'Working hard to get the Arab Vote': Trump's hijab jab sends Hochul into a rage



The governor of New York is lashing out at the president and accusing him of Islamophobia after he criticized her for wearing a hijab at a Muslim event.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York on Friday, and video from the event showed her covering her head in observance with traditional Islamic customs.

'The whole thing is CRAZY!'

President Donald Trump mocked Hochul Tuesday in a post on Truth Social.

"Kathy Hochul, considered the Worst Governor in the Country, in a recent picture working hard to get the Arab Vote, even though they can’t stand her!" he wrote. "Congestion Pricing in Manhattan is hurting her with everybody, but especially the people for whom she wears the hijab. The whole thing is CRAZY!"

The president referred to a policy of taxing drivers in Manhattan at the busiest traffic times in order to reduce traffic.

The governor lashed out at the president and his supporters in response.

"I was a guest in a Muslim house of worship and showed respect for the people who welcomed me," she wrote Tuesday. "That used to be standard in this country before you came along. I’ll never apologize for treating people of any faith with dignity, no matter how Islamophobic you and your enablers are."

Others pounced on the opportunity to ridicule Hochul.

"You stand with the oppressors of women — no one forced you to wear the garment that millions of women worldwide get murdered for not wearing. You are just disgusting Kathy," responded Ellie Cohanim of the U.S. mission to the U.N.

"Democrats will bend the knee to political Islam while pretending its most hardline values don’t contradict everything they claim to stand for. Women’s rights. Gay rights. Free speech. Religious freedom. The irony is unbelievable," replied online commentator Liz Benichou.

"That’s not respect that’s a surrender of women’s rights, how dare you? When women are stoned to death when they take it off?" read the response from one X user.

"New York Governor Kathy Hochul identifies as a feminist – yet she has no problem submitting to Islam when it is politically advantageous," responded Patrick Casey.

"The left's coalition might seem incoherent, but it makes sense when you recognize that it's united by hatred of our civilization," he added.

Others noted that Hochul's appearance at the Islamic center occurred just a few days before the 25th commemoration of the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks.

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A Hochul spokesperson said she "has enormous respect for all the families who lost loved ones on 9/11, which is why she will proudly stand alongside them at this year’s commemoration."

The spokesperson added, "Make no mistake: Muslim New Yorkers, like people from every walk of life, served as first responders and helped unite the city in the aftermath of 9/11. The Governor knows we can respect these families while being clear that Islamophobia has no place in New York."

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‘Hijabs are beautiful’: Famous child content creator Ms. Rachel accused of soft pedaling Islam



Rachel Griffin Accurso, better known as Ms. Rachel, the creator behind the massively popular baby and toddler learning YouTube channel, is in hot water with conservatives yet again. Not only does the 43-year-old Zohran Mamdani-supporting professing Christian incorporate LGBTQ+ themes into her children’s videos and voice support for a number of left-wing causes, she now apparently is soft-pedaling Islam.

Last week, Accurso faced fresh conservative criticism for praising hijabs worn by kindergarten girls in a Minnesota public school graduation video that President Trump and accounts like End Wokeness highlighted as an example of heavy Muslim/Somali cultural influence in schools.

On July 7, she posted the following message on Instagram:

On a recent episode of “Relatable,” Allie Beth Stuckey exposed the “cultural and moral relativism” behind Ms. Rachel’s claim that “hijabs are beautiful.”

Allie begins by giving credit where it’s due.

“I know for a lot of you that Ms. Rachel has really helped your child learn speech and articulation and different, you know, social cues and different things like that, so I don't want to take that away from you,” she says, “but she has also become more outspokenly political, and she is a huge purveyor of something called cultural and moral relativism.”

“In her efforts to be all-inclusive, she glosses over the very real moral differences and moral problems with ideologies like Islam,” she continues.

Religions, Allie explains, are not all the same — and Islam is the perfect example.

“I think it's OK for people to say, ‘Hmm, why would a 5- and 6-year-old be required according to their religion to abide by a modesty standard that forces them to cover up their hair for fear of lust from a male?’” she says, calling it understandably “disturbing for a lot of people.”

Allie acknowledges that some of what Ms. Rachel says in her Instagram post is “absolutely true” — especially the part about “[treating] every person with kindness and respect.”

But is forcing a little girl to cover her entire body kind or respectful?

Allie argues no, stating that “little children, and especially little girls, are victims of Islamic ideology.”

“[The hijab] is not meaningful to them. This is something that they are forced to wear because of Islamic standards of modesty, saying that a woman showing her hair is indecent,” she notes.

She also says that the Prophet Muhammad — the founder of Islam — “married a 6-year-old girl and reportedly consummated the marriage when she was 9 years old.”

Allie criticizes Ms. Rachel’s claim that wearing a hijab is the same as wearing a cross necklace. “Wearing a cross like a symbol of Jesus' victory over death is not the same thing as a little 5-year-old girl being forced to wear a modesty garb over her hair.”

