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Friday, October 2, 2026

Would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks texted mystery persons about his 3D printer and ‘gifts’

President Trump’s would-be assassin, Thomas Crooks, exchanged messages with an “unknown contact” about 3D-printed “parts” and seemingly chatted in code words with another unidentified individual, FBI documents released Friday show.

The electronic communications were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Judicial Watch — weeks after The Post reported on Crooks’ experiments with his 3D printer, which included building a firearm.

“Did you 3D print the parts?” read a Feb. 9, 2023, message Crooks received on his Samsung device from an individual described by the FBI as an “unknown contact.”

Several hours later it appears that Crooks responded, “Yes, except for the fan blades.”

The messages are among dozens included in the newly-released documents that were “deemed pertinent” to the investigation of the July 13, 2024, Trump assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., the FBI noted.

“Woah that looks cool,” the unknown person texted Crooks just before asking about the “parts,” in response to a completely redacted message sent by the would-be Trump assassin.

Federal investigative records obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and reviewed by The Post last month showed that Crooks’ father told investigators that his son owned a 3D printer and once tried to fashion his own handgun.

“Using carbon fiber plastic, a dryer and a toaster oven, Thomas did once create a Glock 19,” the gunman’s father, Matthew, told investigators.

Matthew explained that he tried the 3D-printed gun out, but only fired a single round from it because he feared the frame would explode.

Matthew indicated that he did not allow Thomas to use the 3D-printed Glock 19.

Judicial Watch also obtained bizarre communications described by the FBI as a “chat thread” between Crooks and a recipient whose name is redacted.

The conversation occurred between May 21, 2023, and January 3, 2024, and is largely comprised of one– or two-word messages and character strings.

“Hello … Hello red …Hello red … Hdudhdbdbbd … 7888ejdj …Yolo … Ddodjjf … 890 … Hdjd … Djdj … red … Yup red … Hello … Jhhhuuh … Hhdj … Jjjjjjjjjjjj … Hello red … Red red,” are among the messages sent by Crooks.

The incoming messages Crooks may have been responding to are not included in the document.

Messages from Christmas Day 2022 show Crooks appears to have traded “gifts” with an unidentified individual.

“Thanks for the gifts,” read one incoming text.

“Your welcome. Thanks as well,” Crooks appeared to respond.

It’s unclear why the FBI determined that these communications were “pertinent” to their investigation. Reps for the bureau did not respond to a request for comment.

The documents further show that the FBI was able to extract images and flight logs from Crooks drone.

Between February 6, 2024, and February 27, 2024, Crooks snapped aerial photos of PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively, as well as railroad tracks and other locations arounds Western Pennsylvania.

“These latest records reveal more pieces of the puzzle surrounding Thomas Crooks,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.

“The FBI should stop the slow drip of heavily redacted records and immediately provide the full investigative record — especially since the death last week of James Copenhaver, who was severely injured from being shot during the assassination attempt on President Trump.”

https://nypost.com/2026/10/02/us-news/would-be-trump-assassin-thomas-crooks-texted-mystery-persons-about-his-3d-printer-and-gifts/

Illegal vendors back on Canal St hog 4-block stretch as cops say it’s a game of ‘whack-a-mole’

Bag them — for good!

Illegal vendors on Canal Street are back in full force, taking over a four-block stretch with displays of knockoff designer purses and watches — as cops scramble to bust up the never-ending counterfeit chaos.

Dozens of bootleg bag peddlers have set up tables and rugs on the pavement from Centre Street to Broadway, leaving only a five-foot sliver of sidewalk for pedestrians, after seemingly endless attempts to get rid of the hucksters.

The cut-throat street cloggers were aggressively jockeying for space this week as they hawked everything from fake $80 “Rolexes” to $250 Dior bags and $20 Prada sunglasses.

Other illegal hucksters spread out their fake fashion wares on sidewalk blankets, selling knockoff Prada sunglasses and fugazi luxury bags.

When a Post reporter visited Friday, an irate vendor shouted, “Get the f–k out of here!” and smacked the phone she was using to record the scene.

A police officer who responded to the incident cited the vendor, who was selling knockoff sunglasses, with harassment — but made no arrests for the illegal vending.

Other vendors then surrounded her, yelling.

One of the vendors was also cuffed by cops on Canal Street at around 4:20 p.m. Thursday, though it wasn’t immediately clear why he was arrested instead of others.

“You didn’t see me selling nothing!” the vendor shouted as he tried to slip away from the police officer, according to footage obtained by The Post.

