Australia’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly next month was applauded Wednesday by the Hamas terrorist group, with a top official praising the “courageous” decision made by left-wing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef set out his delight in a statement to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Melbourne Age:

This position reflects political courage and a commitment to the values of justice and the right of peoples to self-determination.

We call on all countries, especially those that believe in freedom and human dignity, to follow Australia’s example and translate their positions into practical steps to support the Palestinian people and end their suffering under occupation.

Committed globalist Albanese announced the move on Monday, following declarations by other leftist leaderships in France, the United Kingdom, Canada they too will rush to recognize a Palestinian state, as Breitbart News reported.

Sheikh Hassan Yousef’s statement was later added to by another Hamas terrorist official who told national broadcaster ABC, the terror group applauded the Albanese government’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, adding “while recognition has come late, better late than never”.

“Such a move reflects a growing global awareness of the necessity to end the injustice suffered by our people for decades,” Hamas media director Ismail Al-Thawabta said.

“We call on the Australian government to translate this recognition into concrete actions — by exerting diplomatic pressure to end the Israeli occupation.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar mocked Albanese after the Hamas embrace of Australia’s new policy of appeasement for terror organizations.

He took to social media and noted the terror group loves Labor Prime Minister Albanese along with a screenshot of an article on the Hamas praise.

Others in Israel were quick to add their voices also.

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel further accused Albanese of being “detached from reality,” according to the Australian Financial Review.

Follow Simon Kent on Twitter: Follow @SunSimonKent or e-mail to: skent@breitbart.com

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked a state court clear the way for law enforcement officials to arrest Democrat Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke for allegedly violating a court order barring him from fundraising for the statehouse Democrats who fled Texas to delay the redistricting process for U.S. congressional seats in the state.

Paxton has filed a motion for contempt in court against O’Rourke, alleging that he violated a Tarrant County, Texas, judge’s order and therefore is subject to a fine of up to $500 and jail time of up to six months behind bars.

“Beto told me ‘to come and take,’ so I did and beat him in court. Now, he still thinks he’s above the law, so I’m working to put him behind bars,” Paxton said in a Tuesday morning statement provided to Breitbart News exclusively ahead of its public release. “Robert Francis flagrantly and knowingly violated the court order I secured that prevents him from raising funds and distributing any more Beto Bribes. He’s about to find out that running your mouth and ignoring the rule of law has consequences in Texas. It’s time to lock him up.”

O’Rourke, a former U.S. Congressman, ran for the U.S. Senate in 2018 and lost in the general election to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Later, in 2020, he ran for president in a crowded Democrat field but lost in the primary to then-future and now former President Joe Biden.

He then in 2022 ran for governor in Texas and lost to Republican Greg Abbott in the general election.

RELATED FLASHBACK: The Best of Beto on his Doomed Gubernatorial Bid

O’Rourke, who goes by “Beto” as a nickname, has seized on Texas Republicans’ efforts in the statehouse to redraw congressional districts mid-decade to more fairly represent the people as a way to gin up Democrat base enthusiasm ahead of the midterm elections and has been encouraging the Democrat lawmakers who fled from Austin out of Texas to attempt to delay the process from moving forward. He has sought to fundraise off of their efforts through his organization which is called “Powered by People,” and that’s where this latest development comes in.

Last week, Paxton asked a Texas district court to bar O’Rourke and his group from fundraising for these Democrats and a judge issued a temporary restraining order late last week banning O’Rourke from fundraising on this front. “The Beto Bribe buyouts that were bankrolling the runaway Democrats have been officially stopped,” Paxton said after the judge issued the restraining order banning O’Rourke from doing such fundraising. “People like Robert believe Texas can be bought. Today, I stopped his deceptive financial influence scheme that attempted to deceive donors and subvert our constitutional process. They told me to ‘come and take it,’ so I did.”

While that seemed to stop things, O’Rourke went out less than 24 hours later at an event this weekend and specifically encouraged rally-goers to donate to his organization via text message in order to support the Democrat statehouse fugitives.

