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FLASHBACK: Mamdani torched for recycling 9/11 tributes after years of near-identical posts

FLASHBACK: Mamdani torched for recycling 9/11 tributes after years of near-identical posts

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has received criticism online over the years as more and more observers have noticed that his annual messages around the 9/11 terror attacks have changed little since he entered the public sphere. “We mourn our neighbors who died that day. The countless first responders and families whose lives were forever changed. The millions who suffered in the wars that followed,” Mamdani wrote in his 2024 post. “In their memory, we work toward a better world.” But as onlookers point out that the remarks look nearly identical to his statement in 2023 — and, in fact, every year going back to 2019 — some can’t help but wonder if the expressions are genuine. Others go further, arguing that the message is a repeatedly deliberate refusal to dwell on the loss of American lives year after year. 9/11 FAMILIES PUSH TO BAN MAMDANI FROM 25TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE OVER ‘HOSTILE’ RECORD That’s the view of Adam Fisher, a venture capitalist based in Israel. “On each 9/11 anniversary, Mamdani took to X with the same repulsive message of moral equivalence between the American victims of 9/11 and those killed fighting American soldiers hunting al Qaeda,” Fisher, a staunch supporter of Israel, wrote in a post to X. “It doesn’t have to be said every year on the anniversary of 9/11 like a propaganda parrot. While he might not ‘cheer another 9/11,’ I know he wouldn’t blame the terrorists,” Fisher added. Another user, going by the name of The Uri, noted that Mamdani had a similar pattern for Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27 that stretched from 2021 to 2023. “He’s doing the same also for the Holocaust Remembrance Day,” Uri observed. “When it comes to the holocaust, he LOVES the practice of copy+paste, as he posted the exact same thing for the International Holocaust Remembrance Day 3 years in a row.” Mamdani’s Holocaust Remembrance Day posts included a lament for the genocide of the Jewish people but also a mention of a darker story of how the U.S. turned away a group of Jewish refugees. MAMDANI FACES QUESTIONS OVER TIES TO OUTLET ACCUSED OF ANTISEMITIC TROPES “Today is #HolocaustRememberanceDay, the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. We mourn & honor the memories of the 6 million Jews & millions of Romani, queer and disabled people murdered by the Nazis, among them — Joachim,” Mamdani wrote in 2023. “In 1939, the U.S. turned away a ship of 900 Jewish WWII refugees. 254 of them, including Joachim, were later murdered in the Holocaust.” Mamdani also used the message in 2021 and in 2022. For 9/11, Mamdani has modified his message slightly every anniversary, swapping out the years and including slight variances over the past six years. The pattern began after 2019 — just as Mamdani began pursuing office in the New York Assembly. Mamdani won a seat in the legislature in 2020. An account named Lee Yimby, which frequently posts about progressive Democrats and their views, noted that Mamdani likely felt obligated to make some sort of remark as a public figure in the Empire State. “He copy-and-pasted this four years in a row while in assembly, because he had to say something as an NYC politician. Mamdani views the response to Islamic terrorist attacks as the real tragedy,” Yimby wrote on Saturday. David Sivella, who describes himself as a former Democrat turned away by the party’s leftward surge toward socialism, also condemned the posts and their shared similarity. “For the past four years as a Socialist Muslim, NY Assemblyman, Zohran Mamdani has literally cut and pasted the same 9/11 statement every year, just changing the years,” Sivella wrote last year. “Zohran never mentions 9/11 first responders, the people he would lead as mayor. Zohran posts about Gaza,” he added. Other observers also echoed Sivella’s criticisms, noting Mamdani’s generalized descriptions of the attack. GOP SENATORS RALLY BEHIND 9/11 FAMILIES IN PUSH TO BAN MAMDANI FROM ANNIVERSARY CEREMONY: ‘HE’S A DISGRACE’ “Note no mention of how they died and who was responsible,” Bill Ackman, a New York financier with an ample X following said in a post on Monday. “No mention that they were innocent civilians starting their work day and first responders who went to save them. No mention of the highjacking of the airplanes that were flown into the World Trade Center. No mention of murder or terrorism or who was responsible. Just a benign statement that a few thousand people died that day. He seems to imply they died of natural causes.”  Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Obama-era mandate slashed after being blamed for ‘skyrocketing’ housing costs

