Cornell University has taken steps in response to nationwide criticism over a sexual assault lawsuit, the university president has announced.

President Michael Kotlikoff said all fraternity parties have been banned for the rest of the academic year and added that “experienced, trauma-informed criminal investigators” will be brought in to look into sexual assault allegations.

‘We must meet this moment by acknowledging where we have fallen short and taking meaningful action.’

He specifically apologized for the harm allegedly suffered by the accuser in a 2024 incident involving several members of the Chi Phi fraternity.

“These are first steps toward systemic change on our campus,” said Kotlikoff in a statement dated Tuesday. “Cornell must be a place where safety is not an open question. I am committed to doing that work and to seeing it through.”

Fraternities found in violation of the party ban will receive “an immediate emergency suspension,” with zero tolerance.

“It is clear that women on our campus continue to question whether they are safe,” Kotlikoff said in the statement. “We must meet this moment by acknowledging where we have fallen short and taking meaningful action.”

The accuser, who is known only as Jane Doe, alleges that she did not consent to all of the sexual acts with the fraternity members during the Oct. 2024 incident. None of the former students involved have been criminally charged.

Doe is suing Cornell, the fraternity, seven former members of that fraternity, and her sorority.

Thomas Giuffra, the attorney representing Doe, said in a statement to NBC News that her “goal in filing her lawsuit was not solely for herself.”

“She wanted to achieve her aim of improving Cornell and its response to abuse claims. While the steps announced today are helpful to achieve this goal, they are too late to protect Ms. Doe,” he added.

“However, these steps will hopefully go a long way to help ensure that there are no more Jane Does,” Giuffra said.

RELATED: 200 students protest HS football captain’s post on Cornell scandal — and team forfeits game

New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Oct. 1 that she issued an executive order appointing state Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor in the case.

“The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued. This action will ensure that the matter is fully and thoroughly investigated without conflict or bias and handled independently with the rigor that this matter demands,” Hochul claimed.

Hochul was immediately criticized after many pointed out that James had already posted an opinion on the case and taken sides before being appointed. On Sept. 28, James referred to Doe as a “survivor” and pledged to “stand with” her.

“It is problematic for a prosecutor like Tish James to be commenting on a case publicly before the investigation is concluded,” said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani to Fox News Digital. “And the problem is, if you file criminal charges, whether it’s through a complaint or a grand jury indictment, that may taint the potential jury pool in a criminal case.”

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​Cornell university, Sexual assault, Politics, Kathy hochul, Letitia james 

Country music star Kacey Musgraves unleashed a profanity-laced diatribe against Christopher Columbus during a concert in Texas. The singer lambasted the legendary explorer as a “loser” and the “lamest person to probably ever exist.”

During her concert on Sunday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Musgraves blasted the Italian explorer the day before Columbus Day.

‘You’re a loser, Christopher Columbus. We hate you.’

Musgraves told the crowd, “Tomorrow’s Monday? Ew, that’s right, wait, it’s Columbus Day? It’s what now?”

The crowd shouted, “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”

Musgraves ranted, “Yeah, no, no, yeah, actually, obviously, f**k Columbus. Literally the lamest person to probably ever exist. Like for real. What a loser.”

The expletive-laden statement garnered cheers from the crowd.

Musgraves raged, “You’re a loser, Christopher Columbus. We hate you.”

The 38-year-old Grammy winner ignited a firestorm online with her inflammatory remarks.

Filmmaker Robby Starbuck wrote on the X social media platform:

Columbus is the opposite of lame. He navigated some of the most treacherous seas in ships built in the 1400’s. In doing so he became one of the few people in history to explore new lands and discover new trade routes. Some of those trade routes brought food to nations that desperately needed it and not only saved lives but resulted in population growth. He overcame near mutiny, famine and terrible weather. Kacey Musgraves has likely overcome sequins falling off of her stage costumes and not getting everything she demanded in her green room rider. Just hilarious that she’d say this.

Conservative political commentator Chad Prather said, “Columbus: Sailed across the sea and found a new continent. Kacey Musgraves: Stands on a stage in underwear saying ‘Columbus was lame.’ Do these people not see themselves?”

Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt added, “An entire generation of spoiled brats who’ve never built anything, stand on the crumbling empire they don’t deserve, built by great and courageous men who are now judged through the moral lens of the softest dorks living in the easiest times. Oy vey.”

