Kansas City poured millions into a grocery store. It still may close.

It was the lone tomato in the produce bin that nearly made Marquita Taylor weep.

She’d stopped in her neighborhood grocery store, the place that was cause for celebration when it opened seven years ago. Area residents had long lived without a decent supermarket on Kansas City’s east side, and KC Sun Fresh was the city’s attempt to alleviate a lack of access to healthy food in its urban center.

But the store, in a city-owned strip mall, is on the verge of closure. Customers say they are increasingly afraid to shop there — even with visible police patrols — because of drug dealing, theft and vagrancy both inside and outside the store and the public library across the street.

KC Sun Fresh lost $885,000 last year and now has only about 4,000 shoppers a week. That’s down from 14,000 a few years ago, according to Emmet Pierson Jr., who leads Community Builders of Kansas City, the nonprofit that leases the site from the city. Despite a recent $750,000 cash infusion from the city, the shelves are almost bare.

“We’re in a dire situation,” Pierson said.

As grocery prices continue to climb and 7 million Americans face losing federal food assistance, more cities and states across the country — in IllinoisGeorgia and Wisconsin — are experimenting with the concept of publicly supported grocery stores as a way to help provide for low-income neighborhoods.

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, has attracted attention for his campaign pledge to combat “out-of-control” prices by establishing five city-owned supermarkets that he says will pass savings onto customers by operating “without a profit motive.”

Yet these experiments, like the one in Kansas City, often don’t account for social issues that can make success even more challenging. Critics say the efforts are unrealistic regardless because grocery stores have such slim profit margins and struggle to compete with the prices offered by big-box chains like Walmart. High-profile projects have failed in recent months in Florida and Massachusetts.

“Running a grocery store is a difficult business,” said Doug Rauch, a former Trader Joe’s president who founded a chain of low-cost stores in the Boston area that shuttered in May. “You can have religion about the mission, but if you don’t have vast experience and knowledge about how to run these operations, you’re really going to be in trouble.”

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren Backs Zohran Mamdani’s Proposal For State-Owned Grocery Stores

Senator Elizabeth Warren has thrown her support behind New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s proposal for government-owned grocery stores.

During an appearance on CNBC Squawk Box on Friday, the Massachusetts Senator was asked about some of Mamdani’s most radical proposals, which include the state owning and subsidizing groceries with its own stores.

She explained:

We’ve got a problem with entire food deserts where people can’t get access to grocery stores.

He said, I’d like to take a look at whether or not we can have some kind of — like we do on military bases — you have some kind of support from the city government that says, we’re going to get some food, grocery stores in areas that, right now, are food deserts.

And by the way, it’s a new and fresh plan for New York City. But it’s been tried in other cities around the country and has had some real successes.

So, what I hear Mamdani say is, I want to try things to make it work for working families. And you know what? This is how democracy works.

A lot of people in New York City said, that sounds good to me, I’d rather try that than any of the other alternatives available to me, I support that.

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Wells Fargo Suspends Travel to China After Communist Regime Blocks Top Banker from Leaving

Wells Fargo suspended travel for all of its employees to China on Thursday after the Chinese government slapped an exit ban on banker Chenyue Mao.

Mao is an American citizen who was born in Shanghai. She is a managing director for Wells Fargo, working from an office in Atlanta. According to the bank, her duties include helping international companies manage their working capital in different countries.

Mao specializes in “factoring,” the practice of selling accounts receivable to third parties. The seller gets cash immediately, while the buyer or “factor” proceeds to collect on the invoices they purchased at a discount. Companies that do business overseas often find factoring preferable to running debt collections operations in foreign countries.

In June, Mao was elected as chairwoman of FCI, a global industry organization for international accounts receivable. FCI was called Factors Chain International when it was established in 1968, and factoring remains one of its primary interests, but it has diversified into other aspects of finance and debt collection across national borders.

When it announced Mao’s election as chair of its executive committee, FCI noted she had over 21 years of experience with factoring and has worked at Wells Fargo for over a decade. During that time, she was credited with growing “annual import-factoring flows to 2.6 billion euros (over $3 billion in U.S. dollars) while fostering innovation in open-account solutions.”

