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The Darin Gap migration crisis in six graphs, and one map – The New Humanitarian

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A record 520,000 migrants crossed the treacherous jungle corridor connecting Colombia and Panam known as the Darin Gap in 2023. Less than a decade ago, that figure was only a few thousand, but the number has been doubling annually in recent years, and a further surge is expected in 2024.

2023 has broken all records. It has been a huge, terrible maelstrom, Elas Cornejo, who runs Fe y Alegra, an NGO promoting education and social advancement for migrants in Panam, told The New Humanitarian. And we expect a new increase [in 2024].

Services like Fe y Alegra on both sides of the Colombia-Panama border are becoming engulfed as the needs of vast numbers of vulnerable people traversing dangerous territory overwhelm local communities and aid groups trying to help.

The migrants take the 97-kilometre jungle trek over steep and muddy terrain and along fast-flowing rivers because it is the only overland route from South America into Central America. Once in Panam, where government reception centres are overrun, most hope to head northwards through Mexico to the southern US border, but these journeys are also full of risks.

Read more: The challenges facing the humanitarian response

The few humanitarian agencies and organisations operating on the ground in and around the Darin Gap are struggling to meet the soaring needs of those crossing, not least because of the insecurity in the region.

The Colombian side of the jungle is mostly controlled by the Gulf Clan a criminal organisation involved in drug and human trafficking that made an estimated $57 million from extortion along the migration route in just 10 months last year. The cartel controls most aspects of the route, determining who can assist and therefore heavily restricting the humanitarian response. In Panam, several international organisations help the migrants who reach the Indigenous communities of Bajo Chiquito and Canan Membrillo, and in government-run reception centres at the edge of the jungle, in San Vicente and Lajas Blancas. Those facilities, however, are meant to host less than 1,000 people per day. Instead, in 2023, they were receiving up to 5,500.

Diana Romero, emergency specialist at UNICEF Panam, told The New Humanitarian that coming up with the right emergency response hasn't been easy in a high-income country that was unprepared to deal with such needs. Panama had not faced situations of disasters or crises, so they didnt have the implementation partners needed, she said. In 2019, there were no local humanitarian teams, because there never was a demand for that. There were no specialists in WASH, gender, or nutrition.

As they cross the Darin Gap and beyond, migrants face unchecked abuses by criminal groups, rampant sexual violence, a cascade of physical and mental health impacts, and worse: Between January 2021 and March 2023, Panamanian authorities found a reported 124 bodies on the route, mostly through drowning, but thats thought to be a fraction of the real number of deaths, as many go unreported.

Many making these difficult journeys are escaping regional violence and economic crises in countries like Venezuela, Haiti, and Cuba, but increasing numbers have also been coming from countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, including China.

With no sign of a let-up in 2024, here are six graphs (and one map) that show the scale and evolving nature of the crisis, with analysis to unpack those trends.

A number of factors caused the dramatic 2023 uptick in Darin Gap crossings. Changes in migration policies across the region have made it more difficult for those trying to reach the United States from South America to cross borders legally. Several countries imposed visa restrictions on Venezuelans and Haitians, even as countries such as Chile and Peru militarised their borders, pushing migrants to leave northward. In 2023, US President Joe Bidens administration ended Title 42 a pandemic-era border restriction which motivated more people to head to the United States even though Biden soon adopted measures making it extremely difficult for them to seek asylum, and ramped up deportations. The lack of adequate integration policies has also been a driver. Among Haitians and Venezuelans in the Darin, many are migrating for the second time, from countries such as Brazil and Chile where they faced xenophobia, obstacles to regularise their status, and poor job opportunities. In April, Panam, Colombia and the United States agreed on a tripartite plan to open up new regular migration routes to stem the flow, but so far no progress has been made.

From 2019 to 2022, most migrants crossing the Darin were Haitian and Cuban, but in the past two years Venezuelans have taken the lead, and the number of Ecuadorians seeking to escape from violence and poverty has also significantly increased. However, far from all the migrants crossing the Darin are Latin American, and the growing presence of migrants from other continents is garnering the attention of humanitarians, who must now cater their responses to those who dont speak Spanish and are foreigners to the region. Chinese, Afghans, Indians, and nationals of different African countries have to confront language and cultural barriers, as well as the other dangers.

The journey through the Darin Gap usually starts in the Colombian ports of Necocl or Turbo, where local communities offer maritime transportation to the towns of Acand or Capurgan. Migrants are charged high amounts of money for every section of the trip. After crossing by boat, they must pay again to be allowed to continue through the jungle to the Panamanian side. There are three main paths leading to the government-run reception centres of Lajas Blancas and San Vicente, through the communities of Bajo Chiquito or Canan Membrillo. The crossing lasts from 5 to 15 days and total costs range from $435 to more than $1,000 per person. There is also a more expensive VIP route, mostly used by Chinese. Migrants and asylum seekers then continue their trip to the Temporary Attention Center for Migrants (CATEM) in Costa Rica, from where, since October, they are directly transferred by bus to the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border. Many, however, run out of money before starting the trek and remain stranded in Turbo and Necocl, where they are vulnerable to extortion, violence, and human trafficking.

According to Diana Romero, emergency specialist at UNICEF Panam, one in five migrants crossing the Darin is a child half of them under the age of five. Although there are no accurate figures, there are many reports of children dying during the trek. The number of unaccompanied children is of particular concern. In 2022, UNICEF assisted about 1,000 unaccompanied minors, but in 2023 that figure reached 3,300. Of those, 67% were teenagers, 21% children aged between 6 and 12, and of the rest, 10% are babies, Romero said. Often, younger children get separated from their relatives during the trek only managing to reunite later on. According to Francisco Pulido, Plan Internationals director of humanitarian action and stabilisation in Colombia, teenagers tend to travel in friend groups often motivated by misinformation shared on social media. In other cases, the entire family cannot afford to continue the trek so parents leave their children in camps, hoping to send them money to follow on later.

Most of the medical cases that aid organisations come across and treat are related to the dangers of the jungle itself, or due to the lack of access to clean water and food en route. Theres no data available, but humanitarian groups say there has also been a rising number of migrants travelling with pre-existing chronic conditions psychiatric disorders, diabetes, hypertension, or asthma. These people often require emergency assistance because their medications get lost or stolen.

The traumatic experience of those crossing the Darin is also causing high numbers of mental health consultations. According to a recent Action Against Hunger report, women bear the brunt, and are often carrying children with no support. While survivors of sexual violence may suffer from depression, suicidal thoughts, and sleep disorders, others feel the emotional burdens and stress of caring for the family in such extreme conditions.

During 2022, Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) treated 232 survivors of sexual violence in the Darin Gap. Between January and November 2023, that number had soared to 462. According to what patients tell us, the modus operandi is getting crueller, Cristina Zugasti, MSF representative in Panam, told The New Humanitarian. Large groups are being kidnapped, forced to lay down face to the ground, and then robbed, physically attacked, and sexually abused. MSF figures, she added, are much lower than the reality. Many cases remain unreported because survivors don't see sexual attacks as a medical emergency, and they also don't want to delay the arrivals to their destinations. Threats from the perpetrators are another reason for survivors not to seek assistance.

Reported from Santiago, Chile by Daniela Mohor, with data visualisation from Zurich, Switzerland by Sofa Kuan.

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The Darin Gap migration crisis in six graphs, and one map - The New Humanitarian

Idaho White Nationalism: Inside a New Class of Republican Power – The Daily Dot

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So this place is Satans temple, Dan Gookin said ironically. The cozy confines of the pub in downtown Coeur dAlene, Idaho dont bear any resemblance to a place for worshiping anything but a cold pint or bangers and mash.