Former President Joe Biden became the first U.S. president to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2021 through a presidential proclamation.

Biden declared at the time, “On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, our Nation celebrates the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples, recognizes their inherent sovereignty, and commits to honoring the Federal Government’s trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump embraced Columbus Day on Sunday.

Trump wrote on Truth Social:

HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY TO ALL, in particular our great Italian American Community which was forced to suffer as the Radical Left Dumocrats, Socialists, and Communists rampaged through our cities and towns ripping down almost all of the beautiful statues of Christopher Columbus. Well, those days of plunder are over, and the statues are back, more magnificent than ever. This is a big day for our great Italian American Community, and the Country of Italy itself, maybe the biggest. Congratulations!

RELATED: Kacey Musgraves opens tour with plea for children of ‘unfairly’ deported migrants — and gets BRUTAL backlash

Musgraves also waded into political waters during a concert Saturday by posing with Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem commented on the photo, “I’ll take Ella Langley over Kacey Musgraves any day. And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico.”

Musgraves responded by attacking Noem for her controversial 2024 admission that she shot and killed her hunting dog after it killed her chickens. Noem said the dog had become “untrainable” and “dangerous” to people.

“I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it,” Musgraves replied.

As Blaze News previously reported, Talarico went missing from the campaign trail and didn’t make a public appearance between Sept. 26 and Oct. 9.

Talarico’s Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Paxton, had his supporters chant, “Where is Talarico?” at a Trump rally in San Antonio last Wednesday.

Talarico’s campaign said he had been sick with the flu.

The Texas race is close, with pollsters leaning toward Talarico as the favorite over Paxton. For the latest Texas Senate seat updates — and to follow other important midterm races across the nation — check out Poll Watch, available to Blaze News, BlazeTV+, and Blaze Unlimited subscribers.

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​Kacey musgraves, Music, Entertainment, Christopher columbus, Columbus day, Kristi noem, James talarico, News 

Just in time for election season, climate leftists have discovered the price of gasoline. On cable news, in Congress, and across social media, Democrats are eager to remind drivers what they’re paying at the pump. Their outrage stops where their climate agenda begins.

On October 5, the national average for regular gasoline stood near $4.37, according to AAA, after the most expensive September on record. Compare state averages by the governor’s party, and Democrats have a problem.

The real existential threat was never at the pump. It’s sitting in Tehran. Voters should remember which threat leftists actually treated like one.

Across the 26 Republican-governed states, regular gas averaged about $4.24 a gallon. Across the 24 Democrat-governed states, it averaged $4.53 — nearly 7% more. Diesel showed a similar gap: about $6.15 versus $6.50. Those are unweighted averages of state prices, not the entire explanation for the difference. But state policy adds to the bill.

The cost of climate policy

California, Washington, and Oregon have all placed transportation fuels under climate programs with costs that can reach motorists.

California’s cap-and-trade program and Low Carbon Fuel Standard added about 42 cents per gallon in January 2026, according to the state’s Energy Commission. Washington’s Climate Commitment Act requires covered fuel suppliers to buy emissions allowances. Oregon’s Climate Protection Program caps emissions from fossil fuels, including gasoline and diesel.

These policies don’t account for every cent at the pump. Refining constraints, geography, and global crude prices count too. But Democratic officials chose to make fossil fuels more expensive to advance their climate goals.

The early October prices tell the story: California, $6.38 a gallon; Washington, $5.48; Oregon, $5.04. Those Democrat-run states enforce climate mandates on top of ordinary fuel taxes. Their leaders should answer for the costs they have chosen to impose.

We’ve heard this before

In June 2022, the national average for regular gas reached a record $5.01 a gallon. What answer did Americans hear from Democratic leaders as prices climbed? Buy an electric vehicle.

In November 2021, President Joe Biden said EV owners could save $800 to $1,000 in fuel costs that year. He had recently test-driven an electric Hummer priced above $112,000. In March 2022, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined Vice President Kamala Harris to promote electric transportation and the administration’s $5 billion charging network. That June, then-Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) told a Senate hearing that she had driven her EV from Michigan to Washington, passing gas stations where the price no longer mattered to her.

For families who couldn’t afford a new electric car, the advice offered little relief. The administration presented electrification as its answer to expensive gasoline. Climate policy had its price, and drivers were expected to accept it.

