Kathy Hochul | First One Through

New York Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her State of the State address on January 13, 2026. In her prepared remarks, she condemned antisemitism and Islamophobia in the same breath, as if they were parallel crises in New York. They are not.

“In 2026, we’ll take new steps to protect our houses of worship against the rising tide of Antisemitism and Islamophobia.” – NY Gov. Kathy Hochul

In 2025, antisemitic attacks in New York City were over ten times more frequent than attacks against Muslims. That is not a nuance. It is the entire story. When one form of hatred overwhelms all others by orders of magnitude, collapsing them into a single moral gesture is not fairness—it is evasion.

Worse, “Islamophobia” is now routinely invoked as a political shield, not a measured diagnosis. It is wheeled out whenever radical Islamic antisemitism becomes too obvious to ignore, functioning as a way to halt scrutiny. Name the attackers. Name the ideology. Name the chants. The response is immediate: Islamophobia.

Today’s antisemitism is not abstract, historical, or evenly distributed across society. It is being driven openly and energetically by Islamist movements and their Western enablers, celebrated in the streets and sanitized as “anti-Zionism.”

Leadership requires prioritization. Data requires honesty. And moral clarity requires the courage to say that when Jews are being attacked ten times more than anyone else, they do not need their suffering balanced away.

False symmetry is not inclusion.
It is worse than cowardice.
It is vulgar absolution.

A satire(?)

On Thursday, New York State began its push to facilitate the sale and distribution of recently legalized marijuana. The initial licenses to sell pot will go to people convicted of a marijuana offense. The former criminals are not only getting passed convictions wiped off the books, but a chance to develop a business before corporations enter the business.

In advocating for the criminals-first policy, NY Pot Czar, Chris Alexander said “These are individuals who come from certain communities. It may have been the case that they were thrown up against the wall, and asked to empty their pockets, and produced a small amount of marijuana, and were saddled with a misdemeanor conviction that has been with them up until 2021.”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul added that these first 100 to 200 licenses will create “jobs and opportunity for communities that have been left out and left behind. I’m proud New York will be a national model for the safe, equitable and inclusive industry we are now building.” Hochul plans on giving away $200 million in startup grants and loans for marijuana sellers who are women or minorities, struggling farmers and disabled veterans. While she didn’t say it directly, White men with college degrees and jobs will be excluded.

Looking to build on the popularity of legalizing activities that impacted minority communities, Hochul is pushing to legalize prostitution in New York. Minorities are disproportionately involved in the trade and have been subject to trafficking and abuse. Legalizing the activity would not only help end the trafficking practice but enable minority women to become small business owners.

Hochul is considering giving prostitutes who were convicted of a crime the first licenses for up to 500 legal brothels in the state. She is backing it up with $500 million in grants to help the prostitutes acquire property for the business and for marketing. It is assumed that White men will be excluded from being able to receive tax-payer backed grants.

If these initiatives are successful, Hochul may wipe out the convictions of people convicted of graffiti and giving them lucrative state painting contracts.