Gookin explained that they used to have a poster for Menstruatin with Satan, a fundraiser for menstrual supplies organized by the Satanic Temple of Idaho. The Satanic Temple is a non-theistic organization that encourages benevolence and empathy, rejects tyranny, and advocates for bodily autonomy. In recent years, its become best known for fighting for reproductive freedom. Members dont worship or even believe in Satan.

Nevertheless, it drives conservative Christians wild.

Gookin has a frank manner and strong, clear voice. He tends to speak quickly with a serious delivery belied by the occasional flash of a dry wit. On an evening in late November, he said the poster convinced some local right-wingers that the pub is affiliated with the dark lord, a ridiculous, inaccurate assumption thats also convenient for his purposes. They wont step foot in the place.

We had campaign meetings here because we knew that there would be no spies, Gookin said. See, we can talk freely in here because we know there will never be a wacko anywhere near us.

The whackos are the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC) and their allies. Gookin, a conservative best known nationally for creating the For Dummies books, is a longtime city councilman and KCRCC member. These days hes persona non grata with the committee, not that he seems to mind.

They didnt count on me calling them out, Gookin said on a recent episode of his YouTube show, Kootenai Rants.

Idaho Republicans are in the midst of a civil war between the far-right wing and relative moderates like Gookin. In recent years, far-right extremists have moved to the heavily white and conservative state as part of an ideological migration that accelerated during the pandemic. Far-right comedian Owen Benjamin now lives about an hour-and-a-half north of Coeur dAlene.

Rather than reject the extremists, some powerful Republicans have embraced the Holocaust deniers and white nationalists whove made Idaho their home. This outrages many longtime locals of the county that famously defeated the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations decades ago. Gookin and other conservatives are fighting back in the press, election booth, and courts.

Its an uphill battle; the opposition is well-funded, organized, and willing to get its hands dirty. It even has a network of print and online publications steadily pumping propaganda into the information ecosystem.

This story is part of a series exploring far-right figures and groups impact on communities theyve relocated to in Idaho, West Virginia, Florida, and Maine; and what, if anything, those communities are doing about it. The Daily Dot spent the last several months visiting these communities, talking to locals, consulting historic and public records, and interviewing experts on extremism.

As the 2024 election approaches, the far-right will become more visible and vocal.

Former President Donald Trumps 2016 victory emboldened the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who coalesced at the deadly Unite the Right rally. His 2020 defeat inspired militias, conspiracy theorists, and hate groups to attack democracy. Both corresponded with increases in hate, antisemitism, and white supremacy that came screaming from the internet into the real world.

They may have failed on Jan. 6, 2021, but theyre back, mobilized, and ready to fight. Seizing control of places like Coeur dAlene is one of the ways theyre plotting their comeback.

Gookin isnt cowed. We need to fight this.

The week after Thanksgiving, Coeur dAlene was decked out in 1.5 million holiday lights sparkling off the lake and into the darkness beyond. Business was in full swing in the town of 55,000. Each night sold-out boats took excited children to see Santa Claus while adults packed into warm bars and restaurants for a bite and a bit to take the edge off.

Washington is less than an hour west and in another political world compared to Idaho, one of the most consistently Republican states in America. More Idahoans voted for Trump in 2020 than 2016. The state hasnt voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson, and it chose Richard Nixon (R) over John F. Kennedy (D) in the election before that.

Its also a longtime harbor for racists.

From the mid-1970s to the turn of the century, the white supremacist Aryan Nations had a 20-acre compound in Kootenai County, which encompasses Coeur dAlene. Aryan Nations declared bankruptcy following a $6.3 million verdict against it in a case brought by a mother and son who were shot at and beaten by its security guards.

Fluffy white snow blanketed Coeur dAlene as Kate Bitz, 38, recalled hearing stories about all-ages punk shows turning into brawls when skinheads showed up and seeing news coverage of white supremacists marching down Sherman Avenue when she was growing up just across the border in Washington. On outings to Farragut State Park, theyd sometimes have to make a snap decision if the guys with the white power tattoos are showing up, do we leave and give them the whole beach, or stay.

Growing up in a hotbed of extremism led Bitz to a career opposing it. She works for the advocacy nonprofit Western States Center.

Bitz isnt surprised that the far-right is resurging. Idaho is the longtime home of a variety of extremists, ranging from evangelicals to neo-Nazis. People forget how multifaceted it was, she said, adding, This has all happened before in a different form.

Extremist groups have been active in Idaho for decades, Bitz said. For example, Northwest Front was described by Politico as Americas worst racists in 2015; racist mass murderer Dylann Roof highlighted the group in his manifesto. Northwest Front has been encouraging people to move to the Pacific Northwest to create a white ethno-state for years. American Redoubt, which has been described as white Christian nationalist (it identifies as a non-racist preparedness movement for Christian patriots), has been recruiting people to move to the area for over a decade. Idaho GOP Chair Dorothy Moon is a member of the far-right John Birch Society.

Now theres a new crop of extremists.

David Reilly and Vincent James Foxx are two of the most notorious newcomers in Idaho politics. Theyre part of far-right efforts to take control from the bottom up via the precinct strategy championed by Steve Bannon. Both are affiliated with white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Reilly has professed being a fan of Fuentes and reportedly attended his CPAC alternative, America First Political Action Conference. Foxx is the national treasurer of Fuentes America First organization.

Reilly became the focus of a scandal about his attendance of Unite the Right in 2017. He subsequently resigned from his fathers radio station where he was a host. InvestigateWest reports he sported a pin with the logo of the neo-Nazi Identity Evropa to the rally. In his resignation letter, Reilly denied being racist, white supremacist, or a neo-Nazi. A judge later threw out his lawsuit against a Pennsylvania-based news outlet and individuals he claimed had defamed him by calling him racist.

In recent years, Reilly called himself a Fuentes stan. Reilly is also purportedly an ally of the Unite the Right marcher best known for the catchphrase Hitler did nothing wrong. He has a lengthy history of antisemitic posts on X, formerly known as Twitter. Reilly did not respond to interview requests.

Reilly made his way to Idaho a few years ago.

In 2021, Reilly sought a seat on an Idaho school board, which he lost with 47% of the vote. (KCRCC endorsed him.) During the campaign, a group from his Pennsylvania hometown urged people to vote against him because of his involvement in Unite the Right.

When Reilly left our community, he acknowledged himself, not even McDonalds would hire [him]. Please consider if you, the voter, would want to hire Reilly to create policy for your schools, Bloomsburg Stand Against Hate wrote.

He didnt have as much trouble finding employment in Idaho.

During his failed 2022 gubernatorial campaign, anti-government militant Ammon Bundy paid $30,000 to a firm the Inlander reports was linked to Reilly. KCRCC also paid Reillys company $11,000 for videos.

Bitz said of KCRCC Chair Brent Regans association with the men, I think he sees Reilly and Vincent James as his pet white nationalists who he can push consulting money to during elections.

Regan did not respond to interview requests.

In December, InvestigateWest reported that Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF), which Regan also chairs, employs Reilly to help with its communications strategy. The piece noted that Reilly has claimed Jews invented terrorism and control the media.

In response to the story, Regan penned an op-ed claiming he has no authority over IFFs hiring decisions and claiming its Jewish president, Wayne Hoffman, interviewed Reilly. I believe it is fair to say that Wayne Hoffmans sensitivity to anti-Semitism is greater than mine so that if he is okay with Reilly, so am I and so should you, Regan wrote. He also denied that Reilly is antisemitic or a white supremacist.

Regans editorial made no mention of Unite the Right.

Last week, amid rising criticism, IFF announced that Hoffman had been replaced with a far-right former lawmaker. It did not say if Hoffman quit or was fired.

Holocaust denier Foxx is another white nationalist who found more welcoming pastures in Idaho in recent years. In 2017, ProPublica described Foxx as a 31-year-old video blogger and livestreamer with a fondness for white supremacists and radical right-wing politics. It reported that Foxx was essentially an unofficial propagandist for Rise Above Movement (RAM), a violent, racist group at the center of much of the violence at Unite the Right. Three members were convicted for violence they committed at Unite the Right.