RELATED: One atmosphere, 50 courts — what could go wrong?

Megane Adam/Getty Images

A threat beyond the gas pump

Then came October 7, 2023. Iran-backed Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel and murdered about 1,200 people in the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. The danger came from armed men serving a terrorist organization supported by Tehran, not from a projected rise in sea levels.

Iran’s nuclear ambitions remain largely unchecked. Before the U.S. and Israeli strikes on its enrichment facilities, Tehran had enriched uranium to 60% purity, close to weapons-grade. It has since refused international inspectors access to bombed sites and failed to account fully for its stockpile. The status of its enrichment capacity remains uncertain, but it’s no longer a hypothetical threat decades away.

The war with Iran has also helped drive oil and gasoline prices higher. Climate Democrats now want credit for noticing the cost. Fine. They should explain why raising fuel costs to meet climate targets is defensible but paying more to confront a regime that arms terrorist proxies and refuses to account for highly enriched uranium is beyond the pale.

The real existential threat was never at the pump. It’s sitting in Tehran. Voters should remember which threat leftists actually treated like one.

​Climate policy, Electric vehicle, Fossil fuels, Gas prices, Iran war, Midterms, Opinion & analysis 

Thanks to Trump administration directives, Americans can celebrate ending oppressive and expensive regulations and mandates that have hiked prices across virtually all goods and services. But tragically, we are just a few short weeks away from an election featuring radical socialist-style candidates who, if victorious, will assuredly try to roll back all the gains that have been made.

The latest cost-cutting move came last week when the Department of Transportation announced that it will “finalize sharply lower vehicle fuel economy standards through 2031, reversing a push by the Biden administration to force automakers to build more electric vehicles.”

We are one election away from putting more people in power who want a return to mandates, subsidies, and other Big Government, socialist-style dictates.

Referring to former President Joe Biden and his transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, the DOT noted in its own announcement that “the Biden-Buttigieg standards were set so high that they created a backdoor electric vehicle mandate. Automakers and their hardworking employees lost billions complying with the last administration’s regulation.”

The department reported that to avoid the costly economy requirements, some automakers made slight changes to vehicles that allowed for reclassification of light trucks and passenger vehicles.

“This final rule will change classification criteria starting in model year 2030 to reflect each vehicle’s intended use accurately, flipping the current fleet mix of approximately 70% light trucks and 30% passenger vehicles to around 70% passenger cars and 30% light trucks,” the department noted. Most importantly, the new standards are expected to “reduce the average cost of a new vehicle by $1,300 for American families” and “save the American people $138 billion over the next five years.”

The reversal came on the heels of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s announcement of “the repeal of the majority of the Biden administration’s greenhouse gas requirements for U.S. power plants, an action the agency projects will save $310 billion.” The announcement added, “The new proposal would save an additional $370 million in direct compliance costs.”

The Great Awakening on the federal level that has helped the U.S. escape the clutches of budget-busting climate zealotry is beginning to extend to the states. Just last week, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) announced that he has “directed the Ohio EPA to begin the process to end the E-Check vehicle testing programs in Northeast Ohio.”

Most of Ohio does not require drivers to undergo routine vehicle emissions testing, but the Cleveland area counties of Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit have done so since 1996. Ohio EPA Director John Logue shared his belief that even without E-Check, “the area will still be in attainment for those national ambient air quality standards. That it’s basically no longer necessary.”

According to Kelley Blue Book, up to 29 states “require an emissions test to register a vehicle or renew an existing registration,” some statewide, others only in certain regions. But a growing number of states are seeking EPA approval to end emissions tests. And last year, President Trump signed three resolutions designed to prevent California and 10 other states from implementing pollution mandates that were stricter than federal standards. Predictable legal challenges ensued.

RELATED: Foreign money is pouring into ballot battles. Half the states aren’t ready.

Twinsterphoto/Getty Images

Trump can put the icing on the cake by signing an executive order implementing the core elements of the Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security Act, introduced in Congress last year by Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio). Such an order would make affordability the key factor in all governmental energy decisions, encourage robust investment and production, and strengthen both our economic and national security. Its effectiveness would be its own success, making it foolish for the policies to ever be reversed.

Overall, reasons for consumers to celebrate abound. Billions of dollars saved. Intrusive government regulations repealed. Accountability and transparency restored. Who would ever want to go back?

