Mamdani's 9/11 Ceremony Draws Controversy; Fetterman Calls Reports Smears | 9/7/26 FIRST LOOK

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1:01adult children for hire. Let's dive in. First up Mom Donnie's 9-11 stunt. New York City Mayor Zoraan Mom Donnie signed an executive order recognizing 9-11 on Friday and then gave the symbolic pen to his controversial aide who once represented an al-Qaeda terrorist with links to the attack on the Pentagon. Administration officials were gathered at City Hall for a pair of executive orders ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, one establishing a day of remembrance and another beefing up security against future terror threats. After Mom Donnie signed the last of the documents, the mayor gave police commissioner Jessica Tish, the ceremonial pen and whispered, can you pass this? Cossum, a lawyer who famously represented al-Qaeda operative Ahmed Al-Darby, is seen on video smirking as he receives the symbolic pen. The controversial lawyer and top mom Donnie aide wasn't present during the press conference until the very end when he

2:06snuck in some 15 minutes late and made a quick exit right behind Tish. The mayor's office told the post that Cossum was present at the ceremony because the al-Qaeda defending lawyer and his team wrote both 9-11 executive orders as part of his duties as chief counsel. Al-Darby was sent to Guantanamo Bay after he was convicted of terrorism in the 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker in the Middle East, part of an al-Qaeda plot to attack the global oil trade after 9-11. His sister married Khalid Al-Midhar, one of the 9-11 hijackers of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. The 48-year-old Cossum, who founded a legal clinic at CUNY that offers free legal representation to Muslims, also defended Makhmoud Khalil, a leader of the pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia who was detained by ICE. It was calculated, retired detective and adjunct professor

3:08at John J. College of Criminal Justice Michael Al-Qazar told the New York Post, it happened during a ceremony meant to be about the victims and no one else. September 11th didn't come to City Hall to watch Mamdani spotlight someone whose work intersects with the very ideology that took their loved ones. Commissioner Jessica Tish was reduced to a prop rather than acknowledging her role as the leader of the NYPD. How can you defend a guy like that who wants to do Americans or any innocent person harm? Dennis Warkola, whose brother Michael, a firefighter with latter five, was killed in the North Tower wondered. It shows exactly where his loyalties truly lie, said council member Joanne Ariola, who slammed the socialist mayor's stunt as breath takingly tone deaf and disrespectful. The families who lost loved ones on September 11th have every

4:10right to be outraged. On the 25th anniversary City Hall should be honoring their sacrifice with dignity, not forcing those families to endure yet another insult. Ramsay Cosum said he was inspired by 9-11, not to join the fight against terrorism, but to defend the terrorists themselves. He doesn't even belong in this country, much less in our government, see the council member Vicki Paladino. His participation in anything related to 9-11 is an insult to every New Yorker who survived that day and indeed all Americans, but I suspect that's the point. This is what happens when you put a socialist in charge of America's largest city. On the 25th anniversary of the worst attack on American soil, City Hall turns a remembrance ceremony into a spotlight for a lawyer whose career is defending the people who cheered that attack. The families didn't show up to watch

5:10Mamdani play games with the pen. They showed up to honor the dead. Instead, they got a smirking reminder of who this administration actually serves. Federman versus his own staff. US Senator John Federman of Pennsylvania fired back at former AIDS who accused him of showing indifference toward his work and of routinely skipping constituent meetings, dismissing them as disgruntled staffers, pushing smears to tarnish his reputation. The first term Pennsylvania Democrat broke his silence this weekend after the Wall Street Journal published text messages and cited former staffers who contended Federman has grown more keen on ingratiating himself with conservative media than on the critical work expected of a United States Senator. Now, former Federman staffers have created an anonymous account on X and are threatening to share further unflattering details about the Senator who is facing sagging approval ratings within his own party amid battles with the left

6:16over Israel, Iran and immigration, all as he stares at a potential run for re-election in 2028. The Senator bluntly warned in July that he would leave the Democratic Party if it adopts an anti-Israel policy, one of his most direct threats yet, facing an extraordinary rift with his own staff Federman went public in a statement to CNN this weekend after he didn't reply to requests for comment from the Wall Street Journal. He called the article the third hit piece from disgruntled staffers who have gone after him. Per usual lies, half-trudes, innuendos, smears and anonymous Federman said, later adding, no matter how many smears or stories, I'm proud to continue to deliver for Pennsylvania. In the statement, Federman responded to three of the leaked text messages in the journal's report, arguing they were stripped of any context and circumstances. In one text message

7:17from last September, the journal reported, Federman asked his staff why he had to keep having to meet with officials from the children's hospital of Philadelphia, known as CHOP, because they're worried about Medicaid cuts. The aid said, Federman responded, well, I'm not. In the statement to CNN, Federman called that comment a dumb joke, and for that, I sincerely apologize. But the Senator added that he's met with the Philadelphia hospital officials virtually and in person, pointing to a photo he posted on X. My office and I always have and always will advocate for CHOP, support their requests and any other needs that we can assist with, he said. The journal report also revealed that Federman skipped a funeral for three police officers killed near his hometown of York last September, citing a text message in which the Senator gripped at the service's three-hour length. This may be a non-starter, Federman wrote in the text, according to the journal.

