Tag: politics

Mamdani Housing Czar: ‘White, Middle-Class Homeowners are a Huge Problem’

Cea Weaver, the ‘tenant advocate’ and housing czar of the Zohran Mamdani administration, was in the news a few weeks ago when it was first revealed that she believes in collectivized housing. Now we are learning more about what she believes.

In the clip below, she describes white, middle-class homeowners as a problem. This is the sort of insane ideology you might hear on the campus of Bryn Mawr College, which Weaver attended. The point is that this woman sees home ownership as an obstacle to progress.

The people Mamdani is surrounding himself with are insane and dangerously stupid. Home ownership is one of the most basic ways that average people can build real wealth.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

‘White, Middle-Class Homeowners Are a Huge Problem’: Mamdani’s Communist Housing Czar Called To ‘Undermine the Institution of Homeownership’

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D., N.Y.) top housing official, Cea Weaver, bemoaned “white, middle-class homeowners” during a 2021 podcast appearance. Her goal as an organizer, Weaver said, is to “undermine the institution of homeownership.”

“White, middle-class homeowners are a huge problem for a renter justice movement,” Weaver said in previously unreported remarks on the Bad Faith podcast in September 2021, hosted by Briahna Joy Gray, a former press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) who was fired by the Hill after rolling her eyes at the sister of a hostage in Gaza who urged Gray to believe Israeli women whom Hamas had raped. Also on the podcast was activist Arianna Afeni Evans, most famous in the D.C. area for being arrested at a metro station for fare evasion in 2025.

“Unless we can undermine the institution of homeownership and seek to provide stability in other ways, I don’t know—it’s a really difficult organizing situation we find ourselves in.”

During the podcast episode, Weaver laid out a plan to use the government to attack landlords and prevent them from evicting tenants, in addition to fighting against homeownership.

“We need a national movement to pass universal rent control to limit landlords’ ability to endlessly profit on our homes, to give tenants the right to form a tenants’ union where they live, and to really block evictions,” she said. “But rent control is not enough: People need money. We need to tax billionaires and transform that into cash assistance for renters. And we need to chip away at homeownership, and that means—that means Medicare for All, that means, like, a deep investment in real social service programs.”

Keep reading

Mamdani Appoints Woman Named ‘Afua Atta-Mensah’ As Chief Equity Officer

Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani named Afua Atta-Mensah as the city’s new Chief Equity Officer and commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice on Thursday.

Mamdani, a 34-year-old Ugandan-born, Indian-descent avowed socialist, was sworn into office on Jan. 1 and has been appointing allies to key posts since taking power. In a social media post, Mamdani announced appointing Atta-Mensah and said she built her career serving communities that rarely gain access to decision-makers. He tasked her with carrying that focus across city government.

“Afua has dedicated her career to serving the New Yorkers who are so often forgotten in the halls of power. In this new role, she will advance that mission across our government and deliver a more equitable city for all,” Mamdani wrote. “That work starts with finally fulfilling the city’s promise of a Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan and embracing the diverse fabric that makes our city special.”

By the time Mamdani announced Atta-Mensah’s appointment Thursday, her X account had been deactivated, the New York Post reported. City Hall said the administration does not require newly appointed officials to delete their social media accounts.

Keep reading

‘We Cannot Be Afraid To Do Something Because the Left Might Do It in the Future’

Asked by a college student if Republicans ought to be more cautious about “abusing that power” when they control the federal government, Vice President J.D. Vance left no doubt that he’s unworried.

“The left is already going to do it, regardless of whether we do it,” he added.

You’ll have a hard time finding a more concise formulation of the will-to-power sentiment that has seized so much of the conservative movement in recent years. And this was no gaffe—Vance has said similar things on several occasions, and he posted a video of this comment to his official X account.

The full context of the moment is worth appreciating. At a Turning Point USA event in October 2025 at the University of Mississippi, Vance took a question from a student who expressed concern about an unfriendly administration potentially targeting conservatives who might protest against it. “How can we prevent someone from abusing that power?” the student asked.

