January 2, 2026

MAMDANI: SOUTH AFRICA IS MODEL FOR NEW YORK.

The newly-minted Mayor had the stage, but graciously acknowledged that the real star was socialism. “I was elected as a Democratic Socialist and I will govern as a Democratic Socialist.” He hailed an “era of big government,” vowed to govern “expansively and audaciously” and said he would “set an example for the world.”

The grimace-cum-smile on Chuck Schumer’s face – sitting hostage-like behind the mayor, who he has yet to endorse or even say if he voted for – told its own story about exactly how thrilled the mainstream Democratic party is to go into the midterms later this year, and more importantly the 2028 presidential campaign, with Mayor Mamdani as the party’s principal standard bearer. At some point grinning and bearing it won’t be an option, the radical Mamdani platform will have to be embraced or disavowed. It won’t be pretty.

So what can New Yorkers look forward to under their energetic and muscular new form of socialism? Mayor Mamdani gave them clues, advising them to “look to Madiba and the South African Freedom Charter.” The charter that Madiba – Nelson Mandela – helped forge with the ANC was the blueprint for post-apartheid South Africa. It opens with the words “our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality.” Suggesting that apartheid is alive and well in New York will have brought another big gulp from Schumer and the Democratic establishment. The Democrat Socialists of America have so far failed to persuade the country that apartheid exists in Israel, so it’s ambitious to think they can make the case for its existence in New York. This is testing the very limits of grievance politics. And the current almost failed state that is South Africa, with white farmers fleeing to America as refugees, bodes particularly ill as a template for New York.

As in South Africa, the enemy in Mamdani’s New York is often white people. He has already vowed to target “whiter neighborhoods” for higher taxes. In his inaugural speech he zoned in on another set of unprosecuted criminals: billionaires. They think they “can buy our democracy” and for too long New York has belonged to “the wealthy and well-connected.” Billionaires seemingly the scourge of the city and also neatly the solution to its problems – just increase their taxes.

Are we sure it isn’t San Marcos?

UPDATE:

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

THIS WILL END WELL: Zohran Mamdani: I’ll show the world whether the Left can govern.

Zohran Mamdani said he would show whether “the Left can govern” in his inaugural address as New York mayor.

Mr Mamdani declared he was not scared of being seen as “too radical” and vowed to “audaciously” embark on “big government” plans that critics have warned will bankrupt small businesses and endanger the public.

The new mayor, who had been sworn in just hours before at midnight on Thursday, addressed tens of thousands of supporters in Manhattan, accompanied by the US’s most high-profile progressive figures.

“There are many who will be watching. They want to know if the Left can govern,” Mr Mamdani said.

Speaking behind a lectern outside City Hall, where a dais had been erected for the occasion, he continued: “They want to know if the struggles* that afflict them can be solved. They want to know if it is right to hope again… We will set an example for the world.”

True Mamdani-ism has never been tried:

* Mamdani seemed eager yesterday to express his own personal struggle, or “Kampf,” as it is sometimes called. In any case, his inauguration was a definite triumph of his will:

Why, it’s as if:

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

JOHN BOCH: When the Mainstream Media Encourages Violence Against Their Competition. “I can hear a collective sigh of relief from America’s law schools when they learn that Gerstein never got a JD. He’d be about as welcome as Jeffrey Dahmer at an annual alumni gathering. He is a Harvard grad though, just like other great minds like…David Hogg, proving yet again that was once a prestigious degree is now nothing more than a pricey piece of paper.”

Posted at 1:04 pm by Stephen Green

ANALYSIS: TRUE.

Posted at 12:59 pm by Stephen Green

YES: We need zero tolerance for Islamism.

It is this aspect which fuels the disproportionate rage of the likes of 5Pillars towards successful modern Muslim states like Jordan, Turkey and the UAE, which take a pragmatic approach towards Israel and attempt to keep Islamism firmly in check. Ironically, Islamism and Muslim identitarianism have flourished in many parts of the West due to its free speech norms, even as they are ruthlessly suppressed in much of the Islamic world itself. Britain only banned Hizb ut-Tahrir last year, trailing most of the Arab world by decades. And whilst 5Pillars is free to denounce Christmas in Britain, a Jordanian religious scholar who did the same thing was quickly picked up by security services along with a number of students involved in encouraging Muslims to shun Christmas — as 5Pillars was likewise lamenting over the past few days.

The site’s attachment to free speech is highly selective, however, as it has shared calls for Turkish teenagers on TikTok making jokes about Islamic prayer to be targeted by their universities and prosecuted.

Islamist organisations like 5Pillars exploit Western freedoms to promote an agenda that is fundamentally antithetical to Western ideals and interests. They seek to lock Muslim populations into a dead-end agenda of rage and reaction, and to promote an agenda that their own homelands see as socially destructive. The complacency and denialism of the West, which has handed sectarians the potent weapon of “Islamophobia”, risks the stability of both our own societies and that of the Islamic world.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 12:46 pm by Stephen Green

ROGER KIMBALL: The Somali fraud scandal is a turning point.

Confronted with the fact that Somalis have systematically pilfered billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money in order to enrich themselves, bribe politicians and fund terrorist activities in Somalia, the public are outraged – and rightly. They see now how Democrats coddle illegal immigrants, lavish them with taxpayers’ money and then cultivate them as Democratic voters. And speaking of voters, did you know that Minnesota has same-day voter registration and that one registered voter can “vouch” for 8 others in his precinct who do not have ID?