The police officer then wrestled with the seller before restraining him between two cars. At least two other arrests were also made on the street Thursday, Post reporters observed.

But law-enforcement sources said their hands are tied by New York’s “revolving-door” justice, describing the situation as a frustrating game of “whack-a-mole.”

Cops can sweep the area and issue summonses or desk appearance tickets, but the vendors are back on the street the very next day, sources said.

“The idea that you’re going to solve this problem with cops would mean you would need to flood the zone every day. And then the problem migrates; City Hall Brooklyn Bridge, Midtown, on and on,” one source said.

“No one is dying over it so how do you create the appetite for aggressive criminal enforcement? There is none. That’s why it’s catch and release,” said another source.

But neighbors and local business workers are fed up with the chaos on Canal, calling it a quality-of-life nightmare.

“On certain streets you cannot even pass by,” said Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation. “You have to wait for people to squeeze by.

“It’s a game of cat and mouse,” he told The Post. “You put pressure on one corner and they move down to the other corner, and the next morning they’re back.”

Sajib Datta, an employee at the nearby Loknath Gift Shop, said she’s also had enough.

“Sometimes they block our entrance and my boss has to call the police. The city’s losing money on it because the buyers aren’t paying taxes,” she said. “I think it should stop.”

The unsightly illegal open-air marketplace in Chinatown has cropped up frequently in recent years — with NYPD conducting a raid as recently as July.

A police department spokesperson, when asked for comment, pointed The Post to an operation in June where $151 million in bootlegs goods was recovered.

So far this year, the NYPD has attempted to stamp out illegal vending on Canal by making 88 arrests, issuing 335 summonses, confiscating over 10,000 bags of peddler property and seizing 66 vehicles that were being used in the illicit operations, a spokesperson said.

The occasional police raids have forced the illicit merchants to bolt when police show up to confiscate their ill-gotten goods — only for them to return when the coast is clear.

Federal immigration agents even stormed the street in April with no lasting effect.

“Law enforcement comes and they quickly dash dropping bags and they run down the block,” he said. “We do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. We need a new methodology,” said Chen.

“The volume is so huge and most is a desk ticket appearance so at the end of the day the ticket doesn’t mean much or even the item confiscated is only a drop in the bucket. That’s why the legislature needs to do more,” he said.

After winning the election in November, Mayor Zohran Mamdani put out a video decrying immigration operations on Canal Street — and urging New York immigrants to “stand up to ICE.”

The illegal merchant problem then worsened after the democratic socialist took over, elected officials wrote in a letter earlier this year.

Lawmakers at the city and state level have urged the Big Apple to fix the problem.

“To address this persistent problem in Canal Street, we urge all of your agencies — the NYPD, the Department of Worker and Consumer Protection, and the Department of Sanitation — to engage with us to find a solution to this quality-of-life- crisis,” they wrote in a letter addressed to Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch January 14.

“Entrances to small businesses and residential buildings are completely blocked by vendors, making it difficult for people to enter their homes or for customers to support the businesses in our districts. These
neighborhood residents and small businesses face regular harassment and in some cases have
allegedly experienced physical assaults,” the letter said.

But Mamdani shied away from saying the NYPD should be out on the street clearing the vendors, and instead decried ICE after the agency conducted raids late last year.

“Addressing the quality-of-life issues on Canal Street is a priority for the Mamdani administration and we are committed to using a whole-of-government approach to doing so,” City Hall spokesman Sam Raskin said.

The Department of Sanitation — which assists the NYPD in enforcement operations but focuses on situations where vending has created dirty or unsafe conditions and setups that block entrances to stores or subways — said it issued 5,870 summonses and warnings to street vendors this year.

That was a 17% spike compared to last fiscal year, which the agency attributed to an increase in 311 requests for vendor enforcement, according to data from most recent mayor’s management report.

https://nypost.com/2026/10/02/us-news/illegal-vendors-are-back-on-canal-street-hogging-a-four-block-stretch-as-cops-make-arrests/

'Iranian lawmaker calls for occupying UAE, targeting Netanyahu there'

Iranian lawmaker Hossein-Ali Haji-Deligani called for Iran to occupy the United Arab Emirates, saying Iranian forces should deploy there to prevent attacks against Iran, in an interview with Didban Iran news website published Friday.

“Yes, we should occupy the UAE. This can be done easily,” Haji-Deligani, who represents Shahin Shahr and serves as first deputy chair of parliament’s Article 90 Commission, said after being asked whether he meant bringing the country under Iranian control.