“This kind of philosophy reflects the cultural relativism, the moral relativism that I actually think is very dangerous [and] has led us to a really bad place and has led us to this toxic empathy, this feeling, this guilt that we have to allow on the same footing every single ideology into our country or else you're a bad person,” she continues, noting that it’s just “Western nations” that seem to push this pernicious dogma.

She points out the inconsistency in Ms. Rachel’s professed Christian faith — she claims Christ but undermines biblical truths by pushing the ideology that “every culture has its own same level of validity” and “that there is no absolute truth” and “no objective morality.”

Not only does this perspective reject the Christian view of God’s authority, it also invites chaos into the culture.

“It’s a nice theory until you are the victim of an injustice; you're the victim of an assault; you're the victim of murder; you're the victim of rape; you're the victim of theft. Then suddenly, there really is immorality, and immorality needs to be punished,” says Allie.

To hear more of her deep dive into Ms. Rachel’s latest scandal, watch the episode above.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Her crime: Singing without a 'Sharia-compliant hijab.' Her punishment: 74 lashes.



In a caravanserai older than the regime that now wants her flogged, a woman stood on a Persian carpet before an empty audience — without a hijab — and sang her homeland back to itself.

That, according to Iran's courts, is "obscene" and deserves 74 lashes.

‘This is a right I could not ignore; singing for the land I love passionately.’

Parastoo Ahmadi is an Iranian singer who first came to the world’s attention during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests — the uprising that shook Iran after Jina Mahsa Amini died under suspicious circumstances in morality police custody for wearing her hijab “improperly.”

At protests, Ahmadi sang the patriotic anthem “Az Khoon-e Javanan-e Vatan” (“From the Blood of the Youth of the Homeland”) as a rallying cry. Authorities subsequently summoned her and searched her home.

Ahmadi didn’t stop. In December 2024, she filmed the "Caravanserai Concert" at the historic Deir-e Gachin caravanserai, livestreamed to her YouTube channel but with no audience in attendance. She wore a long black dress, her shoulders bare, with deep red lipstick — no hijab.

The 27-minute performance has since drawn over 3 million views.

Ahmadi captioned her video, "I am Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I love. This is a right I could not ignore; singing for the land I love passionately."

Authorities arrested Ahmadi on December 14, 2024 — a detention the regime dressed up as a “summons” for producing content “contrary to social norms and values,” according to Human Rights Activists News Agency. Two musicians were taken with her.

Within weeks, the group was formally charged at Tehran’s Prosecutor’s Office for Moral Security Affairs and released on bail.

This June, a criminal court in Qom — the same province where a 19-year-old champion wrestler was sentenced to death for attending a protest, then hanged eight days after his birthday — issued its verdict: 74 lashes each for Ahmadi and eight musicians and crew members, a two-year travel ban, and a two-year prohibition on all artistic activity.

Two of the nine defendants weren't even in Iran when the verdict came down, the New York Times reported, citing "a person close to her family."

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Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images

According to court documents obtained by IranWire, Ahmadi’s uncovered head and bare shoulders were described as "obscene images," the charges filed under Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code and Article 743 of the Computer Crimes Law. The ruling is preliminary and subject to appeal.

The indictment also described Ahmadi as "lacking the Sharia-compliant hijab" and "semi-naked," IranWire reported.

The sentence came the day after Iran and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding to end a four-month conflict that killed thousands across the Middle East.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam of Norway-based Iran Human Rights said the regime, "emboldened by the peace deal with the U.S., may intensify its crackdown on women."

The U.S.-Israel strikes that began in late February killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who oversaw Iran for nearly four decades. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei — dubbed the “Gayatollah” — has taken his place as supreme leader, with hard-line IRGC commanders assuming an expansive role running the country.

"They call America the Great Satan. And then they flew to the table and signed a deal with the Devil. But a woman's voice scared them," said Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad.

“Will this country ever be fixed one day?” said Mariam, a teacher in Mashhad, according to the Times. “Where in the world is a woman’s singing punishable by lashes?”

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Serial rapist immigrant sentenced to nearly 300 years in prison — he found some victims on Muslim dating sites



An immigrant was sentenced to 291 years in prison after being convicted for raping seven women, some of whom he found on Muslim dating websites.

St. Louis County Circuit Judge Ellen Ribaudo sentenced 30-year-old Yahya Maly to spend the rest of his life in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

'I've been here 19 years, and I've never seen a sentence like this.'

Maly expressed no remorse and continued to maintain his innocence while claiming that the case was a setup.

Prosecutors said Maly used the name "John" to lure women to his apartment on Log Trail Drive in Ballwin, where he sexually assaulted them. The crimes began in February 2023 and continued for two years until February 2025 when he was arrested.

The seven women Maly raped testified at trial, and two of them were present at his sentencing.

One of the women said she was raped by Maly after he forced her into his apartment, and then later she returned to his apartment, where he raped her again, according to prosecutors.

