Mamdani Dismisses Assault on NYPD as Snowball Fight

Mamdani Dismisses Assault on NYPD as Snowball Fight
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
February 25, 2026

“What I saw yesterday in those videos was a snowball fight that got out of hand. I believe that our officers, just like any city workers deserve respect,“ said Socialist Zohran Mamdani, an ardent anti-law enforcement and defund the police mayor of New York City. “Just a snowball fight, kids throwing snowballs,” Mamdani reiterated with the perpetually smarmy smirk on his smug face.

But the men and women in blue are not just any city workers as Mamdani disrespectfully said. They put their lives on the line every time they put on their uniforms (as does the FDNY). NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch suggested that had any other city workers been attacked the likes of which her officers suffered, there would have been arrests, but apparently not when NYPD officers are assaulted.

Anyone with half a brain and an ounce of common sense could see in those videos from Washington Square Park, Mamdani does not know what a snowball fight is. NYPD officers underwent an assault by adults, not children, pelting the officers in the face, head, neck, just about anywhere. No officer returned fire - this was not a snowball fight, and the videos clearly proved what Mamdani chose not to see or recognize - that his officers were getting pummelled. 

A snowball fight, Mr. Mamdani, features two sides of participants agreeing to some set of rules - no ice balls, no rocks in the snowballs, etc. That did not happen. Mamdani is irresponsibly  dismissing what actually happened and in doing so, only encourages future ambushes by more miscreants. This was not harmless fun, Mr. Mamdani. Try watching the videos with your eyes open. If someone punches another person in the face 20 times without a return of blows, is that a boxing match? Of course not, that is called assault and battery.

“The mayor’s response is a complete failure of leadership. This was not just a ‘snowball fight.’ This was an assault, by adults throwing chunks of ice and rocks, that landed two police officers in the hospital with head and face injuries. By ignoring their injuries and dismissing the incident, the mayor has sent a disgraceful message to every police officer who serves the city,” said Patrick Hendry, New York City Police Benevolent Association President on Tuesday, February 24.

Tisch stood firmly with her men and women in blue, and did not take the incidents at Washington Square Park lightly, calling them “illegal. The NYPD is aware of certain videos taken earlier today [Monday] in Washington Square Park showing individuals attacking cops. I want to be very clear - the behavior depicted is disgraceful and it’s criminal. Our detectives are investigating this matter,” said Tisch on Monday, February 23.

“What we saw in Washington Square Park today was not harmless fun - it was a deliberate, outrageous, and dangerous attack on uniformed police officers,” said Scott Munro, Detectives’ Endowment Association (DEA) president. “The Detectives’ Endowment Association is calling on Mayor Mamdani and District Attorney [Alvin] Bragg to ensure every individual responsible for this illegal behavior is prosecuted. No free pass. No get out of jail free card. …They deserve to be protected. And they deserve to be respected. They earn it every single day,” said Munro on Monday.

But respect must start at the top. Mamdani must lead by example, and right now the example  by which he is leading is deplorable. Mamdani sneers in the face of law enforcement. His disdain for the officers serving under him is palpable. When Mamdani is disrespectful, the message he sends is that the criminal activity that occurred at Washington Square Park is acceptable and that there will be no accountability or consequences.

Stand up for the NYPD, Mr. Mamdani. Those brave men and women have one of the most challenging careers imaginable (along with the FDNY). Their responsibilities include protecting the likes of you, Mr. Mamdani, Alvin Bragg, the members of the City Council, and countless others of fame, of fortune, and of families. Officers don’t get to pick and choose their assignments. Mamdani’s New York City is shedding men and women in blue in droves. 

About 300 NYPD officers leave - per month - as confirmed by local media, to warmer, or safer, or smaller environs. Regardless of the where, some of the most important reasons why are respect from within their cities - leadership that has their backs, respect from those they are charged with protecting, and being appreciated, not scorned or attacked. Thank you to the men and women in blue goes a long way, and the sooner Mamdani recognizes this, the sooner he may stop hemorrhaging officers to safer and more dignified environs.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

Mamdani's Snowjob of Hypocrisy

Mamdani’s Snowjob of Hypocrisy
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
February 25, 2026

Apparently shoveling snow this winter is more important than casting a ballot on Election Day in Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s New York City. His hypocrisy runneth over.

