Vile

Hey, everybody! Let's make it more painful!  Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City starts his tweet of three years since Hamas Genocide Day by noting "This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7."  Then he goes profoundly downhill from the sewer in which he lurks.

This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss. The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians—including more than 21,000 children. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them – all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes. Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment. To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.

— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) October 7, 2026

 Eight days after the attack, Robert Satloff of The Washington Institue for Near East Policy noted that it 

killed more than 1,300 Israelis and third-country nationals, including at least 29 Americans, in a country whose population is less than 10 million. In America, that would be equivalent to killing nearly 40,000—13 times more than the number of Al Qaeda victims on 9/11....

As terrible as 9/11 was, tens of millions of Americans woke up the following morning in our vast country not knowing any of the victims or their families. In Israel, a country whose width is less than the daily commute of many Americans, not a single family was untouched by the attack, either directly, through a neighbor, friend or classmate....

The comparison to the 1978 Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-1981 is apt. Satloff continues

Americans sadly recall how the taking of a much smaller number of hostages—diplomatic personnel at the American embassy in Tehran—paralyzed the U.S. government and dominated daily life in our country for 444 days. Obviously, the hostage factor was never a component of 9/11.

And yet, Zohran Kwame Mamdani decided to celebrate the massacre of October 7, not only by repeating the debunked charge of "genocide" but by going on in detail about the suffering of Palestinians he blames on the Israeli government.  Though mentioning (once) Hamas, the mayor did not acknowledge that none of the death and destruction he claims to be distressed by would have taken place without the terrorist group. The word "terrorist," nor any derivative, escapes his lips, nor does "Jew" or any of its derivatives.  Yet, he wields the term "Palestinian" with no concern about any Palestinian outside of Gaza. Hatred is made no more credible mixed with ignorance.

If Mamdani had any sense of decency, any denunciation of Israel would have been suspended for days- or at least one.  When a human being dies, there is no public criticism of the deceased before, nor during, the day of the funeral. When grieving on the anniversary of the death, out of respect, no one airs grievances against the person. 

The best thing, given the mayor's hostility to Jews, would have been for him to say nothing on this anniversary. I checked- it's legal.  Admittedly, in the age of individual self-absoprtion, he would have been denounced. So he could have issued a minimalistic statement, including the first four sentences of his tweet and ending with "we now must redouble our pursuit of peace and justice for all peoples of the Middle East".  The statement would not have been much dissimilar to that issued by the governor of New York State.

There has been much speculation as to why Mayor Mamdani and President Trump appear to like each other personally. It's now clear that they see some of themselves in each other.  Lack of character is a defining feature of both men.

There is a time and place for most things, and the time for condemnation of Israel on October 7 is not the time. Not the time, that is, for any decent person, which leaves Zohran Kwame Mamdani out.

 

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Letting Them off The Hook

Remember: Donald Trump is not a bad guy. Jared Kushner is not a bad guy. The Saudis are not bad guys.

We know that because the "progressive" left has told us that, indirectly. This guy was sensible until "you're bombing Iran because Israel told you to.

North Korea has nukes and ICBMs that can hit the entire U.S. Iran has neither. If nukes were the point, you'd be bombing North Korea. You're bombing Iran because Israel told you to.

— James Fishback (@j_fishback) October 5, 2026

When in late February President Trump launched an attack on Iran, The Washington Post reported that it was

after a weeks-long lobbying effort by an unusual pair of U.S. allies in the Middle East — Israel and Saudi Arabia — according to four people familiar with the matter, as Israeli and U.S. forces teamed to topple Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei after nearly four decades in power.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made multiple private phone calls to Trump over the past month advocating a U.S. attack, despite his public support for a diplomatic solution, the four people said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, continued his long-running public campaign for U.S. strikes against what he views as an existential enemy of his country.

The combined effort helped lead Trump to order a massive aerial campaign against Iran’s leadership and military, which in its initial hour led to the death of Khamenei and several other senior Iranian officials.

That was Israel and Saudi Arabia. It seems that Donald's son-in-law and leading mediator in Gaza ceasefire talks, oligarch Jared Kushner, probably helped persuade Donald given that he

has an indirect financial connection through his private investment firm to a series of companies supplying weapons and equipment to the IDF, according to a CNN investigation published on Thursday and based on Israeli financial documents and Israeli transparency regulations.