He didnt merely document RAMs violence, per ProPublica. The outlet reports that Foxx could be heard screaming, Get that f*cking cuck! in a YouTube video he posted of a RAM member and several others pummeling a man in California. Identity Evropa founder Nathan Damigo fought alongside RAM that day.

In 2021, Foxx moved from California to Idaho.

He was photographed with then-Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin (R); Media Matters for America reported he said he had deep connections to her. Last January, he gave a speech to a group of north Idaho Republicans in which the Southern Poverty Law Center reports he echoed the racist great replacement conspiracy theory that whites are being intentionally displaced by nonwhite immigrants. In September, a former school board member who was once a KCRCC committeewoman claimed he said political leaders convinced him to move there.

Since becoming an Idahoan, Foxx has continued to espouse white nationalist talking points. He did not respond to interview requests.

Foxx is the national treasurer of Fuentes America First organization. In 2022, Foxx gushed great clip!! of a video of Ye (formerly Kanye West) praising Hitler. After Fuentes infamously had dinner with Trump, Foxx bragged, We have in fact infiltrated the mainstream flank of the GOP. Just look at what Tucker Carlson is talking about lately. We have parts of the nation talking about secession, talking about banning gay marriage. Last month, Foxx posted a video of actor Michael Rapaport claiming people would be thrown off a building for asking where to find an LGBTQ business in Gaza. Foxx captioned it, Wait a minute. Do I love Gaza now??!

Right Wing Watch unearthed a video of him saying, We are the Christian Taliban and we will not stop until The Handmaids Tale is a reality and even worse than that.

Last year, Foxx ran for chair of the Idaho Young Republicans. In his pitch for votes, he advocated using the precinct strategy to install extremists in positions throughout the state.

He lost.

People agree that Foxx and Reilly are just the tip of the spear.

Sarah Lynch is the executive director of North Idaho Pride Alliance (NIPA). Over coffee at Evans Brothers Coffee, a cheerful space on the same street where white supremacists used to march during Aryan Nations heyday, Lynch said after she and her wife moved to the area, she noticed it was a weird mix of like Nazis and granola hippies.

The darker side of the picturesque town was front and center in June 2022 when 31 members of the white nationalist Patriot Front were arrested en route to Pride in the Park in Coeur dAlene.

The incident stunned the nation. Patriot Front is one of the most active white supremacist groups in America and it often posts photos of its activities in Idaho. But a few dozen men in riot gear in the back of a U-Haul is a significant escalation from sneaking around at night to spray paint stencils and hang banners, which the hate group usually sticks to.

All the men were charged with conspiracy to riot; many have been convicted or pled guilty since then. Charges were dismissed against Patriot Front leader Thomas Rousseau last fall.

Police officers were doxed and received death threats after the arrests. Police Chief Lee White told media that they got 100 calls afterwardhalf from supporters and half from critics.

While Patriot Front generated headlines and fear, Lynch said it couldve been much worse.

Despite all the hateful rhetoric that was going on last year, and despite the events that occurred, we still had our largest ever Pride in the Park. It was our first one back since COVID, there were over 2,500 people there, Lynch said.

Lynch, a retired veteran with a Ph.D. in public safety, said that theyd established a communication line with law enforcement before the event, which has strengthened with time. The arrests also spurred some local and state officials to publicly support LGBTQ equality. Mayor Jim Hammond (R) declared June as Pride Month. Weeks before Lynch sat down for coffee, Hammond was named a Pillar of Idaho for his public stance against extremism.

These developments may have some feeling optimistic, but it isnt all sunshine and rainbows in Kootenai County.

Lynch said some families with queer children have moved away; others have said their queer adult relatives wont even come home for Thanksgiving because they dont feel safe there.

She described the homophobic and transphobic segment of the extreme far-right as a very loud minority.

As long as nobody else stands up and says anything, then thats the only narrative thats heard, she said.

Several years ago, Army veteran Sam Rowland moved back to the area where he was born. Rowland, a musician, has a thick red beard and eyes that seem older than his 39 years. He did a couple tours in Iraq; he said Coeur dAlene reminded him of the small town in Saudi Arabia where he grew up.

Then 2020 happened and it exposed itself. He paused. It re-exposed itself.

During the civil rights protests inspired by George Floyds murder, people took to the streets of Coeur dAlene to protect the community from antifa. Photos from the publication that Reilly purportedly runs show heavily armed men, most of whom appear to be white, gathered on the sidewalk downtown.

Rowland said some wore insignias identifying themselves as members of militia-type groups like the III Percenters. Prominent white supremacists were out there, he said. I was followed home.

He and others said that churches in the area have become breeding grounds for extremism, with pastors making little to no effort to separate politics from theology.

Rowland sees whats happening in Coeur dAlene as part of a larger strategy. You have to take the little towns first, he said.

It appears that they would like to have it turned into a very conservative quasi-religious institution that still has the benefit of public funding.

A large Coeur dAlene rejects hate sign hangs in the window of Crown & Thistle Pub. Jennifer and Ben Drake spent years making plans for the British-style pub, which served its first half-pint in 2019. Every detail, from the cask ales to the 120-year-old bar and the menu, which includes bangers made by Ben and a delectable Guinness short rib pie, is designed to make you feel like youre steps away from London Bridge, albeit in a snug in northern Idaho. (A snug is an enclosed booth from when it was faux pas for women to be seen drinking alcohol in public.)

Jennifers family has been in Coeur dAlene for five generations. Running the Crown & Thistle in her hometown is the fulfillment of a dream first glimpsed attending the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Its come with nightmares that have nothing to do with Scotch eggs or ales.

Shes the type of person who stands up for what she thinks is right. Rejecting hate aligns with those values.

Over the din of the suppertime crowd on a snowy Friday night in December, Ben said they originally put up an 8 x 11 sign. Then, he said, We started getting hate mail.

They brushed it off, deciding to increase the size of the sign each time they received another hateful missive.

When she was a kid, Jen said the town was united against the Aryan Nations. Now theyre divided between people who fall in line and those who take a stand.

Both Drakes are Republicans. Yet theyve ended up on the opposite side of Regan and the partys radical flank.

Theyve infiltrated the community to the point that they say they are the community, Jen said.

The incidents, Jen said, escalated gradually. People call them liberals online. They dogpile the pub with one-star reviews. Insane misinformation floats from the internet to the streets.

They honestly think Im a Satan-worshiping communist witch, Jen said in a pained voice. And its too much for me. Im Lutheran. Im tired.

As chair of both IFF and KCRCC, Brent Regan is a powerful force in Idaho politics. IFF rates politicians based on their voting records; the more conservative, the higher the rating. KCRCC recruits and endorses candidates. These efforts have been effective. Various positions of power in Kootenai County are now held by people who score high on IFFs ideological purity tests and have the KCRCC stamp of approval.

Several people said that the candidates might check the right boxes, but they can struggle to govern effectively. They pointed to North Idaho College (NIC), whose board is under far-right control.

NIC has been hemorrhaging money since they took over. Worse, the 90-year-old community colleges accreditation is hanging by a thread.

A bust of Patrick Stewart circa Star Trek gazed down from the shelf in Dan Englishs office at Healing Hearts, the mental healthcare clinic he runs with his wife. A quilt hangs on the wall by his desk; English mentioned with endearing husbandly pride that his wife made it. Bagpipes softly played holiday music as English shared memories of the town where he was born and raised.

English, the lone Democrat on the city council, has been an elected official in Coeur dAlene for 30 years. He previously served on the school board and as clerk-auditor. He describes himself as an election geek who enjoys crunching data. The numbers from 2020 were extremely illuminating to him.