FCI said her goals as chairwoman included recruiting more banks to the organization and “expanding import-factoring know-how within the network.”

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The Democratic Candidate for Mayor of NYC Zohran Mamdani, on prisons and jails

Zohran Mamdani, Democratic Candidate for NYC Mayor, Questions the Purpose of Prisons: The Progressive Experiment Endangering Public Safety

In yet another example of how far the modern left has gone, Zohran Mamdani, Democratic candidate for Mayor of New York City, publicly questioned the very existence of the prison system. At a recent event —which felt more like a college book club than a serious policy proposal— Mamdani not only revealed his lack of grasp on the issue but also implicitly mocked crime victims with a flippant, condescending tone. “What are prisons for, really?” he asked out loud, while name-dropping authors and book titles that supposedly support his abolitionist stance. Still, he admitted he hasn’t actually read some of those books.

These kinds of statements are not harmless. They reflect the dangerous trend among some Democrats to prioritize ideology over reality. New York is already reeling from “reform” policies that have weakened the justice system, enabled the early release of repeat offenders, and downplayed the need to protect law-abiding citizens. Mamdani’s rhetoric doesn’t just advocate closing prisons; it seeks to delegitimize the very concept of punitive justice—based on emotional and intellectual narratives that ignore the communities most affected by violence.

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Democratic Socialism Is Totalitarianism

After writing about the upset election win of socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, a reader sent me an angry email, telling me that Mamdani was a “democratic socialist,” and that Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez were “social democrats.” The sender apparently wanted me to believe that all they wanted was to make New York and the United States into Denmark.

After all, isn’t Denmark one of the world’s happiest countries? Doesn’t it have a $22 minimum wage? (Actually, it has no federal minimum wage). Doesn’t it have wonderful welfare benefits along with lots of personal freedom? So, if we can just elect the kind of politicians that want to turn the US into Denmark, then we should do it.

There are some issues, of course.

For one, Denmark is far from a socialist country and it certainly does not have a socialist planned economy. This is an important point, because AOC, Sanders, and Mamdani all have called for substantial government planning and ownership and Mamdani has gone even further. The socialist online magazine Jacobin recently praised Mamdani precisely because he does call for the full socialist economy:

No one should be surprised that Zohran Mamdani supports democratic control over the economy, the end goal of socialism. But he won because he combined socialist politics with practical solutions to the cost-of-living crisis facing working people.

At a 2021 conference of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), Zohran Mamdani discussed various short-term reforms favored by the organization. But alongside offering his thoughts on the groups’ immediate aims, he also had something to say about “end goal” of socialist politics: “seizing the means of production.”

In the last week, the clip resurfaced on right-wing social media, where it’s been treated as a damning discovery about Mamdani, who just won a primary to become the Democratic nominee for mayor in New York City.

National Review ran a brief item on the clip under the headline “Uh, That’s Literal Communism!” On CNN, Scott Jennings concurred, saying that Mamdani was “using the language of the Bolsheviks.” Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) said that this was “the scariest thing Mamdani has said” and that it was “straight out of Karl Marx’s Communist playbook.”

It’s unclear why these remarks about the end goal of socialist politics are supposed to be shocking.

There is much to process in this short passage, and it speaks volumes about so-called democratic socialists. For that matter, that socialists would want to identify with the Jacobins speaks volumes to their intentions, given that the Jacobins were the first political party to organize and carry out political terror complete with mass executions during the French Revolution. Second, by claiming that “democratic control over the economy” means the state “seizing the means of production,” they speak to the totalitarian and violent nature of their “democratic” beliefs. One does not “seize” anything without coercion. As Jacobin editor Bhaskar Sunkara bragged in a recent interview, “We were not trying to hide Marxism.”

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Watch Mamdani the Commie Say That He’s OK With the ‘Abolition of Private Property’

People on the left keep insisting that New York City Democrat nominee for mayor, Zohran Mamdani is not a communist, yet clip after clip of this guy talking reveals him to be an outspoken Marxist through and through.

This time, it’s a clip of him on some podcast saying that he is fine with the abolition of private property.