And yet, we are one election away from putting more people in power who want a return to mandates, subsidies, and other Big Government, socialist-style dictates that will send household costs through the roof on all things connected to energy, including transportation, lodging, construction, cooling, heating — the list of goods and services directly impacted by higher energy costs is practically endless.

Whatever reasons one may have for supporting one set of candidates over another, there is no more important issue than where they stand on energy. Do they back all energy options — oil, gas, coal, nuclear, wind, and solar — and believe in allowing the free market to work its magic and keep prices low? Or do they support government edicts and subsidies that will lead to rising costs and require taxpayers to write bigger checks to Uncle Sam each April?

Voters should remember one crucial fact when preparing to cast their ballots: Controlling energy controls our lives. Take control.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.

​Department of transportation, Energy costs, Big government, Trump administration, Epa, Joe biden, Pete buttigieg, Emissions testing, Government regulations, Midterms, Opinion & analysis 

Ever since my daughter was born, my greatest ambition has been to become the best version of myself so she has every chance at a good life. I worry about how my own frailty and inadequacy might hold her back, stunting her emotionally or spiritually. But I trust that, with Jesus, all things are possible through the grace of God.

The recent trial of Lindsay Clancy has made me think about this responsibility more seriously than ever.

If I start to feel grumpy, I can look down at an object in my home and be encouraged to offer up a quick prayer.

In January 2023, Clancy killed her three young children in their Massachusetts home. Her murder trial ended in a mistrial in September, with jurors unable to agree on whether she should be held criminally responsible. Her lawyers argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

The crime was horrifying enough. But I found much of the public response almost as troubling. Hundreds of women gathered outside the courthouse to show their support for Clancy. Some spoke of identifying with her struggles as a mother.

I understand the desire to raise awareness of postpartum mental illness and the need for better care. Mothers who are suffering deserve help, and serious mental illness can be devastating. But I couldn’t help wondering why a case involving the deaths of three innocent children had become, to such an extraordinary degree, a conversation about the needs and suffering of mothers.

Putting children first

In a healthy society, the murder of three children would remain, first and foremost, a tragedy for those children. We could debate the legal complexities, including whether Clancy was criminally responsible for her actions. We could discuss how to better recognize and treat postpartum psychosis. But somehow the case became a referendum on how society treats mothers, while the children seemed to recede into the background.

I worry that this response reflects a larger problem in how we think about parenting. We increasingly expect children to accommodate the lives we want to lead, rather than accepting that having children requires us to change our lives for their sake.

My own experience of motherhood has been one long exercise in making those changes. I’ve had to question things I valued before having my daughter, abandoning cherished habits and ambitions that might otherwise consume me or cause me to neglect her.

I’ve also come to realize that the first change must begin within. I can’t be what my daughter needs without Jesus guiding my thoughts, words, and actions. Each day, I try to sacrifice my ego and become a little less selfish — to lose myself without losing my sanity.

Along with prayer, here are some of the practical things that have helped me do that.

Losing the smartphone

After witnessing countless mothers ignoring their children to stare at a smartphone, I decided I would get rid of mine before I ever had children. So on my wedding day, I took a hammer to my smartphone to symbolize my readiness for motherhood.

I believe this decision has positively impacted my initiation into motherhood. Because I haven’t been staring at screens, my sleep has improved and I’ve regained my attention span. I’ve also had considerably more time to do things I value, such as reading and knitting.

I slept better than expected during pregnancy and since the birth of our daughter. Even with regular interruptions and frequent waking throughout the night, I’ve generally felt well-rested. I think my ability to fall asleep easily has a lot to do with not spending my evenings on a screen.

Just as important, I haven’t been bombarded with TikTok parenting advice reels designed to scare me into buying something I don’t need or believing something that might cause me to treat my child like there’s something wrong with her.

I do what I feel is best, with some advice from friends and older women I trust, and this has made motherhood feel relatively stress-free.

Our daughter, too, is screen-free. However, she does have access to a radio, which she loves to turn on and dance along with. I never see that horrible dead look in her eyes — she is happy and active, with ample curiosity and passion.

I was nervous that smashing my smartphone might make it harder to keep in touch with friends, but I’ve never regretted it. I still have a flip phone, which allows me regular phone conversations with my good friends, and I feel I’ve been more present and focused around my daughter.

