Time For The Rest Of The Red States To Follow The DeSantis/Rufo Lead Francis Menton

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2023-2-1-time-for-the-rest-of-the-red-states-to-follow-the-desantisrufo-lead

It was only six days ago, on January 26, when I wrote a post containing a list of proposals for Christopher Rufo and the other new trustees of New College of Florida to take back control of the institution from the insane left. In an uncanny development, as if they having been reading the Manhattan Contrarian blog, Rufo and his fellow trustees, along with Governor Ron DeSantis, have already implemented the first proposal, and are well along on implementing the second.

How about all you other red states? Why can’t you do the same things?

My first proposal was: “Replace the President.” It took them all of five days. From ABC7 Sarasota, yesterday (January 31) evening: “New College President Okker terminated by Board of Trustees.” The newly designated President, according to ABC7, is a guy named Richard Corcoran, a Republican who served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 2016 to 2018. Good start!

My second proposal was: “Fire the entire ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ staff.” The new trustees aren’t wasting a lot of time on that one either. Again from ABC7 Sarasota: “The board offered to hold off on abolishing the school’s Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, instead opting to terminate four positions within the office.” OK they didn’t fire them all at once, and they are “holding off” on abolishing the office altogether. But they should not wait long to finish the job.

Actually, it may not matter so much what these trustees do on this issue, because Governor DeSantis is separately taking on the job himself. From The Independent Florida, January 31:

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he will completely defund diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Florida universities during a press conference Tuesday morning. DeSantis addressed what he called “DEI bureaucracies,” or departments within universities that promote diversity, equality and inclusion, which he said impose a liberal agenda on university students and faculty. “These bureaucracies are hostile to academic freedom, and really they constitute a drain on resources and end up contributing to higher costs,” he said.

DeSantis’s defunding initiative requires approval by the legislature, which will begin its session in March. But with large Republican majorities in both houses (28-12 in the Senate and 84-35 in the House), I would expect the proposal to pass easily.

House GOP investigating John Kerry’s secret China negotiations Comer’s letter to Kerry is but one of many such document requests House Republicans have sent in recent weeks.By Ben Whedon

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/house-gop-investigating-john-kerrys-secret-china-negotiations

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are investigating private discussions that White House climate czar John Kerry held with Chinese Communist Party officials.

In a Thursday letter, committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., informed Kerry of the investigation and renewed requests for documents and materials connected to his activities as the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC), according to Fox News. Comer made similar requests while Republicans were the minority in the lower chamber, but Kerry ignored them.

While in his current post, Kerry has held a number of private discussions with Beijing officials about the administration’s ambitious climate agenda. The details of those conversations and the origins of the administration’s seemingly lenient stances on Beijing-related environmental issues are of interest to Comer.

“The Committee requests documents and information to understand your role and provide necessary transparency over the SPEC and its activities,” the Kentucky lawmaker wrote. “As a member of the President’s cabinet, you should be representing the United States’ interests. Your statements, however, consistently show disregard for American national security and taxpayer dollars.”

As Millions Flee Blue States, Red States Need To Remind Them Why

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/02/03/millions-fled-blue-states-in-2022-red-states-need-to-remind-them-why/

New Census data show that roughly half of the states had net gains in population in 2022, and the other half net losses, thanks to what’s called internal migration. The winners were almost entirely red states, the losers blue. There’s a huge opportunity for conservatives, if they seize it.

Think about this migration trend for a minute. The map below shows the net migration of hundreds of thousands of people in 2022. (On this map, which is a screenshot from CBS News’ website, the redder a state the more people it lost, and the bluer the more it gained.)

Source: CBS News

Notice anything? If you didn’t, check out the map we created based on how states voted for president in the past six elections. In this case red means they voted for Republican candidates in more than three of those elections; blue means they voted for Democrats most of the time. (Only one state, Iowa, split down the middle.)

I&I Chart

The two maps look almost identical, with red and blue colors switched.

This isn’t a new trend. People have been fleeing leftist strongholds such as California, New York, and Illinois for many years.

