this effete set of liberals at places like Axios or in the New York City primary.
The results of this are very clear. If you get rid of things like biblical values, traditional masculinity, and the nuclear family, what do you end up with?
It’s not something most Americans want.

MixCollage-25-Aug-2025-01-57-PM-2771

Mamdani Can’t Lift. Unsurprising.

Ben Shapiro

Democratic Socialism

Elections

Mayor

Opinion

weightlifting

According to polls, the increased amount of support for New York Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is coming from people under the age of 35. 
Mamdani has never held a real job in his entire life. If you were looking for the definition of a career useless person, this would be the guy. 
You might say to yourself: How does a person with effectively no résumé, who worked for his mommy and was a rapper, wind up as the Democratic nominee in New York City?
But to misunderstand that is to misunderstand everything about Gen Z.
I&#8217;m not a politician, so I don&#8217;t have to pretend that the concerns of Gen Z are legitimate. I understand that if you&#8217;re a politician, then you have to placate people when they emotionally explain to you why their life is so difficult. Sometimes people do have difficult lives with real challenges in the world.
But when I hear from Gen Z that the American dream is dead to them, all I can think of is this: You have got to be kidding me.
I&#8217;ve read many pieces over the last couple of years now that Gen Z has it tougher than any generation in modern history. I thought to myself, “I&#8217;m going to vomit.”
How many serious wars have they had to live through? Zero. Zero serious terrorist attacks. They have lived in the most prosperous time in human history and the healthiest time in human history.
But because their rent is too high in New York City, while they concomitantly hold some sort of nonprofit jobs, they whine.
I don&#8217;t mean everyone in Gen Z complains without reason — there are many people who are suffering, who have a disease, who have health problems, who have been dealt a rough hand by life.
Those are not the people I&#8217;m talking about.
The generational complaint that somehow Gen Z has it worse than the millennials or Gen X or the boomers, or the Greatest Generation, ignores literally all of American history, all of it.
But if you&#8217;re a politician, you can make bank by pretending that these people have legitimate concerns and they&#8217;re not just being ungrateful and bratty. For these folks, Mamdani is an avatar.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2259-nyc-s-whiny-brats-pick-a-mayor?elementPosition=5&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
He has no resume. He grew up absolutely loaded with wealth, and currently is taking advantage of a rent-controlled apartment in New York City. He is currently living in a rent-stabilized apartment where the rent is $2,500 a month. The market rate would be $8,000 per month. He earns $147,000 a year and is campaigning on housing affordability in New York City.
You might think to yourself, “That&#8217;s crazy. How are all of these socialists in New York City supporting somebody who&#8217;s so clearly a hypocrite?”
But that misses the point: So many folks in America look to their politicians as aspirational figures. I think a lot of people who love President Trump view him as an aspirational figure, somebody who&#8217;s very wealthy and very powerful, somebody who&#8217;s made more of himself than otherwise he might have had at the beginning. Yes, he grew up rich, but he made himself into a brand name available all across the world for literally decades, and then became President of the United States twice.
It&#8217;s an aspirational thing.
But what if the Gen Z aspiration is to be a career loser who lives off of their parents’ income until they get some sort of cush government job living in a rent-stabilized apartment? What if that is the actual aspiration? What if people look up to Zohran Mamdani not in spite of the fact that he is a loser, but because he is a loser?
A lot of New Yorkers now have jobs and backgrounds very similar to Mamdani’s.
And this is the central point. 
Armin Rosen noted in <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/zohran-mamdanis-fantasy-island">Tablet Magazine</a>:
<blockquote>New York is thought of as the sink-or-swim epicenter of American capitalism, but that’s not true anymore. The city is home to more than 600,000 jobs in <a href="https://www.osc.ny.gov/files/reports/pdf/critical-role-of-nonprofits-in-new-york.pdf">the nonprofit sector </a>and a roughly equal number of <a href="https://dol.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2025/08/new-york-city.pdf">jobs in government</a>. Nonprofits now employ nearly 17 percent of the city’s total private-sector workforce, compared to 10 percent nationally. Wage growth in the nonprofit sector healthily outpaced the rest of the private sector statewide in New York between 2017 and 2022, 29.3 to 25.3 percent.</blockquote>
Wage growth in New York City is healthy because it&#8217;s all done off of government grants.
All of those nonprofits are not independently raising their money. They&#8217;re getting money from the government. Thus, they&#8217;re effectively second-order government employees.
When you look at the stats in New York, you understand just why Mamdani is so successful. You have well over 50% of the population that is working for some sort of government-orchestrated, government-organized, or government-funded segment of the economy.
In other words, the people who are getting money from the government are not the people who are paying for the government. They&#8217;re all Zohran Mamdani types. They&#8217;re living off the largesse of government.
Meanwhile, all of the rent across New York City has been rent-stabilized. 50% of all of the units across New York City have been rent-stabilized. One million units have been rent-stabilized, which means that there&#8217;s an artificially low supply of new construction in New York City. That means the prices go up. 
Mamdani is complaining about “affordability.” It should be pointed out that it&#8217;s all left-wing policies that made things unaffordable. Additionally, of the people who are in New York City trying to afford those rent-controlled, rent-stabilized apartments, a huge number of them are on the government dole, so they are earning from both ends. The government is stabilizing their rent, and at the same time, the government is likely subsidizing their salary.
This is why I&#8217;m irritated when I hear from Gen Z about how tough things are in places like New York.
We should point out that there has been this mindset that has settled in among the American population that you are supposed to die where you were born. 
This is not a typically American idea. There are people on the Right who believe this. There are people on the Left who believe this. But it is not a traditional American idea. The traditional American idea, if you go back to the very beginning, was to cross an ocean with nothing to guarantee what was going to happen. People went into the wilderness, built a crappy house, and tried to start a business. And if that didn&#8217;t work, they would abandon that place and move further to the west, across mountain ranges, across rivers.
That was the original American idea.
Traditionally, when it was too expensive to live in a place, Americans went somewhere else.
But Americans are not doing that anymore. Instead, the reason so many New Yorkers seem warm on socialism is that many New Yorkers are already living a form of socialism. They are living the Zohran Mamdani lifestyle, where they are being supported by the government in a wide variety of ways, ranging from the regulatory to the actual subsidy.
So when they say things are so hard in New York City, and the answer is more redistribution from the people who are earning all of the income and paying all the taxes, the answer should be NO.
At some point, there&#8217;s going to have to be a call for some level of responsibility on the part of young people.
I grew up in a 1,100 square-foot house with one bathroom and shared a bedroom with my three sisters until I was eleven. I did have the ultimate privilege: a solid two-parent household.
And you know what? It was a fine life. I&#8217;m grateful for that life.
I&#8217;m telling this story because there is this dumb assumption that if you talk about mobility in America and the capacity of people to make smart decisions and to make the kinds of moves that will be necessary to achieve success, the immediate accusation is that it was only true for you, it&#8217;s not true for anybody else.
But it&#8217;s not only true for me. It is true for a huge majority of Americans. If you make smart decisions in America, and if you stop whining for five seconds, and if you go out and make better decisions for yourself, you can make a better life for yourself.
So many politicians make bank off this idea that America is dying, that the American dream is dying. Who does better because of that?
Politicians.
This is how they gain power, because every time they fail, they turn around and they say, “The system has failed. Give me more power.”
This is how you end up with Zohran Mamdani or Bernie Sanders.
It&#8217;s not going to work out for anyone who believes this garbage. It&#8217;s not going to work out for the city of New York. It&#8217;s not going to work out for the country.
The only person who can make your life better in the end is you. You are the person who makes your life better, not Mamdani, not Bernie Sanders.
Most Americans are not dreaming of a government job, making a decent salary, and living in a rent-stabilized apartment.
That is not the American dream.
It never was.

NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Holds Press Conf. On Political Opponents

NYC’s Whiny Brats Pick A Mayor

Democrats

Federal Government

Gen Z

Leftists

Renters

New York City Mayor Eric Adams proposed a new law on Thursday that would make it easier to get drug addicts safely off the streets and into treatment.
The “Compassionate Interventions Act” <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/633-25/mayor-adams-new-proposal-further-support-new-yorkers-struggling-substance-use">would</a> allow doctors to involuntarily commit drug addicts in New York City.
If the law passes, a doctor would be able to bring someone &#8220;who appears to pose a danger to themselves or others due to substance use&#8221; to a hospital and allow a judge to mandate treatment if the person is unwilling to enter treatment voluntarily.
Public drug use on city streets &#8220;degrades quality of life and leaves a feeling of disorder among many city residents,&#8221; Adams&#8217; office said in a press release.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Today, we&#8217;re launching our &#8216;End Culture of Anything Goes&#8217; campaign to improve quality of life and support all those struggling on our streets.
We&#8217;ve made great strides to change the culture and laws preventing people with severe mental illness from getting the help they needed. <a href="https://t.co/bnuPywvBzd">pic.twitter.com/bnuPywvBzd</a>
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/1954875741851537823?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A total of 37 other states <a href="https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/research-studies/addiction-research/involuntary-commitment?utm_source=chatgpt.com">allow</a> drug addicts to be involuntarily committed.
&#8220;While we have made our system work better to address severe mental illness and homelessness, we often hear from New Yorkers that there are still too many people in need of help,&#8221; Adams said in a statement.
This week, Adams launched his &#8220;End Culture of Anything Goes&#8221; campaign aimed at cracking down on drugs and homelessness in the Big Apple.
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&#8220;Our administration refuses to turn our backs on New Yorkers in need, and with today’s announcement, we’re laying out a vision that will help get everyone the support they need. In the name of public safety, public health, and the public interest, we must rally to help those in crisis because ‘anything goes’ is worse than nothing at all,&#8221; the mayor said.
Also on Thursday, Adams announced he would invest another $27 million in substance abuse treatment, including more teams on the ground that engage with drug addicts and new programs to help people finish treatment once they start.
New York City struggles with pockets of drug addiction, such as &#8220;The Hub&#8221; in the Bronx.
The South Bronx area around Roberto Clemente Plaza is home to harrowing scenes of dozens of drug addicts shooting up in public, sometimes spilling blood onto the sidewalk, then tweaking and standing doubled over while drug dealers sell their wares brazenly in broad daylight nearby, all while trash and needles pile up.
A total of 366 &#8220;active substance users&#8221; were <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/12/24/us-news/bronxs-the-hub-is-drug-riddled-business-as-usual-after-post-exposes-junkie-wasteland/">recorded</a> last fall when the NYPD, sanitation workers, and health department workers teamed up to try to clean up &#8220;The Hub.&#8221;
The city teams arrested 35 people and put 47 people in homeless shelters, but the area remains a hot spot for public drug use to this day.