Obama-era mandate slashed after being blamed for ‘skyrocketing’ housing costs

FIRST ON FOX: In a bid to tackle the nation’s housing affordability crisis, the Trump administration has scrapped a controversial Obama-era mandate blamed for driving up property costs and stifling the affordable housing supply. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alongside the Department of Justice, jointly rescinded an Obama-era policy that allowed third parties to file accessibility-related complaints over original building design flaws indefinitely, putting subsequent building owners on the hook for millions of dollars years after a project is completed, even if they were not the original builders.  According to internal agency data, the previous policy forced property owners to spend more than $112 million in accessibility retrofits over the last five years just to qualify for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) refinancing—costs that HUD says directly choked off affordable housing supply. The rule eliminates the ability to hold current property owners indefinitely liable for architectural deviations committed by original builders decades in the past. Under the updated enforcement framework, the clock for filing Fair Housing Act design and construction challenges begins on the exact date a building receives its official certificate of occupancy.  ONE UNEXPECTED PRICE SURGE MOST AMERICANS DON’T SEE IS RAISING THE STAKES FOR TRUMP BEFORE NOVEMBER Individuals or advocacy groups now have a strict one-year deadline to file administrative complaints directly with HUD. For private civil lawsuits filed in federal court, the statute of limitations caps claims at two years from the completion of construction.  Once those respective windows close, property owners are shielded from retroactive, building-wide liability for original architectural flaws, though individual tenants retain the right to seek reasonable modifications for their specific housing needs at any time under existing Fair Housing Act protections. “[The Obama-era regulation] dramatically expanded the scope of the Fair Housing Act by declaring that deviations from HUD’s accessibility guidelines, at the point of initial construction, gave rise to strict liability against the builder in perpetuity,” the new guidance says. “That interpretation was egregiously wrong. It exceeded the Department’s statutory authority, failed to increase the supply of accessible housing for individuals with disabilities, and imposed an unwarranted and unduly prejudicial burden on American homebuilders.” According to internal transaction data and industry reports provided to HUD, the financial toll of the previous policy extended far beyond standard compliance fees typically associated with federally-backed refinancing. For example, a single third-party housing inspection firm identified nearly $49 million in required accessibility fixes across almost 500 refinance deals since 2019—averaging over $100,000 in deficiencies per property. Industry insiders and lenders also report that the Obama-era rules severely choked off financing, with one major affordable multifamily lender attributing more than $1 billion in lost HUD-insured loan volume over the last four years to the guidance, according to internal HUD data. Lenders told the agency that the ongoing uncertainty triggered recurring deal dropouts and discouraged prospective borrowers from pursuing FHA financing altogether. NEWSOM TARGETS MAJOR AFFORDABILITY SQUEEZE IN ‘STRIKING’ CONVERGENCE WITH TRUMP “For too long, unnecessary government policies have contributed to the skyrocketing cost of building, buying, and renting a home. Today’s action rescinds unnecessary and expensive liability created by legal theories that have no basis in law,” said HUD Secretary Scott Turner. “The Trump Administration is following the law as written by Congress and interpreted by the courts. We will continue to repeal and replace guidance that does not honor these lawful commitments while ensuring Americans can access affordable housing.” At the heart of the administration’s rollback is a fundamental legal principle that federal agencies cannot rewrite laws passed by lawmakers, nor can they ignore rulings by federal judges. When Congress updated the Fair Housing Act in 1988, lawmakers built in a strict one-year deadline to file administrative complaints. HUD officials argue the 2013 Obama-era policy effectively ignored that congressional mandate by allowing property owners to be targeted decades after a project was completed. The shift also aligns federal enforcement with appellate court rulings, including a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judges in that case ruled that the illegal act of failing to properly design a building ends when construction wraps up and an official certificate of occupancy is issued. “Congress wrote a clear statute of limitations into the Fair Housing Act. That limitation is part of the law, not a suggestion for sly bureaucrats to disregard,” said Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor. “We will not allow Obama-era guidance to rewrite the Fair Housing Act, expose American builders to indefinite legal liability, and make housing less affordable for hardworking American families.”