What’s interesting about the new data is that they come in the wake of COVID, when the different approaches taken by states could not have been starker. California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, and the like used COVID to exercise maximum control over their residents – with mandates, curfews, lockdowns, and school closures.

New York Keeps Piling on Taxes More reasons for workers and employers to flee to Florida

https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-kathy-hochul-budget-tax-increase-cap-and-trade-business-11674066745?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

New York is bleeding taxpayers and business, so how does Gov. Kathy Hochul open her first legislative year? By proposing to raise taxes some more. That’s the economic news buried in the $227 billion budget she unveiled this week that includes a higher payroll tax plus a new CO2 cap-and-trade program.

The Governor is directing state officials to develop an economy-wide carbon trading system that will force businesses to pay for their CO2 emissions. This is a stealth tax increase. The state will establish a cap on statewide emissions that will decline over time to reduce emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 85% by 2050. The state will auction allowances to fuel distributors, utilities, manufacturers and other businesses to offset their CO2 emissions.

Allowance prices will increase over time as the cap declines, meaning businesses will have to slash their emissions or pay more to offset them. Ms. Hochul seems to think the program will prod businesses to electrify operations and reduce fossil-fuel consumption. She fails to consider that many can’t.

Natural gas accounts for 45% of the state’s electricity and will continue to be needed to balance intermittent wind power. Utilities and other companies will have to buy credits at increasing cost and then pass the cost to customers. The result will be higher energy costs across the board.

The Never-Ending ‘Pandemic’: 360 Million Christians Persecuted Worldwide by Raymond Ibrahim

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19365/christians-persecuted

Overall, the global persecution of Christians remains higher than ever, with 360 million believers suffering high levels of discrimination and violence.

These are among some of the findings of the World Watch List 2023, recently published by the international humanitarian organization, Open Doors.

The worst nations and their rankings are: 1) North Korea, 2) Somalia, 3) Yemen, 4) Eritrea, 5) Libya, 6) Nigeria, 7) Pakistan, 8) Iran, 9) Afghanistan, 10) Sudan, 11) India.

” [A]pproximately 80% of the worst persecution around the globe takes place in the name of Islam…

Although the persecution in North Korea is worse, there is at least hope for the Christians there: their ill treatment is entirely connected to the regime of Kim Jong-un. Once he is gone, North Korea may well become like South Korea, where Christianity is flourishing. Conversely, the Muslim persecution of Christians is perennial, existential, and far transcends this or that regime or ruler. It is part of the history, doctrines and socio-political makeup of Islam — hence its tenacity and ubiquity.

In Somalia, “Christians from Muslim backgrounds are regarded as high-value targets and may be killed on the spot if discovered.”

In most Muslim nations on the list, all three sectors of society — Muslim authorities, Muslim mobs and Muslim terrorists — persecute Christians to varying degrees.

In Afghanistan, “More than a year after the Taliban’s takeover, any promises they made about recognising freedoms have proved to be false. Following Jesus remains a death sentence, if discovered.”

In Pakistan, “roughly a quarter of all blasphemy accusations target Christians, who only make up 1.8% of the population.”

In Egypt, “President al-Sisi regularly speaks positively about Egypt’s Christian community. However, the lack of serious law enforcement and the unwillingness of local authorities to protect Christians leave them vulnerable to all kinds of attacks….”

In the worst of these Sub-Saharan nations, Nigeria, “Christians are experiencing a genocide.”

“China’s model of oppression is spreading…. The apparent success of China, especially in economic terms, is appealing to many leaders around the world. The promise of growth and prosperity, while being able to control all groups and individuals perceived as deviant, has triggered the interest of leaders from all over the world, no matter their ideological background.”

Perhaps the most disturbing trend is that, since 1993, the persecution of Christians has nearly doubled… and has already increased by nearly 70% over the last six years, with no signs of abating.

How long before this seemingly irreversible trend metastasizes into even those nations currently celebrated for their religious freedom?

In 2022, 5,621 Christian around the world were “killed for faith related reasons.” Another 4,542 Christians were illegally detained or arrested, and 2,110 churches were attacked, many destroyed. Overall, the global persecution of Christians remains higher than ever, with 360 million believers suffering high levels of discrimination and violence.