Homelessness On The Rise In New York

NYC Mayor Eric Adams Proposes Law To Involuntarily Commit Drug Addicts

Eric Adams Proposes Law To Involuntarily Commit Drug Addicts

Drugs

Eric Adams

Homelessness

New York

How is it possible that Jews in New York could support a mayoral candidate that labels Israel genocidal and calls for the “intifada to be globalized?”
The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/nyregion/zohran-mamdani-jewish-voters-gaza.html">New York Times</a> would have us believe that there are many such Jews. I have trouble believing anything the NYT prints on this subject given the overwhelming evidence that they lie, distort and manipulate when it comes to Jews and Israel, as proven by their recent story about starving children in Gaza based on an altered photo, and their infamous lie about a bombed hospital in October 2023. So, it’s no surprise that in their Mamdani story, two of the five Jews interviewed work for the Mamdani campaign.
Even without such distortion, however, it is true that some Jews voted for Mamdani in the Democrat primary, and will vote for him again in the general election. 
I am an Orthodox Jewish film director, author and influencer, which is to say, a visible Jew both on the street and online. So, I’ve been getting asked, “What’s the story with your fellow Jews? How could they vote for a man who hates Israel and hates the Jews?”
To understand this, you first need to know something about Jews, namely, that we’re all different. We’ve been around for so long, and lived in so many countries, and fallen into so many different categories, that there is no such thing as a typical Jew.
Non-Jews, whether they love us or hate us, tend to lump us all together. They’re not entirely wrong because we’re not primarily a religion or a nationality – we’re a family. Now, every family contains different types of and categories of people, but the family remains distinct because relatives resemble each other physically, intellectually, temperamentally and spiritually.
Jews are not only a family, but we are also uniquely bound to God through the Torah and its system of commandments, as well as our shared destiny and connection to the Holy Land of Israel. The question is, why would a Jew who inherits our unbroken wisdom tradition stretching back 3,700 years turn his back on it?
Some chafe at the demands of the commandments. Others simply think they have a better idea, be it a credo they dreamed up or an “ism” to which they subscribed. And some turn their backs on our family to fit in at work, school, cocktail parties or online.
In seeking to curry favor with the Jew-hating mob, these Jews do enormous harm.
They often open their statements about Israel with, “As a Jew…” and then they parrot lies about Israel fabricated by the Gaza Ministry of Health, an entity created by Hamas to serve as the media arm of their terrorist organization. One glance at a fact-based website like StandWithUs.com, or even at a simple map of the region renders the bulk of these lies comically inept. After all, how can one Jewish state among 56 Muslim countries – most of which were not Muslim before the sword brought Islam to their lands – be labeled the “colonizer?”
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Statistically, Jews are well-educated, high-achieving and score above average on IQ tests. Why then do some Jews fall for these obvious fabrications? One reason is that siding with Jew-haters against Israel makes them feel virtuous, and we must never underestimate the power of feeling virtuous. That feeling is so addictive that they indulge in it even at the cost of lives: when the As-a-Jews speak out against Israel and get quoted by the enemies of Israel, they strengthen the hearts of Hamas terrorists.
Senior Hamas official <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2025/08/03/palestinian-state-is-one-of-the-fruits-of-october-7-emboldened-hamas-credits-its-violence-for-gains-as-released-hostage-video-spurs-outcry/">Ghazi Hamad</a> said on Al Jazeera that the recent push by multiple nations to recognize Palestine as a state is the fruit of October 7. In other words, their plan is working. Why would any government reward a terrorist state for the murder and rape of Israeli civilians? Because Hamas claims, “Israel commits genocide, and even the Jews admit it.” And as long as that plan is working, Hamas will keep firing rockets from their children’s bedrooms so they can shriek with victim-glee when Israel inevitably counter strikes. This is how the Hamas death cult operates. This is the modern version of that ancient evil, child sacrifice.
And the murderous phase of the present cycle is lasting longer than it would otherwise because those As-a-Jews give cover to our enemies. Their virtue-signaling costs lives.
Now let us recall that despite our family resemblances, Jews are all different. Most Jews are not As-a-Jews.