Democratic Socialists of America backs ‘our Twitch streamer’ Hasan Piker, rips anti-socialism House resolution

Democratic Socialists of America backs ‘our Twitch streamer’ Hasan Piker, rips anti-socialism House resolution

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have leapt to controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker’s defense, blasting both Democrats and Republicans on Sunday for criticizing Piker and for introducing a resolution to condemn socialism on the House floor. “The establishment: Ds, Rs + media, have pivoted from DSA wins to personal attacks, racist dog whistles, symbolic House resolutions, and an obsession with a Twitch streamer. What would happen if they devoted that same attention to the thousands of Americans who die each year because they can’t afford healthcare?” the DSA’s official X account wrote Sunday. The account then followed up with a post calling Piker “*our Twitch streamer.” HASAN PIKER IS BECOMING THE ‘FACE OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT,’ FORMER DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVE WARNS Piker has become a prominent figure in the ongoing battle for the Democratic Party’s soul, as moderate and pro-Israel Democrats implore their political allies to distance themselves from the popular content creator. While the DSA as an organization has now publicly backed the 35-year-old commentator, other Democrats have held him at arm’s length. Some Democrats have gone as far as publicly criticizing Piker’s rhetoric surrounding Jews. DEMOCRATS CONDEMNING HASAN PIKER AS BACKLASH SPREADS THROUGH PARTY Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., whose increasingly public attacks on President Donald Trump have some speculating he’s gearing up for his own presidential run, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday through a spokesperson that he “unreservedly rejects reckless and dangerous rhetoric suggesting that policy advocacy invites violence against the Jewish community or any community.” Ossoff’s comments came after Piker, during an Aug. 20 Twitch stream, said, “If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s going to come around and take action… Not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews.” JON OSSOFF CONDEMNS HASAN PIKER’S RHETORIC AS STREAMER DECLARES MAINSTREAM MEDIA ‘CRISIS OF CREDIBILITY’ Ossoff is not the only Democrat to publicly criticize Piker. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., who, like Ossoff, is Jewish, said he doesn’t believe his party’s tent is big enough for both him and Piker. FLORIDA DEMOCRAT SENDS ‘CONDOLENCES’ TO HASAN PIKER AFTER DEFEATING DSA CHALLENGER IN FLORIDA PRIMARY “Well, I mean, we’re going to see if we can coexist with them. I mean, they can’t coexist with me,” Moskowitz told FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney, referring to both Piker and the DSA. Moskowitz is one of four Democrats to introduce an amendment to a Republican resolution condemning socialism. The GOP resolution, which was advanced by the House Rules Committee on Monday, includes a provision calling for passage of the Trump-backed SAVE America Act. It’s expected to receive a floor vote this week. SHOCKING PERCENTAGE OF DEMOCRATS IDENTIFY AS ‘DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS’ ACCORDING TO NEW POLL: ‘TOXIC POLICIES’ The Democrats’ amendment — proposed by Moskowitz, Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y. — would have retained language condemning socialism while removing election-related provisions, including the call for the passage of the SAVE America Act. DEMOCRAT RIPS HASAN PIKER AS ‘HACK WHO THRIVES ON HATE’ OVER HIS WARNING TO AMERICAN JEWS ABOUT ISRAEL The amendment, which did not get a vote and will not be included in the resolution, denounced socialism as “incompatible with American values and the United States Constitution.” It listed several of communism’s most notable historic failures, from Mao’s China to the Soviet Union, adding that “socialist ideology necessitates a concentration of power that has, time and time again, collapsed into communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and repressive dictatorships.” Fox News Digital contacted the DSA, Piker, Ossoff, Moskowitz, Gottheimer, Scholten and Suozzi for further comment.

Top election schemes roiling key midterm races as both parties accuse rivals of trickery

Top election schemes roiling key midterm races as both parties accuse rivals of trickery

