Monday Morning Read

Subscribe to WeeklyPost and you’ll Jim Heaney’s recommended reading for the week. As in below.


Michael Joseph and his Clover Group have been in the news of late — that’s an understatement — as they were in 2021 when they bought a mansion that shares a waterfront with Mar-a-Lago, home to you-know-who.

Here are snippets published in September 2021 by The Real Deal, a real estate website, regarding Joseph’s purchase of a West Palm Beach mansion for $15.9 million.

The two-story home in the Prospect Park neighborhood has six bedrooms and nine and a half bathrooms, according to Realtor.com. Completed in 2017, it totals 9,483 square feet on 0.7 acres, property records show.

It is diagonally across the Lake Worth Lagoon from Mar-a-Lago.

The deal marks the highest price ever for a single-family home sale in West Palm Beach. 

Other tidbits: The agent representing Joseph in the deal said the house was “really built it to perfection. Every single wall had marble on it.” The house also includes a three-level movie theater.

Four months earlier, the Real Deal reported, Josephs sold their previous Palm Beach mansion for $10.5 million.

Keep in mind that Clover fired Peter Rizzo, who ended up suing the company in federal court last week, claiming it could no longer afford to keep him on the payroll. That’s after, Rizzo said, he raised objections to what his lawsuit characterized as “racist and illegal housing discrimination practices.

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OTB chief Henry Wojtaszek sounded pretty defiant last week. That is, until a Niagara Gazette reporter started asking questions.

Wojtaszek, CEO of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., is a marked man in light of a deal approved by the state Legislature that shifts voting power on the OTB board from rural counties controlled by Republicans to urban counties in the hands of Democrats. Reforms to the trouble agency are expected to follow, including Wojtaszek’s dismissal. The longtime GOP power broker termed the legislation, included in the state budget deal, as “politically motivated” during an appearance on WEBR AM 1440. He said OTB will stay the course.

“We’re going to keep doing what we have been doing,” he said during his radio appearance.

Mark Scheer, a reporter for the Gazette who previously worked for Investigative Post, attempted to interview Wojtaszek at the conclusion of his radio interview. He followed the OTB boss as he left the building and repeatedly asked Wojtaszek for a few minutes of his time to answer questions. Wojtaszek, holding a cell phone to his ear, kept walking until ducking into his car. Scheer recorded the chase on his cell phone’s camera. It’s worth watching.


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George Santos was indicted the other day. Don’t forget who got paid to help elect him to Congress: Big Dog Strategies, the local political consulting firm headed by Chris Grant, late of the Chris Collins camp. Also supporting Santos: Nick Langworthy, the former GOP boss who was elected to Congress himself last fall.

The Supreme Court last week overturned the convictions of Louis Ciminelli and Alain Kaloyeros on charges of corruption involving the Buffalo Billion, saying prosecutors pursued the case using a law that wasn’t applicable. Here are reports from WGRZ (including a sound bite from me) and The Buffalo News.

Ken Kruly, in his Politics and Other Stuff, offers his take on Mayor Byron Brown’s proposed city budget — some reality, at last — and the latest developments at the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. .

The Columbia Journalism Review offers its take on the demise of BuzzFeed News and what it means for the future of media.

What are the most-trusted national news organizations? Read on.

The Pew Research Center offers facts about mothers. Of particular interest: The average age of a first-time mother has grown to 27, and the number of children women are giving birth to has dropped from more than three to two.

A story to bring a smile to your face: Muhammad Ali’s night at a prom, the night after a heavyweight bout.

The post Monday Morning Read appeared first on Investigative Post.

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Trump’s ‘invading horde’ includes breastfeeding mother stalked by ICE: report



The reality of Donald Trump's immigration crackdown played out in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday when a Honduran mother was forced to raise her right hand and swear an oath while breastfeeding her eight-month-old daughter—all while masked FBI agents lurked in the hallways.

The Daily Beast's Michael Daly told how Valeria Lopez, whom the Trump administration brands part of an "invading horde," steadied baby Mia against her breast as she complied with Judge John Siemietkowski's request.

Daly sarcastically called it Trump's vision of America's greatest threat: a nursing mother seeking asylum with her husband Edison and their two well-behaved children, 11-year-old Alan and 7-year-old Iker.

Portraits of a glowering Trump, resembling his 2023 mugshot, watched over proceedings, Daly wrote.

While actual criminals on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list—gang leaders, drug kingpins, terrorists—remain free, agents have been reassigned to help Trump "scoop up 3,000 undocumented immigrants a day," Daly wrote.

Their strategy is to position "snatch teams" of masked agents outside immigration courtrooms, the writer stated. When asylum seekers dutifully appear for hearings, the government dismisses their cases, strips their interim protection, and agents immediately pounce. It's "the equivalent of going fishing in an aquarium," Daly wrote.

At least 18 agents in three groups stalked the courthouse corridors this week, Daly saw. On Tuesday, they handcuffed New York City Comptroller Brad Lander when he demanded to see a judicial warrant. The viral video of that confrontation prompted visits from Governor Kathy Hochul and Congressional Representatives Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler.

Siemietkowski provided a stark contrast to the administration's dehumanization, Daly remarked. Marveling at the Lopez children's behavior, he told them: "I want to know your secret for raising such angels." He gave the boys drawing pads, joking, "Who needs Lion King or Wicked when you can come to Courtroom 16?"

When they showed their artwork, he held the drawings up for all to see, leading applause as he declared them "our own Picassos!" He then warned the family about the agents waiting outside: "You may see somebody you know arrested. You yourself may be arrested."

The Lopez family's next hearing isn't until June 2026—part of a crushing 3.5 million-case national backlog.

As they departed Wednesday, 11-year-old Alan offered his assessment of America: "I love school!" Seven-year-old Iker gave a thumbs-up. Only baby Mia, born on U.S. soil, has guaranteed protection from Trump's deportation machine.

This is Trump's "invasion," Daly concluded — a breastfeeding mother, children making drawings for a kind judge, and a family desperately seeking safety while armed agents hunt them like prey.

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Arrest made in ‘road rage incident’ against GOP lawmaker Max Miller



Police have arrested a 36-year-old man in what they're calling a "road rage incident" involving Ohio Rep. Max Miller (R), according to WKYC-TV.

The suspect was identified as Feras Hamdan of Westlake, Ohio. The charge is a misdemeanor count of aggravated menacing.

"In details released Friday morning...Hamdan voluntarily turned himself in with counsel. An arrest warrant had been issued after Miller signed a criminal complaint for aggravated menacing and motion for a protection order," the news station reported.

A press release from the Rocky River Police Department stated, "Congressman Miller reported he was driving on Interstate 90 when the suspect threatened him and his family along with making antisemitic slurs. The suspect's vehicle left the area prior to the arrival of responding officers."

Miller released a statement on the incident, writing, "I will continue to fight against antisemitism, Islamophobia and all other forms of hate. You have an issue, take it to our office. You want to run me off the road, that’s a different story. We know who you are young man, and the police are going to be paying you a visit -- and I hope what you did this morning is worth it to you and anyone else who plans on doing this to anybody within our district, state or country."