Controlling the Narrative of the Protest Movement in Iran By Dr. Amin Tarzi

https://besacenter.org/controlling-the-narrative-of-the-protest-movement-in-iran/?swcfpc=1

When popular protests began in Iran in mid-September 2022, the regime of the Islamic Republic initially tried to portray them as sporadic disturbances by misguided individuals who were supported and encouraged by the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and a few European countries. As the protests intensified and began to spread throughout the country, the regime subtly yet systematically shifted the blame onto two non-Persian, predominantly Sunni regions of the country: Kurdistan in the northwest and Sistan and Baluchistan in the southeast. While the protests have lost some of their intensity, the regime’s object is to taint the message of popular protest movements and muddy their message by linking them to separatist aspirations in those regions and foreign meddling.

I have discussed elsewhere why the current protests in Iran have an objective that, if sustained and coordinated, could begin to resemble the protests of 1978-79 that ended the monarchical system in Iran. Here I will focus on the centrality of the protests’ narrative to their success.

The Message of the Protest Movement

Mass public protests in Iran are nothing new. At various times, the Islamic Republic has tried to present different faces of the regime to the public, occasionally offering a semblance of more openness or public participation. However, the protests that began in September 2022 are not calling for cosmetic changes. They are calling for the end of the regime, which has lost legitimacy in the eyes of the majority of the Iranian people — particularly those of the post-revolution generations.

The authorities in Tehran are of course well aware of the protesters’ goal. In response, they have targeted — using both rhetorical weapons and intensified brutality — two predominantly non-Shia and non-Persian regions of the country in an attempt to link the protests to the Kurdish and Baluchi insurrections and separatist movements. Their intention is to break the protest movement’s momentum and muddy its anti-regime message.

The current protests were triggered by the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody. The popular uprisings have much deeper roots, however, than concern over the violation of women’s rights or other civil liberties.

What Rational, Educated People No Longer Do Anthony Daniels

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2023/01/what-rational-educated-people-no-longer-do/

Who will speak up for civilization—or should I say “civilization”, since it is generally agreed by the enlightened these days that there is no such thing because it cannot be defined with exactitude. The word ought therefore always to be put in quotation marks to alert the reader to the unreality of the very concept.

It is only to be expected, therefore, that rational, intelligent and educated people will not speak up for what does not exist, let alone make any sacrifice on its behalf. It is only natural that objective realities such as social justice, equity, inclusion and the environment, should be the object of their deepest moral concern, and that actions intended to favour them should be welcomed.

When young activists glue themselves to paintings or the walls of public galleries in order to save the planet, then, it is again not surprising that much commentary can be found in praise of their idealism and self-sacrifice. They mean well, therefore they do well. Moreover, the situation is so grave, the crisis so pressing, that almost any action is justified that alerts mankind to its peril and brings it to its senses. Poor old civilization would not get a look in even if it existed.

Of course, one might question the activists’ choice of artworks to which to glue themselves. I personally would not claim the works of Andy Warhol, for example, as being among the finest products of Western civilization, but I do not here wish to act as a kind of Lord Duveen to the environmentalist activists, advising them as to which works to affix themselves for most impact. I do not wish to encourage them in any way, for it seems to me that before long they will have to move on from reparable to irreparable damage if their protests are to continue to have advertising impact. The public soon grows inattentive to sensations that are repeated more than a few times.

I was struck by the argumentation of the two young women who threw a tin of tomato soup at Van Gogh’s picture of sunflowers in the National Gallery in London and then glued themselves to the wall below it. They were singularly unattractive young women, not so much physically as in their evident and humourless self-righteousness, which they managed to convey by the expression on their faces and the manner of their speech. They were, so to speak, the ends-justify-the-means made flesh, these female Savonarolas of climate change.

Biden family values: Hunter Biden refused to pay employee unless she showered naked for him By Monica Showalter

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/02/biden_family_values_hunter_biden_refused_to_pay_employee_unless_she_showered_naked_for_him.html

So where’s the #MeToo movement on this one?