In my <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/u-s-jews-connections-with-and-attitudes-toward-israel/">Orthodox community</a>, Jews are overwhelmingly supportive of Israel, even when they disagree with its government, and we also oppose communism, socialism, and any &#8220;ism&#8221; that privileges people based on their genes rather than merit. In this time of elevated danger to the Jewish people, we’re also profoundly grateful to live in a country that rejects antisemitism like every other racism, and to have allies who can see through Hamas/Iran lies about Israel. Increasingly, we’re also exercising our Second Amendment right to bear arms – with care and training – to protect our families. God forbid the Jew haters who daily chant violence against us come to kill us, we will not be a soft target.
The percentage of Jews who subscribe to these societal views drops significantly when we look at Jews in non-Orthodox denominations, collectively known as liberal Judaism. This term should not be confused with liberal politics, because there are many religiously liberal Jews who are politically conservative. It’s true that religiously liberal Jews do tend to be politically liberal but even so, they are not Mamdani Jews. If they’re affiliated with a synagogue, they tend to support Israel and feel a visceral connection to the Jewish people.
Mamdani Jews are usually those who’ve untethered themselves from Torah entirely. Either they’ve never been exposed to Judaism, or they’re actively against it. They’ll give many reasons why, but their disconnection allows them to generate their own system of morality, and to fit in with the Jew-haters who lionize them. At least for a while. Historically, such Jews get attacked in the end just like the rest of their family.
The Jew-haters offer new and different reasons for their hatred in every generation: we’re too stand-offish or we’re too assimilated, we’re too rich or we’re too poor, we’re stateless or we have a Jewish state. Perhaps the simplest reason is that we’ve lived in exile for so long, that we’ve learned how to arrive on a new shore, identify what success looks like in that culture, and attain it in one generation, even while retaining our ancient traditions and transmitting them to our children. Invariably, we succeed by contributing to the nation that hosts us.
The Mamdani Jews go awry because they jettison the guard rails of Torah and tradition while retaining otherwise positive Jewish qualities like studiousness, generosity of heart, and sympathy for the underdog. Without the Torah’s holistic system for living, these lovely traits can cause an individual’s moral system to skid off the rails and cause great harm.
This process is summed up by an old adage: one who is kind to the cruel will end up being cruel to the kind. In this case, Mamdani Jews support the Hamas death cult because they’re moved by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-hamas-photo-propaganda-dupes-the-west-and-fuels-bds?author=Alyssa+Rosenheck&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=72&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=How+Hamas+Photo+Propaganda+Dupes+The+West+And+Fuels+BDS">pictures</a> of sickly children, and they shut their eyes to the evidence that the sickly child’s well-fed siblings have been cropped out by cynical terrorists and their willing accomplices in the media. The result is more innocent lives lost, not less.
We try desperately to open the eyes of our brethren to these facts, yet they remain clenched shut.
Perhaps they keep their eyes shut because if they were to absorb these facts, they would have to open their eyes to many more. They’d have to make an accounting of their choices in a life untethered from Torah and Jewish tradition – a fearless moral inventory – and such a process is not for the faint of heart.
I pray these Mamdani Jews will remember who they are, and the family they come from, before our enemies force them to remember with a globalized intifada. In the meantime, I hope the rest of the family will join our allies and vote against <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/zohran-mamdani-and-the-jews-14af43f4?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAiXzeTg6rT_DtLVtkWHw22Y7q0ybjI7ZcoEh0OYYjwlT5NyVSaIVojQJVPeQu0%3D&amp;gaa_ts=689cb022&amp;gaa_sig=lT5KNgm62Sfsp4Z8hzGOleVUIcosspzZlBFzbQN9sOr_1OBrZLQwnJiF8THoYFxy3dKjy7fyQE7t-62e3mVs5g%3D%3D">Mamdani</a> because he is an enemy of the Jews, meritocracy, Israel, and America.
* * *
Salvador Litvak is the director of &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnkqomKfd90">Guns &amp; Moses</a>,&#8221; coming back to theaters across America <a href="https://www.fathomentertainment.com/releases/guns-moses/">Sept. 7-11</a>, and the author of his bestselling book, &#8220;Let My People Laugh: Greatest Jewish Jokes of All Time!&#8221; Learn more at <a href="http://salvadorlitvak.com/">salvadorlitvak.com</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Holds News Conference

