So as French cities descend into chaos at the hands of the Islamo-communist, “red-green alliance,” that coalition’s leading American avatar, Zohran Mamdani, is facing increasing unrest from his supporters.
Are America’s blue cities, most of which have some version of the red-green alliance represented, headed toward a similar Parisian meltdown?
Quite possibly. Because after all the hope-and-changey pledges of candidate Mamdani, mayor Mamdani is discovering what pretty much every other socialist leader, from Europe to Asia to Latin America to California eventually discovers.
It doesn’t work.
Cue the bonfires.
As we enter the homestretch of the midterms, Zohran Mamdani’s mayoralty is clearly running into an old and unforgiving adversary: reality.
Remember the promises? His supporters sure do. Free buses. Universal daycare. Government groceries. Arresting Benjamin Netanyahu. A socialist paradise on the Hudson.
Well, the buses aren’t free. Universal childcare isn’t here, nor will it likely arrive as-promised. Netanyahu came to New York, delivered his UN address, and departed without handcuffs. Mamdani eventually admitted he lacked the legal authority to arrest him.
So much for revolutionary government.
Meanwhile, Mamdani had to go hat-in-hand to Governor Kathy Hochul for financial assistance with this year’s budget, then resort to all sorts of sleights-of-hand and temporary fixes to balance the bloated mess.
He’s so fearful of the federal spigot being turned off at some point, he’s even had to deal cordially with Donald Trump—the man his political base regards as Satan himself.
Oh—and the NYPD? The agency he called to be fully defunded and disbanded because, “there is no negotiating with an institution this wicked & corrupt”? He just discovered how much he needs them—because about the only success he can point to these days is the lower murder number.
Which may be why 755 new NYPD recruits were just sworn into the Police Academy. And 1,079 recruits entered in April.
But perhaps the most revealing development occurred October 7, when Mamdani attended a remembrance vigil for the victims of Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel.
Pro-Palestinian protesters descended on the event, denouncing the mayor as a traitor. Some reportedly chanted support for Hamas. Apparently, even acknowledging murdered Jews was a betrayal to Mamdani’s fellow travelers.
Which raises the Big Question.
The so-called red-green alliance—the rising and increasingly volatile political partnership between radical progressives and Islamist activists—has always contained enormous contradictions. What happens when that coalition discovers that its elected officials must actually govern?
Just look across the Atlantic for the answer. Paris. London. Amsterdam. Turin. Rome.
The unrest in all these major European cities is a warning about what happens when decades of extravagant welfare policies and unchecked migration collide with ideological extremism. And it ain’t pretty.
New York isn’t Paris. Not yet.
But Mamdani’s political movement has embraced pretty much the same assumptions about government, immigration, and identity politics.
And the mayor is discovering that the loudest members of his coalition are likely those least interested in compromise—and most prone to violence.
So the danger isn’t simply that Mamdani’s socialist promises will fail. They will.
It’s what happens when the people who believed those promises decide that democracy itself has failed them.
New York—hell, America—had better wake up.
NIGHTWATCH With HEATHER MAC DONALD
Friends—should the so-called “Cornell Rape case” even be going forward?
Join me for a discussion with one of the most honest, challenging voices writing out there today when it comes to issues of race, criminal justice, and yes, rape on campus: Heather Mac Donald.
Heather is a bestselling author, a Manhattan Institute fellow, and a longtime critic of the prevailing narrative surrounding sexual assault on college campuses. For years, she has challenged the statistics, investigative procedures, and presumption of guilt that she argues too often accompany accusations of campus rape.
Her views have generated enormous controversy—and raised questions that deserve serious consideration. Because here’s a woman who brings the receipts.
The Cornell case touches on issues Mac Donald has been examining for years: due process, credibility, campus politics, and the pursuit of justice. Nobody out there is sharper on this issue.
Trust us when we say: you’ll look at this case—and the “campus rape” issue in general—in a different light after hearing what she has to say.
For a clip, see below. Or click HERE for the whole thing…. (Note: No firewall!)
Ops Wire Editor
Trump, Putin, and the ICC: A New World Order In Europe?
Donald Trump has just made a deal with Vladimir Putin. And the implications go considerably beyond oil.