According to the investigation, Kushner-owned Affinity Partners is the largest shareholder in Phoenix Financial. Documents reviewed as part of the investigation indicate that Phoenix has investments in nine companies connected to Israeli military activity, including manufacturers of ammunition, drones, vessels, and engineering equipment.

The most significant investment is in Elbit Systems, valued at at least $265 million. Other investments include more than $68 million in NextVision, which manufactures cameras for drones, and at least $40 million in Reshef Technologies, which manufactures electronic fuzes for shells. The list also includes Israel Shipyards, Ashot Ashkelon, Boeing, and Caterpillar.

Kushner does not directly own shares in the nine companies, but Affinity may indirectly benefit from their profits through its investment in Phoenix. According to CNN, the company sold about a quarter of its holdings in July for more than $340 million, generating a return of more than five times the original purchase price of the shares it sold.

Following the sale, Affinity remained Phoenix's largest shareholder, with a 7.4% stake valued at more than $1 billion.

The investigation raises questions about the intersection between Kushner's diplomatic activity and his private business interests. Kushner is carrying out his work on behalf of the president on a voluntary basis and does not hold an official government position. Alongside the diplomatic negotiations, he has presented a plan for Gaza's reconstruction that includes the development of tourism areas and opportunities for private investment.

The Iraq war has been very good business indeed for Jared Kushner. He has been given nearly a free pass, and Saudi Arabia a completely free pass, in parceling out blame for the destructive and unpopular war Jared's father-in-law and the Kingdom's friend has been waging in the Middle East.  

Saudi Arabia has been given a free pass, and Jared Kushner nearly a free pass  Nor has President Trump, in some quarters, assumed to have agency. The "Zionism is racism" crowd is glad to exempt the American president, his son-in-law, and the Saudis from responsibility for a chance to claim genocide, which these folks don't understand, or Zionism, which these folks don't understand.

"Woke 1 was crazy", Representative Alexandria Ocasi-Cortez acknowledged while smugly giggling. Welcome to Woke 2, its more dangerous sibling.

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Crazy, Thriving

In August, Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian noted that United States Representative Alexandria-Cortez in an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl

“Woke 1 was crazy,” she told Karl, quoting her friend, New York City Councilman Chi Ossé, also a democratic socialist, who used that phrase in May when he was called out on social media for once posting that the next speaker of the New York City Council should not be a cisgender white man.

As Karl pressed Ocasio-Cortez — “You briefly supported the idea of defunding the police” — she wriggled.

“During this time,” she said, “especially during COVID, there was a huge opening of the Overton window… And I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place.” (The Overton window refers to the range of ideas and policies that are broadly acceptable to the public at any given time.)

Abcarian pointed out that among pundits, “some were offended that she seemed to be laughing off an important struggle. Some demanded contrition for broken careers and shattered lives.”

Nonetheless, virtually everyone assumed that (for the time being) “woke” was over, at least as one of its main proponents, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, saw it.

Surprise! ESPN reported

The Portland Trail Blazers hired then on the same day fired Braiden Bell as their play-by-play announcer after a series of inappropriate social media posts from when he was a teenager came to light.

 "The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments," the team said in a social media statement Thursday announcing Bell's dismissal. "Social media posts made by our recently announced play-by-play broadcaster are in clear violation of team and league policies, as well as our values and expectations. Therefore, we will not be moving forward with this broadcaster."

Among the insensitive comments, as found by a reporter for KGW in Portland, were Bell saying he was "not racist" but "Asian people piss me off" and a number of misogynistic posts, including him shouting out "big girls" and "closet whores." The posts were reportedly made in 2012 and 2013, around the time that Bell was 15 years old.

Oh, dear Lord, that was 14 years ago. Braden was only 15 years old.

"Woke" is not over; not by a long shot.  It has served nearly everyone's purpose to claim that it has ended.  The left, such as Ocasio-Cortez, wants to reassure the right and the center, so as not to alarm and alert them; the right wants to take a victory lap.