He alleged that Iran was continuously threatened from the UAE and that planning related to what he described as the illegal passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz took place there.

“We should go there and establish security in that region; that is, we should be stationed there so that no attack against us takes place from that point,” he told Didban Iran.

Haji-Deligani also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should have been targeted during his visit to the UAE, describing the country as a branch of Israel.

The lawmaker separately criticized Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, saying parliament was pursuing his impeachment over what he described as “signals of weakness.” He argued that Araghchi’s public remarks and talk of negotiations could push global oil prices lower and ease pressure on the United States.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202610031252

Tech giants implement education programs since they ‘can’t rely’ on Ivy League grads

by Olivia Murray

Once again, the private sector is stepping in to fix what the government has broken, making a natural market correction without Daddy D.C. having to intervene.

According to a report from the New York Post, major tech companies have launched their own education programs, since college graduates, even ones from the Ivy League, are under- or un-educated when it comes to the demands of open job positions.

‘It used to be the case that you could rely on somebody who went to an Ivy or Ivy-equivalent to be top notch,’ said Jordan Hirsch, who runs Palantir’s semester-long intensive Meritocracy Fellowship, which accepts high school graduates.’ But that’s not the case anymore… we suspected that there was a lot of talent being missed.’

So wait, handing billions of taxpayer dollars to Ivy League schools to conduct research into “gender fluidity,” intersectionalism, unconscious bias, and structural racism didn’t actually create adults prepared for the real world workforce? DEI policies and initiatives, like making black and brown skin a preference over merit, didn’t source the most talented individuals? Huh, who could have possibly known a decline in education would have been the result of such an agenda?

Us, that’s who.

Now when I first read this, I assumed these candidates lacked the necessary knowledge and skills specifically regarding technology and coding, but interestingly enough, that’s not what Palantir and others like it are teaching in their education programs—at least not at first.

The basics that these tech companies are…the Western canon:

The company’s four-month fellowship begins with a five-week crash course in Western civilization — studying philosophers like Aristotle and heroes like Churchill….

And we were right again! It wasn’t us who said curricula like that were no longer relevant or important—in fact, we have fought and fought to retain traditionalism in the education system, because the Western canon is the foundation for an intelligent and educated society.

The government broke education (not without help from leftist academics, but that’s a different blog), pushing progressive policies, funding degrees and “research” that were objectively useless, and destroying meritocracy. And of course, who else comes in and issues a societal correction but that glorious free market? The business leaders and private employees who, by tremendous incentive, can quickly and easily identify issues in the economy, and correct them without tax dollars? Only able to do this because our system, while it is certainly socialistic and communistic in many elements, is still free in many ways.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/10/tech-giants-implement-education-programs-since-they-can-t-rely-on-ivy-league-grads/

The Guaranteed Decline Of Democratic Socialism

As unrealistic and uninformed as its advocates often sound, the most bewildering aspect of the rising Democratic Socialist movement is not its ideology but its timing. With just a few years before America is finally forced to tame decades of uncontrolled spending, its members seem to think that successful individuals and profitable corporations can nevertheless be tapped to fund programs like Medicare for All, publicly owned housing, universal childcare, and tuition-free college.

Wealthy individuals and big corporations will indeed be paying higher taxes in the near future, but not to finance a socialist agenda. They will instead be making good on their part of a shared agreement by all segments of American society -- including welfare beneficiaries, labor unions, and government-funded nonprofits -- to each make some sacrifice to get their country out from under an unsustainable financial burden. As Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio documents in his 2018 three-volume study of the Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises, such a grand bargain is the only way any sovereign fiscal crisis, from ancient times to the present, has ever been peacefully and successfully resolved.

How, then, did Democratic Socialists ever get the idea that after doing their part to keep the nation solvent, the so-called “rich” were also going to finance a progressive wish list? A socialist program was recently calculated by the Cato Institute to cost between $71 and $212 trillion -- or as much as five times the U.S. government’s current liabilities -- over the next decade.

Just as preposterously, how did Democratic Socialists ever think that the country’s seniors, having accepted higher Medicare fees as their part of the grand bargain, would then happily share the program with people who had never contributed to it? Or that the owner/operators of America’s 36.2 million small businesses, having also resigned themselves to higher taxes, would accept the kind of regulatory burden which comes with socialist policies? Or that the nation’s 65 million holders of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), having agreed to both lower contribution limits and bigger early distributions, would agree to fund some new entitlement.