Another woman told prosecutors he forced her into numerous sexual acts while he kept her at his apartment for seven hours.

One woman who was Muslim testified that he took her hijab without her consent and claimed she was his wife in order to rape her. He told her she needed to perform her "wifely duties" or risk going to hell.

"I was confused," she testified. "This felt like the weirdest misunderstanding ever."

She claims that she was raped by Maly twice and decided to return a third time in order to kill him. He raped her a third time.

"Life felt like it was already over," she said.

A jury recommended 319 years in prison for Maly, but the judge decided on a slightly shorter sentence.

"I've been here 19 years, and I've never seen a sentence like this," St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Melissa Price Smith said after Maly was sentenced.

Maly is an immigrant from Finland and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was studying at the Logan Chiropractic College when he was arrested.

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"I was actually thinking about not coming into it because of just putting my energy out there. Then I knew I had to be brave enough and then come out and actually be able to have this closure within this as well. So, it was very important for me," said one victim, who wished to remain anonymous.

"These women are no longer victims of Yahya Maly or anyone," Price Smith continued. "Justice has been served, and I am so proud of these amazing women."

An attorney for the convicted rapist released a brief statement.

"Mr. Maly maintains a firm belief in his innocence and intends to appeal his conviction," he said in part.

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A Small-Town Immigrant Takeover In Realtime? Local Officials Don’t Want You To Know About It, Residents Fear

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Fraud thrived under Democrats’ no-questions-asked rule



Democrats bear clear responsibility for Minnesota’s spiraling federal program payment scandal. Either they failed to conduct meaningful oversight of billions in public funds over many years — or they conducted none at all. Their early response to the scandal explains why: They subjected its perpetrators to an unconscionably low standard of scrutiny.

What began as a fraud investigation into federal programs meant to feed poor children has expanded rapidly. During the pandemic, a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future became the centerpiece of what federal prosecutors described as the largest COVID-era fraud scheme, involving roughly $300 million. That scandal soon widened to include fraud in autism services and housing programs. Now investigators allege that day-care centers billed taxpayers for caring for nonexistent children — one facility even displaying signage with a misspelling of “learning.”

No criminal enterprise of this size and duration emerges unless its participants believe they will not face consequences. Democrats let the fraud happen.

As revelations mount, consequences follow. Former vice presidential nominee Tim Walz abruptly abandoned his bid for a third term as Minnesota’s governor. Yet nothing suggests the full scope of the scandal has come into view, either geographically or financially.

The estimated cost continues to climb. Last summer, a federal prosecutor put the total at more than $1 billion. Just last month, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson warned the figure could reach $9 billion — and that estimate covers only the schemes already uncovered. As trials proceed, new defendants emerge, and plea deals surface, the total is likely to rise farther.

Instead of demanding answers, Democrats rushed to deflect scrutiny. In Seattle, newly elected mayor and self-described democratic socialist Katie Wilson inserted herself into the controversy by issuing a statement “on the harassment of Somali childcare providers” and posting a hotline number for alleged “hate crime” victims — before any comparable fraud investigation had even begun.

Minnesota Democrats adopted the same playbook. They framed oversight itself as “racism,” attempting to shut down inquiry by exaggeratedly embracing the broader Somali community from which many of the fraudsters came. That rhetorical move does more harm than good. It links an entire community to criminal activity — something Democrats appear not to mind if it shields them politically.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan illustrated the tactic in a video statement delivered while wearing a hijab: “I am incredibly clear that the Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota.” Flanagan, notably, is also running for the U.S. Senate in 2026.

The symbolism revealed more than intended. Democrats did not merely treat the Somali community as “part of the fabric” of Minnesota. They treated fraud perpetrators as apart from the fabric — exempt from scrutiny, audits, and accountability.

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Photo by MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP via Getty Images

Local reporting points to warning signs stretching back more than a decade. Yet Democrats allowed massive federal programs to operate under standards so lax that fraud flourished unchecked.

Despite their rhetoric of inclusion, Democrats effectively segregated oversight itself. They refused to apply basic accountability to billions in taxpayer dollars. At minimum, that constitutes gross incompetence.

The underlying reality is simpler. Democrats let the fraud happen. Whether through neglect or willful blindness, they allowed these programs to operate without serious supervision while evidence of abuse accumulated.

Fraud on this scale does not persist without a sense of impunity. That impunity may have grown gradually through years of nonexistent audits and rubber-stamped claims. Or it may have been reinforced more explicitly. Either way, no criminal enterprise of this size and duration emerges unless its participants believe they will not face consequences.

The precise nature of Democrat culpability remains to be determined. Was it incompetence? A DEI mindset that discouraged scrutiny? Political quid pro quos? Tim Walz’s sudden exit from the governor’s race suggests that the answers may prove damaging.

What is already clear is this: Minnesota’s fraud scandal did not happen in spite of Democratic governance. It happened because of it.

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