This, as well as getting quality sleep and having more time to read or pursue my hobbies, has helped me strike a good balance between giving myself fully to motherhood and maintaining my own interests.

Embrace household chores

A regular, daily routine for household chores also grounds me, keeping me rooted in the moment. I don’t use a dishwasher, so I wash the dishes by hand after each meal. I also do a little laundry every morning.

Doing things by hand keeps me out of my head and is a meaningful way to show love to my husband and child by caring for the clothes we wear and the dishes we eat from.

These might seem like mundane chores, but I have been careful to curate clothes and dishes I love so that, as I manage the household, I am maintaining a space I feel fully committed to and in love with.

The things we wear and eat from represent choices I’ve willingly made. Each garment and object reminds me of my vocation. When I carefully and meticulously care for all the things in my home, I am offered constant reminders to be grateful.

If I start to feel grumpy, I can look down at an object in my home and be encouraged to offer up a quick prayer. By doing this, I take my thoughts captive, as the apostle Paul encourages, and my attitude is readjusted.

RELATED: Jehovah’s Witnesses: Worshipping with the most hated denomination

Keturah Hickman

Foster space for secure attachment

Downgrading my phone and choosing to manage my household deliberately and slowly have helped me make our home a peaceful place where I can build a close, secure relationship with my daughter. There are fewer distractions, less rushing, and fewer occasions for angry responses.

There are a few other things that have made this model tenable and enjoyable for me and my daughter: co-sleeping, breastfeeding, and baby-wearing.

In most ways, I am not very crunchy. I mostly do these three things because I am lazy and also have hobbies I haven’t wanted to abandon just because I am a mother. Not only have these things allowed my daughter and I to bond, but they enable me to get more sleep, wash fewer dishes, and move about the house with arms unencumbered.

The key to successful co-sleeping for us has been having a floor king-size bed. I never have to worry about the baby rolling out of bed, and there’s plenty of room to push her away to have quality time with my husband. Because the baby latches well, we are both able to sleep while she nurses, so I barely have to wake up when she’s hungry.

Breastfeeding, in particular, has given me plenty of opportunities to read. With the help of many pillows to get comfortable while I’m awake and nursing, I’ve managed to read nearly 30 books (mostly nonfiction) since she was born. Imagine if I’d had a smartphone instead!

I don’t know what I would have done without baby-wearing either. My baby is what might be classified as a Velcro baby. She is happy as long as she is with me, often in my arms. Wearing her was the only sane solution if I didn’t want to use the cry-it-out method. It has also helped me regain my core strength!

When the baby was under 6 months old, I’d use a woven wrap to wear her on my chest while I cleaned or sewed. Now I often have her on my back in an Ergo backpack carrier.

We spend our days together doing everything. We go for long walks and have little conversations throughout the day. When we wake up, no matter how I feel, I begin the day with a smile for my daughter and an exuberant greeting. She responds equally enthusiastically.

And now that she feels safe and connected, she’s begun displaying independent spurts where she plays off by herself. As long as I am in eyesight, I can do things for hours on my own without her fretting.

I love watching her discover that she can explore the world on her own while knowing I’m nearby if she needs me.

The joy of sacrifice

Since becoming a mother, I’ve been struck by how often our culture treats children as obstacles to adult happiness. We’re encouraged to pursue our ambitions, protect our independence, and make time for ourselves. None of those things is necessarily bad. But children have needs of their own, and those needs often require us to sacrifice things we would otherwise enjoy.

That sacrifice has brought me far more happiness than I could have anticipated. My life has become smaller in some ways, but richer in others. I’ve given up a smartphone, slowed down my days, and learned to take pleasure in the ordinary work of caring for my family. I haven’t lost myself in the process. I’ve discovered how much of the person I used to be I can happily do without.

I keep thinking about the three Clancy children and how easily they have been lost in the arguments surrounding their deaths. Whatever conclusions people draw about their mother’s mental illness or criminal responsibility, those children deserved a safe and loving home. They deserved to grow up.

I want to give my daughter every chance to do just that. I know I will make mistakes, and I know there will be days when I fall short. But I want to spend my life becoming the mother she needs, rather than expecting her to accommodate the mother I happen to be.

