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The scariest thing about Zohran Mamdani isn’t his socialism

Last Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani — a Muslim Democrat socialist — won the New York City mayoral election in a landslide victory over disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Like all socialists, he seduced the city’s financially crushed population, which is nearly everyone in tax-choked NYC, with a mountain of “free” promises: free buses, free childcare, rent freezes, and city-run grocery stores.

Of course, anyone with half a brain knows socialism bleeds cities dry every time. It’s death by a thousand tax hikes, crime waves, and empty storefronts.

The fiscal meltdown has dominated headlines since Mamdani’s win — but is economic suicide really the Big Apple’s most pressing threat?

Lomez, in the debut episode of BlazeTV’s “Rufo and Lomez,” says no. It’s what the radical symbolizes that should really scare us.

While Lomez “[doesn’t] like him at all,” he doesn’t think Mamdani’s economic reform or his other progressive policies will be as revolutionary as people are saying.

“If I’m looking for the sort of policy daylight between what he might do in New York City versus [former mayor] de Blasio, I think it’s pretty thin,” he says.

“Do I think Zohran Mamdani is going to impose a kind of communist authoritarianism on New York City? No, I don’t. I think things will just kind of get incrementally worse in ways that aren’t good,” he predicts.

The “key thing” that makes Mamdani scary, he says, is what the radical symbolizes.

“Mamdani represents above all else a kind of post-Americanness, a post-white Americanness in particular. I think that’s really important,” he says.

Lomez points to a clip of Mamdani’s victory speech on election night as evidence of this. In this segment that’s gone viral, he repeatedly thanked not Americans but immigrants for powering his campaign.

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“Thank you to those so often forgotten by the politics of our city, who made this movement their own. I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas! Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses! Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties!” he boomed from the podium.

“He’s praising the Mexican abuelas and the Senegalese Door Dash drivers … not Mexican-American, not Senegalese-American, just those things without the hyphen at all,” says Lomez, reminding listeners that “Zohran Mamdani made explicitly anti-white statements during his campaign,” like pitching taxes for white people specifically.

“I think that kind of normalization, which is something we’ve seen from the Democratic Party sort of escalating over the last decade, is the most important part of this, and it’s the thing that gives me the most concern.”

To hear more, watch the full episode above.

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​Rufo and lomez, Chris rufo, Blazetv, Blaze media, Zohran mamdani, New york city, Socialism, New york city mayoral race, Rufo & lomez 

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79-year-old landlord opens fire on naked intruder who body-slammed him to ground, breaking his legs

A 79-year-old landlord opened fire on a naked male intruder who body-slammed him to the ground Friday morning, breaking his legs, authorities said.

The incident occurred around 7:15 a.m. in the 4500 block of Tujunga Avenue at a Studio City apartment in Los Angeles, authorities told KABC-TV.

‘Why is he out here naked?’

Surveillance video captured the intruder walking naked around the neighborhood, the station said, adding that video also shows him at the front door of a home and grabbing a sign and then continuing to walk.

The suspect soon entered an apartment, after which two women who were home at the time confronted him, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson told KABC.

More from the station:

The women yelled at the trespasser to get out, prompting the landlord to rush to their aid, the LAPD said.

The intruder body-slammed the landlord, breaking both of the victim’s legs, police said.

The 79-year-old man “at this time, in self-defense, shoots the suspect three times,” said Capt. Warner Castillo of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Castillo added to KTTV-TV that the victim gave the naked man every opportunity to stop what he was doing before shots were fired.

“The 79-year-old man tells the suspect to leave, tells him I have a gun, and I will shoot you. The suspect grabs the 79-year-old man, lifts him, throws him on the ground, and that’s where the 79-year-old man suffered two broken legs,” Castillo noted to KTTV.

RELATED: Burglar naked from waist down stands over sleeping couple’s bed, says ‘shoot me’ when ordered to leave. Husband complies.

What’s more, Castillo added to KTTV that “the suspect got shot one time, and the suspect still approached the 79-year-old [who] shot the suspect again, killing him.”

KTTV noted that the victim, identified only as George, was taken to a hospital and underwent surgery. A neighbor added to KTTV the 79-year-old man is a Vietnam veteran.

The name of the suspect has not been released, KTTV noted. No injuries to the women were reported, KABC said.

