Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) and former President Barack Obama visited Learning Through Play Pre-K, an early childhood education center in the South Bronx. During this visit — their first in-person meeting — they read the children’s book “Alone & Together” to toddlers, joined a sing-along of “Wheels on the Bus,” joked about pizza, and highlighted the city’s push for universal child care.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray wasn’t buying the feel-good optics for a second. He interpreted the publicity stunt as proof that “these two Marxists” are “absolutely together now.”

“Are these free buses that the wheels are going around on?” co-host Keith Malinak joked, highlighting Mamdani’s high-profile campaign promise to make city bus fares free — a pledge that has already stalled due to budget realities and state control of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“I could vomit,” Pat said in response to the entire PR stunt.

“You would think [Obama] would want to distance himself a bit from a guy who is essentially at least a socialist, if not a communist, because [Obama] spent his whole life denying he was one. And now here you are hanging out with [Mamdani] talking about the same things, and you got so much in common.”

This staged photo op comes as Mamdani marks his first 100 days in office, pushing an aggressive left-wing agenda on taxes, housing, and “free” services that prioritize ideology over practical governance.

Pat sees it as classic Democrat theater: using cute kids and sing-alongs to distract from failed policies and to cement a radical alliance between Obama and the new socialist mayor.

To see clips from Mamdani and Obama’s publicity stunt and hear more of the panel’s commentary, watch the video above.

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​Blaze media, Blazetv, Early childhood education, Free buses, Marxists, Mayor zohran mamdani, New york city, Pat gray, Pat gray unleashed, President barack obama, South bronx, Publicity stunt, Socialism 

Last weekend delivered yet another grim headline: political violence, an attempted presidential assassination, once again treated as a mystery by the left.

The alleged perpetrator, we are told, was not some fringe drifter living off the grid, but an award-winning teacher. This is a detail that would have seemed ironic a generation ago, but now seems almost predictable.

Reports indicate that the individual had a record of professional accolades and community involvement, the sort of résumé typically invoked to prove the impact of leftist ideologies.

If one wishes to understand what is happening to our country, there is no need to search for obscure explanations.

Alongside that résumé, there are early indications of ideological commitments and public expressions that fit comfortably within the increasingly militant strain of contemporary progressive activism and most university classrooms.

After such events, the public conversation follows a well-worn script. We are told this is an isolated incident. We are urged not to “politicize.” And yet, the same voices that warn against generalization in this context have no hesitation attributing sweeping moral guilt to entire categories when it suits the prevailing orthodoxy.

One is tempted to ask: How often must this pattern repeat before we permit ourselves the unfashionable act of noticing it?

It’s as if there are some mysterious places we send young adults to be indoctrinated to hate their country, hate their bodies, and hate God. The only thing worse is if we are footing the bill for tuition.

So let us ask, with due sobriety: Are there institutions in our country where young minds are being shaped, not merely to critique, but to despise?

Now that you mention it, yes, there are.

The university as moral re-education center

As a Christian and conservative professor, I have spent years calling attention to what occurs inside our universities.

Earlier this month, my college at Arizona State University formally adopted a Native American land acknowledgment as official policy.

These statements are often presented as benign gestures of historical awareness, but their actual function is quite different: They are meant to problematize the legitimacy of American land ownership and to “expose” what are called “structures of oppression.”

In practice, this language is not descriptive but rather accusatory. It does not invite inquiry; it prescribes judgment.

At the same time, faculty are encouraged to “decolonize” their curricula. That term, which sounds like a meaningless academic exercise, carries a very specific ideological payload. It teaches that Western civilization, particularly the United States, is not merely flawed but fundamentally illegitimate, built upon “white supremacy” and sustained by “structural violence.”

And if a system is fundamentally illegitimate, what follows?

Historically speaking, one does not reform such systems. One dismantles them. And so you find ASU professors calling for armed resistance to the United States.

From theory to rhetoric to action

This is not some abstract speculation. It is a demonstrable reality.

Across the country, we have seen:

Professors at American institutions openly defending or rationalizing political violence as a form of “resistance.” If intersectionality calls you “oppressed,” it’s fine to be violent. University departments issuing statements framing America as inherently oppressive while praising movements aimed at its transformation.K-12 educators using classroom time to advance ideological positions that portray students’ own nation, heritage, and even biological identity as sources of moral guilt.

