New York City’s first lady is packing her bags again. Not for a school visit. Not for a food pantry. For a manor house in the Portuguese countryside with two heated pools, landscaped gardens, and a price tag that would choke a working family in Queens.
The New York Post reports that Rama Duwaji, the 29-year-old wife of socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani, will serve as artist-in-residence for the third time this year with The Women Sanctuary. The gathering is billed as a “Journey through Islamic Calligraphy” retreat near Porto, split into two sessions running September 16-21 and September 25-30.
A shared room starts at $4,300. A private room with a private bathroom runs $5,260. That does not include the flight. That does not include the picnics, the poolside hangouts, or the “unhurried moments” the organizers sell as suhbah — spiritual companionship while hearts soften amid the beauty of creation.
Creation is beautiful. So is a first lady who actually shows up for the city she represents.
The Pattern Is the Point
This is not a one-off artist trip. It is a season.
Last month Duwaji skipped America’s 250th birthday to host The Women Sanctuary’s “Plants of the Quran” retreat on Mallorca. The ticket was about $3,400 a head. She was spotted at Newark boarding an eight-hour flight while the rest of the country marked two and a half centuries of independence. The Daily Wire noted the same insult. Her husband stayed home and used the milestone to lecture New Yorkers about capitalism and American wars.
Days later she was in Corsica for a sold-out “Mary in the Quran” retreat. Fox News reported that the program framed the Virgin Mary as a “Palestinian woman” giving birth under occupation. Participants prayed for “our sisters in Palestine.”
The cheapest seats still started north of $4,000. Mary is honored in Scripture as the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. Recasting her as a political mascot for a luxury Mediterranean seminar is not reverence. It is branding.
Now Portugal. Third retreat. Same outfit. Same title. Same heated-pool piety.
“Former first ladies spent their time visiting schools and doing charitable work,” Queens City Councilwoman Joann Ariola told the Post. “Being Zohran Mamdani’s wife must be very stressful because this first lady is more interested in vacations than she is in matters that affect New Yorkers.”
“They’re acting like jet-setters when they’re supposed to be for New Yorkers but they’re anything but. She’s a good example of the hypocrisy of this administration,” said former Queens Councilman Bob Holden.
That is the cleanest summary of the Mamdani years you will get this week.
She Is Not a Private Citizen When She Wears the Title
Hizzoner keeps insisting his wife should be spared criticism because she holds no official post. That is a convenient shield. She lives in Gracie Mansion. She is introduced as first lady. She curates the image of the administration. And she keeps leaving the country for sold-out Islamic wellness weekends while New Yorkers sweat through heat rules, crime, and a city government that lectures them about equity.
Her record is not a secret. In a 2015 Tumblr post she wrote that American soldiers “are not brave nor are they fighting for anyone’s freedom,” but are “mercilessly slaughtering 3rd world civilians and fighting to maintain American hegemony.”
Resurfaced posts also celebrated Palestinian terrorists, including plane hijacker Leila Khaled. She later apologized in general terms. The words remain. So does the posture.
September is already booked beyond Portugal. Duwaji is slated to visit relatives in Lebanon and Syria — both on the State Department’s Level 4 “Do Not Travel” list for terrorism, kidnapping, and armed conflict. City Hall first claimed an NYPD detail would go with her “upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD.”
The department shot that down. Officers are not sent into Level 4 countries for personal travel. Mamdani blamed a “miscommunication.” The first session in Portugal ends September 21. The Middle East trip was reported to begin around September 20. The calendar is a travel brochure, not a public schedule.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. That is Matthew 6:21, and it needs no commentary. A first lady who keeps finding her rest in $5,000 Islamic retreats is telling you what she treasures. New Yorkers already know what they get in return. Lectures. Heat-wave rules. A mayor who defends the absences and a City Hall that cannot even keep its story straight with the police department.
Calligraphy is a fine art. Heated pools are nice. None of that is the job. The job is the city. She keeps choosing the manor house.
Bypass Big Tech Censors
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