Vance’s chilling response waves away those worries. Rather than asking conservatives to reflect on the proper limits of political power or the potential consequences of overreaching, the vice president is effectively granting permission for greater intrusions against Americans’ rights and liberties.

Keep reading

NYC Advisor Seeks to End All Homeownership

Socialist NYC Mayor Zohan Mamdani appointed Cea Weaver to lead the city’s Office to Protect Tenants. Weaver believes that homeownership is inherently racist and must be reformed into “a world in which the housing is owned by a collective.” According to Weaver, the US can simply continually print money to support government spending.

The claim that a government can simply print money to support endless spending is one of the most dangerous myths ever sold to the public. When politicians have exhausted every honest means of funding government, they are left with nothing but deception. This line of thinking is precisely why the government shut down at the end of 2025. Politicians believe they can increase spending indefinitely with no regard for the ticking time bomb that is government debt.

Printing money is another form of taxation, albeit a far more destructive form because it is hidden. Inflation will rise when the money supply expands beyond productive output. Governments print to fund their spending and dilute the currency. Politicians have lost all discipline because government continually votes to raise budgets and prolong the problem. The debt crisis has been rapidly snowballing in magnitude; those in power have zero intention of paying it off, but the time will come when the bill is due.

The irony is that those advocating unlimited money creation claim it helps the poor. In reality, it does the opposite. Inflation destroys savings, raises prices beyond reach, and transfers wealth to the elites controlling the money. It widens inequality while pretending to fight it. Hence why Venezuela went from one of the world’s top economies to poverty-ridden nation in a short period of time. These people are extremely dangerous. Voters propel them into power on the basis of lies, and then they have the ability to begin altering policies. Mamdani may be limited to his city but no economy can be viewed in isolation and voters refuse to see the mirage of easy solutions to complex problems.

Keep reading

Socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s campaign fined for failing to disclose parent-funded childcare contributions

Socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s campaign was fined by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission for failing to properly disclose more than $10,000 in campaign-related childcare expenses, expenses which were paid for by her parents. Her husband was “voluntarily” unemployed.

According to a formal enforcement letter from the commission obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, the “Wilson for Mayor” campaign failed to timely report in-kind contributions from Wilson’s parents, who covered childcare costs during the campaign. Because the contributions were not initially disclosed and exceeded Seattle’s contribution limits, the commission imposed a $250 civil penalty.

The campaign later amended its filings and refunded the portion of the childcare payments that exceeded allowable limits. While the fine itself was small, the ruling reinforces prior reporting about Wilson’s reliance on family money while presenting herself as a struggling, working-class candidate.

In October, KUOW reported that Wilson’s parents, both professors in New York, were helping cover childcare costs while her husband was voluntarily unemployed. Wilson simultaneously claimed she was running for mayor because she could “barely afford to live in Seattle.”

Wilson, who dropped out of Oxford University just weeks before graduation, debt-free thanks to family funding, would not disclose at the time how much she was receiving from her parents and built a political persona centered on economic hardship despite a significant safety net. She told the outlet, “They send me a check periodically to help with the child care expenses,” acknowledging what she called the “immense privilege” of growing up in a “secure, academic household.”

Wilson told KUOW that she “cut herself off” from her parents’ money when she moved to Seattle in 2004, but later resumed taking parental checks to support her lifestyle and childcare costs. Despite branding herself as a voice for the downtrodden, her nonprofit, the Transit Riders Union, paid her nearly $73,000 in 2022 according to tax filings, yet her city financial disclosure listed up to $100,000 in income for the same period. When asked by the outlet about the discrepancy, Wilson said it “must be an error.” As mayor, Wilson now makes in excess of $230,000 a year.

Keep reading

Trump to antisemites: You’re not welcome in MAGA

President Trump had a resounding no for any antisemites claiming to be part of the Republican Party or his MAGA movement.