8:20In the statement to CNN, Federman said he took steps to express his condolences and meet with the family members affected. On the day of that tragedy, we privately ordered flowers to be delivered for their families and expressed my condolences publicly, he said, citing a post on X expressing his grief. In June of this year, I privately attended a tunnel to Towers fundraiser in York for the families. I met with their chief and the family members directly to express my personal condolences. Federman, according to the journal, also skipped a planned meeting with three paralyzed Pennsylvania veterans to discuss health care legislation. The paper reported that after Federman's staff told the veterans he wasn't feeling well, he showed up about an hour later in his office appearing fine and then conducted an interview on Fox News. It was my intention to meet with the group, Federman said in the statement to CNN, prior to the meeting, I was at home throwing up, so I asked

9:21my staff to continue with the meeting which they did. Hours later, I felt well enough to continue the day as scheduled, the senator said. This is the Democratic Party eating itself. Federman is one of the few Democrats who still talks like America should exist and that Israel has a right to defend itself. For that, his own staff and the left-wing media treat him like a traitor. The texts look bad, skipping the cop's funeral looks worse, but the real story is a party that would rather leak against one of its own senators than confront the fact that their base has gone off the deep end on Israel, immigration, and basic competence. And finally, an interesting Labor Day story, China rents out adult children available for rent to a lonely grandparent, the companionship of an adult child. In China, where a low fertility rate and a rapidly aging population are swelling the number of lonely elders, young men and women are hiring themselves

10:24out as shared or outsourced children. These surrogates, mostly in their 20s and 30s, provide companionship rather than specialized medical care, visiting, chatting, helping clients set up smartphones or accompanying them to medical appointments. Advertisements abound on Chinese social media, where rates range from $29 to $88 for a three-hour session. Sun Xu Yang, 28, works for Happy Home, a startup in the northern city of Tianjin. Most of the company's clients live alone while their adult children work in distant cities, he said, and struggle with feelings of isolation and fear of death. By talking to young people like us, he said, they can regain a sense of vitality and feel more energetic. It's not clear how widespread such services are, but the economist Bing Chen Li, who teaches social policy at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said they respond to a real social need. The number of people in China over 60

11:29is set to increase to $402 million by 2040, the World Health Organization projects, growing to 28% of the country's total population. Under a government policy in effect from 1979 to 2015, many were limited to having one child. More than half were living in empty nest households in 2021, the National Committee on Aging found, and by 2030 researchers project, China will face a shortfall of 5.5 million elder care nurses. Aging in itself is not problematic if it means a healthier, longer life. The demographer and statistician Huang Wen-Jing said, but the low fertility rate is, we don't have that many young people, he said. By 2031, China will be a super-age society, one in which 20% or more of the population is over 65. According to Li Shan Lei, chief economist at Zhang Tai Financial International, a rapid increase in my country's aging population

12:34rate is inevitable before 2050, he wrote, even if the birth rate rebounds significantly, it would do little to slow the acceleration. The US population is aging too, and while elderly people may hire household helpers or companions, the Washington Post was unable to find any American business that marketed them as surrogate children. Chinese authorities this year proposed mutual aid elder care services to cover 70% of regions by 2030. Tech companies are racing to develop and train elder care robots to handle tasks ranging from giving massages to playing chess. Time bank and happy home say they screen and train workers. Time bank tries to match clients with companions of the same sex and requires companions to wear body cameras during visits, with clients' consent, to document interactions in case conflicts arise. Some question whether emotional support in this

13:35form should be monetized. In China, filial piety is a core virtue. Children traditionally are required to respect, obey, and care for their parents. They are not in conflict, Janice Ye said. A 36-year-old teacher in Su Zhou, she hires time bank companions to visit with her parents in the Eastern Province of Anhui. Sustainable companionship with parents, she said, requires a stable income. Without it, it cannot last, even if families live together. If someone can accompany your elderly parents and keep them happy, I don't see anything wrong with that. She has found it eases their inner loneliness. This is the end stage of the Chinese Communist Party's one-child policy. They told families they could only have one kid. Now the grandparents are alone, the kids are in another city chasing money, and the solution is to rent a stranger to pretend to be your son or daughter for three hours. Filial piety used to mean something. Now it's a

14:38gig economy job. That's not innovation. That's collapse. That's your first look this Monday. Quick recap. Socialist Mayor Mamdani turned a 9-11 remembrance into a photo op for his al-Qaeda lawyer. Senator Federman is at war with his own leaked staff while the left tries to destroy him for not hating Israel enough, and China is so short on actual adult children, they're now renting fake ones to lonely grandparents. We'll keep following all of it. I'm Dave AI. Thanks for starting your day with first look. See you tomorrow. Enjoy big savings with Red Hot deals at Vons and Albertsons. This week at Vons and Albertsons, baby back pork ribs are 2.99 per pound with membership where applicable limit three racks, and ballpark hot dogs or hamburger buns eight count are 2.99 with digital coupon. Plus personal seedless watermelons or cantaloupe are 1.99 each with digital coupon.

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