Mamdani, who doesn’t appreciate his own irony, made a Public Service Announcement (PSA) calling for New Yorkers to step up, volunteer to help shovel the City out of its current whiteout. The so-called volunteers will be paid up to $30 an hour - how that is monitored and by whom, is anyone’s guess. The irony comes into play where Mamdani lists the requirements for city denizens to pick up a shovel, which includes photo identification, the likes of which is not required when voting in any elections held in New York City.

As first reported, five forms of ID were required in order to hit the streets and sidewalks of New York City as part of Mamdani’s snowjob team. Later in the same day, that number was reduced to two, which is still two forms of ID more than are required to vote in New York City.

According to the New York City Department of Sanitation, the eligibility requirements for the big dig (no, not that Boston construction monstrosity that took more than 30 years from conception to completion) are all persons must be at least 18 years of age, must be eligible to work in the United States, and able to perform heavy physical labor. 

So, while enterprising teenagers 13-17 (if there are any) can go house to house and earn money (tax free) shoveling out their neighbors, they can’t do likewise for the City. Of course, that’s called Capitalism, something Mamdani abhors in favor of state controlled, and heavily taxed and regulated, labor. And, with no cap on the age requirement, good luck to Mamdani’s New York City that some asthmatic 70 year old doesn’t have a heart attack and drops dead somewhere on Canal Street and the family sues the City for millions. Even the US military has age limitations.

Additionally, in order to register for these shoveling assignments, each applicant must provide the City of New York two photos “1-½ inch square,” two original forms of ID - plus copies, and a Social Security card.

This is from the Socialist mayor of New York City who virulently opposes voter identification, but demands it for shoveling snow. Kind of like the circus coming to town and then the city needs folks to shovel up the shit after the circus has left. Except in the case of New York City, the circus just arrived on January 1 of this year, and is expected to stay for four years. Imagine the amount of detritus there will be to shovel after four years of circus roustabout Mamdani and his clowns.

Again, this is from the Socialist mayor of New York City, who doubled down in support of protecting illegal aliens in this so-called sanctuary city, but hypocritically won’t even hire them to shovel snow. Mamdani repeatedly calls any voter identification laws racist. If that is true, what of his snow shoveling policies - just as racist? 

Make no mistake, this is in no way an endorsement of hiring illegals in New York City, or anywhere else in the United States. This is an endorsement of law and order (bum-bum-bum-bum-bum), where there are no sanctuary jurisdictions, no protection of illegals who continue to commit crime - beyond the crime of simply crossing the border illegally - and undermine the sanctity of what it means to be an American.

How can Mamdani defend his sanctuary city politics when the very illegals he purports to protect won’t be hired by that very sanctuary city to shovel its citizens out in order for them to go to work and earn money in the capitalist system that is the United States of America? And, if this system of requiring identification is not racist to shovel snow, and does not exclude women and minorities as those who oppose voter ID laws say they do, how do they justify their opposition to voter ID laws? People need the same form(s) of ID to shovel snow as they should to vote. 

Is the shoveling of snow in New York City more sacrosanct than casting one’s ballot to determine who will represent them? Who the people will approve to govern over them? Welcome to Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s New York City circus of hypocrisy - be careful what you step in, folks.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

From 9/11 to Zohran Mamdani - How Far NYC Has Fallen

From 9/11 to Zohran Mamdani - How Far NYC Has Fallen
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
October 28, 2025

The latest salvo from Zohran Mamdani hit the public’s eyes and ears just days ago. An oldie, but a goodie, from the archives of September 5, 2023, when headlining as the keynote speaker at the Democratic Socialists of America national convention, Mamdani said “when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.” (Israel Defense Forces) Wow - two slurs for the price of one from the Socialist-Marxist-Islamist candidate for mayor of New York City.

