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Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Mamdani Is the Real Racist Polluting This Country

 by Victor Davis Hanson

On July 3, the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani—and I don’t quite know why the mayor seems to think he speaks for the entire nation—but he wanted to give a Fourth of July speech to the nation at large. It wasn’t a speech; it was an indictment. 

And what I could condense his speech [down to], it was essentially that America was ruled by white racists, and they had been very unfair in the past to everyone but themselves, including people, as he said, quote-unquote, the rest of us. He included himself in the group of people supposedly who had calloused hands, who did the work, but they were not paid fairly, or they got the raw end of the deal in a racist and unfair America. 

He also said it was based, it being privilege, was based on the right shade of skin and the right accent. And again, he included himself as if he had been a victim.  

There’s two things about Mamdani everybody should remember. One, he’s very, very wealthy, and he’s very, very privileged. Two, he’s very racist. 

Let me explain. Mamdani comes from the 1% expatriate, what he would call in Marxist terms, settler colonialists that went to Uganda to get rich. And today they only constitute about 60,000 or 70,000 people in a multimillion-person country, but they control 60% of the GDP. So, he came from Uganda, and he came to the United States. 

His father is an endowed professor at Columbia University, very richly paid. His mother is a subsidized—very successful, though—filmmaker. Both of them have expressed, like their son, Mamdani, anti-American sentiments, even though they came as immigrants asking the host to welcome them, which we did. She’s also a beneficiary of millions of dollars from illiberal Qatar, who pays a lot of her tabs. 


As far as race goes, there has been no one who is more racially insensitive than Zohran Mamdani.  

Let me explain. He said that he wanted to go into white, whiter neighborhoods and tax them—whiter, richer neighborhoods. If he really wants to go in and tax richer neighborhoods, I don’t know what he means by tax, then why did he have to say white? 

If he thinks that rich people are all white people, the largest poverty group in the United States are white. The richest ethnic group is Zohran Mamdani’s Indian Americans. They have the highest per capita and highest per family income. He could have said then, if he was not a racist, “We’re just gonna go in and look at richer neighborhoods,” or “We’re going …” 

If he wanted to talk about rich and race simultaneously and he wanted to be honest, he [would have] said, “We’re gonna go in and look at richer and more Indian American groups like my own, who are the richest in the United States.” Of course, he wouldn’t do that. 

He’s also said that AIPAC, a Jewish advocacy group, are monsters. 

He doesn’t say that CAIR or any Muslim group or any other group. Only Jews are monstrous. He had a housing secretary, a person who’s in charge, or would be in charge, of all public housing in New York—thousands of apartments. She said housing is a weapon of white supremacy. I don’t know what that means. 

Apparently, she thinks too many white people have saved, put down a down payment, make their mortgage payments regularly and in full, and therefore they exercise white supremacy. I don’t know what she means about that.  

She’s also said that she doesn’t want to see any more whites in office platforms. In other words, she wants to adjudicate who is running New York by the color of their skin. 

Remember, this comes from a man who lectured us about the shades of people’s skin. He had an appointment secretary who has a long name, but I’ll just shorten it to Catherine Da Costa. She had said on other occasions that whites must be defeated. 

Imagine if you had—if any other mayor said blacks must be defeated, or Asians must be defeated, or Hispanics must be defeated. 

That’s about as racist as you can get. This is Mamdani’s appointment secretary. She also termed Jews as money-hungry. 

And then there’s Mamdani’s wife. I wouldn’t single her out, except that she’s playing a very prominent political role in his administration. After the Oct. 7 massacre, she went on social media and said she liked over seventy different posts that celebrated the slaughter of 1,200 Jews. 

She offered illustrations for a book, a very antisemitic, hateful book, written by an author who had termed Jews ruthless ghouls and soulless vampires. 

So, what does all this mean? It means that leftists, when they lecture America, they’re usually projecting their own sins, as Mamdani is doing. He’s talking about America being racist when he has expressed more racist sentiment in his first six months in office than any mayor has in the history of New York. 