Every time you hear someone say "they" when they clearly mean "he" or "she," you know woke is thriving. The cultural left has been arguing tht there are not merely two genders (sexes) and began several years ago defaulting to "they," and the mainstream has largely followed suit. 

Queried on use of illegal drugs, then-governor George W. Bush of Texas would typically answer "when I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible".  The clever response would typically shut down questioning.

That reflected a failure of journalists who were talking to a guy who would become the 43rd President of the USA. However, it was understandable because it reflected a sane reality. When an individual is young, he (especially a "he") does things that he would not do when older. 

Moreover, that was the explanation for some very bad behavior.  Bell evidently made some very bad statements.  And obnoxiousness which was O.K. for a presidential candidate- Bush's remark satisfied almost everyone- is now not O.K. for a sports broadcaster. 

It should be.  Although there was scant, and insufficient, scrutiny of the past actions of the 2000 G.O.P. presidential candidate, people do grow out of things. (Bush, for instance, has not been an active alcoholic in decades.) His past was accepted not only because of that but also because, to a degree, that's what is done by young men, a message that GEICO pushed in a series of commercials:

 

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The Right (Wing) Stuff

The mid-term elections- aside from a little early voting- haven't even taken place yet, so we don't know how the Republican presidential nomination process will work itself out in 2028. We know even less about the party's vice-presidential nomination. Still, we know a little more than we did a week ago, and one border state hopeful did himself/herself some good, and the other a little harm.

And so it was that former Special Counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee

in a hearing focused on his investigations into President Donald Trump. He went so far as to say he’d uncovered “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that the commander in chief “engaged in serious crimes against our nation.”

(Missouri Republican) Schmitt wasn’t having any of it. He claimed Smith had secretly traveled to Atlanta in 2024 to meet with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who led her own investigation into Trump. Schmitt cited text messages he said placed Smith at an Atlanta Hawks game and accused him of lying about his whereabouts, calling him a “total dirtbag.”

Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar noted that the Senator evidently had confused the Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Also, video proof:

This is priceless.

Check out how local news is reporting on Sen Eric Schmidt’s clown-show grilling of Jack Smith.

They found Jack Smith at the game…

“Top corner, section 109, row 1. In fact, that seat doesn’t even exist in Atlanta.” pic.twitter.com/CDyPrKkNgQ

— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) September 30, 2026

Characteristically insightful, Steve M notes 

Schmitt didn't just get his facts spectacularly wrong, he got his facts wrong on the subject of sports, something millions of Americans care about and understand in detail. Normal Americans care about sports. Top reporters and pundits in the still male-dominated world of political journalism care about sports. This is an embarrassment Schmitt will take to his grave. It won't be forgotten.

This is America. Nothing trumps sports in importance. Further, if Schmitt thinks "total dirtbag" would go down well with the general public, he fails to realize that abject crudity ultimately works well with most voters only if one's initials are D.J.T.  Trump has the secret sauce, and no one else does. He is a unicorn.

Schmitt of Missouri was stupid. it has been fairly clear that Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not. The "Huckabee" is for the voters of Arkansas, reminding them that she is the daughter of the state's former, popular governor, Mike Huckabee. The "Sanders" reminds voters in that extremely conservative state that she still believes in the tradition of a woman taking on the husband's surname.

The day before Eric Schmitt swung and missed at the Senate Judiciary Committee, Governor Sanders, reportedly running for reelection touting new welfare work requirements released an ad which

follows a fictional character named "Brad," who is portrayed as an able-bodied White man spending his days playing video games, lounging on the couch and avoiding work while relying on taxpayer-funded benefits. Huckabee Sanders argues her proposal would require able-bodied adults without dependents to work, train for a job or volunteer in order to continue receiving assistance.

"Meet Brad," Huckabee Sanders starts the ad. "Brad has turned relaxing into a full-time profession. But you – you actually work hard. You pay taxes to cover welfare for guys like Brad who just choose not to work.

      "

She faced considerable backlash as

"Great policy," Co-founder and CEO of The Federalist Sean Davis argued. "Terrible ad that is so dishonest and insulting that it will entirely overshadow the genuinely great policy."

