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January 2024

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

And Then There Were Two Roger Franklin

By on January 23rd, 2024

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/america/2024/01/and-then-there-were-two/

The news that Ron DeSantis had thrown in the towel — “suspended my campaign” in the  losers’ parlance of this and every year’s presidential races — broke early in the afternoon, too late, and no doubt by design, for the talking heads of the networks’ Sunday morning pundits to seize the moment and gloat about their prescience in expecting it all along. True, after Iowa and running a poor third in the state polls before New Hampshire’s primary on Tuesday (Wednesday in Australia), bailing out right now made sense for a faltering, cash-strapped candidate. But grim reality is not what aspirants to the Oval Office generally recognise, so often clinging in hope and self-deceit to their ambitions long after the ebb tide of support has left them on the beach. Think here of George Bush the Elder harrying Ronald Reagan in 1980 or, 28 years later on the other side of the aisle, Hillary Clinton refusing to concede until very late in the game that Obama had her whipped. In 2016, she had her own zombie challenger in Bernie Sanders, who terrier-like refused to let go despite knowing for a lead-pipe cinch that the Clinton machine had rigged the Democrats’ selection process to leave him with no chance whatsoever. Politicians in America are much easier to kill than their ambitions.

And that’s what makes the promptness of DeSantis’ decision both remarkable and his candidacy worth mourning. A year ago, there was an air of inevitability about him. Here was the governor of a booming state who represented so much of what Trump voters liked, indeed loved and still do. DeSantis had taken on the teachers unions and beaten them, picked a winning fight with Disney, Florida’s largest employer, and who extolled family values while pinning back the Mouse Factory’s big woke ears. He had served in the Navy – electorally a big plus, especially in the South and Flyover States — which Trump could not match, having waltzed away from military service in the Vietnam years on heels purportedly afflicted with incapacitating bone spurs. DeSantis had the record, the achievements and none of Trump’s personal and legal baggage.

The big-bucks donors — take that to mean corporate money — discerned a winner, set aside their reservations about a governor who gave Disney a good kicking and opened their wallets. That pundits and bookies alike rated him the early frontrunner was only to be expected.

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HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

What We Don’t Know About the Danger of DEI in the Airline Industry is Scarier than What We Know By William Sullivan

By on January 23rd, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/01/what_we_dont_know_about_the_danger_of_dei_in_the_airline_industry_is_scarier_than_what_we_know.html

United Airlines became the subject of derision and mockery recently as a viral video emerged of United’s CEO Scott Kirby proclaiming his company’s potentially disastrous and deadly mission to have half of their future hires be “women or people of color” as part of its corporate quest for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), an ideological cancer that has been eating away at America’s academic, economic, and societal strength for years.

The reasons for the acute public outrage aren’t mysterious.  Millions of Americans fly commercially, and the idea of plummeting 30,000 feet over several minutes in anticipation of you and your family’s death is a frightening enough prospect for most people that the very idea of prioritizing race or gender in selecting pilots and mechanics seems nothing short of insane. 

And in the past weeks, we’ve learned that the door plug of an Alaska Airlines fuselage blew off of the aircraft at 16,000 feet, depressurizing the cabin and creating a scenario so harrowing and nightmarish that one passenger felt compelled to send a presumedly final text: “Mom our plane depressed. We’re in masks. I love you.”

The Boeing 737 Max was the plane involved, which some may remember was grounded after two deadly crashes overseas in 2018 and 2019, which claimed 346 lives in total and were both deemed the result of faulty equipment on the airplane. 

As many Americans are only now discovering as a sidenote to other outrageous DEI news, such as the FAA being decidedly hellbent on taking DEI to its most ludicrous extent by “actively recruiting” people who suffer from “severe intellectual abilities,” Boeing has also long been suicidally devoted to woke DEI initiatives.  They now claim, for example, that they want their employees to “look like America,” but are looking to have 92.5% of interview slates be “diverse,” i.e., non-white males.  This, of course, means that they are quite illegally prioritizing non-white male applicants for employment, and I am very much looking forward to the forthcoming lawsuits on these grounds. (See: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.)

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

SENATOR JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA) ON IMMIGRATION -SILVIO CANTO JR. *****

By on January 23rd, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/01/johnny_angel_youre_an_angel_to_me.html

EXCERPT

Who knew that common sense about border madness would resurface in the Democrat party with the words of Senator John Fetterman?  Well, it has and many conservatives are happy to see it.  Let’s check out the senator’s words, via Daily Mail:

As for immigration, Fetterman argued he can be both pro-immigration, while also favor policies to restrict the flow of immigrants across the southern border to a manageable level.

‘It’s a reasonable conversation – until somebody can say there’s an explanation on what we can do when 270,000 people are being encountered on the border, not including the ones, of course, that we don’t know about,’ he said.

‘To put that in reference, that is essentially the size of Pittsburgh, the second-largest city in Pennsylvania,’ the Democrat added.

In a December interview with Politico, the lawmaker said: ‘I hope Democrats can understand that it isn’t xenophobic to be concerned about the border. It’s a reasonable conversation, and Democrats should engage.’

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Women’s Rights in Iran An appalling testament to the regime’s deeply entrenched misogyny – and disregard for human dignity. by Struan Stevenson

By on January 23rd, 2024

https://www.frontpagemag.com/womens-rights-in-iran/

The Iranian regime’s approach towards women’s rights is an appalling testament to their deeply entrenched misogyny and disregard for human dignity. Through systematic repression and abuse, the regime has created a society where women are subject to discrimination, restriction, and the denial of basic human rights. For far too long, the international community has opted for appeasement when dealing with the Iranian regime, pursuing a futile policy of ‘constructive engagement’. This approach of compromise and negotiation has only emboldened the mullahs, allowing them to pursue their destructive and repressive agenda unchallenged. It is time to break free from the shackles of appeasement and acknowledge the necessity of regime change as the only viable solution for lasting peace in the region.

The Iranian regime’s systemic oppression of women has long been a cornerstone of their rule. From forcing women to adhere to strict dress codes to limiting their access to employment, and political participation, the regime acts as an enforcer of patriarchal oppression. Such practices not only violate the principles of equality and freedom, but also undermine progress and opportunity for women in Iran. Perhaps one of the regime’s most odious acts is the constant denial of women’s basic human rights. Women in Iran are subjected to domestic violence, sexual discrimination, and arbitrary arrests without due process. Add to this the grossly unfair legal system, where women face unequal treatment, harsh punishments, and a lack of legal recourse, and it becomes painfully evident that change is long overdue.

In January, a young woman, Roya Heshmati, 33, was sentenced to the vicious punishment of 74 lashes, on the fictitious charge of improper veiling. She was accused of encouraging permissiveness by refusing to cover her hair. Showing incredible courage, Ms. Heshmati continued to defy the strict dress code even as she was taken to be whipped in Tehran, refusing to wear the veil. This cruel and degrading punishment was simply the latest manifestation of the repressive treatment of women by the theocratic regime. The brutal murder in custody of the young Kurdish girl, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, by the so-called ‘morality police’ in September 2022, again for the alleged offence of not properly covering her hair, ignited a nationwide uprising that raged for almost nine months. 

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