“I think we don’t need them,” he told The New York Times in an interview. “I think we don’t like them.”

His comments, made in a Wednesday interview but published on Sunday, came after a series of high profile ultra-conservative figures have made controversial comments about the Jewish people and antisemitic speech has split Republicans.

Trump said: “I condemn” antisemitism.

He said he’s an ally of Israel and was awarded its Israel Prize, considered the country’s highest honor.

Keep reading

Trump 2.0, Year 1: A Libertarian Nightmare

A decade into his capture of our political attention spans, there is no longer anything new that can be said about Donald Trump in a big-picture way about his nature as a person or his larger meaning as a political phenomenon. His audacity, so bold at first, and so lubricated in his second go-round, can no longer shock or surprise; his crudeness, so initially colorful, just fades into the dark background of his actions; his bottomless sea of toddlerish willfulness and grievance, so curious and compelling in 2015–16, becomes as notable as water to a fish. We all swim in Trump now, surrounded by his turbulent, turbid murk, descending to fathomless depths, his surface marking the end of what we can know.

Near the end of the first full year of his second administration, Donald Trump has demonstrated his core authoritarianism so completely and consistently that his personal character and comportment peculiarities lose significance.

Just in the past week, since his piratical and unconstitutional imperial conquest of Venezuela, he’s declared that he, from his own personal ukase, is taking command of a dizzying range of economic and foreign policy matters, from his planned further imperial conquest of Greenland (accompanied by declarations from his satrap Steven Miller and himself that no external force or authority holds back his powers to conquer and wreak destruction on the world) to dictating how weapons contractors can compensate their executives or deal with their stocks, the interest rate credit card companies can charge, and whether certain companies can buy houses.

While he’s gone hog wild so far in 2026, the pattern of his core authoritarianism was already well demonstrated in 2025. Trump wielded state power to punish enemies and reward friends, sent the military into city streets under bogus pretenses and over the objections of local elected officials, authorized masked cops to enforce “papers, please” policies on U.S. citizens moving in public (the loosing of such largely undisciplined shock troops in American cities where they are not wanted has predictably resulted in the unconscionable murder of a citizen), ordered the serial murder of suspected drug smugglers, and disrupted the global economy by making Americans pay sharply increased taxes on imported goods, for starters. 

He has concentrated what was supposed to be the competing branches of the federal government into the whims of one man, and erased distinctions between federal and state, public and private. America has never had a president who acted more like a monarch.   

Not all of Trump’s actions and statements are mired in his core authoritarianism. This does not absolve him. Not everything negative reported about Trump’s actions, or the specifics or reasonable implications of something he said or did, ultimately bears out. This does not make him acceptable. Yes, previous administrations have also violated Americans’ and the world’s economic and political liberties and lives. This does not mean Trump deserves a pass. His specific, documented exertions of state power over the past year should be enough to declare him a dangerous foe of American liberty. 

Keep reading

Progressives misdiagnose their X problem

In the year 2002, then US-President George W. Bush did something historic: He became the first sitting US President in decades to see his party gain seats in midterm elections.

This came, at the time, as something of a shock to the still-dominant and still reliably liberal mainstream news outlets in the US. The punditry, as the votes rolled in, was one of shock and surprise and “how could this have happened?” – scenes that would be repeated on election night two years later, and then taken to their absolute extreme in 2016 as Donald Trump consigned the First. Woman. President. to an electoral footnote.

Anyway, that election night has always stuck with me because of an exchange that took place on, I think, CNN between Democrat political advisor James Carville and Bush advisor Karl Rove. “Democrats just didn’t get their message out this time”, intoned Carville, somberly. “No”, replied Rove. “You guys always say that.” “The problem is not that you didn’t get your message out, it is that you did, and people didn’t like it”.