Why Would A Jew Vote For Mamdani?

Anti-Semitism

Intifada

Jewish

Pro-Hamas

The last running hotel-turned-migrant shelter in New York City is set to close in April.
The Row Hotel, which was also the first to be <a href="https://abc7ny.com/post/asylum-seekers-migrants-immigration-nyc-migrant/12323493/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">converted</a> into a migrant shelter in 2022, is located a block away from Times Square. Housing migrants in the luxury property’s 1,300 units costs the city $5.13 million a month.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Monday that the city would not renew its contract with Rockpoint Group, which owns the establishment.
He called the closure a “major milestone in our administration’s recovery from this international humanitarian crisis,” in a statement to the <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/immigration/3496193/major-new-york-hotel-migrant-shelter-ends-city-contract-eric-adams/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Washington Examiner</a>.
“Three years ago, thousands of migrants and asylum seekers began streaming into our city every week — and the Adams administration stepped up.”
“We opened hundreds of emergency migrant shelters to ensure no family slept on the street. Since then, we have successfully helped more than 200,000 migrants leave our shelter system and take the next step toward self-sufficiency,” Adams continued.
At its <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/09/us-news/nyc-to-shut-down-last-migrant-hotel-after-shelling-out-170-million-to-crime-ridden-shelter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peak</a>, New York City was running 220 migrant shelters. In 2024, 80% of its 193 operating shelters were former hotels.
“We have skillfully and humanely managed a national humanitarian crisis — and have done what no other city could do,” he added.
The Row has become a hotspot for crime and chaos, with numerous recorded <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/09/us-news/nyc-to-shut-down-last-migrant-hotel-after-shelling-out-170-million-to-crime-ridden-shelter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">incidents</a> of attacks against NYPD officers by residents who are members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
City residents are celebrating the closure and the end of mass sheltering.
“Hallelujah. I’m happy that it’s happening,” said a resident of The Camelot apartment complex across the street. “We pay a lot of money to live here, and it doesn’t seem fair.”
“There are people sitting here all day, littering, leaving food waste, water bottles,” the resident said. “A lot of them have children, and there are women sitting around here smoking weed all day, the children are just playing on the street, on the bike lanes.”
One security guard said he started wearing a wedding ring because he’s been propositioned twice by migrant prostitutes staying at the hotel.
The closures come as President Donald Trump’s immigration policies have reduced illegal border crossings by over <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/3411740/border-crisis-illegal-immigration-pete-flores-hearing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">99%</a>. CNN recently <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1952065321889902682" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> the United States will reach negative net migration in 2025, for the first time in 50 years.
The 3,400 current residents of the Row will be moved to the city’s traditional shelter system, according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/nyregion/migrants-row-hotel-nyc.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Times</a>.
A spokesman for the mayor’s office noted that the city government has also “purchased more than 65,000 tickets to help migrants exit the shelter system and reach their preferred destinations.”
The mayor’s office also noted that of the migrants already in New York, 110,000 asylum applications have been processed so far, accounting for over 90% of those eligible.
That levels out to $3950 a unit, a few hundred dollars above the <a href="https://www.realtor.com/advice/rent/cheapest-new-york-city-roommate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">average</a> monthly rate for a single room in NYC.

US-MIGRANTS-NEWYORK

New York City To Close Last Remaining Hotel Migrant Shelter As Illegal Immigration Plummets