Musk cut to the chase: “The Democrats are so upset about the situation because they’re losing – you know if we turn off this gigantic money magnet for illegal immigrants, then they will leave and they’ll lose voters.” Bingo. There are some 80,000-100,000 Somalis in Minneapolis alone. How is it that they live so well?

The canny chap who writes under the name Cynical Publius may well be correct that “in large swathes of humanity, there is no actual concept of ‘fraud,’ particularly fraud against the government.” Instead, there is a categorical imperative to get away with whatever you can “to help yourself and your tribe.” The problem is, notes Publius, that “introducing a fraud-based culture based on tribalism into America is like introducing some sort of lethal virus into a population that has no natural immunity. The virus will spread and grow, unchecked, because it is so alien to the host.”

The virus must be neutralized or it will destroy the host. How? Kash Patel tells us that the FBI is on the case. “To date,” he notes, “the FBI dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme that stole federal food aid meant for vulnerable children during Covid.” Donald Trump should stop all federal welfare funds to offending venues while a thorough audit – very thorough and very lengthy – is conducted. And as much of the “Somali community” as possible should be repatriated to where it belongs: Somalia. That is why God made Tom Homan.

In 2026, one way or another, Minnesota’s Somali Pirates will prove how serious the Trump administration is in putting their tough talk into action.

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

LEFTIES KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HISTORY, EXHIBIT #1,000,006:

Although I have a quibble with the word “mostly.”

Posted at 12:29 pm by Stephen Green

LET’S ALL GET OUT AND DANCE TO A SONG THAT WAS A HIT BEFORE YOUR MOTHER WAS BORN:

The “warmth of collectivism” is best understood as an HOA with guns and gulags.

Posted at 12:13 pm by Glenn Reynolds

THAT’S GONNA LEAVE A MARK:

One day in office, and Mamdani isn’t just a citywide or national embarrassment — he’s an international embarrassment.

Posted at 11:59 am by Stephen Green

OH MY: Trump says US will intervene if Iran starts killing protesters: ‘Locked and loaded.’ “Trump’s warning comes as demonstrations triggered by Iran’s deteriorating economy expand beyond the capital and raise concerns about a potential heavy-handed crackdown by security forces. At least seven people — including protesters and members of Iran’s security services — have been reported killed during clashes, according to international reporting.”

Related: Israel Monitors Iran Unrest, Concerned Regime May Launch Preemptive Missile Strike.

Posted at 11:44 am by Stephen Green

YOU’VE BEEN ROBBED (CALIFORNIA EDITION):

Meanwhile, in San Francisco: San Fran mayor signs bill that could give black residents $5M each — but admits city is too broke to pay.

Every time I think SF has hit Peak San Francisco, the city goes and does something like this.

Plus: “A state that never allowed slavery wants to make residents who never owned slaves pay reparations to people who never were slaves.”

UPDATE: “A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. — George Bernard Shaw” (Charlie)

Posted at 11:28 am by Stephen Green

ROBERT SPENCER: Does It Matter Which Book an Official Is Sworn In On? “At a cursory glance, swearing in on the Qur’an doesn’t seem to present any problems. One primary reason, however, why many people object to American officials being sworn in on the Qur’an is because the Islamic holy book teaches values that are vastly different from American and Judeo-Christian values, particularly the necessity for Muslims to wage war against non-Muslims and subjugate them under the hegemony of Islamic law.”

Posted at 11:13 am by Stephen Green

WHAT IN THE ACTUAL HELL DID SHE THINK SHE WAS VOTING FOR?

She wanted a young Castro, she got a young Castro — overlong pseudo-intellectual speeches and everything.

Posted at 10:57 am by Stephen Green

METAPHOR ALERT: Zohran Mamdani fans disappointed by disastrous ‘block party’ with no food or bathrooms.

This “block party” was a bust.

Scores of Zohran Mamdani fans who braved freezing temperatures to celebrate the new mayor as he was publicly sworn into office Thursday were left disappointed by the bash the socialist pol had promised.

Around 10,000 supporters stood outside City Hall during the event — billed as an “Inauguration for a New Era Block Party” by Mamdani’s staff — crammed into several barricaded pens without access to bathrooms or any food concession stands.

“It’s definitely not a block party,” said Danny Mahabir, 30, an Astoria resident who told The Post he’d been expecting a mix of food and music at the New Year’s Day festivities.

Get used to disappointment, Danny.

Posted at 10:42 am by Stephen Green

THIS HASN’T BEEN NEWS FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES, BUT THE REMINDERS REMAIN IMPORTANT:

The internet has undercut the media’s self-appointed gatekeeper role at least since Matt Drudge breaking the Monica Lewinsky story. But rather than reform, the media keep doing the same old, same old — for shrinking audiences.

Posted at 10:26 am by Stephen Green

WILL AMERICA’S SPIRITUAL RENEWAL ENDURE: That’s one of the questions raised by the surge in 2025 in church attendance and interest in Jesus Christ, particularly among Gen Z males. It could prove to be historic if it follows the model of the Great Awakening’s role in fostering the American Revolution, or it could turn out as nothing more than another temporary fad.

Posted at 10:22 am by Mark Tapscott