That particular exchange has come to mind in recent days watching the latest round of the twitter/X wars. Yesterday, Una Mullally took to the pages of the Irish Times to become the latest liberal pundit to denounce X. Over in the UK, there is talk of a ban. An internet blackout, of sorts, in a democratic country, preventing the public from accessing Elon Musk’s digital playground. Similar discussions are apparently happening in Australia, Canada, and of course in Brussels.

The official reason is of course that people are shocked, shocked to discover that there is porn on the internet and that AI tools are capable of digitally altering images to remove people’s clothes (I consider myself fortunate enough that nobody would ever wish to do that to me, for the sake of their eyes). But there’s an unofficial reason too, and it’s openly admitted. Here’s Una:

“Politicians need to realise that X is not Twitter. Under Musk, X is a vast disinformation network, a hotbed of racism, hate, extremism and dystopian delusions. It is a radicalisation tool, an arena of harassment, and yes, its chatbot is a creator, publisher and distributor of awful material.”

Note the “and yes” there at the end before she gets to Grok. It’s as plain an admission that you’ll see that the AI porn problem is an ancillary reason, not the primary reason, why politicians should be taking action. The primary reasons are set out in detail before hand: Disinformation, racism, hate, extremism, and something called dystopian delusions.

(Seriously, one might have thought the notion that governments should ban online discussion forums to save democracy from the people was a “dystopian delusion”. Evidently not.)

Keep reading

Somali Refugee in Lewiston, Maine Resigns After Controversial Swearing In Despite Active Investigations and Criminal Charges

Last week, Iman Osman, a Somali migrant and community leader, was sworn in as the Ward 5 Councilor despite facing two felony charges related to stolen property, including the unauthorized taking and receiving of stolen firearms from two estates.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that, according to court documents obtained by WMTW, the alleged crimes involve weapons taken from two separate estates between November 15, 2023, and October 11, 2024.

Although his lawyer initially said he would not resign, in a letter to Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline and City Council President David Chittim, he tendered his resignation.

WMTW-TV reports that in his letter, Osman said he “did not come to the decision lightly.”

The letter reads in part:

“For the betterment of our community and in the best interest of our city, I believe it is time for me to step aside. I hope my resignation serves as a call to action for those who remain — an opportunity to reflect on the values of respect, inclusivity and kindness that should guide our public service,” Osman said.

“I am grateful for the support I have received from my family and friends, my community and my constituents during my time in public office. I remain committed to our city’s progress and will continue to advocate for positive change in Lewiston.”

On Wednesday, Osman was arraigned in Lewiston District Court.

Keep reading

The Democrats’ “Affordability” Ploy To Avoid Accountability

Imagine someone is walking through a museum filled with fragile antiquities. And they happen to be indiscriminately swinging a sledgehammer. And with every fragile antiquity they shatter, they pocket the price of the destroyed historical treasure.

When their selfish, remunerative spree of wanton destruction concludes, one might expect the culprit to drop their hammer and skedaddle from the scene of the crime. Nope. Instead, they stand around carping that the museum’s new curators are not cleaning up the mess you made fast enough. Why? Because they are hoping to get another shot with the sledgehammer at the remaining precious items still on display.

The fragile antiquities would be the American economy itself. They would be Democrats. The sledgehammer would be their trillion-dollar spending spree, which they would undertake while holding the congressional majority under the Biden administration. With every exorbitant spending bill they passed, their political cronies and ideological fellow travelers received taxpayer money, much of the largesse being funneled back into electing Democrats. The result was the Democrats’ inflation-driven economic carnage that harmed every taxpaying American’s pocketbook that the party had drained to do it in the first place.

Consequently, the best new museum curators would be the Trump administration. One can therefore understand the irritation of the president and Congressional Republicans with the Democrats’ disingenuous dithyrambs to “affordability.”

Hence, President Trump has called the Democrats’ laments regarding the “affordability” issue a “hoax” and a “scam”; however, in the context he describes, he is decrying the party’s disingenuous messaging ploy.

Keep reading