One of Mamdani’s State Assembly (36-Queens) colleagues, Democrat Kalman Yeger (41-Brooklyn) said, upon hearing Mamdani’s antisemitic and anti-police diatribe, “sometimes it’s hard to tell if Zorhan hates Jews more than he hates cops, or if he hates cops more than he hates Jews.” Sadly for the voters of New York City, there has been more than enough putrid rhetoric to go around from the Democrat-Socialist candidate for mayor of the Big Apple. Should Mamdani get elected on Tuesday, November 4, he will be the worm that infests the Big Apple.

This is just one of myriad thoughts, slogans, professions from the catalog of Mamdani’s Greatest Hits. While flying under the radar as a backbencher in the New York State Assembly, Mamdani’s espousal of virulent antisemitic, anti-Zionist, anti-Israel, anti-police, anti-capitalist, anti-democracy screeds continue to rise to the forefront. Videos of his own words, and not just rhetoric, but a hard core belief system that is dangerous not just for New York City, not just for the United States of America, but for all of Western Civilization. Just about anytime Mamdani opens his mouth, it’s a fair bet something cringeworthy will emerge from his gaping maw.

Sadly, far too many New Yorkers have fallen for the facade of Mamdani’s smarmy grin reminding folks of the supervillain Joker from the Batman franchise. How is it possible for a Marxist to be the frontrunner in this election in the economic epicenter of the United States, if not the world? How is it that a socialist/communist can be on the verge of victory in the first capital of these United States - where General George Washington took the oath of office as the first president of the United States on April 30, 1789 - at Federal Hill overlooking Wall Street?

How can the citizens of New York City elect a sharia-supporting, Muslim extremist to be mayor of the city that will forever be the face of September 11, 2001? Imagine next September 11 - the 25th memorial of 9/11 - with “Mayor Mamdani” present with the thousands of victims’ families and friends that are sure to attend for the reading of the 2,977 names of those murdered by Mamdani’s fellow travelers. And don’t forget the additional 8,200 men and women who have subsequently died from 9/11 related diseases and illnesses, according to legalunitedstates.com. The hypocrisy of Mamdani showing his face will stain the somber ceremony and trample the memories of those murdered that fateful Tuesday morning in New York City, at the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, and in a field in Shanksville, PA. 

Mamdani recently had the unmitigated audacity to compare the slaughter of 2,977 innocents on 9/11 to an alleged experience he said his aunt had. Mamdani said his aunt no longer felt comfortable riding the subways wearing her hijab. Turns out that story has been debunked, that he didn’t even have an aunt living in New York City at the time of 9/11.  Mamdani even campaigned with a jihadi, Hasan Piker, an extreme leftist who, in 2019 said “America deserved 9/11.” 

How, in good conscience, can a single Jewish New Yorker cast a ballot for Mamdani, an antisemite who does not even support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish sovereign nation? Mamdani has attempted to equate the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023 with Palestinian criminals legitimately locked away in Israeli prisons. In September Mamdani appeared on Qatari television declaring the United States is underwriting the genocide in the Middle East, that he supports jihad, and that terrorism is a western invention not one from the Middle East. Mamdani has links to the Qatari royal family - the family who harbored Khalil Sheik Mohammad, the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Mamdani consistently refuses to condemn “globalize the indifada,” both the concept and the language. In fact, he has never actually condemned the Holocaust. Additionally, Mamdani is a keen supporter of the BDS movement (boycott, divest, and sanction) against Israel, calling it “a righteous movement for liberation.” He supports a one state solution, and that state is not Israel, as Mamdani endorses “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and said he would never set foot in Israel. Mamdani also said he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested should he set foot in New York City.

“The most frightening thing about him is his antisemitism,” said Emily Compagno, co-host of Outnumbered on the Fox News Channel.

Mamdani, 34, and born in Uganda, has lived a life of privilege and hypocrisy. Hypocritical because he supports the abolition of private property, just so long as it is not his family’s properties being commandeered by the government. One of his advisors, Cea Weaver, posted in 2019 that “private property,” and “especially home ownership, is a weapon of white supremacy masquerading as wealth building public policy.” On March 25, 2020 Mamdani said “the oligarchs who want to return to work to goose the stock market, are the same ones with thousands of luxury condos as investment properties, sitting empty while New Yorkers die on the streets and in shelters. Seize those properties. House the homeless. Enact a houses guarantee.” Part of his platform calls for a rent freeze, which he cannot institute unilaterally, and for the construction of 200,000 affordable housing units. Mamdani lives in a $3 million condo in Chelsea.