Note how he frames it. He wraps these comments in claims that he just cares so much about making sure that everyone has housing that he is open to doing away with private property. See? It’s just because he cares so much that he might have to take homes away from some people in order to make sure that other people have homes. It’s all about caring.

FOX News reports:

Zohran Mamdani’s past comments are once again coming back to haunt his New York City mayoral campaign, as a resurfaced video reveals the socialist candidate floated the “abolition of private property.”

“My platform is that every single person should have housing, and I think faced with these two options, the system has hundreds of thousands of people unhoused, right? For what?” Mamdani questioned in a resurfaced video that has been clipped and reposted across conservative social media.

“If there was any system that could guarantee each person housing, whether you call it the abolition of private property or you call it, you know, just a statewide housing guarantee, it is preferable to what is going on right now,” Mamdani said.

“People try and play like gotcha games about these kinds of things, and it’s like, look, I care more about whether somebody has a home,” he said.

The clip drew widespread condemnation from conservatives, including GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who told Fox News Digital, “He claims to be a socialist, whether it’s wanting to abolish private property or wanting to seize the means of production, these are communist ideas right out of the playbook of Karl Marx.”

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China faces draft dilemma as youth reject military conscription

As Beijing prepares for its grand September 3rd military parade, a pageant meant to project might across the Taiwan Strait, troubling cracks are appearing beneath the polished boots and synchronized salutes. A rising wave of defiance among China’s youth is testing not only the mettle of its armed forces but also the ideological grip of the Communist Party itself.

The announcement of the parade, made by the State Council Information Office on June 28th, was meant to remind the world of China’s growing military prowess. But just days later, that carefully curated image was shaken by a bold act of resistance. In early July, Chinese state media reported that a young man from Guilin had been severely punished for refusing compulsory military service after enlisting in March 2025.

A 2004-born college student nearing graduation reportedly struggled to adapt to the military’s rigid conditions and sought to withdraw from service multiple times. Authorities, however, responded with severe penalties—expelling him and imposing restrictions on employment, financial access, and overseas travel. He also faces a hefty fine of over ¥37,000, signalling zero tolerance for voluntary exit.

Recent conscription refusals in China appear far from isolated. A former legislative official now in exile claims over 200 similar cases occurred in Inner Mongolia alone, along with provinces like Shandong, Hubei, and Fujian recording widespread resistance. Analysts link this trend to a deeper disillusionment: a clash between rigid military expectations and a generation nurtured in comfort and digital independence, increasingly skeptical of the state’s legitimacy and unwilling to endure harsh regimentation for questionable nationalist aims.

What deters these young recruits is more than just the iron discipline. Whistleblowers reveal widespread corruption within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forged reports, sold positions, and power networks immune to accountability. For idealistic youth once drawn by patriotic fervour, the realization is sobering: they are entering not a dignified profession, but an institution hollowed out by greed and favouritism.

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Born to Revolution: The “Red Diaper Baby” Roots of Zohran Mamdani and Today’s Leading Democrats

The term “Red Diaper Baby” refers to children raised by parents dedicated to the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) or other radical leftist movements. “Red” denotes communism, while “diaper baby” emphasizes early exposure to ideological indoctrination.

These children are often immersed from a young age in socialist, anti-American, and Marxist worldviews, frequently attending union rallies, radical schools, or political protests alongside their activist parents.

Today, the term “Red Diaper Baby” has become a relevant lens for examining the intergenerational transmission of radical ideology within the Democratic Party’s leadership, many of whom have been molded by beliefs of radical parental figures. Before examining the case of Zohran Mamdani, let’s look at a few key figures.

Kamala Harris: Kamala’s father, Donald Harris, is a self-described Marxist economist who taught at Stanford University and has frequently critiqued capitalism in support of democratic socialism.

Donald Harris has long critiqued free market systems and praised socialist alternatives. In his 1978 book, Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution, dedicated to Kamala, Harris argued that Marx’s model “remains today as a powerful basis” for analyzing the growth dynamics of capitalist economies.

Barack Obama: In his best-selling memoir Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama describes his childhood mentorship under Frank Marshall Davis, a card-carrying CPUSA member and one of the first “Black Bolsheviks” in 1930s Chicago.