Illegal Immigration

Migrants

I still see his face every time I think of Washington Square Park: a stranger who was unapologetically pro-Hamas and made clear that he cheered the October 7 massacre in Israel.
As an Olympian on Israel’s bobsled team — a team with both Jewish and Arab athletes — I decided to engage with the public following the horrific events of October 7, 2023.
So, on October 15, 2023, I spent eight hours in a folding chair in New York City’s Washington Square Park. I placed a table in front of me with a sign that called Hamas a brutal terror organization and Israel a force for good. “Change my mind,&#8221; the sign read. Passersby questioned Israel’s right to defend itself, some even denied the brutality of Hamas. I spent the day dismantling every excuse for terror. I met them all with history, with personal testimonies, and with the same grit I bring to my Olympic training. Almost no one came by to actually defend Hamas, but most were almost exclusively anti-Israel.
<div id="attachment_958343" style="width: 417px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-958343" class="wp-image-958343 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-407x576.jpg" alt="Credit: AJ Edleman" width="407" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-407x576.jpg 407w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-212x300.jpg 212w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-768x1086.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-1086x1536.jpg 1086w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-1448x2048.jpg 1448w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-29-PM-4687-scaled.jpg 1810w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 407px) 100vw, 407px" />Credit: AJ Edleman</div>
<div id="attachment_958345" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-958345" class="wp-image-958345 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-384x576.jpg" alt="Credit: AJ Edleman" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-27-PM-7656-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Credit: AJ Edleman</div>
But then, as the day was coming to a close, a man and his girlfriend approached the table. He was hot. Mad. Angry. He didn’t plead with a nuanced argument or context. He didn&#8217;t come to debate over Israel, he came to both defend Hamas and justify the attacks on October 7. It was deserved, you see. The natural reaction to Israel&#8217;s actions.
For over a decade, I have debated with all kinds of people on the topic of Israel. And there are some occasions when the feeling you are left with is far more powerful than the words the person used. I have hosted over a dozen events just like this one. And after debating hundreds of individuals, I can say that while I may forget the talking points, I can usually remember the overall feeling. This was just such an occasion. I could feel his hatred. This man hated who I was. What I was.
<div id="attachment_958347" style="width: 417px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-958347" class="size-large wp-image-958347" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-407x576.jpg" alt="Credit: David Zimand" width="407" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-407x576.jpg 407w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-212x300.jpg 212w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-768x1086.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-1086x1536.jpg 1086w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-1448x2048.jpg 1448w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-02-31-PM-4724-scaled.jpg 1810w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 407px) 100vw, 407px" />Credit: David Zimand</div>
It was only as his story at Columbia University broke into the news that a photographer-friend who had taken a picture of our encounter messaged me to ask if I realized who that was shouting at my face back in Washington Square Park: It was Mahmoud Khalil and his now-wife standing behind him as she nodded along with what he said.
And here’s what gets me: The media elevate voices like his because they somehow echo part of the cultural anger. We cut them slack, grant them platforms, then pat ourselves on the back for “honest debate.” But is shouting like a cheerleader for genocide really “honest”? Or is it moral abdication?
We treat his bloodlust as just another datapoint in a “heated discussion.” We ignore that he stands for rejoicing in the death of children. We gloss over the fact that someone who rationalizes cold-blooded massacre is someone we wouldn’t let babysit our own kids. Yet the legacy media puts them on a rhetorical pedestal and hands them the microphone.
Why do we give leeway to a man whose heart harbors hatred we’d recoil from in our personal lives? Because we in the West neutralize his crime into a “viewpoint” — and pretend there’s no difference between demanding justice and celebrating murder.
This is the hate-validation fallacy: assuming that any hatred we share is enough to legitimize the most extreme expressions of it. The media embrace the worst apologists for atrocity, then wonder why society feels more fractured than ever. Somehow, when it comes to Israel, this fallacy is dialed up to 11.
Are we so starved for certainty that we’ll champion the vilest among us just to prove we’re right? When did we decide that the loudest hate gets respect, while decency gets dismissed as propaganda?
Hamas stands for exulting in death — of Jews and their own people. There is no moral middle ground. And anyone who celebrates terror doesn’t have a “perspective” worth quoting — they’re a warning sign of how low discourse can sink.
That day in Washington Square Park, I saw his contempt up close. I saw how easily we can excuse the worst people when they confirm our biases. And I knew: if we don’t draw a line here, we lose more than a debate — we lose our humanity.
So, the next time you see a genocide apologist splashed across your feed, ask yourself: am I amplifying truth or validating hate? Because there’s a world of difference between making a point and aiding a monster.
We owe it to ourselves — and to every innocent life — to choose wisely. Reject the hate-validation fallacy. Refuse to give hate a stage. And remember: some voices deserve nothing but silence.
* * *
A.J. Edelman is an Israeli Olympian and captain of Israel’s Edelman Bobsled Team, a mixed Jewish/Druze team training for the 2026 Olympic Games, and in line to become Israel&#8217;s first ever multi-sport Olympian. When not sliding down mountains he is a writer and commentator.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Washington Square Park

