Mr. Mamdani, you can't handle the truth.

 At appears that at every available opportunity, Zhoran Mamdani feels he must criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Is this a result of the centuries of conflict and learned hatred between cultures? I think not. Mamdani accuses Netanyahu of various crimes and alleges that he is the source of so much Israeli deceit and treachery, at least the sort that's not endemic among the Jewish people. 

During his address to the United Nations General Assembly, Netanyahu's response reminded me of Colonel Nathan Jessup's response in the movie "A Few Good Men." If you haven't seen the movie, the exchange between Col. Jessup and Tom Cruise's character Lt. Daniel Kaffee is cinematic gold. And, I believe apropos to Netanyahu's response. 

Speaking directly to the antisemitic mayor of New York, Netanyahu issued an accurate indictment of Mamdani's character, judgment, and associations. Netanyahu scolded Mamdani for praising criminals convicted of supporting Hamas. He attacked him for counting among his friends Hasan Piker, as he elaborated for a moment on the streamer's belief that Americans deserved the 9/11 attacks. He questioned why Mamdani welcomed into his home a Palestinian journalist who subsequently admitted that he not only filmed Hamas's atrocities but concealed the footage to avoid embarrassing the terrorist group. Netanyahu even criticized Mamdani's wife for having "liked a post praising the October 7 massacre," and another post that contended that the Israeli city of Tel Aviv "shouldn't exist."

In spite of the New York Times preemptive effort to defuse Netanyahu's criticisms of Mandani, they remain true. Mamdani did heap praise on the Holy Land Five, "who were blamed by a jury for the killing of a 17 year-old Jewish boy from New York City outside Jerusalem." Madani did pal around with Hasan Piker during his bid for mayor despite, or perhaps because of, the streamer's penchant for anti-American and anti-Israeli radicalism. He did embrace Motaz Azaiza, a gadfly Palestinian journalist who recently confessed to filming the events of October 7 and burying the footage, because he didn't want to ruin the lives of the people filmed. Mamdani's wife did like those posts, although she has since apologized for her "harmful" social media habits. Some things that have been done cannot be undone...

Netanyahu also addressed the foremost allegation against him and his country to which the mayor and his comrades are partial: the charge of genocide. Netanyahu described Israel's efforts to protect civilians life. He described the "millions" of texts, calls, and leaflets sent out to alert Palestinian populations of impending Israeli action—an independently verifiable account, though Mamdani and his ilk aren't the least bit interested in verification. Israel issued one million polio vaccinations to Palestinians. Israel distributed two million tons of food into Gaza. That's one ton for every person. Accusing Israel of genocide can only come from the mouths of idiots. 

And how is New York City, since Mamdani's election treating the Jews who have lived there for decades? They are harassed, assaulted,  and stabbed more often than ever before. Antisemitic hate crimes are up 8% so far this year and make up more than half the incidents in New York City. 

Netanyahu said, "Mr. Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you cant silence me. You can't silence the truth." In fact, Mr. Mamdani, you can't handle the truth. 

 Today, Wednesday September 23, 2026, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on protecting women's sports. Not a single Democratic Senator was in attendance. Not one. So much for bipartisan debate on important issues. The only two Democrats to show up at all were Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar,D-Minn. Both of them left within the first hour of the hearing and Klobuchar never spoke. The Democrats also did not host a single witness for the hearing. 

Durbin's opening testimony was given to dismissing the issue of trans athletes in women's sports. He instead brought up issues like affordability, getting cellphones out of the hands of children, AI, and trust in government. Prior to leaving, Durbin would "refuse to treat this hearing like a responsible exercise of this committee."

All ten Democratic members of the committee were asked about their absence for either the majority of or the entire hearing. The only time Durbin addressed the issue of the hearing was when he raised concerns for the LGBTQ community, citing a study by the Trevor Project that found young LGBTQ+ are at a "higher risk of suicide," and potential sex verification checks for female athletes a result of protective measures for women's sports, while calling measures a "vendetta." When asked for clarification about the substance of those concerns, Durbin's office pointed to a press release from March 2025 that stated measures to protect women's sports would "subject women and girls to physical inspection by an adult if someone from an opposing team accused them of being transgender." 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal D-Conn., told a reporter that he didn't go to the hearing because he had a classified briefing on the Iran War. When asked about his overall stance on the issue of protecting women's sports, Blumenthal said, "I'm not going to talk about it in the hallway here." Democrats raised the concerns about "inspections" last year ahead of voting for the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, but they were never substantiated in any language within the bill or even any examples of such examinations being used elsewhere. The only verification that has been publicly advocated by anyone has been "cheek swab DNA testing." Once again, the Democrats have completely mischaracterized the issue. 

The party's overall stance on the issue of trans athletes in women's sports has been unpopular. Several major polls; The New York Times, Quinnipiac and Pew Research Center have all shown that more than 70% of all Americans believe women's sports should not permit biological males to compete. 