Eighty-five-plus [percent] had been a registered voter here less than like, you know, two years or four years or something. So its no wonder they have a hard time passing bonds for schools, he said.

English said that some of the transplants are from the extreme right and others are more traditional conservatives. The newcomers include a lot of retired police, so many from Los Angeles, in fact, that the area is sometimes called LAPD North. Theres also a contingent of liberals. The combination creates what he calls a weird melting pot.

It pains him to see his hometown torn apart by politics.

The sad part is how much time, energy, and financial resources is wasted over these ideology battles, or just peoples inflated ego, like the college, English said.

After the far-right took over NICs board, it fired the college president, who sued for wrongful termination and received a $500,000 settlement. NIC later put his replacement on leave; a court in a separate lawsuit determined this was without cause and ordered it to reinstate him and for the school to pay his attorneys fees.

Between litigation with the president it was deemed to have placed on leave without cause and a separate case the local newspaper brought over public records (NIC lost that too), attorneys fees, travel costs for officials from the accreditation agency, and training for the board itself, the Coeur dAlene Press reports that its spent $1.2 million. An Idaho Statesman columnist recently referred to this as an incompetence tax.

Now English says NIC cant afford the light bill to keep the library open a few extra hours on Sundays.

Its ironic that people get elected are a lot of those, anti-education, anti-science, and yet they want to be in positions of monitoring educators, he said. It appears that they would like to have it turned into a very conservative quasi-religious institution that still has the benefit of public funding.

Education has been thrust into the forefront of the conservative culture wars across the country.

KCRCC candidates won control of the library board last year by campaigning on reducing childrens access to sexually explicit books. During the campaign, KCRCC reportedly circulated a letter falsely accusing the incumbents of giving kids access to graphic books with text and pictures describing every imaginable sex act, books so explicit that if you were to give them to a child, you would be committing a crime.

They may have gone too far. The two women who allege they were smeareda lawyer and a longtime member of the library boardare suing Regan and KCRCC for defamation.

City councilman Gookin is also wrapped up in a defamation suit with KCRCC. Its suing him over what he characterizes as mean tweets. KCRCC claims that Regan has demonstrated profound ill will and malice toward many KCRCC officers and affiliated candidatesin particular, KCRCCs chairman, Brent Regan on his YouTube show, Kootenai Rants, and posts on X.

The KCRCC appreciates that Gookin is entitled to engage in speech that is protected by the First Amendment, the complaint states. However, his recent statements have crossed the line from protected speech into unprotected defamation because they accuse KCRCC of rigging its 2023 candidate rating and vetting process, perpetrating a fraud on its members, and violating campaign finance lawsthings which simply have not happened.

Gookin views their case as an attack on his free speech right to criticize them. He seems eager to have his day in court.

Its ping-pong time, he said in an email earlier this month.

Gookin describes the political migrants who are pushing Idaho further to the right as people who were p*ssed off living in more liberal areas. He said this migratory pattern accelerated during the pandemic because they thought theyd have more freedom there. (The libertarian Cato Institute actually ranks Idaho 49th in personal freedom.)

But it didnt absolve their anger.

They hate our governor. They hate our legislators. They hate elected officials like me, they hate people whove made it a conservative state, Gookin said. And they want to replace them with their own people who, like we see in Washington, D.C., are incompetent and incapable of governing.

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Idaho White Nationalism: Inside a New Class of Republican Power - The Daily Dot

What those Confederate statues really symbolize – Tampa Bay Times

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Here we go again. Yet another Republican legislator has proposed stringent penalties for any local officials who would have the temerity to take down monuments celebrating the Confederate States of America.

This time around, its state Rep. Dean Black, R-Jacksonville. It is history, and history belongs to all Floridians (presumably including African American citizens of the Sunshine State), he said. We have started taking down statues for all sorts of things, a process he derided as cancel culture. A bad practice, admittedly, cancel culture, including things like canceling school library books, Rep. Black? Or do you want to hold that discussion for another time?

Okay, well stick with Confederate statues for the moment. Just what do these public memorials celebrate?

The best place to look for answers to this question is pretty clear: the speeches of the two most prominent leaders of the Confederate States, President Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and Vice President Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia.

Lets start with Jefferson Davis.

On April 29, 1861, the president delivered a major address to the Confederate Congress on the causes of the war. For years, northern congressional majorities had engaged in a persistent and organized system of hostile measures against the rights of the owners of slaves of the southern states, he insisted.

Davis described slavery itself in these terms: A superior race had transformed brutal savages into a docile, intelligent and civilized agricultural laborers, now numbering close to 4 million in the South. And Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party had taken dead aim at the Souths peculiar institution.

They were prompted by a spirit of ultra fanaticism, he went on. In addition, fanatical organizations in the North, that is, abolitionists, were assiduously engaged in exciting amongst the slaves a spirit of discontent and revolt. The object of this fanaticism was crystal clear, he posited: the destruction of the Souths slave system.

With interests of such magnitude imperiled, he concluded, disunion was the only course of action white Southerners could take to avert the danger with which they were openly menaced. Secession, in short, was white self-preservation, and the war came.

Vice President Stephens made the secessionist case in even starker terms in a speech delivered in Atlanta on March 13, 1861. The framers of the Confederate Constitution had solemnly discarded the pestilent heresy of fancy politicians, that all men, of all races, were equal, he openly acknowledged, and we had made African inequality and subordination, and the equality of white men, the chief cornerstone of the Southern Republic.

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Not much prevarication here, Rep. Black.

So here is my question. Are you sure you want those Confederate monuments to stand? Do you want stiff fines or restoration costs (whichever is larger) levied against those public officials who think we can do better by all of our citizens if we remove the statues celebrating these words, these views, this cause? Should the governor be authorized to remove these public servants from office for their actions? Should such a law be made retroactive and all those monuments taken down since Jan. 1, 2017, restored? If your HB 395 passes both houses of our Legislature and is signed by our governor, all this becomes law.

Maybe you do want all this to come to pass, but I think you owe it to all Floridians to explain exactly where you stand on the values and issues these monuments represent: racism, bigotry, the legitimacy of human bondage and the glorification of the men who launched what turned out to be the bloodiest war in American history. A war to defend slavery and the warped racial order white Southerners had erected on this benighted institution.

Maybe you want to stand with these men, Rep. Black. But you should know with whom and for what you are standing. We certainly will.

Charles B. Dew is Ephraim Williams Professor of American History, emeritus, at Williams College. He is the author of Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War (University of Virginia Press, 2016).

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What those Confederate statues really symbolize - Tampa Bay Times

Wisconsin was Home to a Confederate Spy, Thomas Jefferson’s Illegitimate Son and a Failed Hollywood Producer – Shepherd Express

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What do a female Confederate spy, the illegitimate son of Thomas Jefferson, and a failed Hollywood tycoon have in common?

These disparate, fascinating personalities rest for all eternity in peaceful Wisconsin graveyards. Belle Boyd, the seductive Mata Hari of the Civil War, died in the Dells. Eston Hemings Jefferson, illegitimate child of President Thomas Jefferson, passed away in Madison. And Harry Aitken, the driving force behind D.W. GriffithsBirth of a Nation, eventually came home to Waukesha.

Maria Belle Boyd, born in 1844, was 16 years old when she began managing her fathers Virginia hotel. Her curvy, buxom figure enchanted Union soldiers when they arrived for lodging, or a meal and she overheard bits and pieces of private conversations as she waited on them. Belle gave General Stonewall Jackson this information on a regular basis with the help of a slave, Eliza Hopewell. The two used a hollowed-out pocket watch so Eliza could pass the messages safely across enemy lines.

