Sworn In By Bernie, Mamdani Brings Back Class Warfare. MSM Spurns Reporting. OxyMORON: Illegal Aliens Who Have Not Committed a Crime. Iran’s Fate & More

Socialists of the world, unite!

And they did for one more try. Bernie Sanders had the high honor of swearing in New York’s new socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The New York Times’ spread on Mamdani’s big day described the crowd as “star-studded,” noting such celebs as:  

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of Queens; [the aforementioned] Senator Bernie Sanders, a former mayor of Burlington, Vt.; and Letitia James, the New York attorney general. The shivering crowd stretching before them included celebrities such as the actor John Turturro and the actress Susan Sarandon.

Mayor Mamdani promised to govern “expansively and audaciously.” Or, as the cover of the New York Post puts it, Mamdani “vows to stick to far-left agenda in fiery speech.” Vanity Fair magazine loved the speech, dah-lings.

Our daring friends at RedState called the speech “chilling” and “a harbinger of trouble to come.” The New York Post identified a harbinger known as class warfare in an editorial:

“Together, we will tell a new story of our city,” Zohran Mamdani said in his inauguration speech Thursday.

“This will not be a tale of one city, governed only by the 1 percent. Nor will it be a tale of two cities, the rich versus the poor.”

And so Mamdani picks up right where former Mayor Bill de Blasio left off, demonizing the wealthy and sowing division.

It wasn’t true then, and it isn’t true now.

Guess who’s going to be taxed for Mamdani’s freebies? Billionaires can be useful for such purposes, as trailblazing California Governor Gavin Newsom might be able to tell young Zohran if progressives force Newsom to drive out all his billionaires.

London’s lefty socialist Mayor Sadiq Khan, in New York for the swearing-in, confided in an interview with Politico that he had seen “anti-Muslim hatred rearing its head” as Mamdani campaigned towards his overwhelming win. Huh? More realistically, Jewish civic leaders are worried about anti-Semitic posts by Mamdani that have since gone poof. 

Mamdani wasted no time revoking orders issued by former Mayor Eric Adams, including support for Israel. The Times of Israel comments on this, and Politico says that Israel accuses Mamdani of antisemitism “on his first day in office.” In another Adams reversal, Mamdani will halt crackdowns on homeless encampments. If you are planning a trip to New York, you might want to make it sooner rather than later.

I’m a Real Reporter. I Never Leave My Office: The mainstream media’s reaction to intrepid reporter Nick Shirley’s investigation into federally funded daycare centers in Minnesota shows the legacy bums up for what they are: not reporters. Shirley went to centers and found that there were no children there—i.e., that they appeared to be fronts. That’s what reporters used to do.

But no longer does the legacy media perform this civic duty (here, here, and here), but Townhall’s Kurt Schlichter says (alas, behind the paywall) that conservatives are at last “learning” how to fight the attempt to censor. While we’re on the subject of media, iconoclast Bari Weiss—who does know about reporting—is said to have handpicked Tony Dokoupil to anchor the CBS Evening News. Do you know who he is replacing? Neither do I. Weiss, as you might remember from before the holidays, had the audacity to insist that “60 Minutes” do some reporting. If I were that plucky young Mr. Shirley, I might send her my resume. (Not to be too lighthearted: Shirley has received death threats—he’s been told he might be “kirked”—which reminds us that some on the left nourish a “cult of violence,” as David Strom calls it in an alarming post at Hot Air.

Dare We Hope: The Wall Street Journal has an editorial on the protests erupting in Iran:

Remember the predictions from so many experts that a military strike on Iran’s nuclear sites would cause Iranians to rally behind their regime? You can junk that conventional wisdom. As 2026 dawns, the Iranian people are marching in protest only months after the Israel-U.S. attack.

The protests began among shopkeepers and merchants in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, but they have spread to other cities and groups. Students in particular have joined, with support from truckers and bus drivers. Economic grievances are in the forefront amid 42% inflation, a currency that has lost 40% of its value against the dollar since the June war, and even a lack of water and reliable energy.

The editors recall that former President Barack Obama made the mistake of staying mute in 2009 as the regime crushed protesters. Trump has another chance. “Iran’s Fate Is in Trump’s Hands,” an Unherd headline declares. Whose hands would you rather be in—John Kerry-Obama’s or the Orange Man’s?

Meanwhile, Nike Gardner contends on the homepage of the U.K. Telegraph that Donald Trump enters 2026 as the real leader of Europe.

The Examiner’s Chief Political Correspondent, Byron York, had a piece headlined “The Heart of Trump’s Deportation Push” a few days ago, and I want to make sure I take note of it. The heart of the matter is that the Left doesn’t believe that coming to the United States illegally is illegal:

That has long been a point of contention in media circles, where some commentators refuse to believe that crossing illegally into the U.S. is a crime. But it is. Here’s an explanation from September 2022. Recently, the argument was rekindled when Fox News’s Bill Melugin, who covered the massive incursion of illegal border crossers during the Biden administration more extensively than anyone, noted an exchange earlier this year on CNN.

The subject was the Trump administration’s drive to deport illegal immigrants. Anchor Abby Phillip said that the large number of deportations “means that they’re not just going after criminals.” To that, commentator Scott Jennings responded, “Well, they’re going after people who are in the country illegally, right?” Phillip said that the number of deportations “is a much bigger universe.” Jennings asked, “Doesn’t that make you a criminal?” Phillip said, “No, it doesn’t.” Jennings asked, “To come across the border illegally?” Phillip said, “Coming into the country illegally is a civil offense. It’s not a criminal offense.”

Wrong. “Crossing the border illegally is a federal criminal offense,” Melugin noted. “A first-time illegal crossing is a misdemeanor via 8 USC 1325. An illegal entry after deportation is a federal felony via 8 USC 1326. Overstaying a visa is a civil offense. All of the above makes one deportable.”

The exchange is important because, in the sometimes angry conversation over immigration law enforcement, there is often an unspoken assumption that illegal border crossing is not a terribly serious matter. It is not unusual to hear commentators decry the arrest of illegal border crossers who are said to have “committed no crime.” In fact, their presence in the U.S. began with the crime of crossing the border without authorization.

Remember when the Left was agog over the wonders of Scandinavia—it isn’t any more. Guess why? Fraser Myers of Spiked Online explains:

Denmark has strayed from the club of the anointed on one key issue: immigration. It has dared to defy the commandments of the EU, the UN and the NGO-ocracy. It has instead listened to the concerns of the people. Predictably, this has led to charges from an outraged global left that Denmark is now ‘far right’, ‘undeniably racist’ and operating ‘on an ethno-supremacist logic’.

What Are They Up To: “After Watergate, the Presidency Was Tamed. Trump Is Unleashing It” is a New York Times headline this morning. Ms. Must is thinking that the Left is gearing up to “tame the presidency” again. The effort might hinge on the midterms.

Glad to be back and wishing you a wonderful 2026. It won’t be boring.