The Day I Met Mahmoud Khalil In Washington Square Park

antisemitism

Hamas

Israel

Jews

Mahmoud Khalil

October 7

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic socialist nominee for mayor of New York City, promised on Thursday that his administration would be President Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;worst nightmare.&#8221;
&#8220;My administration would be Donald Trump&#8217;s worst nightmare,&#8221; Mamdani said Thursday at a press conference.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve said that my approach to Washington will not be a reflexive one, it is one that will be in opposition to Donald Trump&#8217;s administration when it comes for New Yorkers, when it comes at the expense of the welfare of the people that I&#8217;m seeking to serve,&#8221; he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Commie Mamdani: “My administration would be Donald Trump&#8217;s worst nightmare.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/FfWkNL1LGW">pic.twitter.com/FfWkNL1LGW</a>
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/1953478303232254038?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Mamdani&#8217;s comments come as Trump is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/nyregion/trump-nyc-mayor-cuomo-adams-mamdani.html">reportedly</a> weighing getting involved in the Big Apple&#8217;s mayoral race to try and stop Mamdani from winning.
The New York state assemblyman representing parts of Queens won the Democratic primary in June in an upset that threw the New York City mayor&#8217;s race into chaos.
&#8220;What threatens the president so much about my campaign and our movement is the fact that it showcases the way in which he&#8217;s betrayed the very people that we are seeking to serve,&#8221; Mamdani said.
Mamdani said that Trump has not called him, and he accused his rival, former governor Andrew Cuomo, of working with Trump to defeat Mamdani.
&#8220;I will tell Donald Trump the same thing I&#8217;m telling you right now,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That&#8217;s what makes me different than Andrew Cuomo. Whatever I say on a sidewalk, I say in a press conference, I say in a board room, it&#8217;s the same agenda. It&#8217;s fighting for the same people. And I will make that case to everyone. What I will not do, however, is pick up the phone to call Donald Trump, to ask how we can work together to defeat the will of Democrats across this city. That&#8217;s what Andrew Cuomo did.&#8221;
Cuomo responded to the attack, saying Mamdani was &#8220;short on facts and long on nonsense.&#8221;
&#8220;And while I&#8217;m here, let&#8217;s be real- Donald Trump would go through you like a hot knife through butter. You would be a dream come true to the Republican party,&#8221; Cuomo posted on X.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
As usual, you&#8217;re short on facts and long on nonsense.
And while I’m here, let’s be real- Donald Trump would go through you like a hot knife through butter. You would be a dream come true to the Republican party <a href="https://t.co/f3152riFGC">https://t.co/f3152riFGC</a> <a href="https://t.co/MZY0CTXNJw">pic.twitter.com/MZY0CTXNJw</a>
— Andrew Cuomo (@andrewcuomo) <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewcuomo/status/1953229311147655530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;You don&#8217;t need to take me at my word or take Andrew Cuomo at his,&#8221; Mamdani said at the press conference. &#8220;You need only look at the actions of the Trump administration since I won the Democratic primary. How else can you describe a president who has proposed denaturalizing the Democratic nominee of New York City? How else can you describe a president who has sought to entertain suggestions of deporting me, of arresting me, of taking control of the city over the will of New Yorkers? Those are the actions of a president who is afraid of the fact that I will actually deliver in a manner where he has simply betrayed.&#8221;
Mamdani has described himself as a Democratic socialist and has previously called for the &#8220;abolition of private property&#8221; and &#8220;seizing the means of production,&#8221; key Marxist concepts.
He is running on a litany of controversial and expensive policies, including government-run grocery stores, free buses, free childcare, a rent freeze for more than two million New Yorkers living in rent-subsidized housing, and deploying mental health professionals rather than police in crises. Mamdani also wants to raise both income and corporate taxes.

US-CRIME-SHOOTING-MAMDANI

Mamdani Promises To Be Trump’s ‘Worst Nightmare’

Mamdani Promises To Be Trump’s 'Worst Nightmare'

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