"This is a massive own goal, [Sarah Huckabee Sanders], and you should fire the consultants who made this ad," Will Chamberlain, the Article III Project senior counsel, posted on X. "Do not portray your core voting bloc as losers, period. "

"White males are the Republican Party's voting base and yet they are the group the Republican Party sh—s on at every possible opportunity," responded Daily Wire's Matt Walsh. "Meanwhile, back in reality, women are significantly more likely to be on welfare than men. And black people are astronomically more likely to be on welfare than white people. So the number of single young white male 'Brads' abusing the welfare system is minuscule."…

"Attacking white (specifically Christian) young men is the most acceptable political tactic in America thanks to the evils of liberalism," said the American Principles Project's Caleb Pascoe. "It's staggering how much even the majority of GOP politicians feel safe attacking white young men, instead of communicating the truth of welfare, because they might get called 'racist' or whatever."

Always a white male villain in these ads," another conservative account wrote. "I hate the GOP so much it’s unreal"...

"Your ad targeted and mocked the one demographic—young white men—that is least likely to be on welfare and yet the most likely to be illegally locked out of the job market," Davis added in a follow-up post. "Why?"

There is no indication that Sanders will run for the top job. However, if she is tapped for Vice President, the right will fold like a cheap tent and back her unconditionally.

That's not only because conservatives (and other Republicans) will support whatever individual the presidential nominee taps. It's also because most Republicans tell themselves that their opposition to lazy men has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. The ad validates their hostility to young guys playing video games, laying about, and getting handouts from taxpayers as having nothing to do with race. 

And Republicans fear being called "racist".  It was the edge candidate Barack Obama had. Individuals could vote for him and assuage guilt they felt over racial animus.  

If Sarah H. Sanders determines he wants to promote herself as a national candidate, she could pivot to a race-hostile appeal if she chooses. For now, she subtly distances herself from race and almost completely avoids the condemnation she otherwise would have gotten from center and left media- and from Democrats (which would trigger criticism from the media), who are fine with young white men being stereotyped.   

Most Republican and conservative voters will applaud this ad. After all, it's not they, their immediate family, or their close friends who are targeted- it's those others. Americans believe many Americans are lazy- as long as it's not their own people.  If it's others, white will do.

Governor Sanders, likely to win re-election in Arkansas, would not have the advantage of being from a swing state if she makes herself available for the veep nomination. However, she was press secretary for Donald Trump in the latter's first term, thus earning herself some admiration from fellow Republicans, as well as learning how to attack GOP enemies and lie effortlessly.  She's looking good at present, at least compared to the clown from Missouri.

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Not So Obvious

On the "New Rules" segment of  Real Time with Bill Maher Friday night, the host praised the decline in Fetanyl use and death from the drug, attributing it to action taken by each party.  He commended President Trump for closing the border and then-President Biden and other Democrats for "fast-tracking" Narcan and Republicans for "closing the border and deporting gang bangers and disrupting supply." There is some truth to that. However, the drop in both supply and demand has many causes.

 

Trump’s border policies are SAVING LIVES! Fentanyl deaths are down 55%, meth down 34%, and heroin down 89%. Even Bill Maher had to admit that closing the border, deporting gangbangers, and disrupting drug cartels worked!
Secure the border, protect the kids! 🇺🇸…

— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) September 27, 2026

 

Supply declined beginning in early 2024 because, as this news organization explained

Both the first Trump administration and the administration of former U.S. president Biden had pressured the Beijing government to attack the illegal precursor trade, leading to a formal agreement in November 2023. Many experts initially doubted China’s ability to corral thousands of precursor producers. Now, some theorize its government may have decided that disciplining such manufacturers— a tiny part of its economy—could have outsized benefits in its relations with the United States....

Cartel conflicts in Mexico could also be contributing to the fentanyl shortfall. The U.S. government had regarded the Sinaloa cartel as the number one producer of the highly addictive opioid. For the past 19 months, though, the group has been locked in a bloody civil war, weakening its operations and at times cutting off transit routes to the U.S. border. Both Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum have boasted of the results of their aggressive drug policies. Sheinbaum has broken with the more hands-off approach of her predecessor and mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and reported surging arrests and seizures.