Consider the broader pattern:

At Harvard and Columbia, student groups and faculty responses to recent global conflicts have included rhetoric that many Americans would recognize as moral inversion, where acts of violence are reframed as justified expressions of resistance.Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across major universities and corporations routinely instruct participants to view American history through a lens of oppression, often discouraging dissent as a form of harm.“Decolonization” and the anti-settler, anti-whiteness initiatives increasingly reject the very idea of objective truth, reason, and even science, casting them as instruments of power and white supremacy.

One begins to see the progression:

Step 1: Teach the youth that America and Christianity are evil.
Step 2: Teach that dismantling them is justice.
Step 3: Act surprised when someone takes the final step.
Step 4: Cash your state employee checks.

What of oversight?

All of this brings us to a question that is at once practical and unavoidable: Where are the Arizona Board of Regents and similar institutions in other states?

Is it merely a ceremonial body, an occasion for polite applause and catered wine and cheese receptions, or does it exist to provide actual oversight of the institutions entrusted to it?

Public universities are not private salons for ideological experimentation. They are taxpayer-supported institutions with a mandate to educate, not indoctrinate; to pursue truth, not enforce orthodoxy.

In Arizona, professors sign an employee contract agreeing not to undermine the Constitution. And yet, when faculty openly promote ideas that undermine the constitutional order they are employed under, the response is silence or, worse, complicity.

Meanwhile, those who raise concerns find themselves subject to scrutiny, marginalization, and, in some cases, professional penalty.

RELATED: The anti-Christian myth of First Amendment ‘neutrality’

Zimmytws/Getty Images

What are we paying for?

American families send their children to universities like ASU at considerable cost. It is easily tens of thousands of dollars per year and sometimes far more when all expenses are counted and taxes are factored in.

What do they expect in return? An education in truth. Training in reason. Preparation for responsible citizenship. Maybe even a little wisdom and fear of God.

But that is not what they get. Instead, their kids receive instruction in grievance. Classes about envy and training to hate your neighbor. Formation in ideological hostility. Encouragement to view their own country, their own traditions, even their own families as objects of suspicion or contempt.

And occasionally, as we are now forced to confront, something worse: calls for violent resistance by professors on the state tax dime.

A modest proposal

If one wishes to understand what is happening to our country, there is no need to search for obscure explanations.

It is happening, in large measure, in our universities. And it is paid for by taxes in the very country these professors hate so much. Parents don’t know how bad it is and continue to send their children, paying tuition, into these ideological training camps.

And — this is the uncomfortable part — we don’t stop paying for it. It’s much worse than you think, and it is time to say enough is enough. No more state checks for those who hate America. They are free to start their own private university and teach their hatred there.

I have documented these trends extensively. I will continue to do so. If you would like to keep updated on what goes on within our universities, you can subscribe to my Substack as I report from within the belly of what some call the Devil’s University.

If you find yourself in conversation with someone who asks, in genuine bewilderment, “What is happening to America?” you might offer a simple reply: “Look at the institutions shaping the next generation.”

​Arizona state university, Columbia, Diversity equity and inclusion, Political violence, Taxpayers, Assassination attempt, Harvard, Public universities, Leftist indoctrination, Opinion & analysis 

New footage shows the moment Cole Allen ran through security at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday while allegedly targeting President Donald Trump.

The video posted to social media by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro shows about nine security personnel before Allen bolted through the security checkpoint with a gun.

‘There is no evidence the shooting was the result of friendly fire.’

One of the agents in the footage pulls his gun and aims at Allen almost immediately.

Pirro says the video provides evidence against the rumor that the Secret Service officer shot during the incident was injured by another officer and not Allen.

“There is no evidence the shooting was the result of friendly fire,” she wrote. “The video also shows Allen casing the area in the Hilton Hotel the day before the attack.”

Allen was charged with one count of attempted assassination of the president of the United States, one count of interstate transportation of a firearm to commit a felony, and another count of discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.

RELATED: Suspected WHCD shooter snapped damning photo moments before the attack, court docs reveal

Allen left a long trail of posts on social media that showed his animus against the Trump administration and provided a rationale for his alleged attack.

“My office along with the @FBI will continue this extensive investigation to bring Cole Allen to justice,” Pirro added.

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​Attempted assassination, Correspondents dinner, Cole allen, Us attorney jeanine pirro, Politics 

An accused knife-brandishing teen most definitely chose the wrong female to carjack over the weekend in Yonkers, New York.