On Friday, Trump announced an agreement allowing Russian diesel back into international markets, easing American sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump thanked Putin publicly. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was furious. By Saturday, Trump was suggesting Ukraine needed a new president.
But something else happened Friday that received less attention. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sweeping sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), the tribunal in The Hague that has an outstanding arrest warrant for Putin.
The timing is remarkable. And it raises questions about where American foreign policy in “Old Europe” is heading.
First: The oil.
Trump faces a domestic energy problem. Diesel prices have soared, driven mostly by the war with Iran. High fuel costs affect everything from trucking and agriculture to groceries and manufacturing. Russian diesel could provide relief, although economists question whether the quantities involved will significantly lower prices.
But the deal serves another purpose. Ukraine has systematically attacked Russian oil refineries, damaging infrastructure that finances Putin’s war. Trump has criticized those attacks and pressured Zelensky to change course.
So rather than utilizing the usual European mechanisms, Trump negotiated directly with Putin, providing Russia relief from economic restrictions intended to constrain its war effort. Zelensky compared the agreement to a birthday present for Putin. Trump responded by suggesting Ukraine eject Zelensky.
This represents an extraordinary reversal. Rather than automatically supporting Ukraine’s efforts to weaken Russia economically, Washington is pressuring Ukraine to accommodate a broader American strategy. One that is clearly not aligned with Europe’s view of the conflict.
And that brings us to the ICC.
The court issued its arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023, accusing him of responsibility for unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children into Russia. The warrant remains outstanding, and ICC member countries generally must arrest him if he enters their territory.
The United States, however, never joined the ICC. So in another salvo aimed squarely at Europe, on Friday, the U.S. went further. Secretary Rubio announced sanctions severely restricting the ICC’s access to American financial services, technology, and dollar transactions. His position reflects longstanding American objections to international tribunals claiming authority over countries that never accepted their jurisdiction.
That claimed authority can have consequences. Consider Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned on promising to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York under an ICC warrant—causing considerable unrest. Mamdani later acknowledged that limitation but continued demanding Netanyahu’s arrest. It demonstrated how an international criminal warrant can become a political weapon, even in a country that never accepted the court’s jurisdiction.
The court’s credibility has also suffered. In July, chief prosecutor Karim Khan was removed after the ICC’s governing assembly found serious misconduct and a serious breach of duty. An institution presuming to judge world leaders now faced questions about its own leadership.
Then came a development which likely only exacerbated the atmosphere in the White House.
On Friday, the Nobel Committee awarded its Peace Prize to Navi Pillay, a former international judge and UN human rights commissioner who later chaired the commission accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
The award conspicuously endorsed international legal institutions just as their legitimacy faced mounting challenges. Trump condemned the selection, while Rubio placed Washington in direct confrontation with a leading institution of the traditional European framework.
So what connects all this?
Trump appears increasingly determined to replace institutional diplomacy—particularly in Europe—with direct negotiations between governments. He will negotiate with Putin despite the ICC warrant, challenge Zelensky despite Ukraine being the invaded country, and confront institutions like the ICC that he believes obstruct American interests.
There is a coherent philosophy here, whether one agrees with it or not. Trump prioritizes economic leverage, national interests, and negotiated outcomes over preserving international institutions. And boy, does Europe love its institutions and bureaucracies.
But the danger in Trump’s approach is the weakened leverage of a united West. Putin, for instance, now receives economic concessions without comparable movement toward peace. After all, Ukraine has legitimate reasons to distrust arrangements negotiated without its participation. Never mind that its nation was invaded, with tens of thousands casualties.
But Trump seems to be making a larger bet. He apparently believes the international system established after World War II, and expanded after the Cold War, has become an obstacle to resolving the conflicts it was supposed to prevent. In short: taken on the evidence, Trump’s view is that the structures of “old Europe” may no longer be viewed as even workable.
Friday suggests he is prepared to challenge that system directly. Particularly as his Donroe Doctrine signals a retrenchment at home in the Americas.
The oil deal may be temporary. But as European influence and prosperity wane, America’s view of that continent as a stable and reliable ally may be anything but.