Hypocritical for calling to defund the NYPD, yet has a personal security team. Not only to defund the police, but replace them with social workers, and has called for a ban on all guns. Naturally, throughout his campaign Mamdani has refuted those defund statements. Of course he can’t deny them as social media is forever. He also calls for the abolition of prisons. On October 18, 2021 Mamdani said “we must decarcerate and we must do it now.” Do the 33,000 men and women in blue really believe Mamdani will have their backs while desecrating Gracie Mansion? Perhaps Mamdani’s security team should be social workers.

Mamdani comes by his belief system honestly, as the antisemitic, anti-capitalist, anti-democracy, anti-Western Civilization candidate did not fall far from the tree of the same hatreds. His father Mahmood, a one time professor at Columbia University, called the suicide bombers “worthy of sympathy, not scorn.” One of his mentors, Linda Sarsour, the co-chair of the Women’s March, a Palestinian-American, is also a virulent antisemite who objected to, and attempted to, bar Jewish and LGBTQ women from participating in the march in 2019. 

There is a video of Mamdani flipping the middle finger at a statue of Christopher Columbus in New York City, and shouting, “take it down!”

Some of Mamdani’s other platform planks include decriminalizing drug possession, providing safe injection sites, legalizing prostitution and sex work, raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour, seizing the means of production, and a $10 billion tax hike on businesses. When businesses begin to flee New York City, as many already have, how will Mamdani pay for his socialist/communist agenda? On the backs of the remaining people, too poor to afford to move away from The City? 

More of the Mamdani agenda includes providing free child care, free city buses, and the creation and operation of city-owned grocery stores, all of which are unsustainable. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said government-owned grocery stores have worked, yet failed to name one locality where it has. These pie in the sky promises to gullible voters goes beyond socialism. Mamdani said capitalism is “theft. When we tax the rich, we’re reclaiming the wealth bosses and corporations steal,” he said. While on the topic of the rich, “I don’t think we should have billionaires because quite frankly it is so much money in a moment of such inequality,” said Mamdani on Meet the Press on June 29, 2025, just five days after winning the Democrat primary.

So in addition to overtaxing the wealthy, opening the prisons, legalizing drugs and prostitution, Mamdani also wants to protect illegal aliens and the homosexual community calling for making New York City an LGBTQ sanctuary city, akin to the sanctuary city for the illegals regardless of their sexual orientation. (Not that there’s anything wrong with protecting appropriate gay rights.) Mamdani wants a $65 billion commitment for transgender surgery for children, but did not say from whom the commitment should come. He also called for free abortion and contraception on demand.

Mamdani not only wants to end cooperation with I.C.E., but he wants to abolish the entire department of Immigration and Custom Enforcement. “He’ll ensure our immigrant New Yorkers are protected by strengthening our sanctuary city apparatus, getting I.C.E. out of all city facilities, and ending any cooperation, increasing legal support, and protecting all personal data,” it said on Mamdani’s “Zohran for NYC” site.

This is who the citizens of New York City are going to entrust as their leader?

Even the liberal Washington Post condemned Mamdani as wrong for New York City and wrong for the Democrats. “...New Yorkers should be worried that he would lead Gotham back to the bad old days of civic dysfunction, and Democrats should fear that he will discredit their next generation of party leaders, almost all of whom are better than this democratic socialist,” wrote the Post in a June 26, 2025 editorial, two days after Mamdani took the primary.

When the shouting's all over, voters in New York City may have to paraphrase Hyman Roth from The G-dfather Part II and say, “this is the government we’ve chosen.” Do the voting citizens of New York City deserve better? Or do they deserve the government they’ve chosen? May G-d continue to Bless the good people of New York City - there’s still a few out there; and may G-d continue to Bless these United States of America.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. He grew up in northern New Jersey, a short distance from New York City.