Around 12:45 p.m. Sunday, police got a call requesting assistance at the Mobil gas station at 838 Kimball Avenue, police said.

The suspect will be charged with robbery in the first, second, and third degree, as well as fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree menacing, police said.

The call was from an off-duty New York state trooper.

An investigation revealed that when the off-duty trooper was done refueling her vehicle, a male approached her, brandished a knife, and entered the driver’s seat of her vehicle, police said.

While the trooper was off-duty, she sure wasn’t unarmed — and as you might expect, she wasn’t going to let the crook get away without a fight.

With that, the trooper fired one shot from her off-duty firearm, striking the suspect in the left arm — and the round continued into his torso, police said.

The suspect accelerated the vehicle toward the rear of the gas station, drove through a shed and fence at the end of the property, and then came to a stop in the parking lot of the adjacent apartment building at 1296 Midland Avenue, police said.

The suspect then fled from the stolen vehicle and ran toward Midland Avenue, police said.

However, Yonkers Police officers quickly located the suspect at the entrance to 1328 Midland Avenue and placed him into custody without incident, police said, adding that a knife was recovered from the suspect at the time of arrest.

RELATED: Deadly shoot-out between off-duty cop and male who pistol-whipped him caught on police dashcam video

Medical aid was rendered at the scene, and the suspect was transported to an area hospital where he was treated for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds; he was in stable condition, police said.

The suspect is a 17-year-old Yonkers resident, police said.

The suspect will be charged with robbery in the first, second, and third degree, as well as fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree menacing, police said.

The Yonkers Police Department’s Detective Division Major Case Squad is leading the criminal investigation while the New York State Police is conducting an internal review, police said.

As the trooper was the victim, police said no identifying information will be released about her other than she was a female off-duty state trooper assigned to Troop NYC.

A state police spokesman said the trooper is a 12-year veteran who suffered minor injuries in the incident and was treated at a hospital and released, according to the Rockland/Westchester Journal News.

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​New york state trooper, Police, Yonkers, Gas station, Carjacking, Off-duty officer, Shooting, Carjacker shot, 2nd amend., Guns, Gun rights, Self-defense, Defending property, Fighting back, Crime thwarted, Arrest, Crime 

Liberal Minnesota politicians are crafting legislation to bully cities and counties that continue to fly the old state flag in defiance of a new design.

The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill that would strip state funding from any local government that “flies or otherwise makes use of a state flag other than the design of the state flag as certified in the report of the State Emblems Redesign Commission.”

‘I’ve been a little disappointed in the cities around Minnesota that have been kind of manufacturing this culture war over this state flag.’

The new flag design was changed in 2023 by the State Emblems Redesign Commission after some critics said the previous design from 1893 was racist against Native Americans. It was officially adopted in 2024, but opponents of the new flag say it looks too much like a Somali state flag.

However, Republican state House Speaker Lisa Demuth says the bill will not make it past the state Senate.

“That bill is dead on arrival. There is no way this bill is moving through,” she told CBS News. “To know that Democrats are trying to take funding away from our police … it’s ridiculous. We have real work that could help Minnesotans.”

State Rep. Mike Freiberg, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, is one of the authors of the legislation.

“I’ve been a little disappointed in the cities around Minnesota that have been kind of manufacturing this culture war over this state flag,” Freiberg said. “I felt like it was important for there to kind of be a statement legislatively in support of the new state flag, which is the official state flag.”

On Monday, the Inver Grove Heights City Council voted to fly the old design and joined Elk River, Champlin, Zumbrota, and Plainview in defiance of the new flag.

“The old flag is not only kind of boring but also kind of racist,” Freiburg added.

“The seal depicts a Native American riding off into the sunset while a White settler plows his field with his rifle leaning on a nearby stump,” reads a 2023 description of the old flag from the Associated Press. “The imagery suggests to many that the Indigenous people were defeated and going away, while whites won and were staying.”

RELATED: Walz tries to take credit for raids on day cares in Minnesota — and Kash Patel humiliates him

Demuth went on to say the vote of the commission didn’t represent all Minnesotans.

“They felt as Minnesotans, they were disrespected in the process, and everyone I have talked to wants the old flag back or at least a choice in the matter,” she added.

If the new legislation becomes law, it would be implemented in 2027.

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​Liberal minnesota politicians, Minnesota state flag, Old racist minnesota flag, Woke flag debate, Politics