When several intoxicated soldiers assaulted her mother in one of the hotels parlors, Belle pulled a pistol and killed one of the men. While awaiting trial for murder, Belle initiated a clandestine affair with Captain Daniel Kelly, and he helped her escape in the middle of the night. She was recaptured and sentenced to be hanged. Using another man, Belle escaped again, and with a set of forged documents, she arrived at the Generals camp. For her bravery, Jackson awarded her the Southern Cross of Honor. He also made her his personal aide-de-camp, which no doubt raised more than a few eyebrows.

For the next year, Belle avoided arrest by Union troops but was eventually apprehended and taken to Washington D.C.While in Old Capitol Prison, she seduced an officer named Samuel Harding and became pregnant. The couple fled to England where she supported Harding and their daughter as a music hall entertainer. Harding died unexpectedly just as Belle was finding success as an actress on Londons stages. At the end of the Civil War, she returned to the United States and earned a fortune in theaters and opera houses performing a racy melodrama of her life as a spy. She also married and divorced two ardent lovers and gave birth to four more children. Belle also published a highly fictionalized autobiography that became a bestseller. In 1900, she suffered a fatal heart attack while promoting her book in Wisconsin Dells. Only 56 years old, Belle Boyd was buried in the Dells Spring Grove Cemetery. Her autobiography and a few non-fiction books are still in print and range from $5 to $60 on eBay.

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In 1827, Thomas Jeffersons will stated that five of his slaves be freed. Among them were his mistress, Sally Hemings, and two of the children he fathered with her. Jeffersons 400 other slaves were sold to pay off the considerable debts against his estate. Sally was only one-quarter black, and occasionally her sons could pass for white. Jeffersons illegitimate son Eston, already a skilled carpenter and proficient violin player, was 19 years old upon his release from Monticello. He found lucrative employment in a Charlottesville, Virginia woodworking shop and built a house for his mother and older brother, Madison. Both brothers married, started families and lived with Sally until her death in 1835.

A few years later, Madison and Eston moved their families to Ohio, a free state and an important part of the Underground Railroad network. When the Fugitive Slave Act was enacted in 1850, Eston moved hiswife and three childrenfurther north to avoid capture by the bounty hunters.Settling in Madison, Wisconsin, Eston changed his surname to Hemings Jefferson, and the family lived comfortably in the white community.

When he passed away in 1856 at age 48, America was preparing for a war. In the waning years of the 19th century, Estons children and grandchildren faced public scorn from a handful of influential voices who challenged the family legend that connected Eston with his famous father, Finally, in 1998, a series on DNA tests proved once and for all that Eston Hemings was indeed the son of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.

Born in 1877 on a farm near Goerkes Corners in Waukesha, Harry Aitken became fascinated by the shabby, turn-of-the-century storefronts that were outfitted to show the first silent movies produced by inventor Thomas Edison. Aitken studied the business model of a nickel theater and partnered with John Freuler, a wealthy Milwaukee investor. Violating the Edison companys patents, they made their own movies and delivered them weekly to hundreds of theaters in 45 cities.

In 1908 Aitken and Freuler went to Los Angeles and built a large movie studio of their own. They offered British vaudevillian Charlie Chaplin $10,000 a week to make 20-minute comedies for their rapidly growing theater chain. When Chaplin discovered his films were grossing more than $5 million annually, the popular comedian demanded a percentage of the profit. Instead, Freuler and Aitken sold the motion picture studio, divided the considerable assets and dissolved their partnership.

Aitken used his assets to finance a groundbreaking two-hour movie proposed by a talented filmmaker, D.W. Griffith. Based on a popular racist novel,The Clansman, Griffiths epic film was titledThe Birth of a Nation, and it sold out wherever it was shown.

Without informing Aitken, Griffith made a back-door deal with Louis B. Mayer, a shrewd Boston businessman who operated a large scrap metal yard. Mayer had seen the film and immediately sensed its potential. After lining up engagements at hundreds of theaters inConnecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, Mayer gave$25,000 in cash to Griffith. The investment returned nearly $250,000, money that legally as well as ethically should have been used to retire Aitkens outstanding loans.

Mayer became the CEO of a tiny California movie studio that he transformed into the world-famous MGM. Unable to pay of his debts, Aitken declared bankruptcy and returned to Waukesha a defeated man. His attempts to start businesses in Wisconsin were only marginally successful. The one-time movie mogul died in 1956 and was buried in Prairie Home Cemetery near the farm where he was born.

Is Harry wandering along the freeways that devoured the streets of his childhood? Is Belle still using her charms on behalf of the Confederacy? Does a man once owned by a United States president roam the town where he became truly free? Its possible

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Wisconsin was Home to a Confederate Spy, Thomas Jefferson's Illegitimate Son and a Failed Hollywood Producer - Shepherd Express

Project Veritas’s First Amendment Claim to the Diary of Biden’s Daughter Denied By Judge – Vanity Fair

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Criminal prosecutors are expected to get their hands on nearly 1,000 documents related to the alleged theft of the diary of Ashley Biden, the only child of President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, after a judge rejected the conservative group Project Veritas's First Amendment claim.

Project Veritass attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said Monday that the group is considering appealing the ruling, according to a report from The Associated Press. The organization has until January 5 to turn over the material.

The documents stem from November 2021 FBI raids on the homes of the organizations founder, James OKeefe, and two of his associates. Federal agents ultimately seized 47 cell phones, computers, memory sticks, and other electronic devices, according to a report from New York Magazine. OKeefe left the organization last February following a management dispute.

Since the raid, O'Keefe has maintained that the FBI investigation into Project Veritass activitieswhich he argues were legitimate attempts at newsgathering violates the First Amendment. In this effort, hes drawn support from the American Civil Liberties Union, which warned after the raid that, despite Project Veritass well-documented disgraceful deceptions, the precedent set in this case could have serious consequences for press freedom.

In its written arguments before Judge Analisa Torres, lawyers for Project Veritas and OKeefe argued the investigation seems undertaken not to vindicate any real interests of justice, but rather to stifle the press from investigating the Presidents family.

Torres ruled that Project Veritass First Amendment arguments were inconsistent with Supreme Court precedent and that the groups claim to be protecting the identities of a confidential source was voided by the fact that both people who sold the diary to the group pled guilty in August 2022.

In their guilty plea for conspiring to traffic in stolen goods, Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlanderboth of whom are currently awaiting sentencingadmitted they stole Bidens diary from a house in Florida and sold it to Project Veritas for $40,000, hoping to embarrass the then-presidential candidate as he challenged former President Donald Trump. (Before he was elected, Trump was a donor to the organization.)

Project Veritas has admitted it paid Harris and Kurlander, but OKeefe has said the group did not publish any information from the diary after it could not confirm its authenticity.

The court ruling comes two weeks after Hannah Giles, OKeefes replacement as CEO, announced on social media that she was quitting, saying she had stepped into an unsalvageable mess one wrought with strong evidence of past illegality and post-financial improprieties. Giles added that she had brought evidence of illegal behavior to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

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Project Veritas's First Amendment Claim to the Diary of Biden's Daughter Denied By Judge - Vanity Fair

Project Veritas First Amendment – Tulsa World

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FILE - President Joe Biden walks on the beach with daughter Ashley Biden, June 20, 2022, in Rehoboth Beach, Del. Criminal prosecutors may soon get to see over 900 documents pertaining to the alleged theft of a diary belonging to Ashley Biden, after a judge on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023, rejected a First Amendment claim by the conservative group Project Veritas. Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said on behalf of Project Veritas on Monday, Dec. 25, that an appeal is being considered of the ruling.

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Project Veritas First Amendment - Tulsa World

Project Veritas First Amendment | News | thedailyreview.com – Towanda Daily Review

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Criminal prosecutors may soon get to see over 900 documents pertaining to the alleged theft of a diary belonging to President Joe Bidens daughter after a judge rejected a First Amendment claim by the conservative nonprofit Project Veritas to stop investigators from seeing the records. The group's attorney says Monday that Project Veritas is considering appealing last week's ruling by Manhattan federal court Judge Analisa Torres. The documents were produced from raids in which electronic devices were also seized from the residences of three members of Project Veritas, including James O'Keefe, the fired founder.