Hunter Biden threatened one of his cash-strapped young female staffers with withholding her pay if she didn’t FaceTime him for sex.

Shocking texts between the President’s son, 52, and his young assistant, who was 29 at the time, show Hunter asking for video sex sessions and sending her cash via Apple Pay after she pleaded that she was struggling to make rent.

The woman, who DailyMail.com has chosen not to identify, worked as an assistant at Hunter’s law firm, Owasco, in 2018 and 2019. She is the fourth employee he is known to have had a sexual relationship with.

Documents on his abandoned laptop show Hunter put his lover and brother’s widow Hallie Biden on his company payroll, as well as her sister Liz Secundy, with whom he also had an affair, texts reveal.

That’s from the Daily Mail. Here’s more from PJMedia:

Texts show that Hunter demanded the impecunious coquette FaceTime (FT) him so he could watch her shower and “do what she does when she is alone” if she wanted her pay. Messages show it took him several months to send the woman her wages.

The unnamed woman worked as Hunter’s assistant at his company, Owasco. She tried to contact Hunter when her direct deposit payment of $837.06 didn’t arrive and her insurance was turned down by a dentist. She told Hunter she couldn’t afford to pay her rent.

It appears Hunter failed to pay her for several months.

It took two months for Hunter to send her a paltry $500 — and an apology for “treating her so poorly.” He claimed he had “‘really no money’ due to ‘alimony tuitions and other sh*t like girls insurance etc.’”

Race Everywhere By Victor Davis Hanson

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/01/race-everywhere/

Recently an unarmed 29-year-old African American, Tyre Nichols, was brutally beaten to death by five Black Memphis police officers. They were charged with murder. All belonged to a special crime unit known as the Scorpions.

Both the victimizers and victim were Black. The Memphis police chief is Black. The assistant police chief is Black.

Nearly 60 percent of the police force is Black. The white population of Memphis is about 25%.

The now-disbanded Scorpion unit of mostly Black officers was created as a response to grassroots appeals to stop spiraling crime in mostly Black neighborhoods.

The death of Tyre Nichols could be attributed to many things: a basic lack of humanity on the part of the officers, poor police training, lax administrative supervision, and lowered hiring standards.

Instead, no sooner was the beating death announced than accusations of “systemic racism” surfaced.

Van Jones, the former Obama Administration green czar and recent recipient of Jeff Bezos’ $100 million “courage and civility award,” pronounced on CNN that the Black police oppressors were acting out white racism.

Some claimed that charging the five Black officers with murder was itself racist. Others alleged that creating the unit in the first place to reduce Black-on-black crime was racist.

Yet, when everything becomes racist, then nothing in particular can be racist.

About the same time, the city of San Francisco, along with the state of California, was exploring paying out huge cash reparations to its African-American residents for the ancestral sin of slavery.

DeSantis Keeps Things Classy as Trump Goes on Offense By Matt Margolis

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2023/02/01/desantis-keeps-things-classy-as-trump-goes-on-offense-n1667001

Donald Trump is not known for pulling punches, and his recent criticisms of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have not gone unnoticed. Between calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious” last year to more recently attacking DeSantis’s handling of COVID, Trump has been sending a very clear message to his former protégé: don’t even think about running for president in 2024.

While most polls show Trump with a clear advantage in the 2024 GOP primary, polls also show DeSantis as being the most-favored Trump alternative, and some even show him defeating the former president in some state-level matchups.

DeSantis, for his part, has kept things classy and has declined to return fire on Trump. In fact, he recently dismissed Trump’s latest criticisms when he was asked about them. “What I would just say is this: I roll out of bed. I have people attacking me from all angles,” he said.

“It’s been happening for many, many years and if you look at the good thing about it though is like if you take a crisis situation like COVID, you know, the good thing about it is when you’re an elected executive, you have to make all kinds of decisions,” DeSantis continued. “And the good thing is, is that the people are able to render a judgment on that whether they reelect you or not.”

DeSantis won reelection in November in a landslide, defeating Democrat Charlie Crist by nearly 20 points. In 2018, DeSantis barely defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum by less than 33,000 votes.