In the 1940s, Davis was sent to Hawaii by COMINTERN to organize a dockworkers strike aimed at expelling the U.S. navy from Hawaii – a move designed to open up Southeast Asia to Soviet expansion.

Davis became a journalist for the communist newspaper The Honolulu Record in Hawaii. Davis was later subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he invoked the Fifth Amendment.

In my 2012 documentary Dreams from My Real Father, I presented extensive evidence that Davis, whom Obama resembles to a tee, was not only Obama’s ideological mentor but also his biological father.

Pete Buttigieg: Buttigieg’s father, Joseph Buttigieg, was a Marxist professor of English at the University of Notre Dame. Joseph Buttigieg was a leading promotor of Antonio Gramsci, the Italian communist whose theories of cultural hegemony made him a founding figure in Western Marxist theory. Gramsci argued Marxists could achieve power by reshaping cultural norms and values.

Joseph Buttigieg founded the International Gramsci Society and translated Gramsci’s work, The Prison Notebooks, making Gramsci’s Marxist theories widely accessible and cementing Buttigieg’s status as a key figure in disseminating Gramscian Marxism in the United States.

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Zohran Mamdani Gets Whisked Off Stage by an Aide When Asked to Clarify His Remarks About ‘Globalizing the Intifada’

During a campaign event on Monday, New York City communist and Democrat nominee for mayor Zohran Mamdani was quickly whisked off camera by an aide when a reporter asked him to clarify his remarks about globalizing the Intifada.

The aide can be heard saying “I think we’re done here. We’re going to go.’

This is clearly a line of questioning that his campaign doesn’t like, which makes perfect sense.

FOX News reports:

Zohran Mamdani press conference abruptly ends with aide pulling him away during reporters questions

An endorsement event for Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, came to an abrupt end Monday when he was pulled offstage by a campaign aide.

After accepting the American Federation of Musicians, Local 802’s endorsement, Mamdani answered a few questions about former Gov. Andrew Cuomo deciding to stay in the race as an independent candidate and his upcoming meeting with House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

About 20 minutes into the event, before Mamdani could continue answering reporters’ questions, his campaign staffers stepped in to say: “I think we’re done here. We’re going to go. Come on. We’re wrapping up, folks. Sorry folks. We’re wrapping up.”

But Mamdani stood by the podium, attempting to hear the reporters’ questions over the chorus of campaign aides’ voices, until the band on site for the event began playing “When the Saints Go Marching In.” With a smile on his face, Mamdani was pulled away when a campaign aide grabbed his arm.

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Zohran Mamdani Claims to be Against Billionaires – Has Benefited From Millions Funneled to Left Wing Groups by George Soros

New York City communist and Democrat nominee for mayor, Zohran Mamdani is on the record saying that he does not like billionaires. He said that he doesn’t even think they should exist.

And yet…

It turns out that Mamdani wouldn’t even be in his current position without the help of numerous left wing groups that have received tens of millions from left wing billionaire George Soros over the years.

This news is as predictable as the rising sun.

The New York Post reports:

George Soros funneled $37M to Working Families Party, other lefty groups backing Zohran Mamdani

That’s rich.

Socialist Zohran Mamdani has declared billionaires shouldn’t exist, but it’s unlikely he’d be the front-runner to become the Big Apple’s next mayor if it wasn’t for one — far-left kingmaker George Soros, financial records reviewed by The Post show.

Mamdani recently told NBC News’ “Meet the Press, “I don’t think that we should have billionaires, frankly” while doubling down on his plan to jack up property taxes on “richer and whiter neighborhoods” if elected mayor.

But in less than a decade, Soros’ ultra-woke grant-making network Open Society Foundation has indirectly funneled a combined $37 million to the Working Families Party and at least other nine left-wing groups whose endorsements and get-out-the-vote groundwork played a pivotal role in helping Mamdani upset ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary, the foundation’s records show.

Since 2016, the far-left, socialist-friendly WFP — which helped score Mandani the Democratic line by brokering cross-endorsement deals that squeezed out Cuomo — has pocketed a staggering $23.7 million from Soros through its nonprofit fundraising arm Working Families Organization Inc.

You couldn’t make this up. It’s all a con.

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