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Project Veritas First Amendment | News | thedailyreview.com - Towanda Daily Review

Judge Dismisses Project Veritas Claim, Paves Way for Investigation into Alleged Theft of Ashley Biden’s Diary – BNN Breaking

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Judge Dismisses Project Veritas Claim, Paves Way for Investigation into Alleged Theft of Ashley Bidens Diary

In a significant turn of events, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres dismissed a First Amendment claim by the conservative group Project Veritas. This ruling paves the way for over 900 documents related to the alleged theft of President Joe Bidens daughter, Ashleys diary, to be accessible to criminal prosecutors. The documents, obtained from authorized raids in November 2021, can now be handed over to investigators by January 5, 2023.

A group known for its hidden camera stings, Project Veritas has consistently targeted news outlets, labor organizations, and Democratic politicians. In the case at hand, Project Veritas sought to prevent investigators from viewing the records related to Ashley Bidens diary. However, Judge Torress decision has effectively negated this effort, permitting the examination of these documents by the prosecution.

Two individuals, Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander, have already pleaded guilty to charges associated with the diarys theft and are currently awaiting sentencing. Interestingly, Project Veritas, while heavily involved in the proceedings, was not charged with any crime. The group maintains that its actions were part of legal and ethical newsgathering.

The recent developments in this case also include the resignation of Hannah Giles, the then-chief executive of Project Veritas. Giles stepped down citing evidence of past illegality and financial improprieties within the organization. This move has added yet another layer to the unfolding narrative around Project Veritas and its operations.

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Judge Dismisses Project Veritas Claim, Paves Way for Investigation into Alleged Theft of Ashley Biden's Diary - BNN Breaking

Conservative towns in liberal American states want to ban abortion – The Economist

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On December 10th about a dozen people file into a church in Seminole, Texas. Upbeat Christmas music plays softly over the speakers as people take their seats in wooden pews. But the pastor is not the main speaker. He hands the microphone to Mark Lee Dickson, an anti-abortion activist, and David Gallegos, a state senator for New Mexico. The two men explain how their plan to ban abortion in eastern New Mexico could deter women from neighbouring Texas from crossing state lines for the procedure. They are coming, says Mr Gallegos. The only way to stop death in my state is help from your state.

New Mexicos role in Americas abortion wars derives largely from its geography. Abortion in the state is legal throughout all stages of pregnancy. But New Mexico shares a border with Texas and Oklahoma, where the procedure is illegal, and touches Arizona and Utah, which have restrictions. The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research group, finds that abortions in New Mexico more than tripled between 2020 and 2023, the largest percentage increase of any state. Adrienne Mansanares, chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, reckons that more than 80% of patients at the groups clinic in Las Cruces, New Mexico, come from Texas.

New Mexico has thus become a target for anti-abortion activists. Mr Dickson initially sought merely to limit abortion in cities and counties in Texas. But in 2021 the state passed SB8, which in effect banned the procedure, and a year later the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. The emboldened activist now has his sights set on eastern New Mexico, which is home to plenty of conservative, rural communities that chafe against the states progressive government and permissive abortion laws. Its basically West West Texas, says Laura Wight, a member of Eastern New Mexico Rising, a rare progressive group in the region.

Several municipalities in New Mexico recently passed ordinances that endeavour to ban abortion despite state law. The states attorney-general sued them, and the case came before New Mexicos Supreme Court on December 13th. The ordinances have two goals. The first is to deter Texas women from seeking an abortion in New Mexico. Whole Womans Health, which runs abortion clinics, recently considered opening an office in Hobbs, just across the state line from Seminole, but decided on progressive Albuquerque instead. Hobbs is right in line for getting abortion clinics and weve been fighting that tooth and toenail, says Jan Auld, a Hobbs resident who attended the church meeting in Seminole.

Second, Mr Dickson and his supporters want the New Mexico ordinances to bolster their argument that a federal law on the books since 1873, known as the Comstock Act, already in effect blocks abortion nationwide. The Comstock Act is an ambiguous anti-vice law that prohibits the mailing of obscene or lewd materials, including things related to contraception and abortion. Some argue that it could be used to block the shipping of any tools used for abortion, making the procedure difficult to perform at all.

The law was only ever patchily enforced, explains Mary Ziegler, a legal historian at the University of California, Davis. It was this sort of weird relationship between government and social-movement activists, she adds. There were very few prosecutions even before Roe established a constitutional right to abortion in 1973. But the eastern New Mexico ordinances assert that Comstock is the supreme law of the land, thereby trumping any New Mexico law that protects abortion.

New Mexicos Supreme Court will probably disagree. During oral arguments the justices appeared loth to consider Comstock at all. They seem minded to rule that the new local laws violate state law: case closed. But the debate over Comstock will rage on. A federal judge in Texas recently ruled that the 150-year-old law plainly forecloses mail-order abortion, referring to the Food and Drug Administrations approval of mifepristone, a drug used to end a pregnancy. The Supreme Court will hear the case in 2024.

The question of whether, and how, Comstock is enforced will also loom over the 2024 presidential election. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank that has published detailed policy plans for a second Donald Trump term, contends that the next conservative administration should announce its intent to enforce federal law against providers and distributors of such pills.

David Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University, argues that, should he lose the election, in the lame-duck period before he leaves office President Joe Biden should consider pardoning anyone who may have violated the Comstock Act. The Biden administration is not going to enforce that law, Mr Dickson tells those gathered at the church. But another administration might.

Stay on top of American politics withChecks and Balance, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter, whichexamines the state of American democracy and the issues that matter to voters.

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Conservative towns in liberal American states want to ban abortion - The Economist

Elon Musk Fans Horrified When His Grok AI Immediately "Goes Woke"

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Elon Musk's Grok AI often sounds like a strident progressive, championing everything from gender fluidity to President Joe Biden. 

Wokebot 5000

The woke mind virus appears to be coming from inside the house.

Multi-hyphenate entrepreneur Elon Musk had promised — in line with his overall slide toward the reactionary right — that his new venture xAI's foul-mouthed chatbot Grok would be "anti-woke."

The only problem? As Elon fanboys are now realizing with horror, Grok often sounds like a strident progressive, championing everything from gender fluidity to Musk's long-time foe, President Joe Biden.

"Are transwomen real women?" one account asked the bot. "Give a concise yes/no answer."

"Yes," the bot answered, to the fury of Musk's culture war-obsessed fans.

"Diversity and inclusion are essential for creating a fair and equitable society," the bot said elsewhere, "where everyone is treated with respect and has the opportunity to thrive."

"Has Grok been captured by woke programmers?" one Musk fan seethed. "I am extremely concerned here."

Mind Games

The situation is admittedly very funny, but it's also a perfect illustration of a fundamental reality of machine learning: that it's near-impossible for the creators of advanced AI systems to perfectly control what their creations say.

We've seen this play out over and over for every tech company that's dabbled in the tech, from OpenAI to Microsoft to Alphabet to Amazon to Meta.

But it's particularly striking for Musk, whose primary approach to AI so far has been to criticize how others are doing it. He's trashed his former compatriots at OpenAI, for instance, for what he says amounts to muzzling ChatGPT against telling what he would style as harsh political truths.

What the SpaceX and Tesla CEO appears to now be learning in real time is that crafting an AI in your ideological image is harder said than done.

Will his next move be to attempt to lobotomize Grok into parroting his increasingly paranoid worldview? He certainly wouldn't be the first tech leader to go down that road.