And when they talk about people being exploited by a capitalist unfair system, they’re usually what? Racist and wealthy. Wealthy. The Mamdanis are multimillionaires. They were multimillionaires in Uganda, and when they came here, they got even richer. 

And so, when we look at these new democratic socialists and they start to lecture us on race or they lecture us on wealth, go back and look at their past, and what will we find? 

That they’re racist themselves and they’re quite wealthy.  

https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/07/07/hanson-mamdani-racist/

KUDLOW: It’s time for the Marines to take Kharg Island

 The clearest and most straightforward condition in the performance-based deal with Iran was a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz with no tolls. Freedom of navigation is a long-standing international principle.

So the Iranians have been firing on ships and firing on Gulf states. And firing on American military bases. Thereby violating the so-called ceasefire and violating the so-called memorandum of understanding. So President Trump’s patience has run out.

Earlier today, a reporter asked the president: "On Iran, is the ceasefire over? Is the ceasefire done? Is the MOU dead?" Mr. Trump replied: "It’s a very interesting question. To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore." He added: "As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them," explaining that "they can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time. They’re a bunch of lying guys"

Indeed. And so the American bombing resumes. Yet I would suggest the continuous bombing of Iran probably has limited value added. I’m not opposed to it, but perhaps it has limited value added. Talking to military analysts, I have come to the view that the next big step in the Iranian war should be an American takeover of Kharg Island. That would completely cripple what’s left of Iran’s already decimated economy. Experts suggest that the current bombings open the way for forced protection for the Marines to hold Kharg Island and hold it well. 

Now the United States Treasury has restored sanctions on Iranian oil sales, that’s good, it will require of course military enforcement. Yet Iran quickly sold 50 million or 60 million barrels of oil since the MOU was put in place, and that’s got to stop. No money. No money for them.

Back to Kharg Island. Analysts tell me our great fighting Marines can land and take it over. The Iranians would be near helpless in the face of that kind of move. Now it would be boots on the ground, but in a very limited way, and just on Kharg Island.

We’re not talking about boots on the ground in Iran proper, or downtown Tehran. Clearly Mr. Trump is thinking about taking over Kharg Island, as his remarks suggest. "We attacked Kharg Island last night," he said. "We knocked out a piece. I said, don’t touch the oil because maybe we’ll take over Kharg Island. You know, we may take over Kharg Island. It’s not a thing they can do about it. But I said, don’t hit the pipes. Just hit everything else and they hit it. They may hit it again tonight."

So it’s in his head. So I would also suggest that the MOU be ripped up, and a new one that is written by American people, American delegates, and American diplomats. 

The agreement would be very simple: reopen Hormuz, end all nuclear activities, move the enriched uranium out of Iran, verify with American and United Nations inspectors, and absolutely no money for Iran unless and until they abide by these essentially unconditional surrender requirements.

Importantly, seasoned, experienced professionals from the Treasury, State, and Energy departments should be placed at the forefront of any discussions with Iran. Secretary Marco Rubio should be placed in complete charge of the operation, reporting directly to Mr. Trump. Yet the first step is Kharg Island.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/larry-kudlow-its-time-marines-take-kharg-island

Bushehr nuclear plant said to be intact in US strikes

 The Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran was not damaged by the United States' latest airstrikes on the Middle Eastern country, the Iranian Nournews agency reported on Wednesday.

The news came after the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it restarted its airstrikes against Iran, citing the risk it poses to security in the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, it was reported that the strikes caused power cuts in the free port zone of Chabahar.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Bushehr-nuclear-plant-said-to-be-intact-in-US-strikes/66661234

Medicare Advantage plans set to rake in $13B in 2026 quality bonus payments

 The feds are set to pay out at least $13.4 billion in Medicare quality bonus payments this year, up slightly year over year and reflecting a rapid escalation in spending over the past decade, a new report shows.