True Crime Girl: The Dexter Copycat
A Real-Life Killer Builds His Own Kill Room
A 19-year-old University of Worcester student in Britain named Benjamin William Day stabbed a 24-year-old sex worker named Maria Saceanu 78 times after luring her to an Airbnb in Tividale, England, overnight on December 20–21, 2025. He originally denied the murder but changed his plea to guilty on October 6, 2026, during the second day of his trial. He is now 20 years old.
Oh—and he was “inspired” by an American television show.
According to the latest reporting, Day was fascinated with Dexter Morgan, the fictional serial killer from the American television series, Dexter.
Day was also studying forensic science in college, and tried to duplicate what the show called Dexter’s “kill room.” On November 18, 2025, Day created a shopping list of items he would need for the murder. He subsequently assembled plastic sheeting that he stapled to the walls, floor and bed; a canvas roll containing multiple knives; a staple gun and duct tape; an apron, plastic visor and gloves; and cleaning supplies.
Investigators also discovered microscope slides containing blood, which prosecutors suggested may have been intended as trophies—because that is exactly what Dexter did in the show. They also found the victim’s belongings in a black garbage bag, apparently ready for disposal.
Day was caught after flagging down police in the Dudley area with a bleeding hand. He claimed he had been attacked by a dog or fox. The officers noticed that his hand was wrapped in duct tape and questioned him about it. He claimed he had brought the tape with him but had difficulty explaining exactly where the alleged attack had occurred. One officer challenged his story, telling him it didn’t add up. Day was subsequently taken to the hospital.
Meanwhile, another guest at the Airbnb where Day had constructed his “kill room” discovered blood and alerted the landlord, who contacted police. Officers searched the property and discovered Saceanu’s body lying next to the bed. Day was arrested at the hospital.
Prosecutors alleged that Day had begun dismembering Saceanu’s body but abandoned the effort after injuring his own hand. The victim had multiple defensive wounds, and forensic evidence indicated that many of the 78 knife wounds had been inflicted after her death.
Whether Day had ever attempted anything similar before this murder is unknown. Given the extraordinary planning involved, it is a question investigators are undoubtedly examining.
Full disclosure: this writer is a fan of Dexter because the show had a unique premise. Dexter wasn’t an ordinary serial killer. He didn’t just kill anyone. He targeted other serial killers and murderers.
The fictional Dexter witnessed the violent murder of his mother when he was three years old and was later adopted by the cop who found him in the shipping container where the crime occurred. That cop was Harry Morgan, and when he discovered that his adopted son had violent proclivities, he decided to channel those murderous urges toward other criminals.
Harry designed a “code” that can be summarized by the following tenets:
Rule #1: Never get caught.
Rule #2: Never kill an innocent person.
Rule #3: The target must be likely to kill again.
Rule #4: Preparation and execution must be flawless.
Rule #5: Blend in.
Fictional Dexter, at least when following Harry’s Code, would never have targeted an innocent person like Maria Saceanu. Benjamin William Day apparently missed that distinction. He wanted to commit murder and used a television show as his roadmap for doing it.
In that sense, Day is twisted beyond even the fictional Dexter. Which, of course, is the danger of shows with premises like this. There are sickos out there waiting for instruction—and an excuse.
Day is scheduled to be sentenced on December 4. Hopefully, he will never see the light of day again.
And if he ever does, it would be justice if Dexter’s “dark passenger” were waiting for him.
And finally….
Maybe his wife should slap him again. First time didn’t take.
The article's point that socialist promises eventually collide with reality is hard to argue with, much like how even a figure such as All Wishes Come True Tieguai Li has to work within the limits of his own legend. https://allwishesfan.com/characters/tieguai-li/
New Yorkers cannot pay their bills with Mamdani’s campaign promises, and City Hall cannot govern through permanent revolutionary theater. Free services require funding, public safety requires police, and keeping the city functioning requires cooperation with officials his activists despise. His need to work with Trump exposes the limits of a political identity built around denouncing him. Mauro’s argument cuts deeper than missed deadlines: socialism sells expansive benefits while treating the institutions and taxpayers needed to sustain them as adversaries. When those promises unravel, residents absorb the consequences. New York deserves a mayor measured by safe streets, sound finances, and delivered services. Ideological applause cannot substitute for results.