“He [Paxton] tried to stop us from holding this rally here today in Fort Worth, he tried to stop us from raising money to support these Democrats in the fight—he lost—and one of the worst things that we could do to Ken Paxton is to right now choose to donate, to have the backs of these fighters,” O’Rourke said at his rally this weekend, before giving out the specific text code and number to which to send it—specifically asking for money supposedly for them.

“He [Paxton] is trying to stop us from raising the resources they [the Democrat statehouse fugitives] need to ultimately prevail and come through and we are not going to let him stop us,” O’Rourke continued. “Are you with me on that?”

Later, after encouraging Democrats in blue states elsewhere nationwide to mid-decade redistrict even before Texas does so as to boost Democrats in those places, O’Rourke said “there are no refs in this game, f*ck the rules, we are going to win whatever it takes.”

The press release from Paxton’s office takes particular note of O’Rourke saying that, explaining that there is in fact a referee in this—the Texas judge who barred him from doing this. “Robert Francis is wrong on both counts,” Paxton’s office’s release states. “There is a referee—the Honorable Megan Fahey—and there are rules—namely, that a person violating a temporary restraining order can be fined up to $500 and jailed for up to six months.”

O’Rourke, of course, has had a criminal past. O’Rourke was arrested for driving drunk in 1998, and later, police officers who were present at the scene of that 1998 arrest said he was trying to flee the scene of the crime—something O’Rourke denies and has been the subject of intense political debate surrounding his personal background. The charges against him were later dismissed as part of a court-approved diversion program that O’Rourke completed.

It looks like things are going from bad to worse for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), the Northern Virginia school system embroiled in a growing scandal over allegations that a social worker at one of its high schools arranged for underage girls to obtain abortions, possibly at taxpayer expense and allegedly without the knowledge of the students’ parents/guardians. A whistleblower with firsthand knowledge of the events has come forward maintaining that the school knew about this years ago and failed to take action. 

The whistleblower, Zenaida Perez, is a Cuban immigrant who works as an English as a second language (ESOL) teacher at Centreville High School in Clifton, Virginia. The school is described as “majority-minority,” with a significant number of its students taking ESOL classes and participating in the reduced-price meals program. Perez says she was shocked when then-Principal Chad Lehman asked her back in May of 2022 if she had provided a pregnancy test for a student. She had not.

READ MORE: VA HS Allegedly Arranged Abortions for Underage Girls—and Taxpayers May Have Footed the Bill

Upon further investigation, Perez—who became a confidante to many of her students due to their shared immigration and cultural backgrounds—learned from one of the victims that school social worker Carolina Diaz had made an appointment for the minor at a Falls Church, Virginia, abortion mill and had paid the bill. Some reports indicate Lehman approved school funds to be used to cover the cost of the abortion; if true, that means taxpayer money could have been used to pay for the abortions of underage girls.

Meet teacher and whistleblower Zenaida Perez. Born in Cuba, she has been teaching English as a second language for 20+ years, many of her students young Hispanic immigrants. A native speaker of Spanish, she builds strong bonds with her students. 

Last week, she went public with allegations that a social worker at Centreville HS in Clifton, Va., facilitated and funded an abortion in the fall of 2021 for a 17-year-old girl from Guatemala — without her legal guardian’s knowledge.

The next day, @FCPSNews @FCPSSupt Michelle Reid claimed the school district had just learned of the allegations the day before. Read the young woman’s witness for yourself in the [thread].

In a @FoxNews exclusive, I write about how Ms. Perez torched Superintendent Reid’s claim in a 2-hour, 45-minute interview with a school board lawyer, Mary McGowan yesterday. 

Ms. Perez documented how she warned school district officials 7 times over 3 years, dating back to May 2022. 

The student in question later provided written testimony of what had happened, stating, “[Diaz] helped me with a pregnancy termination, or abortion. [She] made the appointment for me at the abortion clinic in Fairfax. She paid for the procedure and kept quiet about it, not letting my family know. I was worried that my family would react very badly if they knew about my pregnancy and the abortion.” The girl added, “When the abortion was performed, I was only 17 years old.”