​Babywearing, Breastfeeding, Children, Lindsay clancy, Motherhood, Parenting, Postpartum psychosis, Lifestyle, Faith 

A California man allegedly targeted dozens of children on social media and other online apps in order to coerce them into producing sexually explicit videos for him.

Adrian Gutierrez, 22, of Ontario, California, pretended to be the age of his victims in the communications, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release from the Kansas District.

‘While Mr. Gutierrez mostly targeted children between the ages of ten and twelve, his victims were as young as nine years old.’

He would then allegedly coerce them into making “visual depictions of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct” during live video calls with him.

Prosecutors said Gutierrez sent the communications to children between May 2023 and October 2024.

Twenty-one of the victims have been identified from across 18 states. Others were not able to identified, and some of them resided outside the U.S., according to the release.

Gutierrez pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor involving a child from Kanas.

“The lessons of ‘stranger danger’ also apply to the internet. While Mr. Gutierrez mostly targeted children between the ages of ten and twelve, his victims were as young as nine years old,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Kriegshauser said in a statement in the press release.

“We encourage parents to talk to their children about internet safety and explain to them that not everyone is who they say they are or the age they claim, particularly online,” he added.

Gutierrez is scheduled to be sentenced in Jan. 2027.

RELATED: 19-year-old encouraged minor girl to commit suicide and film it as part of ‘nihilist’ online child sextortion cult

Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Special Agent Kiffa Shirley in the FBI’s Billings Resident Agency in Montana said children online are easy targets for predators.

“Young people don’t seem to have an on-guard mentality when it comes to strangers contacting them through the internet,” Shirley said. “And many teens feel less inhibited about sharing online.”

“Parents need to know what their children are doing online and must stay engaged, ask difficult questions, and not fall into the trap of believing their child is ‘just playing games’ or ‘just talking with their friends,'” said Justin Simmons, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, in a separate case.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the Gutierrez allegations.

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​Sexual exploitation, Social media, Federal bureau of investigation, Online predators, California, Crime 

My paternal grandmother, Giuseppina Scianna, was born on October 12, 1893, in Lercara Friddi, Sicily. Grandma Josey, her mother, Rosa Barbusia, and two siblings came to America in 1910, hoping to reunite with their husband and father, Giuseppe Scianna, who had come to New York to build a better life for his family.

My grandmother spoke broken English, but I remember her telling me how proud she was to be an American because, in Lercara Friddi, people believed America’s streets were lined with gold. She was especially proud to have been born on Columbus Day. To her, Christopher Columbus represented the opening of a world that eventually gave her family a chance to thrive here.

If conquest itself is the indictment, history provides no shortage of defendants. That is the part of Mamdani’s moral ledger that seems curiously blank.

The man New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) publicly disparages was Cristoforo Colombo, a Genoese navigator who altered the course of history. Mamdani made his contempt plain in 2020 when he posed in Astoria giving the middle finger to a Columbus statue and captioned the photo: “Take it down.”

Maybe the replacement could be Mehmed II. After all, Michelangelo’s Pietà arrived in New York aboard the Italian liner Cristoforo Colombo for the 1964 World’s Fair. Why not import a statue of Mehmed the Conqueror from Istanbul and give Astoria a lesson in historical consistency?

Mamdani did not invent the anti-colonial lens through which he sees the world. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a prominent scholar of colonialism and postcolonial politics; his mother, Mira Nair, has made films about displacement, immigration, and identity. Their son’s politics likewise run through an anti-colonial framework, whether the subject is Columbus, Israel, or American power.

Fine. Apply it consistently.

In January 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella defeated the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, Granada. Later that year, they sponsored Columbus’ voyage across the Atlantic. History, unfortunately for modern morality plays, is not tidy.

On October 12, 1492, the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María reached the Bahamas on the first of Columbus’ four transatlantic voyages. His voyage did not make the Americas suddenly exist, of course, but it began the sustained contact between Europe and the Western Hemisphere that transformed both. The Library of Congress describes the encounters that followed as irreversible and often brutal, but also world-changing.

Columbus was a formidable mariner. His voyages expanded European geographical knowledge and helped set in motion the Columbian Exchange, which carried American crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, and corn to Europe and European plants, animals, technologies, and diseases in the other direction. His own writings also show a strong Christian evangelical purpose. None of that requires pretending that his legacy was spotless.

RELATED: Trump pays homage to Columbus, unveils special tribute from Italy

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

It does require something more serious than a middle finger.