“I heard commotion, like a lady yelling,” a woman who witnessed the incident and declined to be identified by name told KABC. “Then I looked over, and it was a naked guy. At first I thought it was just like, maybe it’s a house fire. Like, why is he out here naked?”

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​Crime thwarted, Self-defense, Intruder, California, California crime, Physical attack, Fatal shooting, Fighting back, 2nd amend., Guns, Gun rights, Home invasion, Naked intruder, Los angeles, Studio city, Protecting others, Landlord, Crime 

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‘No MAGA left behind’: Trump pardons Giuliani, Powell, others involved in 2020 alternate electors case

President Donald Trump has announced “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons for those allegedly involved in the effort to arrange an alternate slate of electors and submit certificates of ascertainment indicating that Trump won the 2020 Electoral College vote in critical states.

According to the presidential proclamation shared by U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin early Monday morning in response to an older post stating, “No MAGA left behind,” pardons were also granted to individuals who attempted “to expose voting fraud and vulnerabilities in the 2020 Presidential Election.”

‘President Trump is putting an end to the Biden regime’s communist tactics once and for all.’

Martin signaled that Trump, unlike his predecessor, was directly involved in the pardon process, noting that the signatures on the pardons were “wet (not autopen),” meaning they were hand-signed.

Among the dozens of names identified in the non-exhaustive list of those pardoned is Trump lawyer Boris Epshteyn, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, and John Eastman, a lawyer who advised Trump’s 2020 campaign. Trump did not pardon himself.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Blaze News, “These great Americans were persecuted and put through hell by the Biden administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy.”

“Getting prosecuted for challenging results is something that happens in communist Venezuela, not the United States of America, and President Trump is putting an end to the Biden regime’s communist tactics once and for all,” added Leavitt.

RELATED: Inside the Dem-hatched scheme to destroy attorneys who supported Trump

Valerie Plesch/Washington Post/Getty Images

The proclamation notes at the outset that these pardons serve to end “a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continues the process of national reconciliation.”

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A White House official told Blaze News that “Americans in seven states acted to preserve alternate slates of electors as a result of major issues with the 2020 election. They took action, while exercising their First Amendment rights, that the system was designed to let them do: preserve the right of the American people to seek redress including through our courts and federal and state legislative processes.”

The official likened the actions allegedly taken by some of those pardoned to those taken by “the famous 1960 Hawaiian alternate electors for President Kennedy, who were never prosecuted or even questioned.”

“The alternate electors were involved in a purely federal constitutional proceeding before Congress. Under long-established law, states have no jurisdiction with respect to any alleged wrongdoing associated with a federal proceeding,” added the official.

‘I wish the pardon would terminate the lawfare totally.’

Although providing a clean slate and shield where federal charges are concerned, the pardons are largely symbolic, as they are unlikely to help those facing state-level prosecutions — such as those defendants facing charges in Nevada, those embroiled in the so-called “fake electors” case in Arizona’s Maricopa County, and those who recently lost their appeal to move their Georgia case to federal court.

Jeff Clark, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Trump Office of Management and Budget, who is among those pardoned, expressed gratitude to the president but stressed that his legal battle is far from over.

“I wish the pardon would terminate the lawfare totally — and under SCOTUS’s venerable Ex Parte Garland decision, it certainly should. But zooming in on the DC Office of Disciplinary Counsel, we expect the leader of that office not to drop his case,” wrote Clark.

“I wish I could be declaring this legal nonsense over for good — a pardon should totally and abruptly kill off these federal bar and Georgia-federal attacks on me and many others.”

Martin noted in a Monday-morning X post that when he started in his current role, “POTUS encouraged us to look at two categories of Americans especially: First, those who needed and deserved clemency, especially long serving inmates who are ready to be released. Second, he wanted us to look at those people who had been targeted by the Biden administration. The targeted is a huge group of Americans.”

The pardon attorney indicated that “one group that jumped up right away” was the “alternate electors and their affiliates who were targeted by Jack Smith and others.”

The pardons come just days after Trump approved a pardon for three-time World Series champion Darryl Strawberry and months after the president pardoned approximately 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants.

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​Donald trump, Pardons, Giuliani, Sidney powell, 2020 election, Ed martin, Pardon attorney, Clemency, Trump, Maga, Leavitt, Politics