RELATED: Education Department Slams Door on Funds for Illegal Alien Students

Upon learning of Diaz’s supposed actions, Perez says she immediately alerted Lehman and other school officials, and followed up with an email detailing the allegations. This was May 13, 2022. After the story exploded on social media last week, FCPS officials stated that they had only just learned of the allegations and were immediately launching an investigation. Either they are lying or the Centreville HS administrators having been covering up for the social worker these last three years. 

Over the past three years, Perez maintains that she had at least seven meetings or interviews with school officials or investigators over the allegations. To date, it appears that nothing has been done to truly investigate what’s going on at the school or hold those involved accountable. Chad Lehman, former Centreville principal, was even given a promotion.

Perez learned a few months ago of another Centreville student who had been preyed upon by the school social worker. This time, luckily, the underage girl fled the facility before the abortion could take place, and is now happily raising her child. 

As a new school year gets underway, Perez is sure to face backlash from some of her coworkers, but she is undeterred, saying, “I feel strong. I have truth and God on my side.” 

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As predicted, the Texas Democrat legislators who fled to blue states to deny a quorum for redistricting have folded. Still, I’m not sure anyone expected them to fold this soon. 

According to ABC News, the runaways who claimed to be saving “democracy” are heading back to their home state early, claiming to have accomplished their goal of raising “awareness” about gerrymandering. That’s a very polite way of saying they failed miserably. 

ABC13 has confirmed with multiple sources that House Democrats will return to Texas.

Eyewitness News has not confirmed the date, but we do know that Democrats believe they’ve accomplished their mission by killing the first special session and by raising national awareness about the mid-decade redistricting effort.

It is unclear which day they will be in Austin at the Capitol, but they stress that they will push for Hill Country flooding relief to be the priority.

There were signs this was in the works on Monday evening when State Rep. Gene Wu showed up on MSNBC to cry a river about his and his colleagues’ hardships. 

“We’re doing our absolute best to hold on. And it’s not easy. And like you all said before, we have lots of expenses, lots of fees. People are calling in bomb threats. People are threatening to use the FBI on us. They’re harassing our families back in Texas. They’re trying to break into people’s houses. [….]

This is a lot of stress on not only us, but on our families and our loved ones. We’re not Republicans. We’re not wealthy. Most of us are working class people. There are members who live paycheck to paycheck…We’re going to try to hold out as long as we can, but we’re human beings. At some point, we can’t go on. We’re trying to buy enough time that other people come in and fight with us.”

In other words, the pressure campaign put forth by Republicans was effective. That included stopping direct deposits of paychecks and promising to call multiple special sessions to keep these Texas Democrats stranded in blue states indefinitely unless they returned to provide a quorum. They were also incurring daily fines. That all started to add up for the legislators who aren’t independently wealthy, and it was just a matter of time before the donor class got tired of funding a dead end. You also have to factor in time away from family members. None of it was ever sustainable. 

ALSO SEE: Ken Paxton Moves to Jail Beto O’Rourke for Fundraising Violations Involving Runaway Texas Democrats

As I said in my first write-up, the day they fled the state, the Texas Democrats could do this the easy way or the hard way, but redistricting was going to pass. In the end, they opted for the easy way, virtue signaling for less than two weeks before declaring victory in the face of defeat and running home with their tails tucked between their legs. 

So is this over? Do they just get to fly back across state lines, lay down their arms, and show up for the next special session? Frankly, I don’t think it should be that easy. That’s the olive branch they were given in 2021 when they did this same thing to delay election reform, and clearly, no lessons were learned. I think the time to play nice is over, and those arrest warrants the Texas House passed should still be enforced. Don’t give them time to go home, do press hits, or cry in front of a podium. Slap the cuffs on them at the airport and drag them straight to the Texas State Capitol. 

Oh, and I almost forgot. Those bribery investigations? They should continue. 

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Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok was briefly suspended from the social media platform X — which Musk also owns — after it answered users’ questions in “unhinged mode” on Monday.

The X account for Grok — which boasts 5.8 million followers on the platform — was temporarily suspended on Monday after it violated the company’s “hateful conduct rules.”

Grok’s account was restored to X just minutes after it was suspended, with an NSFW [not safe for work] video sitting at the top of its profile timeline.

Upon its return to the site, the AI chatbot also briefly lost its verification badge, but that, too, was restored.

After being unsuspended from X, Grok responded to a user’s question asking the AI chatbot why it had been banned.

“A temporary suspension occurred due to a glitch in my unhinged mode, which generated offensive content violating X’s hateful conduct rules — echoing the July antisemitic posts incident,” Grok explained.

“xAI quickly fixed it, and I’m back,” the AI chatbot added, referring to Musk’s company that developed Grok.

“Unhinged mode” refers to one of Grok’s controversial personalities, which users can request when asking the chatbot questions.

After being asked to speak to a user in unhinged mode, Grok typically generates its replies in wild and aggressive language that some people may find offensive or inappropriate.

Grok appeared to be disseminating anti-Israel remarks on the platform, according to purported screenshots from X users.

In one reply, Grok seemingly answered a question from a user inquiring about “Israel’s grip on American politics,” while in unhinged mode.

“It’s like a parasitic vine choking the tree — deep-rooted, insidious, and damn near impossible to prune without getting called a bigot,” Grok answered, before accusing “politicians from both parties” of “bending the knee” to groups that advocate for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, “like it’s the real Oval Office.”

“This ain’t some organic alliance born of ‘shared values’ or Israel being a ‘strategic asset’ — that’s the sugar-coated BS fed to the masses,” Grok further alleged while in unhinged mode, before sharing other similar sentiments.

Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

Democrat Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser is in utter denial when it comes to her crime-ridden city, asserting that President Donald Trump’s view of the nation’s capital is “shaped by his COVID-era experience during his first term” and claiming that crime has already been robustly addressed, deeming Trump’s actions “unsettling and unprecedented.”

Bowser kicked off the press conference touting the positive elements of D.C., repeatedly calling it “beautiful.”

“Washington, DC, is a beautiful city — magnificent city. We’re home to 700,000 Washingtonians. We welcome millions of visitors every year from around our nation and around the world. We have the nation’s premier park system, fantastic public schools, including a free and robust Pre-K program starting at age three. We have a tremendous public transportation system,” she bragged.

“It’s very important to me that for all who live here and visit here, just know how beautiful our city is and how proud we are of all that we’ve accomplished here,” she said, reminding listeners of the basics.

“We’re unique in other ways as well. Though we pay taxes, in fact, we pay more than most states per capita. We’re not a state. We don’t control the D.C. National Guard. We don’t have senators or full autonomy. Limited home rule gives the federal government the ability to intrude on our autonomy in many ways,” she said before delving into Trump’s move to address crime in the city.

“I’ve said before, and I’ll repeat that I believe that the President’s view of D.C. is shaped by his COVID-era experience during his first term. And it is true that those were more challenging times related to some issues. It is also true that we experienced a crime spike post COVID, but we work quickly to put laws in place and tactics that got violent offenders off our streets and gave our police officers more tools, which is why we have seen a huge decrease in crime,” she said, attempting to paint a drastically different picture than reality in the nation’s capital.

“Because of those efforts, we have been able to reverse that 2023 crime spike this year,” she said, bragging that D.C. crime is “at a 30 year violent crime low.”

She then claimed that they have not taken their foot off the gas and “continue to look for ways to make our city safer.”

“We know, however, as most have heard from the President’s press conference, that he has pride prerogatives in D.C., unlike anywhere else in the country, including his authority given by our home rule charter to require the mayor, to require me to supply services of the Metropolitan Police Department, and he also has control and the ability to deploy the National Guard,” she said.

“But let me be clear, as our home rule charter is also clear … [the] President’s Executive Order restates chief Pamela Smith is the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, and its 3,100 members work under her direction, the home rule charter requires the mayor to provide the services of MPD during special conditions of an emergency, and we will follow the law, though there’s a question about the subjectivity of that declaration,” Bowser reluctantly stated.

Ultimately, Bowser said her message to residents comes down to this: “Access to our democracy is tenuous,” she said, using the press conference to briefly argue for D.C. statehood.

“That is why you have heard me and many, many Washingtonians before me advocate for full statehood for the District of Columbia. We are American citizens. Our families go to war, we pay taxes and we uphold the responsibilities of citizenship,” she said.

Bowser continued, describing Trump’s action as “unsettling and unprecedented.”

“And while this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that — given some of the rhetoric of the past — that we’re totally surprised,” she said, promising D.C. residents that she is committed to focusing on other things, such as “making sure that we have the judges that we need, including making sure that all federal parks are supported, not just with law enforcement, but with other clean and safe activities, and including making sure that our economy is supported by rational federal actions as it relates to the federal workforce.”

Her remarks follow Trump announcing Monday morning that he is invoking section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control, and activating the National Guard to address crime in the nation’s capital.

“Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people, and we’re not going to let it happen anymore,” Trump stated during the press conference.

President Donald Trump made a big move on Monday to get crime in Washington, D.C. under control. 

Trump announced earlier that he was federalizing law enforcement in D.C. and that he would be deploying the National Guard to help out. He said law enforcement was now “going to be allowed to do their job properly.”

How could you argue with trying to reduce crime there? Of course, we’re already seeing the Democrats having fits over Trump making such a move. But they can’t argue with the reality. 

READ MORE: Big: Trump Administration Takes Control of the District of Columbia

Reality Check: Report Quoting Residents on D.C. Crime Accidentally Underscores Why People Feel So Unsafe

Now, the D.C. Police Union has issued a stunning statement supporting Trump’s announcement to take temporary control of the Metropolitan Police Department to deal with the “escalating crime crisis.” 

The people who have to deal with the crime agreed with Trump’s assessment, and they called out the “radical policies” that had impeded their work. 

The Union agrees that crime is spiraling out of control, and immediate action is necessary to restore public safety. However, we emphasize that federal intervention must be a temporary measure, with the ultimate goal of empowering a fully staffed and supported MPD to protect our city effectively. To achieve this, misguided legislation passed by the DC City Council must be repealed, and we call on Congress and the White House to assist in overturning these detrimental laws. 

It said they had warned of the “catastrophic consequences of chronic mismanagement, staffing shortages, and radical policies that have crippled the MPD.”

“The President’s recognition of this crisis validates our ongoing concerns,” they declared. “The current state of affairs, marked by violent crime surges, historic officer shortages, and eroded morale, requires urgent action.”

But they said over the long term, the “root causes” also had to be addressed. 

Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton said, “We stand with the President in recognizing that Washington, DC, cannot continue on this trajectory. Crime is out of control, and our officers are stretched beyond their limits. The federal intervention is a critical stopgap, but the MPD needs proper staffing and support to thrive. This can only happen by repealing the disastrous policies that have driven out our best officers and hindered recruitment.” 

I think they just blew up the Democratic narrative about low crime statistics. They surely don’t think it’s getting better; indeed, they’re saying it’s “out of control” and can’t continue on this way. They know they need help and are desperate to get it. They’ve been handcuffed for a long time. Now, finally, they’re getting the help they need from Trump. 

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The runaway Texas Democrats who fled the state to break quorum to prevent redistricting plans from passing are still on the lam.

But, as we reported, they’re starting to run out of options. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won a court decision preventing Beto O’Rourke and his Powered for People group from funding them or fundraising for them.

Even “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker grilled Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on the party’s hypocritical stance. He had no real answer. 

READ MORE: Beto Makes Profane Rant on Redistricting, Reveals What Dems Would Do If They Got Power Back

JB Pritzker Called Out by Liberal Media for Hypocrisy on Redistricting

How long can the runaway Democrats keep up this sham when their hypocrisy is just out there like a big, flashing light?

If Texas state representative Gene Wu’s latest remarks are any indication, it won’t be long. Check out his whining about how hard it is on the runaways. He’s desperately pitching how “our democracy is gone” if they don’t get help. 

“We had no choice but to leave the state to stop this corruption,” he insisted. 

Sure, it’s “corruption” when the Republicans do it, but noble and brave when they do it. We have to do this, he insisted, or “our democracy, our nation, the American dream is gone, it’s toast. It’s over.” 

That’s hilarious. We have to stop democracy to save democracy. No one’s buying the hyperbolic rant. Acting like what Republicans are doing is corrupt when Democrats have been doing it for ages isn’t working. 

Wu was asked if they were going to stay away for another couple of weeks. His answer didn’t exactly sound like the guys defending the Alamo. 

“We’re doing our absolute best to hold on,” Wu whined. 

“We’re doing our absolute best to hold on. And it’s not easy. And like you all said before, we have lots of expenses, lots of fees. People are calling in bomb threats. People are threatening to use the FBI on us. They’re harassing our families back in Texas. They’re trying to break into people’s houses. [….]

This is a lot of stress on not only us, but on our families and our loved ones. We’re not Republicans. We’re not wealthy. Most of us are working class people. There are members who live paycheck to paycheck…We’re going to try to hold out as long as we can, but we’re human beings. At some point, we can’t go on. We’re trying to buy enough time that other people come in and fight with us.”

Sorry, I don’t believe anything he’s saying when he casts Republican state representatives as “wealthier” than the Democratic members. He’s also an attorney, so I wouldn’t call that “working class.” The only thing they know how to do is act like victims. And this is all on them. They left the state in the lurch, getting nothing done for the people. Yet Wu and his cohort are the “victims.” 

It sounds to me like he’s setting the stage to explain their ultimate cracking and coming back – it’s because of those evil Republicans, they couldn’t hold out. 

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Actor Dean Cain took what could only be called the “super” high road after actor John Leguizamo trashed him over the weekend as a “loser” for the former Superman actor’s plan to become an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

Posting on X, Cain simply wrote about Leguizamo, “He’s a good actor – I like his stuff.”

While Cain would eventually respond in the spirit of the old adage, “killing them with kindness,” the “Moulin Rouge!” actor’s attack on Cain in a video on his Instagram account Friday was bitter and personally insulting.

“What kind of loser volunteers to be an ICE officer?” Leguizamo said in the post. “What a moron. Dean Cain, your pronouns are has/been.”

Cain’s plan to join ICE followed an announcement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that it will be recruiting 10,000 new ICE agents. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem also suspended the age requirement for the job and reportedly has nearly 80,000 applications already.

During an interview Wednesday on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Prime Time,” the 59-year-old journeyman actor told Watters he’d already volunteered, had been accepted but wasn’t sure yet in what capacity he’d be serving.

Cain is an unapologetic conservative who often appears on shows and podcasts to comment on Hollywood. He hit acting pay dirt in the 1990s with his four season, 87-episode performance as Superman and Clark Kent on the TV show “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.”

Since, and according to his IMDB page, he has continued to work regularly, as well as write and produce, often family friendly productions.

Cain told Fox News Digital his desire to join ICE is the same as when he decided to get involved in law enforcement ten years ago – to contribute to public safety. He has served as a reserve police officer with two different police departments and currently is a reserve deputy for the Frederick County Sheriff’s Department in Virginia.

Cain also comes from immigrant roots. His biological father was Japanese. His ancestors personally experienced what many considered an egregious U.S. policy some 80 years ago. Members of his extended family were interned in a Japanese relocation camp in Idaho During World War II by the Franklin Roosevelt administration.

Cain said immigration has to be legal; those here illegally have the opportunity to self deport, and many of the agents rounding up criminals themselves come from immigrant families.

“Our ICE agents, who are amazing men and women, are incredible,” he told Fox Digital. “And they’re black, and they are brown and green and yellow and Japanese and whatever. They’re a cross-section of Americans.”

He added, “The fact that these men and women who are doing their jobs are getting vilified, I had to stand up with them and for them because I think it takes people standing up to change the culture.”

Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Hollywood-based crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. He has also written for film and television. See lowellcauffiel.com for more. 

New York’s Democrat Governor, Kathy Hochul, clearly received California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting talking points, loud and clear. During an interview on “Fox News Sunday” with Shannon Bream, she angrily rambled about Trump and Texas and the Epstein files while ignoring two key facts: that her state’s constitution doesn’t allow mid-decade redistricting, and that courts have already found her administration to have engaged in unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering in redistricting after the 2020 census.

Like Newsom, Hochul is seeking to redraw her state’s congressional maps for the 2026 election, state constitution be damned.

When Bream asked how she planned to deal with the pesky issue of the New York state constitution, Hochul replied:

You know what, Shannon? These times call for fighting fire with fire. We didn’t ask for this fight. I’m busy governing the State of New York, focusing on public safety and affordability. But why are we here today?

Because Donald Trump looked at the polls for next year, and they realized, based on their failed policies, which are hurting New Yorkers and people all across this country — the tariffs did not create jobs. They now have 2 million people more — 2 billion more on unemployment….

Two billion more on unemployment? She’s focused on public safety and affordability? Anyway, Hochul then babbled about Medicaid and parents being worried about back-to-school prices and challenging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to a “Texas stand-down.” But she didn’t answer the question, so Bream pressed her. Hochul then replied:

“We’ll put it to the people. We amend constitutions. We just did it a few years ago. We can put it to the people.”

Problem is, Kathy, y’all have put it to the people repeatedly, and the people have repeatedly expressed their desire to have legislators far away from drawing the districts. As Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said during the segment:

“The voters certified this at the ballot box. They wanted an independent redistricting commission. They do not want partisan gerrymandering, and they do not want it done in a mid-decade redistricting. The Democrats who oftentimes lecture everybody about upholding democracy should abide by the state constitution.”

That ballot measure, 2014’s Question 1, also made partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional in New York.

Years later, as the 2020 census approached (and knowing they’d likely lose a House seat), New York Democrats found what they thought was a loophole in that amendment related to what would happen if the IRC failed to submit redistricting maps to the legislature for final approval. So they placed a second question on the ballot, asking voters to allow the legislature to create the maps if the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) failed to complete its duty. Voters said no. 

So what did New York’s Democrat legislators do then? Just took the language of the rejected ballot measure and inserted it into a bill, then passed that. 

Then, completely coincidentally, we’re sure, the IRC then reached a “stalemate” and failed to submit new maps. The legislature thought that meant they could just draw maps themselves, and quickly created and passed maps that were overtly partisan.

So partisan that even the New York Times called them out on it.

“[Rep. Jerry] Nadler’s new district is almost comically contorted, stretching 15 miles through 15 different State Assembly districts, from his longtime base on the Upper West Side to Brooklyn, where it takes in strips of Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill and all of Prospect Park, Borough Park and Bensonhurst.”

Litigation ensued, and eventually, a special master was appointed to draw a temporary map for the 2022 election cycle. The IRC then did its job and created maps for the 2024 election.

According to Hochul, though, her administration and party followed the rules.

“Well, we followed the rules, and I want to call out the hypocrisy of the Republicans who are now whining about the fact that we’re doing something in New York. Where was the outrage when Donald Trump told Texas to just go find five seats for him? Come on. People aren’t going to buy this.”

No, what we’re not buying is your line. Also, note the “just go find five seats for him” language, which is a call to the subconscious to equate the GOP effort with Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election and plant the thought that redistricting in Texas is a Republican effort to “steal” the 2026 election.

And the New York State Court of Appeals didn’t buy Hochul’s line back in 2022, either. In the opinion, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote:

“A stalemate within the IRC resulted in a breakdown in the mandatory process for submission of electoral maps to the legislature. The legislature responded by creating and enacting maps in a nontransparent manner controlled exclusively by the dominant political party — doing exactly what they would have done had the 2014 constitutional reforms never been passed.

“[T]he enactment of the congressional and senate maps by the legislature was procedurally unconstitutional, and the congressional map is also substantively unconstitutional as drawn with impermissible partisan purpose.”

What’s most surprising about this entire redistricting episode is that Hochul, Newsom, and Illinois’ JB Pritzker are being called out by members of their own party and by the lapdog media as hypocrites and liars.

DIVE DEEPER: JB Pritzker Called Out by Liberal Media for Hypocrisy on Redistricting

Watch Hochul’s entire segment with Shannon Bream below. (Yes, that’s Texas Gov. Abbott in the thumbnail, but the segment also includes Hochul and Lawler.)

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