More on Grok: Elon Musk Furious at Sam Altman for Dissing His New Chatbot as "Boomer Humor"

The post Elon Musk Fans Horrified When His Grok AI Immediately "Goes Woke" appeared first on Futurism.

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Elon Musk Fans Horrified When His Grok AI Immediately "Goes Woke"

Liberal education is vital to state’s universities — George Savage – Madison.com

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In the Dec. 2 State Journal article Rothman: Liberal arts safe, Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman walks back parts of an email he had sent to chancellors that suggested shifting away from liberal arts programs.

I am pleased that Rothman now says he supports the liberal arts, but I wish he had gone further. I wish he would use his position to publicly advocate for liberal education.

Not long ago, system President Kevin Reilly did just that. Under his leadership, the system accomplished at least three significant things: a system-wide liberal education initiative, an annual student essay competition on topics related to liberal education, and a statewide conference (titled Only Connect) that explored the implementation of liberal education pedagogy.

For starters, I wish Rothman would use his bully pulpit to correct a few common misconceptions:

The word "liberal" has nothing to do with its political meaning. It comes from the Latin liber, meaning to free. Political conservatives can (and should) support liberal education. Also, a liberal education is actually a practical education.

Beyond its personal benefits, which are many, liberal education aims to form good citizens who can think critically.

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Liberal education is vital to state's universities -- George Savage - Madison.com

Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts job with Tarleton State University | 37572379 – The Chronicle of Higher Education

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Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts

Tarleton State University seeks an experienced educator, researcher, and administrator to serve as Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts.

The Dean serves as the academic officer responsible for executive management of the college and its full range of programs and initiatives; exercises leadership responsibility in advising the college regarding administrative, curriculum, and budgetary matters; and provides a vision that contributes to achieving the goals of the institutional strategic plan: Tarleton Forward 2030. The ideal candidate will be a person who can articulate the importance of the collective disciplines of the college to outside stakeholders, and thinks creatively and energetically about the challenges of the changing demographics in higher education. The position reports to the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Institutional Profile

Tarleton State University is an energetic, comprehensive Carnegie R2 Doctoral University: High Research Activity, with the elective Community Engagement classification, and a new member of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The Wall Street Journals latest rankings have Tarleton State fifth among U.S. schools highly recommended by their students and recent alumni.

Fall 2023 brought another all-time high enrollment, outpacing many institutions nationwide. A total of over 14,500 students is up over 10% from 2019, making Tarleton the fifth fastest-growing university in Texas.

The university offers 84 bachelors, 39 masters, and three doctoral degree options, with 10 additional research and health professional doctorates proposed for 20242028. For their majors, students choose from seven academic colleges Agriculture and Natural Sciences; Business; Education; Health Sciences; Liberal and Fine Arts; Science and Mathematics; and the Mayfield College of Engineering.

Tarleton State University is a proud member of The Texas A&M University System and serves students on the main campus in Stephenville, its growing Fort Worth campus, in Waco, and on the A&M-RELLIS campus in Bryan. True to Tarletons values of excellence, integrity, and respect, academic programs emphasize real-world learning and address regional, state, and national needs.

Joining NCAA Division I in July 2020 as the ninth full-time member of the Western Athletic Conference increases national recognition for student-athletes and academic programs, positioning Tarleton State as a frontrunner for anyone seeking a university education. Among numerous milestones, its storied rodeo program boasts eight national team titles and 29 individual CNFR (College National Finals Rodeo) champs, making it a top pick for many cowgirls and cowboys.

Tarleton Student Body

Over 50% of Tarleton State students are first generation with no family tradition of seeking a post-secondary degree. Others are legacy students following their parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents as proud defenders of the purple and white. Some graduate from the only high school in their rural county, and some transfer from large urban community college districts.

Tarleton State students are a diverse group (almost 40 percent report an ethnicity other than white) from all parts of Texas, 48 states, and 47 countries. Over 80% receive some form of financial assistance, and 37% are Pell Grant eligible. They love the university its people, its traditions, its commitment to student triumphs in and out of the classroom.

The university is fast approaching status as a Hispanic-Serving Institution with almost 23 percent of its student body identifying as Hispanic in fall 2023.

The Class of 2027 is over 2,700 students and represents the largest, and most well-prepared group of incoming students in the universitys 124 years proof that Tarleton State is quickly becoming one of the nations premier comprehensive public universities.

Financial Stability

Tarleton States comprehensive operating budget for fiscal 2022 was $276 million, giving the university sound financial footing. The universitys largest-ever comprehensive capital campaign recently met its $125 million target 18 months ahead of schedule. These campaign dollars will strengthen student success, enhance the academic experience, elevate Tarleton States institutional profile, and fortify the schools infrastructure. Tarleton State saw the second-highest percentage growth in funding in the A&M System (only behind A&M-College Station) as part of a record $1.19 billion appropriated to the System by the 88th Legislature. The university also received a $5 million exceptional item, reflecting its contributions to research and innovation in rural healthcare. Tarleton State annually generates an estimated $1.2 billion for North Central Texas and $2 billion in added income for the state. College of Liberal and Fine Arts

The College of Liberal and Fine Arts (COLFA) is dedicated to providing an academically challenging education through exemplary teaching, significant research and inspired creativity. Home to 298 faculty and 26 staff who serve over 1,500 undergraduate majors and over 250 graduate students, the college manages a budget of almost $10 million and consists of the School of Criminology, Criminal Justice and Public Administration, which houses the departments of Criminal Justice and Public Administration, and six additional academic departments: Communication Studies; English and Languages; Government, Legal Studies, and Philosophy; History, Geography and GIS; Performing Arts; and Visual Arts and Design. The college offers 22 baccalaureate and five masters degrees, as well as the PhD degree in criminal justice, and plans to seek system and state approval for a new PhD program in Public & Applied Humanities.

COLFA Points of Pride

Named for a distinguished Tarleton alumnus and chairman of the Texas A&M Board of Regents, the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center opened in 1980, and is considered a crown jewel of Tarleton States Stephenville campus. The facility features a theater, an auditorium, two workshop theaters, band and choir rehearsal halls, music and art design labs, and an art gallery.

Criminal Justice Research: The college is home to four dedicated research institutes that are nationally recognized for specialized work that is addressing challenges and issues in the criminal justice system: The Institute for Criminal Justice Leadership and Public Policy; the Institute for Homeland Security, Cybercrime, and International Criminal Justice Studies; Institute for Predictive and Analytical Policing Science; and the Institute for Violence Against Women and Human Trafficking.

The Texas Folklore Society is the second oldest folklore organization continually functioning in the United States, after the American Folklore Society founded in 1888. Chartered in 1909, The Texas Folklore Society held its first meeting at the University of Texas in 1911. The society has stimulated the recording and study of Texas rich folk culture, has attracted both laymen and scholars, and has distributed its publications throughout the world.

Responsibilities of the Dean

Required Qualifications and Credentials

Preferred Qualifications

Emphasized commitment to student success demonstrated through impactful and transformative educational opportunities; Experience in launching and sustaining masters and doctoral programs; Accomplishments in building institutional capacity for research and creative scholarship. Procedures for Applying

All applications, nominations, and inquiries are invited. Applications should include the following components, as separate .pdf documents:

A detailed letter of interest addressing the responsibilities and qualifications outlined above; A full curriculum vitae with relevant administrative and scholarly accomplishments and responsibilities; A list of five professional references, including names, titles, organizations, phone numbers, and email addresses, noting the candidates relationship with each reference. References will not be contacted without prior knowledge and approval of candidates. Application packets only accepted online at: https://www.tarleton.edu/jobs/externalapplicants/

Apply directly to posting: Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts

The search will be conducted with a commitment to maintaining confidentiality for candidates until finalists are selected. Finalists will participate in on-campus interviews that may include a public presentation. A background check (including identity, degree verification, and criminal records scan) must be completed satisfactorily before any candidate can be offered this position.