Republicans and Democrats are deploying increasingly aggressive tactics to shape the 2026 midterms — including efforts to influence rival primaries, obscure political spending and exploit election deadlines. Both parties are accusing one another of using cynical tactics to influence voters and shape the field ahead of Election Day, even as operatives aligned with each of them employ similar strategies. Those maneuvers have included routing millions of dollars through deceptively named political committees to influence rival primaries and using filing deadlines in ways that gave favored successors a clearer path to the ballot. Many of these schemes are being carried out in key races, meaning that control of Congress may come down to what many view as cheap tricks — a prospect that could serve to further erode public trust in government. Two separate individuals named Dan Sullivan are running for Senate in Alaska, and a third just endorsed one over the other. ALASKA SENATE RACE’S ABSURD NAME PROBLEM GETS EVEN HARDER TO UNTANGLE Republicans have argued that the confusing state of affairs in Alaska is the product of a Democratic ploy to disorient voters. Incumbent GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan is facing a challenge from teacher Dan J. Sullivan, whom Republicans have accused of running as a Republican solely to confuse voters to the benefit of Democrats. Alaska’s electoral system allows the top-four vote-getters in the state’s nonpartisan primary to advance to the ranked-choice general election. Fox News Power Rankings rates the Alaska Senate race as a toss-up, meaning neither party currently has a clear advantage. If enough voters confuse Dan S. Sullivan with Dan J. Sullivan, it could be enough to give Democratic nominee Mary Peltola an edge. Republicans point to the fact that Dan J. Sullivan worked with a Democratic-aligned consultant as evidence that he is part of a plot to siphon voters off of Dan S. Sullivan. Dan J. Sullivan, meanwhile, maintains that he is an actual Republican with legitimate grievances as to the incumbent senator’s representation of his state. A third Dan Sullivan, the former mayor of Anchorage, recently waded into the Senate race to endorse Dan S. Sullivan. Dan J. Sullivan is reportedly being investigated by the Justice Department and Alaska election officials in separate probes examining whether he sought to deliberately mislead voters. The investigation follows a failed Republican legal effort to remove him from the ballot. The National Republican Senatorial Committee reportedly worked behind the scenes to encourage Rep. Jasmine Crockett to enter Texas’ Democratic Senate primary. Once she entered, other Republican actors also ran messaging that Democrats argued could help her with primary voters. One source familiar with the process dubbed it an “AstroTurf recruitment process” when speaking with NOTUS in 2025. The NRSC began its alleged campaign by releasing a poll showing Crockett, who was believed by some to be a weaker candidate in the general election than Texas state Rep. James Talarico, leading the field in a hypothetical Democratic primary. Prior to the NRSC’s poll, Crockett had not been included in most primary surveys. That quickly changed and subsequent polls showed Crockett pulling in considerable support. The congresswoman ultimately cited the strong polling as part of her motivation in entering the race. MORNING GLORY: ALASKA’S ‘REAL’ SENATOR DAN SULLIVAN STOOD UP OVER CHALLENGER The source who spoke to NOTUS claimed that the NRSC worked diligently to spread those polls in progressive digital spaces and drum up support for Crockett. Once she entered the race, conservative political committees ran ads ostensibly criticizing her liberal record, though critics argued this was merely an underhanded tactic to get more Democrats to support her by publicizing positions that are generally popular with the Democratic base. Multiple Republicans also said publicly that they were concerned about her candidacy, statements that could entice liberal voters to throw their support behind her. Even with Crockett defeated, tensions from the bruising primary have lingered, with some Black elected officials and activists pressing Talarico to do more to address concerns among voters who overwhelmingly backed Crockett. A network of Democratic donors, dark-money groups and left-leaning super PACs has spent well over $10 million backing five independents in Republican-leaning areas. Critics of the strategy see it as a way for liberals to sneak left-leaning lawmakers into Congress by eschewing the branding of the Democratic Party. Though the candidates identify themselves as independents, skeptics hold that they’ll vote like Democrats if elected, a charge many of them deny, stressing their independence. In the Nebraska, Idaho and South Dakota Senate races, for instance, the Democratic nominees withdrew from their races, which Republicans have pointed to as evidence that the party is using independent candidates as a backdoor to get liberals into Congress. GOP SENATOR, EX-HOUSE DEM EMERGE FROM ALASKA’S ‘JUNGLE PRIMARY’ DESPITE FAR-LEFT MEDDLING “Dan has taken small-dollar donations from Republicans, Independents, and Democrats from all 93 of Nebraska’s counties who are done being taken advantage of by D.C. lobbyists, corporate PACs, and party bosses,” a campaign spokesperson for Dan Osborn, the independent running in Nebraska, told Fox News Digital. “Ricketts has been running from his record all campaign and has resorted to lying about Dan because he’s scared.” On the other side of the aisle, Republican political operatives have admitted to using deceptively named super PACs to boost far-left Democratic candidates in primary elections as part of a strategy to elevate easier-to-defeat opponents. Conservative Americans PAC, a super PAC funded by the right-leaning dark money group American Prosperity Alliance, funneled millions of dollars into three ostensibly left-leaning committees called Lead Left PAC, Real Change PAC and California Blue PAC. The seemingly liberal committees, in turn, spent large sums of money backing candidates in Democratic primaries widely believed to be weaker general election contenders than their opponents. Conservative Americans PAC was able to do this undetected because the ostensibly liberal PACs were formed sufficiently late such that disclosures revealing the right-wing funding did not need to be released until after the primary elections were over. This means that, as the ads