Spending on quality payments was $12.7 billion in 2025, according to a new analysis from KFF. The 2026 estimate, however, is more than four times the $3 billion paid out in 2015, the researchers said.

About two-thirds (68%) of MA enrollees are in a plan that qualifies for a bonus payment, according to the report. That's down from 75% in 2025, and makes for the lowest number since 2018.

The quality bonus payments are tied to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' annual star ratings program, with contracts earning four or more stars securing the additional payments. Critics have called for either ending or augmenting the program, and the Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2018 that eliminating the quality bonus payments would save the feds almost $100 billion over a decade.

The KFF researchers note that the Medicare Advantage program has only grown since that CBO analysis. There are currently 35 million people enrolled in MA, 5 million higher than CBO estimated in the 2018 report, per KFF.

"Given the sharp increase in both actual and projected Medicare Advantage enrollment since CBO’s analysis, the savings from eliminating the quality bonus program could be substantially higher," the researchers wrote.

Earlier this year, CMS finalized changes to the star ratings that will take effect in 2027, but the KFF researchers said it's not likely to lead to a spending decrease. Based on those changes, MA spending will likely rise by $18.6 billion over the subsequent decade.

The report also examines quality bonus payments between different Medicare Advantage organizations. UnitedHealth Group, for instance, is set to receive $3.9 billion, or 29% of payouts under the quality bonus program. However, the insurer accounts for 26% of Medicare Advantage enrollees.

Humana, which covers about 20% of enrollees, is projected to receive a smaller share of payments in 2026, totaling $1.5 billion, or about 11% of total spending. Humana saw a significant drop off in its average star rating score in 2025, and that has had a major impact on its bonus payments.

The largest increase in payments per enrollee was at Kaiser Permanente, which has a consistent streak of high star ratings each year. Kaiser Permanente Health Plans is projected to see a $577 increase in per-enrollee payments for 2026, as virtually all of its members are in plans with at least four stars.

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/medicare-advantage-plans-set-rake-13b-2026-quality-bonus-payments

'Meta Platforms Breaks Ground on Data Center in Western Canada'

 Meta Platforms said Wednesday it is opening an artificial-intelligence data center in the western Canadian province of Alberta.

Meta said the new center would be located in central Alberta, just northwest of the capital Edmonton. Meta said the data center comes with a price tag of 13 billion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of $9.15 billion, and support employment for over 3,000 construction workers and more than 300 permanent staff. Meta added it is spending C$60 million in infrastructure upgrades in central Alberta.

This represents Meta's 33rd data center, but its first in Canada.

Last week, Pembina said it was proceeding with a C$4.6 billion, 932-megawatt gas-fired power plant near Meta's planned data center. Pembina is a lead partner in the limited partnership building the power plant, which includes Morgan Stanley's infrastructure arm and an Alberta-based asset manager, Kineticor.

In its release, Pembina said the power plant was meant to serve a major data center but declined to name the customer.

https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/202607087264/meta-platforms-breaks-ground-on-data-center-in-western-canada

'Iran did not target Trump in Turkey to preserve neighborly ties, official says'

 

US President Donald Trump had been “within reach” in Turkey but Iran did not target him in order to preserve good relations with neighboring countries, an Iranian official said Wednesday.

“Trump was within reach for retaliation over Khamenei, but in order to preserve friendship and good neighborly relations with neighbors, we did not target him,” Ezzatollah Zarghami, a member of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace, said on X.

The former head of Iran’s state broadcaster also called for Turkey’s ambassador to be summoned over what he said was Trump issuing orders to attack Iran while in Turkey, where the US president attended a NATO summit.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202607049017

US launches new strikes on Iran over Hormuz attacks

 

US Central Command said it had begun additional strikes against Iran on the orders of President Donald Trump, saying the operation was aimed at degrading Tehran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

CENTCOM said the United States was holding Iran accountable for what it called “recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews” navigating the vital waterway.

The statement comes after a series of attacks on vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global energy shipments.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202607049017