UNEXPECTEDLY: Mamdani Finally Admits He Can’t Arrest Bibi.

Last night, in a short video statement, Mamdani acknowledged that he has no authority, and never had any authority, to carry out his campaign promise.

“My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here,” Mamdani said. “It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant.”

No Shinola, Sherlock.

Nothing changed between last fall and now; the only difference is that the U.N. General Assembly is in two months, and Netanyahu intends to be there. (The Israeli leader may feel that he must attend the UNGA this year, to prove the point that no one has the authority to arrest him on U.S. soil.)

In the end, Mamdani is like the kid who runs for middle-school student council promising to replace the school lunches with McDonalds and Chick-fil-A and ban homework. He either didn’t know, or more likely, didn’t care that he didn’t have the authority to keep this promise; he just wanted the applause and to look like a tough guy.

Mamdani added, “The federal government, however, does [have the authority] — and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.”

No, the U.S. government does not have the authority to execute that warrant, at least not without repealing the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act and recognizing the authority of the ICC, which would give the ICC the authority to indict and arrest U.S. government officials and members of the military.

Roger Simon adds: International Criminal Court: Bad from the Start. “Israeli journalist Amit Segal and others have noted, Mamdani’s overstated attacks only serve to improve Netanyahu’s reelection chances.”

NIFTY: Firefighting drones in the works as wildfires plague US nearly year-round. “Most drones are significantly smaller than crewed aircraft and have shorter flight ranges, meaning they cannot replace large airtankers in delivering massive payloads of water or other fire-suppressing payloads to remote wildfires. But companies and fire agencies—along with organizers of the $11 million XPRIZE competition—are testing whether drones can help firefighting crews respond more quickly to small fires and put them out before they become more destructive.”

LOL, INDEED:

Also, “thousands” might be just the tip of the iceberg.

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE TOOK XANAX AN HOUR AGO: Mullin warns non-citizen voter registrations in NJ ‘could be much higher.’ “He also revealed that DHS had identified 278,000 non-citizens registered to vote in cooperative states.”

More: It wasn’t a glitch.

Developing…

INDEED:

But whatever you do, don’t be this guy:

The arresting officer, on the other hand, maybe deserves some kind of medal.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: GOP Midterm Theme Should Be ‘Joe McCarthy Was Right.’ “The Democrats can’t tiptoe around their future plans anymore. Thus far, the elders of the party have met the youthful zeal of the young Democratic Socialists of America with timid acquiescence. It’s understandable, shouting people down has been the Dems’ modus operandi for a long time, of course the loudest miscreants among them are prevailing now.”

MUCH OF THE TARGETING IS BEING DONE WITH AI NOW, WHICH MEANS THE PATTERNS MAY BE LESS OBVIOUS AT FIRST GLANCE:

HMM: Democrats raise more money than Republicans in every key Senate race except Iowa.

Fundraising in the second and first quarter shows that Democrats hold a strong campaign finance advantage in all key races, except Iowa, the New York Times reported, citing new campaign finance filings.

The party’s financial picture is complicated by the Maine race, where it had to scramble to find a new nominee following Graham Platner’s exit. Republicans also outperformed Democrats in money raised through main party committees and super PACs.

The largest gap between Democratic and Republican fundraising was seen in the Texas race, where Democratic nominee James Talarico brought in $54.5 million through his campaign committee, compared with $3.9 million that Republican nominee Ken Paxton has raised.

Let’s just say that fundraising isn’t always an accurate gauge of actual support.

Still, maybe Republicans need to get serious about supporting their candidates.

WALTER DURANTY, CALL YOUR OFFICE:

AND IT WOULD BE AWESOME: