TAXPAYER FUNDED 'CASH WITH CARE' PROGRAM WAS ENACTED BY NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL AFTER MAMDANI WAS ELECTED MAYOR, BUT BEFORE HE TOOK OFFICE

Liberal city's wild experiment giving young homeless people at state-of-the-art shelter $15,800 in FREE cash from taxpayers

 

By Alexa Cimino 

 

Daily Mail

Feb 14, 2026

 

 

                  

The new Covenant House New York, a crisis shelter for homeless youth in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, provides a temporary home and multiple services for young people. The 80,000 sf structure includes 60 residential units and numerous amenities.

 

Giving homeless young adults up to $15,800 in no-strings-attached cash to spend however they choose may not sound like the most sensible use of taxpayers’ money.

But that is exactly what New York City has started doing under a controversial new experiment, dubbed Cash with Care, which aims to help move youth out of shelters for good.

The pilot program provides 60 homeless youths aged 18 to 24 with $1,200 a month for nine months, plus access to a one-time $5,000 lump sum - a total of up to $15,800 per person, no strings attached and with zero spending restrictions.

The $1.5 million program, approved by the City Council in December, immediately raised eyebrows, prompting skepticism not only from taxpayers and City Hall critics, but also from leaders at the facility where the recipients live.

Covenant House is the city’s largest provider of services for homeless youth, and its four-story, state-of-the-art building includes a high-end recording studio, an NBA-funded basketball court and a walk-in closet stocked with free clothes.

Many of the young people staying there have escaped dangerous home environments, family rejection and sex trafficking.

City council member Frank Morano told the Daily Mail that while youth homelessness was ‘a real and heartbreaking problem,’ he was skeptical of the handouts and questioned whether unrestricted cash was the answer.

‘New Yorkers deserve to know exactly what outcomes we are getting for that money,’ Morano said, pointing to housing stability, education, and long-term independence as ways to measure success. 

 

Young adults enrolled in a New York City pilot, which gives the homeless cash to help move them out of shelters, told the Daily Mail how the handouts have been changing their lives

Recipients live in a facility called Covenant House, where Republic Records donated and installed a professional-grade music studio for youth pursuing creative paths

The site includes a huge closet provides free, professional and everyday clothing so young people can dress for work, school and daily life without added financial strain

The closet is full of donated items so the youths can pick a new outfit for free

 

Taxpayers agreed, in a Reddit thread last month, they expressed their concerns with one writing: 'I’d like to keep my tax money on useful things instead, thanks!

'I would say taxes are for roads and public works and national defense. This is something you can privately opt into if you believe in [it] or opt out of if you don’t. You think it’s useful you should feel free to support it - I am skeptical of its utility so I prefer to stay out of it and direct my philanthropy elsewhere.'

Another added: 'Guaranteed Income Program is a social construct. It may or may not work.

'You can argue that having a guaranteed income will make people unmotivated to work and others who have to struggle, see their hard-earned money going to the lazy.' 

Speaking to the Daily Mail during an exclusive tour of the facility, the Covenant House New York CEO admitted she was not immediately convinced when the free cash was first floated but has since changed her mind.

'"You're going to give kids this influx of cash and not give them any kind of guidance?"' Shakeema North-Albert recalled thinking, as she worried about how young people with limited financial experience would manage the handouts.

She said similar programs in other parts of the country had raised concerns after some participants spent impulsively or diverted funds to family and friends before stabilizing their own housing.

But what ultimately shifted her view was that the initiative gives young people support alongside the cash, from financial coaching and education support to mental health services, in the hope it will help them secure more permanent housing sooner, build food security and clear debt.

 

Covenant House New York chief executive Shakeema North-Albert said she was initially skeptical of giving young people unrestricted cash

North-Albert speaking with Daily Mail reporter Alexa Cimino this week 

Lyndell Pittman, Covenant House's senior vice president of support services, said his initial reaction to the proposal was even blunter.

'When we first got this, I was not a believer,' Pittman told the Daily Mail. 'I was like, "This doesn't make sense. We're just gonna give these kids this money, and how are we going to protect them from themselves?"'

Pittman was most concerned that the free funds did not 'cause any harm.' 

Both leaders said that as the program unfolded, their views shifted, with early indications that participants were spending cautiously and, in some cases, barely touching the money at all.

Although the payments have only been rolled out for the past two months, Pittman said roughly 40 percent of participants had 'barely spent any money since the start' - a detail that challenged assumptions that young people would quickly blow through the funds. He said the behavior could reflect either smart saving or fear.

'Because they’ve never had this type of money, there’s a fear in spending it,' he said, comparing it to the shock of being 'trusted' with a first credit card.

North-Albert believes that, in the long term, this will be a cost-saving measure. She noted that keeping a young person in shelter for a year can cost the city roughly $70,000, compared with $15,800 in direct cash support under Cash with Care, arguing that even modest reductions in shelter stays could significantly shift the financial equation.

The Daily Mail spoke to young people enrolled in the program, whose identities are kept anonymous, about how they were using the cash. 

 

Pam Sandonato, who works in communications at Covenant House, gave the Daily Mail a tour

Lyndell Pittman, Covenant House’s senior vice-president of support services, admitted he was ‘not a believer’ at first, raising concerns about what harm the free money could cause 

 

A 20-year-old musician said that before he received his first payment, he had no income, but now he was juggling jobs and working toward his GED. He talked about his future with striking certainty. 

'I'm planning on going to Juilliard soon,' he said - not if, but when.

The pianist, who also plays viola and clarinet, sings, raps, performs at events, and teaches lessons, said the monthly payments allowed him to invest directly in his craft, covering music supplies and one-on-one training. 

'I've saved most of it - a good 95 percent,' he said, explaining that he is setting the money aside for college and future expenses. 

Above all else, the cash has afforded him time to plan and get work rather than scrambling to survive. 

Another participant, 20, is learning what it means to manage money for the first time - and how to invest in himself. 

He has been using the payments to experiment with photography, shooting on his iPhone and teaching himself to edit using built-in apps. It is a starting point, but one that is already helping him build skills and confidence.

He described the income as both practical support and a lesson in responsibility.

 

A job board lists employment training opportunities for Covenant House youth

Covenant House served 1,256 young people in 2025, offering them support to find their own housing and become financially independent

 

'It feels good, but I know that it's supposed to teach me about financial responsibilities, on how to save money, how to budget with money,' he said. 'I know I can't be reckless and spend all of it.'

The money helps cover food outside the shelter, transportation, monthly bills, his phone plan, extra storage for his photos - and the occasional treat.

'It's good to treat yourself, but… don't overly spend,' he said. 'There has to be a limit.'

A 19-year-old man who had landed at Covenant House in June with no plan beyond finding somewhere safe to sleep had just moved into a Brooklyn apartment with another facility resident when he started getting the monthly payments.

The money is now helping pay for the basics, such as the $3 subway fare, which he no longer has to worry about affording. 

However, he did make one small spontaneous purchase as a treat - a pack of Pokemon cards, but he is hoping they are an investment and he may later trade them at a higher price.

Nearly 154,000 young people experienced homelessness in New York City between 2024 and last year, according to the Citizens' Committee for Children of New York.

North-Albert said organizers opted for a lottery to choose who would take part in the pilot, 'for the sake of fairness and equity,' noting that participants still had to meet eligibility requirements. 

 

One the first floor of the facility is a space dedicated to art and creative pursuits

A salaried worker serving food to the youth in the kitchen at the home

The computer room at Covenant House ensures youths have access to workstations to be able to apply for jobs

The first floor houses the welcome center and a health and wellness center

Daily Mail Reporter Alexa Cimino received an exclusive tour of Covenant House 

 

The random selection has also allowed Chapin Hall to create a control group of 60 Covenant House youth who qualified but were not chosen. 

Researchers will track housing stability, food security, debt, employment, and education, comparing outcomes between those who received payments and those who did not. 

Covenant House is a state‑of‑the‑art hub, with each floor dedicated to a different part of a young person’s journey to securing their own home.

Thanks to major corporate donors - including Cisco, Madison Square Garden’s Garden of Dreams Foundation, and Take‑Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick - the new facility looks nothing like a traditional homeless shelter.

Over four floors, there is a health and wellness center, the CovCafe, a space for art and hands‑on creative work, a computer room, mental health services, and classrooms such as the Discovery Center to support career and educational development.

Below ground, the sub‑cellar features the CovDome gym, where the NBA and NBPA funded a full basketball court, along with Covenant's clothing room, which looks like a huge closet and gives out free clothes, and a professional‑grade music studio. 

Covenant House served 1,256 young people last year.

I'M FOR REELECTING SEN. JOHN CORNYN

MAGA rising star faces deeply embarrassing questions over claims about family

 

By Victoria Churchill 

 

Daily Mail

Feb 14, 2026

 

 

Wesley Hunt is using this photo in a TV senate campaign ad, but so far he has not been endorsed by President Trump

 

A Republican congressman vying for Donald Trump's endorsement has been caught inflating claims that his premature son spent 'months fighting for his life' in intensive care to explain the worst voting attendance record of any GOP member. 

Texas representative Wesley Hunt missed 77 votes in 2025, nearly 10 times as many as his colleagues and more than any other Republican, GovTrack shows.

That voting record is now under intense scrutiny from his primary opponents, Texas Senator John Cornyn and the state's attorney general Ken Paxton.

Hunt claims that his voting ability was impacted by the premature birth of his son who spent months in neonatal intensive care (NICU), and his wife's hospitalization around the same time.

'I missed a large swath of votes because my child was in the NICU for a while when he was first born, when I first got elected to Congress,' Hunt told reporters in December when grilled about Cornyn's criticism. 

But the claim contradicts previous statements and his wife's social media posts. 

Hunt and his wife Emily welcomed their son Willie in December 2022. The lawmaker did not miss any votes while his son was hospitalized, according to the couple's statements from the time. His recent claim that the boy spent 'months' fighting for his life in the NICU is flatly contradicted by the record.

Hunt's three missed votes on January 6, 2023, do not constitute a 'large swath,' and he said at the time that his son was home that day.

 

Wesley Hunt, his wife, and their three children, Willie, and his two older sisters, Victoria and Olivia

Hunt brushed off attacks from Cornyn, arguing in 2025 that his son was born six weeks early

Hunt with his son, seen in an image posted to his Instagram

Hunt seen with President Donald Trump in an Instagram post

Hunt standing over his son in the NICU 

 

The only actual 'large swath' of missed votes in 2023 occurred from January 26–27 and February 2–9. During the same period, the family was taking the baby on outings, and Hunt was telling interviewers that everyone was doing great.

Hunt claimed on X in October 2025 that his son was born six weeks premature.

His own press release from 2023, however, said four weeks.

His wife's birth announcement gave a January 2023 due date when the pregnancy was announced the previous November, but their son was born on December 27, 2022.

The hospitalization story has shifted just as dramatically. 

In January 2023, Hunt told C-SPAN his son had spent 'a couple of weeks' in the NICU and that 'everyone is doing perfectly well.'

Days later, he assured Steve Bannon his son was 'out of the NICU, gaining weight.'

Recalling the time of his son's birth in 2025, however, Hunt said in a press release that the same child had apparently been 'fighting for his life' and spent 'the first months of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit.'

 

Willie Parish Hunt II, in an image posted to Hunt's political account on X in January of 2023 

A 2023 press release from then Congressman-Elect Wesley Hunt, which notes his son was born 'premature by four weeks'

Hunt said in a 2025 press release that his son had been 'fighting for his life' and spent 'the first months of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit'

 

The NICU story is not Hunt's only credibility problem on the campaign trail.

Cornyn further alleges that Hunt was caught spreading additional falsehoods in another release from his team on Friday.

Following allegations that Hunt attempted to vote illegally in the 2016 presidential election, his team tried to correct the record, but Cornyn claims they ended up revealing another falsehood.

According to newly released documents, Hunt cast a provisional ballot on November 4, 2016, but it was not counted because he was not registered to vote at the time.

Records indicate he was informed at the polling place that he was not registered. In an affidavit completed that day, Hunt seemingly told an election judge that he failed to register in time because he had been discharged from the military in October 2016, one month earlier. 

However, his official congressional biography, campaign materials, and military discharge documents list his separation from service as occurring in 2012.

Hunt did not attempt to cure the provisional ballot, and no vote was ultimately counted. The allegations were amplified by Matt Mackowiak, a senior adviser to Cornyn's campaign, who accused Hunt of committing voter fraud and called for an investigation by Ken Paxton, the current Texas AG and fellow primary opponent.

 

Hunt's signed affidavit from the 2016 election, which lists his month and year of discharge from the military as October of 2016  

Hunt's Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty in the United States Army, which lists his length of service as just over eight years, starting in 2004 and ending in 2012

 

Mackowiak alleged that Hunt lied in a sworn statement to cast a ballot.

Additional reports have shown that Hunt, then serving on the board of a Houston private school, provided emotional support to students upset by the 2016 election outcome.

Hunt's neglect to vote has persisted to this day and has plagued his entire congressional career.

Last month, Hunt skipped more than 90 percent of the votes he was scheduled to cast - though one series was held open so he could provide the tie-breaker after a police escort rushed him from Dulles airport.

In 2024, he missed votes while acting as 'a top surrogate for President Trump,' as he described it in an October 2025 interview.

That loyalty to Trump isn't being returned, as the President has yet to weigh in on the hot primary contest with an endorsement.

A University of Houston poll released this week placed Hunt third at 17 percent, behind Paxton, who leads the primary at 38 percent, and Cornyn at 31 percent.

The same poll showed Paxton beating Cornyn in a potential runoff, 51 percent to 40 percent.

The first round of voting in the Texas primary is March 3. Early voting begins next Tuesday, February 17.

The Daily Mail has contacted Hunt for comment. 

I'M SURPRISED THAT THE IOC DIDN'T SELL A T-SHIRT DEPICTING ADOLF HITLER

Olympics defends selling shirts commemorating Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Games

Shirts have sold out; Olympic committee acknowledges ‘Nazi propaganda’ at the games but says the ‘historical context is further explained’ at Switzerland museum

 

By Jackie Hajdenberg

 

The Times of Israel

Feb 14, 2026 

 

 

The IOC offers the T-shirt commemorating the 1936 Berlin Games as part of its Heritage Collection. 

 

The governing body for the Olympics is defending its sale of a limited-edition T-shirt commemorating the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin under Adolf Hitler’s Germany.

The $42 shirt, which was condemned by Jewish organizations, has already sold out from the official Olympics online store.

A spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee acknowledged the Games’ Nazi connections but said the 1936 design fit with its lineup of historical apparel marking “130 years of Olympic art and design.”

In its statement the IOC also invoked Jesse Owens, the Black American track-and-field athlete whose dominating performance at the 1936 Games was widely seen as a rebuke of Hitler’s “master race” ideology.

“While we of course acknowledge the historical issues of ‘Nazi propaganda’ related to the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games, we must also remember that the Games in Berlin saw 4,483 athletes from 49 countries compete in 149 medal events,” the IOC spokesperson said in a statement to media. “Many of them stunned the world with their athletic achievements, including Jesse Owens.”

The design, based on an official poster for the Games, depicts the Olympic rings and a golden statue of a muscular man crowned in laurels next to a chariot of horses atop Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. 

 

In this August 2, 1936 photo, Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering (R) are seen watching events at the Olympics in Berlin.

 

Another item based on an Olympics event overseen by the Nazis, a T-shirt commemorating the 1936 Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, was also being sold through the collection.

That poster shows a victorious skier with an arm upraised in what could be a Nazi salute and was designed by Ludwig Hohlwein, a leading artist in Joseph Goebbels’ propaganda division.

 

Olympic Heritage T-Shirt  commemorating the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Games as sold by the International Olympic Committee depicted a skier giving the Nazi salute. The depiction was designed by a leading artist in Joseph Goebbels’ propaganda division.

 

European Jewish groups said the Berlin shirt was insensitive, given that the 1936 Games were intended to function as a propaganda tool for Hitler’s regime. Some pointed to the modern-day resurgence of antisemitism as justification for their objections.

“As the world reflects on this latest controversy, it is impossible not to recall that we are approaching 90 years since the 1936 Berlin Olympics — an event the Nazi regime used to legitimize itself on the global stage while persecution of Jews was already well underway,” Scott Saunders, CEO of International March of the Living, the educational program that organizes trips to concentration camps, told CNN.

“Sport has the power to unite, to inspire, and to elevate the very best of humanity,” Saunders added. “But history reminds us that it can also be manipulated to sanitize hatred and normalize exclusion. The lesson of Berlin is urgent. When antisemitism resurfaces in public life, whether in stadiums, streets, or online, silence is not neutrality. It is complicity.”

Christine Schmidt, the co-director of the Wiener Holocaust Library in London, also condemned the sale of the shirts.

“The Nazis used the 1936 Olympics to showcase their oppressive regime to the world, aiming to smooth over international relations while at the same time preventing almost all German-Jewish athletes from competing, rounding up the 800 Roma who lived in Berlin, and concealing signs of virulent antisemitic violence and propaganda from the world’s visitors,” Schmidt told CNN.

“The Nazis’ fascist and antisemitic propaganda infiltrated their promotion of the games, and many international Jewish athletes chose not to compete,” Schmidt continued. “The IOC would be minded to consider whether any aesthetic appreciation of these games can be comfortably separated from the horror that followed.”

The screen-printed shirt is based on a poster for the actual games created by graphic artist Werner Würbel, according to an IOC catalog of posters from the Games. The aesthetic of the 1936 Games, which emphasized strongman caricatures in keeping with the Nazi ideal of a superhuman Aryan race, was memorialized in Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda documentary “Olympia.”

The Heritage collection also sold a T-shirt bedecked with a poster from the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, during which the entire Israeli athletic delegation was taken hostage and killed by the Palestinian terror group Black September. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has reached out to the IOC for further comment about the shirt, which is also marked as sold out.

The Munich Games were honored in a different commemorative product that drew criticism: sneakers produced in 2024 by Adidas, which was founded by Nazi Party members and had recently taken weeks to break ties with Kanye West after he embarked on an antisemitic spree. 

WHY ISRAEL SHOULD SEIZE CONTROL FROM THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY AND ANNEX THE WEST BANK

Israeli special forces nab suspect in deadly Samaria terror attack

IDF troops apprehended dozens of terrorists in Judea and Samaria and confiscated over three million shekels in terror funds. 

 

JNS

Feb 14, 2026

 

 

Firearms and other military equipment confiscated by IDF troops during counter-terrorism operations in Judea and Samaria during the week of Feb. 8, 2026.

 

Israeli security forces in Jenin on Thursday apprehended a Palestinian aide to the terrorists who carried out a shooting attack on Jan. 6 in which three Israelis were murdered and eight more were wounded, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police said in a joint statement.

The arrested man, Muhammad Zidan, was formerly a senior figure in the terrorist network in Jenin and was involved in financing terrorist elements and advancing terrorist activity against the State of Israel, the statement read.

The Border Police’s National Counter-Terrorism Unit (Yamam) carried out the operation together with IDF troops, under the guidance of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).

Three terrorists carried out the shooting that killed sisters-in-law Rachel Cohen, 73, and Aliza Rice, 70, and Israel Police Master Sgt. Elad Yaakov Winkelstein, 35.

The attack took place on Route 55 next to the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq, located close to Kedumim in northern Samaria. Two of the assailants were killed near Jenin on Jan. 22, 2025. The third was arrested in April and the mastermind behind the attack was detained the following month.

Meanwhile, IDF troops concluded a week of counter-terrorism activities throughout Judea and Samaria in which dozens of terrorists were arrested, firearms and ammunition were confiscated, and a total of three million shekels ($970,000) in terror funds were seized, the military said on Friday.

 

 

IDF operates in the West Bank on February 9, 2026.

 

In the Samaria Regional Brigade are of responsibility, more than 30 terrorists were apprehended, and parts for assembling bombs, M16 rifles and military equipment that had been hidden inside shops in the Balata area on the eastern outskirts of Nablus were confiscated, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

Forces of the Menashe Regional Brigade responsible for the Jenin area arrested wanted suspects affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In addition to Kalashnikov rifles, military equipment and terror funds valued at tens of thousands of shekels that were confiscated, paraphernalia containing ISIS emblems was found, the army said.

Hamas terrorists who had thrown Molotov cocktails toward the Jewish community of Beit El, north of Ramallah, were apprehended by the Binyamin Regional Brigade.

All suspects were transferred to the Shin Bet and the Judea and Samaria District Police for further handling.

ON GAZA AND IRAN, TRUNP AND NETANYAHU ARE NOT ON THE SAME PAGE

Gaza’s disarmament headache

The coastal enclave does not exist in a vacuum; it is one node, albeit a vital one, in a network of extremism and terrorism that runs across the region. 

 

By Ben Cohen

Feb 13, 2026

 

 

Hamas fighters in Khan Younis demonstrate that they are still in power

 

Amid the blood-drenched madness of Hamas’s pogrom in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, there was yet method.

The abduction of more than 250 Israelis and foreign residents—seized as houses were set on fire and women were subjected to brutal rape—was a criminal masterstroke. The presence of the hostages in Gaza, the long weeks and months of uncertainty over their fates, the periodic release of videos of emaciated Hamas captives pleading to be released—all played havoc with the Israeli psyche. On the ground in the Strip, fear that the hostages might be executed meant that the Israel Defense Forces, for all their successes, was not able to inflict the irreversible defeat on Hamas that was warranted.

Hamas is now reaping the benefits of that strategy. Having come out of the war badly damaged but still intact, the Islamist terror organization deftly grasped the key aspects of the immediate post-war situation that crystallized following the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in October. Hamas understood that it was still the unrivaled government in the Strip. And Hamas understood that its fighters still had their weapons. On both those points, it would not concede, for doing so would amount to bowing down to the “occupation.”

This week’s meeting at the White House between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was thin on publicly released details on both subjects—the enduring threat posed by Iran and the next phases of securing peace in Gaza—the two leaders discussed. Nevertheless, the tight-lipped atmosphere around their talks suggested that they were not on the same page on either issue.

Gaza and Iran are, of course, closely intertwined, not least because the Islamic Republic has been Hamas’s main backer and because the regime in Tehran is pledged to Israel’s destruction. Even if Iran were not a factor, the current direction of the peace and reconstruction process in Gaza would still be a source of deep anxiety for Israel.

For the Jewish state to enjoy enduring security along its border with Gaza, two measures are non-negotiable. First, Hamas and the other armed Palestinian factions must be comprehensively and verifiably disarmed. Second, future terrorist onslaughts cannot be prevented by security arrangements alone; a program of deradicalization of the population and government alike is urgent and necessary. Otherwise, the vision of Gaza outlined in the first of Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza—a “deradicalized, terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors”—will remain a pipe dream.

Reporting of the closely guarded U.S. plans on disarmament has been patchy at best. The suggestion presently doing the rounds is that Hamas should be allowed to keep those weapons that do not pose a threat to Israel. It is not clear which weapons would fall into this category, with the common assumption that it is small arms that are being referred to.

Allowing Hamas to retain its pistols, its AK-47s and its drones does not only pose a threat to Israel, as has been demonstrated on numerous occasions before and after Oct. 7. It poses a threat to those Palestinians inside Gaza opposed to Hamas, who were the first targets of its “Arrow” internal security force after hostilities ended. That arsenal also ensures the survival of Hamas as a distinct group that can consolidate and keep its hold on power over the coming years, despite the various pledges during the war from Washington, Paris and other capitals that Hamas should not and cannot be a partner in the post-war governance of Gaza.

If the terror organization continues as the main political and military force inside Gaza, we may as well forget about deradicalization—a cumbersome word that essentially means rooting out Islamist ideology, glorification of jihad and the kind of genocidal antisemitism that drove the Oct. 7 atrocities. Many, if not most, of the Hamas terrorists who invaded the Jewish state on that black day were children during the previous two decades. They will have been nurtured on a diet of hatred throughout that time, indoctrinated with monstrous caricatures of Jews at home, at school and on television, watching a Hamas version of “Sesame Street” in Arabic that featured an oversized talking mouse named Farfour who would denounce Jews and Israelis, and exhort his audience to “Kill! Kill! Kill!”

Some argue that Israel’s most realistic option is to quarantine the coastal enclave. That can be achieved through the creation of an impenetrable closed military zone around its borders, as well as by prohibiting the entry of Palestinian residents of Gaza into Israel.

The risk with that approach, however, is its shortsightedness. Gaza does not exist in a vacuum; it is one node, albeit a vital one, in a network of extremism and terrorism that runs across the region. That reality is graphically illustrated by the fact that the war against Hamas in Gaza was also a war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Iran-aligned militias in Iraq and the Iranian regime itself. As long as Hamas rules in Gaza, it can be a participant in a future multifront war.

Moreover, the absence of sustained fighting in Gaza has provided Hamas with an opportunity to solidify its rule during the reconstruction process. One of the many disappointing features of the U.S.-led Board of Peace’s nascent transitional government is the prominence it gives to senior representatives of Qatar and Turkey. Both countries promote antisemitism as effectively a state doctrine, both lionize Hamas, and both are experiencing a boost in influence in tandem with Iran’s relative decline as a regional power. With Qatar and Turkey in the driving seat, Hamas has even less incentive to disarm. As for deradicalization, how could that process even get off the ground when two of the Board of Peace’s leading members actively promote the same poisonous doctrines?

The obvious answer here—that the IDF should be permitted to complete the job it started in the wake of the Hamas massacre—is not the easy one. Trump has hinted several times that he may give the green light to such an operation if Hamas fails to comply with the demands of the ceasefire, but his mercurial nature and transactional approach to diplomacy mean that it would be foolish to invest such comments with any lasting value.

If Israel does launch a final operation against Hamas because its refusal to disarm left the Jewish state with no choice but to “dismantle it and all of its capabilities,” as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz put it just last week, it may find itself doing so alone. And that might be a necessary price to pay.

NOT A GOOD DAY FOR THE DEA

DEA supervisor arrested as US shutters Dominican Republic office during visa-fraud probe

 

By Joshua A. Goodman and Jim Mustian  

 

Associated Press

Feb 12, 2026

 

 

U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Leah Francis Campos announced this Thursday the indefinite closure of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in Santo Domingo.

 

MIAMI — A supervisor at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in the Dominican Republic has been arrested as part of an investigation into abuse of a U.S. visa program for confidential informants, a current and former U.S. official briefed on the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The arrest comes as the Trump administration has abruptly shuttered the anti-narcotics office in the Caribbean nation over what it said was a “disgusting and disgraceful violation of public trust.”

Melitón Cordero was taken into custody as part of an investigation led by U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the two people said. They spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

There were no additional details about the arrest and messages to Cordero’s cellphone were not immediately returned. Neither DHS nor the DEA immediately responded to request for comment.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Leah F. Campos said she has closed the DEA’s office until further notice without providing a reason.

“It is a disgusting and disgraceful violation of public trust to use one’s official capacity for personal gain,” she wrote on X. “I will not tolerate even the perception of corruption anywhere in the Embassy I lead.”

Dominican Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Álvarez said the closure had nothing to do with the Dominican government but was part of an internal U.S. investigation.

Every year, the DEA, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies sponsor the entry to the United States of hundreds of foreign nationals who might otherwise be considered inadmissible due to their association with criminal activity. Over time, many of the individuals, who are expected to assist investigators, become eligible for permanent residency.

A 2019 report by a Justice Department watchdog identified several lapses in the visa program, finding that law enforcement had lost track of as many as 1,000 sponsored individuals, posing risks to public safety or national security because of the individuals’ involvement with criminal activity. 

The Dominican Republic is a major transit zone for narcotics leaving South America and law enforcement authorities in the country have long worked closely with their U.S. counterparts.

In late November, Dominican President Luis Abinader announced that he was authorizing the U.S. government to operate inside restricted areas at San Isidro Air Base and Las Américas International Airport to help in its fight against drug trafficking.

RING TERMINATES PARTNERSHIP WITH FLOCK

Amazon scraps partnership with surveillance company after Super Bowl ad backlash

 

Associated Press 

Feb 13, 2026

 

 

Ring Search Party uses "AI-powered computer vision" to match camera footage with lost dog reports.

 

Amazon’s smart doorbell maker Ring has terminated a partnership with police surveillance tech company Flock Safety.

The announcement follows a backlash that erupted after a 30-second Ring ad that aired during the Super Bowl featuring a lost dog that is found through a network of cameras, sparking fears of a dystopian surveillance society.

But that feature, called Search Party, was not related to Flock. And Ring’s announcement doesn’t cite the ad as a reason for the “joint decision” for the cancellation.

Ring and Flock said last year they were planning on working together to give Ring camera owners the option to share their video footage in response to law enforcement requests made through a Ring feature known as Community Requests.

“Following a comprehensive review, we determined the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated,” Ring’s statement said.

“The integration never launched, so no Ring customer videos were ever sent to Flock Safety.”

Flock reiterated that it never received Ring customer videos — and that ending the planned integration was a mutual decision that allows both companies to “best serve their respective customers.” In a statement, Flock added that it “remains dedicated to supporting law enforcement agencies with tools that are fully configurable to local laws and policies.”

 

A Flock Camera

 

Flock is one of the nation’s biggest operators of automated license-plate reading systems. Its cameras are mounted in thousands of communities across the U.S., capturing billions of photos of license plates each month. The company has faced public outcry amid the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement crackdown. But Flock maintains that it does not partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or contract out with any subagency of the Department of Homeland Security for direct access to its cameras. The company paused pilot programs with Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations last year.

Still, Flock says it doesn’t own the data captured by its cameras, its customers do. So if a police department, for example, chooses to collaborate with a federal agency like ICE, “Flock has no ability to override that decision,” the company notes on its website.

Beyond the Flock partnership, Amazon has faced other surveillance concerns over its Ring doorbell cameras.

In the Super Bowl ad, a lost dog is found with Ring’s Search Party feature, which the company says can “reunite lost dogs with their families and track wildfires threatening your community.” The clip depicts the dog being tracked by cameras throughout a neighborhood using artificial intelligence.

Viewers took to social media to criticize it for being sinister, leaving many wondering if it would be used to track humans and saying they would turn the feature off.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that focus on civil liberties related to digital technology, said this week that Americans should feel unsettled over the potential loss of privacy. 

“Amazon Ring already integrates biometric identification, like face recognition, into its products via features like ‘Familiar Faces’ which depends on scanning the faces of those in sight of the camera and matching it against a list of pre-saved, pre-approved faces,” the Foundation wrote Tuesday. “It doesn’t take much to imagine Ring eventually combining these two features: face recognition and neighborhood searches.”

Democratic Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts also urged Amazon to discontinue its “Familiar Faces” technology.

In a published letter addressed to Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy, Markey wrote that the backlash to the Super Bowl commercial “confirmed public opposition to Ring’s constant monitoring and invasive image recognition algorithms.”

I GUESS THAT DIDN'T WORK OUT SO WELL SO FAR

By Bob Walsh

 

 

The New Bullard Bar Dam holds back a modest size reservoir near Dobbins in Yuba County, CA.  The reservoir feeds a five mile tunnel that feeds a one mile long penstock (large diameter pipe) that feeds water into the New Colgate Power House, operated by the Yuba Water Agency.  

The tunnel, penstock and related equipment were supposed to be getting some upgrades.  The work was in progress.  Friday afternoon the penstock physically failed at the very top of it's run where it connects to the tunnel.  The failure allowed a significant amount of water to escape and flow rapidly down hill.  Mostly it followed the path of the penstock.  The running water badly damaged the supports for the penstock, which resulted in more damage to the penstock.  The water then badly damaged the various structures around the power house necessary for power transmission.  It also took out the sole road to the power house.   One person was injured and had to be taken out by helicopter.  They also had to evacuate the uninjured staff from the area by air as the other possibilities were clearly unusable.

 

 

The penstock 

 

The loss of the power plant resulted in a power outage for a large chunk of Yuba and Sutter Counties.

Right now it isn't really clear if the power plant itself was damaged or just the transmission towers and other equipment.  You could tell from the aerial news helicopter feed that the visible damage was significant.

This was not an old, decrepit bunch of equipment and was in the process of being further upgraded for increased reliability.  One would think that this sort of thing would not happen.  It appears that one would be wrong for so thinking.

Whooopps.    

DAN PATRICK KICKS OUT BOLLER'S JEW-HATING ASS

By Howie Katz 

 

 

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, chairman of the White House Religious Liberty Commission, ousted Carrie Prejean Boller from the commission for her Jew-hating rant during its first public meeting.

 

In May 2025, President Trump appointed former California beauty queen Carrie Prejean Boller to the White House Religious Liberty Commission. Trump must have been thinking with his dick because she had a long history of expressing Jew-hatred. And on February 9, Boller hijacked the commission's first public meeting with a Jew-hating rant and a defense of Jew-haters Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.

 

Carrie Prejean Boller is seen here during the commission's first public meeting.

 

When Boller refused to heed a chorus of calls for her to resign, the commission's chairman Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick promptly ousted her Jew-hating ass. Here is what Patrick said:

“Carrie Prejean Boller has been removed from President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission. No member of the Commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue. This is clearly, without question, what happened Monday in our hearing on antisemitism in America. This was my decision.” 

God bless Dan Patrick and shame on President Trump for appointing the beauty queen with a long history of Jew-hatred to the commission. 

WHAT ABOUT CHRISTIANS AND JEWS? THEY ARE UN-ISLAMIC TOO

Famous Palestinian activist calls for dogs to be banned as 'indoor pets' in NYC because they are UN-ISLAMIC

 

By Alyssa Guzman 

 

Daily Mail

Feb 13, 2026

 

 

Nerdeen Kiswani said dogs have a 'place in society' but 'not as indoor pets' 

 

A Palestinian activist has called for dogs to be banned as pets in New York City claiming they aren't Islamic.

Nerdeen Kiswani said dogs have a 'place in society' but 'not as indoor pets.'

'Like we've said all along, they are unclean,' she wrote on X.

After receiving fierce backlash she later claimed that her post was a 'joke'.

'[Laughing] at the Zionists frothing at the mouth at this, thinking they're doing something,' she wrote.

'It's obviously a joke I don't care if you have a dog, I do care if your dog is s***ting everywhere and you're not cleaning it.

'Also clearly trying to weigh in on an issue unaware of the current NYC discourse where we're collectively (jokingly) hating on dogs given all the visible dog s**t in the unmelted snow.' 

Muslims typically do not keep dogs as pets as many believers feel they are meant to be used for work such as herding or hunting.

 

 

Kiswani gained notoriety for leading Pro-Palestine protests in New York City with her organization Within Our Lifetime (WOL), which calls for the eradication of Israel. 

She led several rallies across the boroughs, where protesters marched down busy streets chanting for the 'full liberation of Palestine' and 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.' 

She poked ire with Jewish New Yorkers after WOL suggested the October 7 massacre, where more than 200 Israelis were taken hostage and 1,400 died, was justified. 

At the time, Kiswani shared a post by WOL on X, which called for a rally 'as we mobilize to defend the heroic Palestinian resistance, honor our martyrs and let the world know that NYC stands with Gaza.' 

The WOL website states that oppressed people 'have the right to win their liberation by any means necessary.' 

Kiswani's activism goes back to the early 2010s.

 

Muslims typically do not keep dogs as pets as many believers feel they are meant to be used for work 

Kiswani gained notoriety over the years for her Pro-Palestine stances and for leading protests

 

Selected to give the 2022 commencement speech at CUNY Law School, Kiswani grabbed the opportunity to espouse hatred of America, Israel, and the Jewish people

 

In 2014, Kiswani shared a statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) after it killed four worshippers in a shooting and meat cleaver attack in a Jerusalem synagogue, which said their actions were a 'natural response' to Israeli aggression, the ADL says.

Kiswani and WOL have also shared material venerating PFLP and one of its leaders, Leila Khaled, known for her role in the hijacking of two civilian airliners, TWA Flight 840 in 1969, bound for Tel Aviv from Rome, and El Al Flight 219 in 1970, traveling from Amsterdam to New York City. 

In 2022, Kiswani shared a meme of the Little Miss children's cartoon character on her Instagram page in 2022 that read: 'Little Miss telling everyone Israel is [sic] will be wiped off the map inshallah [God willing].'

She was accused of anti-Semitism that same year after delivering a speech for CUNY Law School in Queens, New York, in which she excoriated 'Zionists' and condemned 'normalizing' trips to Israel.

The Daily Mail has contacted Kiswani for comment. 

HAMAS ATROCITIES ARE IGNORED BECAUSE OF THE HATRED AGAINST JEWS

Freed Hostage Arbel Yehoud was sexually abused 'almost every day in captivity'

The former hostage told Channel 12's Ulpan Shishi that she had attempted to take her own life three times. She said she was held in isolation, starved and subjected to prolonged physical and psychological abuse. "There were moments when I thought that was the only way to get out of it," she said. 

 

Israel Hayom

Feb 13, 2026

 

 

Ex-captive Arbel Yehoud speaks to Channel 13 in the ruins of the home she shared with hostage Ariel Cunio in Kibbutz Nir Oz, in an interview broadcast April 28, 2025.

 

 

Arbel Yehoud, an Israeli woman held hostage in Gaza for 482 days after being abducted on October 7, revealed that she was sexually assaulted "almost every day in captivity" and attempted to take her own life three times during her ordeal. 

Speaking in an interview with Israeli Channel 12's Ulpan Shishi news program, Yehoud, 30, described prolonged physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of her captors in Gaza. She said she was held alone in extended isolation, starved and subjected to repeated mistreatment. During her captivity, she added, two of her ribs were broken.

"I tried to take my life several times. I felt that I couldn't go on," Yehoud said. The abuse, she stressed, was not a one-time incident but an almost daily reality throughout her 482 days in captivity.

        Arbel Yehud on the day of her release from Hamas captivity, surrounded by                    terrorists.

 

Yehoud said she attempted suicide on three separate occasions. "There were moments when I thought that was the only way out," she said.

She credited her partner, Ariel Cunio, who was abducted alongside her on October 7 but later separated from her, with giving her the strength to survive. "Every time I remembered Ariel, it gave me the strength to keep breathing," she said.

In the first months of their captivity, the couple managed to smuggle short love notes to each other through intermediaries, she recounted. That communication was eventually stopped when their captors threatened that if Cunio mentioned her name again, she would be harmed. For more than a year, the two lived in complete uncertainty about each other's fate.

Yehoud was released on January 30, walking alone through a crowd surrounded by armed terrorists. "My mind was trying to understand — am I free? But still surrounded by them?" she recalled. Even at the moment of her release, she said, she feared being abducted again.

After 738 days in captivity, Cunio was also freed. The couple are now trying to rebuild their lives. Yehoud said they are coping with sleepless nights, flashbacks and trauma, but emphasized that their belief they would see each other again is what kept them alive throughout the long months of captivity.