Ahead of the 2026 mid-terms, many Democrats have distanced themselves from past support of trans athletes without explicitly backpedaling or changing their stance on the issue. The absence of the Democratic committee members at the Wednesday hearing aligns with that recent pattern. The Republicans and witnesses in attendance criticized the Democrats absence. 

Sen. Darlene Graham R-NC, said, "I'm also disappointed our Democratic colleagues left the room, because I think the risk of physical harm is real and has already happened."

Sen. John Kennedy R-La. criticized the Democrats by saying "I'm a little disappointed that my Democratic colleagues left. It's their right, but I'm disappointed."

Sen. Ashley Moody R-Fla. was the most critical of the Democrats who left. "The reason why it is only Republican senators discussing the topic is because the Democrats won't talk openly about the missed opportunities and challenges and what's been happening across our nation for our young women and girls. Shockingly, not one female Democratic Senator has engaged in this hearing or asked you any questions about your experiences, your concerns, your fears or what you may predict may happen in the future if we don't, as you said, lead." 

Currently, there are 23 states in the U.S. that do not have rules prohibiting biological males  form competing in women's sports. California, Maine and Minnesota have engaged in legal battles with the Trump administration over the issue after Trump signed an executive order to protect women's sports last February. 

Nike is taking a beating, and they deserve it...

 Michael Jordan, is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time. He was also the athlete most responsible for transforming Nike from a shoe company into a global sports empire. He once said, "Republicans buy sneakers, too." Jordan made the comment during the 1990 U.S. Senate race in North Carolina, after his mother urged him to support Democratic candidate Harvey Gantt. Jordan confirmed that he made the statement jokingly on a team bus. 

The line endured because it captured a basic business lesson. Companies benefit when everyone, regardless of their politics, buys their products. Nike stopped using common sense. 

After spending much of the past decade injecting left-wing politics into its brand, Nike has now been removed from the Standard & Poor 100, ending a run of nearly 18 years in the blue-chip index. S&P Dow Jones announced the move last week and Nike will no longer trade on the Index after Sept. 21. 

Nike isn't being kicked out of the Index because of questionable and dubious extremely partisan advertising. They're being kicked out because their stock value collapsed. 

Politics didn't wipe out $200 billion by itself. But Nike chose to alienate customers while it was already losing ground everywhere else. The sports apparel giant reached a market value of $281 billion near its peak in November 2021. Nike shares recently closed at $38.10 giving the company a market capitalization of roughly $56.5 billion. The stock was about 79% below its November 2021 record of $179.10. More than $220 billion in market value had disappeared. 

Being removed from the S&P 100 won't put Nike out of business. It will still sell billions of dollars of shoes and sign big-name athletes to sponsorship deals. But the titan of athletic wear is now worth about one-fifth of what it was five years ago and is no longer considered a blue-chip stock. 

Consider Nike's attitude toward China with their behavior in the U.S.. Nike made Colin Kaepernick the face of its 30th anniversary "Just Do It" campaign after he refused to stand for the national anthem, saying he wouldn't show pride for a country that "oppresses Black people and people of color." Nike apparently thought it was a message worth putting on billboards across the nation. 

In 2021 Nike faced blowback from Chinese consumers after the company expressed concern about reports of forced labor involving Uyghurs in Xinjiang. A few months later during an earnings call with then CEO John Donahoe, he made Nike's priorities clear. 

"We're a brand of China and for China," he said. Pretty big contrast with their attitude in the U.S. Nike took a pretty hard stand concerning perceived oppression in the U.S.. But when their business  in a communist country came under pressure, its CEO reminded everyone that Nike had been investing there for more than 40 years, operated thousands of stores and remained committed to the Chinese market. 

Nike was apparently willing to present anti-American messaging at home while continuing to grow in China by assuring Chinese consumers that the company was "of China and for China."

It blew up in their face. 

In 2021 when Donahoe made that declaration, Nike made $8.29 billion in revenue in China. Five years later, they were down to $5.85 billion. Nearly 30% of the business disappeared. 

In 2019, Nike pulled a Fourth-of-July themed Air Max sneaker because it said it could 'unintentionally offend.' A year later, the company launched its "For Once, Don't do it" racial-justice campaign and publicly embraced Black Lives Matter messaging. 

Then Nike partnered with Dylan Mulvaney in 2023 for a paid promotion of women's leggings and sports bras. At the time, OutKick reported that researchers and a Boston's Children's Hospital publication had described Nike as supporting a proposed study involving transgender youth athletes. A Nike executive, speaking to OutKick later said the study "was never initialized' and was not "moving forward." It was later reported that Nike had pulled out after critics had learned of it. 

Nike repeatedly made left-wing politics part of its identity and dared customers to object. Now they have left the S&P 100, its stock down 80% from its peak and its executives are trying to rebuild the product innovation and marketplace relationships that made the company dominant. 

Michael Jordan understood. What Nike failed to understand was they don't have to buy yours.