And demand declined as

Fentanyl killed off many of its customers. Meanwhile, young people in their 20s don’t appear to be taking up fentanyl the way older Americans did. They may be more aware of its dangers, highlighted in news reports and public-health campaigns.

Sometimes an enforcement action yields benefits years after it occurs. Starting in the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies introduced painkillers like OxyContin that addicted millions of Americans. When authorities tightened access to those pills a few years later, they inadvertently triggered a new round of the crisis, as desperate users turned to other opioids—first heroin, then fentanyl. But the stricter controls on prescription drugs ultimately had another effect. Many people didn’t even start using them, and so never got to fentanyl. “Fewer people have been exposed to prescription opioids in recent years, potentially curbing the development of opioid use disorder,” said a recent analysis in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, a medical journal, by drug specialists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.      

Researchers point to other possible factors in declining demand. Fentanyl vendors have increasingly adulterated the opioid with less lethal substances, such as the animal tranquilizer Xylazine. That reduces overdoses but also demand: Xylazine puts users to sleep, keeping them from injecting as often. Public-health initiatives also ramped up in recent years, with the Biden administration increasing federal funding for addiction treatment by tens of billions of dollars. Federal and local governments, as well as local harm-reduction groups, have widely distributed the medication naloxone, which quickly reverses overdoses.

And then there are the factors which are speculative. Evidently

Scientists and law-enforcement officials acknowledge there’s still a lot they don’t know. One senior U.S. drug enforcement official said fentanyl seizures may have fallen, in part, because the Trump administration has reassigned thousands of FBI, DEA and Homeland Security Investigations agents from narcotics work to arresting immigrants in the country illegally. “Yeah, seizures are down,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “But we’re not looking anymore.”

This is a far cry from President Trump claiming full credit. Maher noted the decline in deaths from other illicit drugs- cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine- and accurately remarked

Part of it is reasons beyond politics.... But mostly, it's because Democrats did some things and Republicans did other things.  And by not actually working together, they stumbled upon positive change or as Trump put it, "it was all me".

Circumstances for a plunge, though more intentional than serendipitous, amounted to a reversal of a perfect storm.  The Chinese recognized their self-interest and negotiated a deal with the Biden Administration; Mexican cartels turning their attention inward; stricter controls on legal drugs; adulteration of opioids by Fetanyl vendors; increased spending by the Biden Administration for drug treatment; shutting down the border by the Trump Administration.  These are reasons both of "politics" and beyond politics, and may continue well into the future. Or not.

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The New Pledge of Allegiance

Last month, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez infamously stated "I have a local city councilman that has this saying 'Woke 1 was crazy.' I think that during this time, especially during COVID... the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place."

Critics noted that the New York congresswoman herself was part of the problem. Overlooked was that her reference to "especially during COVID" was disingenuous. Covid-19 had little to do with woke statements or perspective. It was much more the black lives matter movement, spearheaded by the ethically questionable Black Lives Matter organization.

This is significant because there is an idea- vocalized by Ocasio-Cortez- that "woke is dead". This is a convenient notion, encouraging controversial opinions to be shielded from the accusation that it is "woke". Not taken in is the co-author of Regime Change because as Breitbart noted

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” New York Times White House Reporter and author Jonathan Swan said that “there’s actually an effort to get away from what AOC has called woke one. But the new litmus test is Gaza and genocide. That’s replaced a lot of these old litmus tests.” And “It’s completely oriented itself around Israel.”

Swan said, “The interesting thing is that there were all these other litmus tests that existed in 2020, and you see politicians like Pete Buttigieg took out — he had his pronouns on his social media account. He got rid of them. So, there’s actually an effort to get away from what AOC has called woke one. But the new litmus test is Gaza and genocide. That’s replaced a lot of these old litmus tests.”

Later, Swan said that he “can’t really make sense of where the line is anymore or what gets you cancelled…but the one issue, as you said before, seems to be Gaza. That seems to be the one thing where they’ve oriented themselves around a litmus test. … Like, you don’t hear candidates say, mask mandates and defund the police, they’re actually running away from all of that stuff. It’s completely oriented itself around Israel.”