Mamdani associates Columbus with colonization and the mistreatment of indigenous peoples. That is his prerogative. But once conquest becomes the moral standard, consistency becomes mandatory. Why is Western conquest treated as a permanent indictment, while conquest elsewhere so often becomes historical wallpaper?

Take Sicily. Muslim armies began conquering the island in 827, and Muslim rule lasted until the Norman conquest in the 11th century. Muslim empires also conquered North Africa, most of the Iberian Peninsula, and large parts of the Middle East. If conquest itself is the indictment, history provides no shortage of defendants.

That is the part of Mamdani’s moral ledger that seems curiously blank.

His relationship with New York’s Italian-American community has not helped. Nearly half a million New Yorkers identify Italian ancestry. Yet his administration’s much-ballyhooed map of immigrant enclaves initially omitted Little Italy. After criticism, Mamdani promised to add it.

If he wanted to convince Italian-Americans that his contempt for Columbus was not contempt for them, forgetting Little Italy was a strange way to do it. Zohran, who wouldn’t know arancini if he tripped over one on Mulberry Street, could hardly have scripted the insult better.

Then came Columbus Day. Mamdani found time this year to celebrate Italian Heritage Month by honoring socialist Rep. Vito Marcantonio. He also skipped the Columbus Day parade, after attending or participating in a long list of other ethnic and civic celebrations around the city.

RELATED: The DSA’s plan for immigration is the worst one yet

John Moore/Getty Images

Apparently St. Patrick, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the West Indies, Bangladesh, Sikh New Yorkers, Pride, and Labor Day can all make the mayoral calendar. Columbus cannot.

The same habit of selective condemnation appeared in Mamdani’s October 7 statement. He correctly called Hamas’ 2023 attack “horrific war crimes” and mourned the Israelis who were murdered and abducted. Then he pivoted quickly to accusing Israel of “genocide,” “occupation,” and “apartheid”. The asymmetry is familiar: Western or Israeli power is examined with a microscope; comparable histories of conquest elsewhere rarely receive the same treatment.

Mamdani and his comrades in arms currently have no problem supporting Muslims who conquer via political representation and whose connection with the DSA indicates that they aspire to replace American constitutional principles with a new kind of governance.

If Giuseppina Scianna were alive in 2026, she would proudly honor Columbus at the New York City parade and be appalled that the mayor, who — if it were today — would likely justify the Islamic conquest of Sicily but doesn’t embrace the greatness of a nation discovered by an Italian explorer who paved the way for the greatest nation in the history of civilization.

​America, Apartheid, Christopher columbus, Colonialism, Dominican republic, Dsa, Genocide, Hamas, Israel, Italy, Labor day, New york, North africa, Puerto rico, Trump, Zohran mamdani, Opinion & analysis 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) managed to anger his own supporters with his October 7 statement — despite denouncing Israel in more than half of it.

Mamdani first briefly acknowledged Hamas’ deadly 2023 attack on Israel before accusing the Israeli government of an ongoing genocide in Gaza and citing egregious Palestinian casualty figures.

“This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others,” Mamdani began.

“We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss,” he continued.

“The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians — including more than 21,000 children,” he added.

“Really? Where are you getting those numbers, Zohran?” BlazeTV host Pat Gray asks.

“You’re getting them from Hamas, the official health agency in the Gaza strip. Hamas is giving those numbers. They’re garbage numbers,” he says.

“And Israel can only do so much to mitigate the civilian casualties,” he continues. “They tell them, ‘Look, we’re going to bomb this building. You need to leave.’ And if you don’t, what are they going to do about that?”

Mamdani also claimed that “since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed” and that the “suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals.”

“They’re hiding in the hospitals. Hamas has infiltrated the hospitals. They use them, and they use the people in them as human shields,” Gray says.

“This is pathetic,” he says, noting that Mamdani also lamented that “our tax dollars fund these war crimes.”

“Hamas is still seeking the complete destruction of Israel and everybody in that country. What do you think ‘from the river to the sea’ means?” he asks, answering, “It means no Jews in Israel.”

“I mean, this is so incredible that he posted this on October 7, and yet it was too sympathetic for his followers,” he adds.

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​Pat gray, Zohran mamdani, Israel, Palestine, Hamas, October 7, Blazetv show