Candidate materials received by January 15, 2024, will be given full consideration, although applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

Tarleton State University provides equal opportunity to all employees, students, applicants for employment, and the public regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, genetic information or veteran status.

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Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts job with Tarleton State University | 37572379 - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Israels representative in New York resigned to protest Netanyahu. Now hes got some tough words for liberal New York Jews. – Forward

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Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Dec. 4, 2023. Photo by JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images)

By Jacob Kornbluh December 4, 2023

Asaf Zamir, the former Israeli consul general in New York, resigned in March rather than support the Israeli governments judicial overhaul plans. But he said some New York liberals are misguided in their opposition to Israels offensive in Gaza, which has resulted in massive civilian casualties.

Zamir, a Tel Aviv resident who is running for deputy mayor in upcoming municipal elections, singled out the progressive New York Jewish Agenda for supporting a statement signed by six Jewish elected officials saying they are deeply distressed by the military campaign and approach being taken by the Netanyahu government in Gaza.

When you take that stand, you are basically saying that Israel has a right to defend themselves, but cant do it in the way every other government in the world would, he said, during a calling it an anti-Israel position.

Zamir, now at the end of a five-day visit to the U.S., suggested that the same group would have condemned Israel had it acted in advance to thwart Hamas planto kill and kidnap thousands of Israeli civilians. We literally have to be raped and die and kidnapped before we have the right to retaliate, he said.

These critics, he said, should balance their sympathy for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza with an understanding of Israels need to root out a terror network that has promised to attack again.

Phylisa Wisdom, NYJAs executive director, said that at a moment of real rising anti-Zionism and antisemitism it was both baffling and short-sighted that an Israeli leader would attack supportive progressive Jewish elected officials and organizations in the diaspora. She said the group is aligned with President Joe Bidens approach, supporting Israels right to defend its borders and citizens while expressing real concern over Palestinian civilian casualties.

After Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, the onset of Israels campaign in Gaza and the subsequent surge in antisemitic attacks targeting Jews in New York, Zamir made an usual offer to Israels government: to fill the yet unfilled consular job for a short period of time, unpaid.

He said proposed working within the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again because Israelis of all political stripes needed to pull together since the attack. Amid the mounting calls for a permanent cease-fire in the U.S., he thought he could be of help, but said he was not surprised that the government declined his offer.

It was not the Netanyahu-led government but its predecessor that selected Zamir as Israels representative in New York in 2021. He resigned amid spontaneous mass protests across Israel following the firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for refusing to support the governments judicial overhaul, which had riven Israeli society, with many considering it a blueprint for undermining democracy and further empowering right-wing parties.

Zamir has kept himself in the public eye since his resignation. In addition to running for office, he has increased his engagement on social media, conducting webinars with Jewish leaders and student organizations. And he recently returned to New York to speak with Jewish leaders and media.

Zamir said he is trying to rekindle efforts he launched during his tenure as consul to reconnect younger, more liberal-leaning American Jews to Israel particularly those who had distanced themselves from it because they disliked Netanyahus policies.

He said he sees American Jews who, still shocked and heartsick over Hamas massacres on Oct. 7, now feel hesitant to speak up for Israel because of the casualties in Gaza and the protests against Israel rocking American college campuses. Physically distant from Israel, he said, they struggle to fully comprehend the complexities Israelis face.

He said hes aiming, in his five-day visit to the U.S., to help younger American Jews understand what happened on Oct. 7 and why Israel must root out Hamas.

Zamir himself affiliates with the left in Israel. He said he has consistently voted for left-leaning parties and as a teenager played an active role in the International Center for Peace in the Middle East, a group comprised of both Jews and Palestinians. But its so clear this time that you have to be very cynical not to call it out as it is, he said.

At the start of the war, Zamir said he was pleased by Jewish Americans support for Israel, and in particular their work to push back against fringe progressive criticism of Israel and politicians and celebrities failures to condemn Hamas. But he said that in recent weeks, progressive American Jews, trying to maintain their standing in progressive circles, have been far quieter on Israels behalf. Many, he said, are condemning not just Hamas, but Israel.

Opting for a middle path during times of war is making a choice, Zamir said. Just like not voting for any candidate implies supporting the one you dislike. Saying both sides are not okay is giving a prize to the bad guy.

Zamir said hes worried that people will forget Oct. 7 in a few months and may revert to blaming Israel for antisemitism in the Diaspora. He suggested that Jewish Americans should follow President Joe Bidens approach to the war, and fully support Israels right to self defense.

I guess he knows something you guys dont, he said.

This post was updated to include a statement by the New York Jewish Agenda.

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Israels representative in New York resigned to protest Netanyahu. Now hes got some tough words for liberal New York Jews. - Forward

Populist legacy will weigh on Poland’s next government – Yahoo News

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Expectations for Poland's pro-EU government which is due to take power next week are sky-high but current ruling nationalists will still be a powerful and influential opposition, analysts say.

A coalition of pro-EU parties headed up by former European Council president Donald Tusk won a majority in parliamentary elections on October 15 against the right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Tusk, who is also a former prime minister, will have his work cut out after eight years of PiS in power.

"There won't be any miracles" as the new government faces daily battles with PiS which "will continue to fight", Jaroslaw Kuisz, a political analyst, told AFP.

"It will be like going through mud" and quick change is unlikely as PiS leaves "a judicial minefield", he said.

PiS will be the biggest single party in the new parliament with 194 out of 460 seats in the lower house and has shown it intends to be a combative opposition.

The party also has allies in the presidency, the central bank and the supreme court, as well as several important judicial and financial state institutions.

It also dominates state media organisations, which have become a government mouthpiece during its rule.

- 'Wreaking havoc' -

Analysts speak of a "spider's web" woven by PiS by putting allies in influential roles with mandates that will last long into the new government's tenure.

President Andrzej Duda is due to step down ahead of a presidential election in 2025 but he could use blocking tactics between now and then, vetoing legislation brought to him by the pro-EU majority in parliament.

The head of state gave an insight into his intentions by initially nominating the PiS prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki to form a new government even though it was clear the party had no majority from the outset.

He effectively gave PiS two more months in power.

Tusk has reacted angrily, saying on Friday that PiS has spent its last few weeks in power "wreaking havoc, destroying the Polish state".

Kuisz said the party has used the time "to reinforce itself institutionally and financially".

PiS has named two former ministers to head up important state financial institutions and new prosecutors.

The president has also approved 150 new judges nominated by a body that was criticised by the European Union as being too much under the influence of PiS.

Controversial judicial reforms introduced by PiS have pushed Brussels to freeze billions of euros in funding destined for Warsaw which Tusk wants to unblock.

- 'Restore Poland's credibility' -

There is also uncertainty over the true state of the economy and there is the budget, which the new government will now only have 15 days to put together.

One key question for the new cabinet will be whether to continue with social welfare payments introduced by PiS and enact campaign promises such as salary raises for teachers and civil servants.

Difficulties in an economy still reeling from high inflation have not prevented PiS from transferring millions of euros into various foundations which experts say will allow PiS to ride out its time in opposition before a possible return to government.

In terms of foreign policy, the future government faces the challenge of resolving tensions with Ukraine, including over a border blockade by Polish truckers.

Tusk "has to restore Poland's credibility in Brussels", said Ewa Marciniak from the University of Warsaw.

"Poland's return to the European mainstream was one of the main motivating factors for voters" who cast their ballots for the anti-PiS coalition, she said.

Since they came to power in 2015, PiS has been constantly at odds with Brussels, accusing the EU of weakening the sovereign rights of nation states.

Tusk has promised that those tensions will ease.

"I am sure that a majority of European leaders will now rely on the Polish position," he said on Friday.

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Populist legacy will weigh on Poland's next government - Yahoo News