Unlike the black lives matter movement, which strongly implied that police practice widespread brutality against black people and only black people, not every Democrat has fallen in line with the "Israel=genocide" myth. Some have, however:

There are several things going on here:

1. When she says she comes from a family "that's been genocided in the 1940s by the Nazis," turning "genocide" into a verb, she indicates that she speaks the new radical speak, which is obviously important to progressives always fearful of… https://t.co/plUPZVzkdn

— Peter Savodnik (@petersavodnik) September 27, 2026

There are numerous reasons to reject the charge of genocide. Among them is the extraordinary child vaccination program in Gaza in 2024. Later suspended and now resumed, this was facilitated by Tel Aviv and carried out by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. Israel is one of nine nations in the world with nuclear warheads. If its enemy- Hamas- in this war were one of the other eight, Israel would be deterred from using them to wipe out Gazan Palestinians because of the fear of retaliation.

Thus, to be clear: with that advantage and an overwhelming advantage in conventional forces over Hamas, Gazans have not been wiped out, and not nearly so. If Israel were trying to wipe out a people, the country is roughly as inept as Hamas is, well, genocidal.

None of that is new, nor should it be controversial. But in the video clip below, the Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives in the second congressional district of Maine (the largest in area east of the Mississippi), Matt Dunlap remarks (at 1:00) "this has become the moral issue of our time."

Not the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Not the persecution of non-Muslims in the Muslim world. Most of all, not the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023 with the intent by Hamas of raping and murdering as many Jews as possible. And not the numerous terrorist groups throughout Asia and Africa. They go unmentioned because they are not Jewish, acting on behalf of a democratic state in retaliation for a deadly attack.

In the future, the ignorance, bigotry, or fear of cancellation which undergirds the litmus test, the requirement to denounce Israel dishonestly, will be a matter of extensive debate. However, we do know now that either Woke 1 has been replaced by Woke 2 or that the original has taken a very ugly turn.

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Misinformed Critics

On Thursday, Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the United Nations General Assembly, defending his own nation while lambasting Iran, Hezbollah, and New York City mayor Zohran Mandami. There were demonstrations and speeches both inside and outside of the building protesting the speech by the Israeli Prime Minister, as well as dozens of diplomats who walked out to show their disdain for Netanyahu. 

It turns out that condemning terrorists is unpopular among many individuals in the area and especially with such performers activist Chelsea Manning, comedian Caleb Headen, state Assembly candidate Helen Gallagher, actors Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder, House of Representatives nominee Darializa Chevalier, and a city councilman.  The last four were arrested, as were 100 or so other individuals, who were individually warned of impending arrest for failure to disperse. They were released pending a court appearance.

Protests are as American as cherry pie and GLP-1 drugs, and there will be little or no penalty assessed upon the persons arrested.  Some of the demonstrators held signs reading "stop arming Israel," a reasonable proposal, and others had signs reading "end the genocide," which would make sense if there were genocide taking place. 

There is not, of course, which anyone understanding the nature of genocide and Israel's ability to annihilate an ethnic group would understand. Fortunately, Scott Galloway does.

• The Holocaust killed 40% of Europe's Jews
• Rwanda killed 70% of the Tutsis
• Cambodia killed 1/3 of the entire country
• In Gaza, it is 3% at most, alongside polio vaccines, 2,500 calories a day and leaflets warning… pic.twitter.com/K8LOm8dUZP

— Max 📟 (@MaxNordau) September 24, 2026

El-Sayed, as he continues to indicate, not only is ignorant about the concept of genocide but, as is now evident, lacks basic decency: 

This is legitimately disgraceful. The young man wasn’t asking for a lecture on US foreign policy. He was asking a question of basic morality. Huge swing and miss by El-Sayed. https://t.co/yIB4tiIcMb

— Ethan Wolf 🇺🇸 (@ethanmwolf) September 24, 2026

Jewish Israeli voters will not be intimidated and won't take kindly to accusations of being a party to genocide.  Their reaction will be to sympathize more with Benjamin Netanyahu and the bigotry of coalition partners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Benzalel Smotrich. It would be ironic if the backlash to the Jew-hating and other anti-Israel fanatics helped return Netanyahu's Likud to power, which probably would be accompanied by right-wing extremists. For some hypercritical detractors, though, that would not be ironic, but a welcome cudgel to use against a nation they wish didn't exist.

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