We cannot fully appreciate either the rise of the Democratic Socialist movement or the inevitable unpopularity of its agenda without recognizing that the kind of grand bargain needed to resolve a sovereign debt crisis is almost always preceded by a period of budgetary streamlining. A time when both national and local governments begin to make the kinds of cuts which, while insufficient to solve the overspending problem, are relatively easy for voters to accept -- in other words, those aimed at pruning waste, fraud, and abuse.

In the U.S., such streamlining has been going on ever since President Trump’s reelection, most notably with the 2025 passage of his One Big Beautiful Bill. According to the Congressional Budget Office, its denial of food stamps to able-bodied adults, work requirements for Medicaid eligibility, tighter oversight of federal crop insurance claims, and reform of procurement procedures have collectively reduced the trajectory of federal spending by more than $170 billion a year.

Other recent measures to trim the nation’s budget include the Do Not Pay (DNP) System, which uses IT to identify redundant government programs and fraudulent billing; the defunding of previous DEI initiatives; cutting university grants; and the recent removal of 760,000 allegedly fraudulent ObamaCare enrollments. Elon Musk’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may have been officially closed in November of 2025, but its functions continue under the administration’s Office of Personnel Management.

At the local level, eighteen of America’s states have begun their own budgetary trimming by funding parents to educate their children at a private school, parochial academy, online resource, or homeschool of their choosing. And while the popularity of these programs stems from the greater say they give families over how and where students learn, government itself benefits from an average $14,401 reduction in the net cost of school staffing and support for every child that switches out of a traditional public school.

That such federal and state spending reforms would give rise to a socialist movement is hardly surprising. Not only will those impacted by related job or benefit cuts endure the most pain from America’s initial effort to deal with its looming debt crisis, but they are unlikely ever to be compensated for it. Advocating for a more paternalistic government is their way of trying to soften the blow.

Unfortunately, the media’s attention to the most visible and vocal subgroup of Democratic Socialists -- overeducated young people who are angry over the lack of high-paying jobs in their respective fields -- has misled the public into attributing the movement’s rise to an excess of college graduates. And while that may indeed be a problem, two facts paint a more accurate picture of the DSA.

First, the Democratic Socialists of America has very few members, young or otherwise, who hold degrees in law, accounting, medicine, business administration, engineering, or any of the so-called “hard” sciences (physics, chemistry, and biology). According to its own internal survey, the more educated members of the DSA tend to be teachers, nonprofit employees, social workers, and other public-sector employees. In other words, those who work -- or want to work -- for the very government programs now being cut in the name of more effective and accountable spending.

Second, the Democratic Socialist movement also includes many members who are current or recently removed beneficiaries of government programs, especially Medicaid, SNAP (food stamps), and housing assistance. Fifteen percent, according to an August Daily Caller survey, are unemployed, disabled, or retired; and many have unstable incomes.

All of which suggests that the Democratic Socialist movement is less accurately described as a surplus of unmarketable college graduates than a reaction to the kind of crackdown on waste, fraud, and abuse which typically precedes the grand bargain ending a debt crisis. A reaction by those already working for government or government-funded programs, by those wanting to work for government or government-funded programs, and by people benefiting or wanting to benefit from federal, state, and local welfare systems.

If there is any good news about America’s debt crisis coming to a head before the next president has completed a full term -- 2032 is when both Social Security and Medicare trust funds become insolvent -- it is that the DSA is unlikely to attract much of a following beyond the three groups just mentioned. Especially as it becomes clear to voters that any increase in government spending will just add to the sacrifices they themselves must make to bring it down again.

DSA candidates may indeed do well in the coming midterms, as voters express continued dissatisfaction with inflation and home unaffordability. Yet polls already show that working-class Democrats, despite their historical support for new and expanded entitlements, have little interest in becoming Democratic Socialists. Indeed, blue-collar adults account for just 4 percent of the DSA membership. And it is probably not a coincidence that the movement’s most ambitious politician, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has begun to moderate her progressive rhetoric.

Which is not to say that a hard core of collectivist ideologues won’t keep trying to sell voters on the idea that deficits do not matter or that there is no limit to how much wealthy individuals and profitable corporations can be taxed. But by then, the sobering results from Chicago, California, France, and other places where these beliefs are now being tested should be in. And unless the laws of economics have magically changed by then, the future of Democratic Socialism does not appear bright.

Dr. Lewis M. Andrews is former executive director of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy. His latest book is Living Spiritually in the Material World (Post Hill Press).

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/10/the-guaranteed-decline-of-democratic-socialism/

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