Good News Friday: 12/01/23 ....
December 01, 2023
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Today, we link for you the first interview with Sidney since "the great unpleasantness".
Take a moment to catch up with Sidney.
Sidney Powell Discusses Lawfare on Cowboy Logic
1- No one has ever accused woke leftists of being particularly smart. But they are good at paying off people they approve.
The good news is that once again we see that leftist ideas do not sell.
Woke Authors Getting Massive Advances For Books That Don't Sell
QUOTE: A new report details that woke editors and publishers are getting sucked into giving out huge advances to left wing authors for books that don't sell.
What's that old saying about going woke and going broke?
The Free Press reported on the publishing industry's massive mistakes in recent years, and how company's often rush to buy progressive books that almost immediately flop. And why. And as an author of two books myself, it's abundantly clear that these decisions are being made to prop up a predetermined political ideology instead of making sound financial choices.
One of the most prominent examples of failed left wing books is "Pageboy," a memoir from actor Elliot Page about transitioning from Ellen Page. Page received a $3 million advance, but sold just 68,000 copies, despite massive promotion, media puff pieces and a celebrity figure with a substantial following.
Another example is "Dear Miss Metropolitan," a book about three "black and biracial" girls, which garnered a $250,000+ advance, only to sell 3,163 copies since it was released over two years ago. Claudia Cravens' book, "Lucky Red," received a $500,000 advance and sold just 3,500 copies despite being a "queer feminist Western."
Why are there bidding wars over unsuccessful woke books? Because of institutional racism and progressive political obsession within the book publishing community.
The Free Press quoted an unnamed senior editor saying, "We flat-out decided we weren't going to look at certain white male authors, because we didn't want to be seen as acquiring that stuff."
Ironically, that type of discrimination against white men doesn't seem to apply to Elliot Page.
The trend of books with progressive point of views failing isn't that different from what woke entertainment companies like Disney have done in recent years. Spending millions of dollars on projects with no chance of success in order to appease the political views of their employees and other industry figures.
But in order to avoid being seen as purchasing conservative content, editors and book publishers have decided to sacrifice financial success. Prioritizing elevating "marginalized" voices like Jemele Hill; another beneficiary of a massive advance for a failed book.
It's remarkable that in tough economic times, where corporations are laying people off left and right, that some of the biggest in the book industry are willing to risk massive advances just to be seen as supporting the "right" type of progressive causes. They were already woke, and if they keep making these same mistakes, it's going to push them closer and closer to broke.
2- What these companies are realizing is that hiring the typical college graduate these days will be a nothing but trouble. So here is to all those young people who no longer have to waste four years for an expensive degree. This is a big cultural shift in the right direction.
How the college degree lost its value: Nearly half of US companies plan to ax Bachelor's degree requirements - after Walmart, Accenture and IBM led the charge
QUOTE: Nearly half of US companies intend to eliminate Bachelor's degree requirements for some job positions next year, a new survey has revealed.
And 55 percent said they'd already eliminated degree requirements this year, according to an Intelligent.com survey of 800 US employers, carried out in November.
It comes after Walmart, IBM, Accenture, Bank of America and Google announced similar plans.
The survey found that the same employers that have already eliminated Bachelor's degree requirements were far more likely to continue doing so.Industries Dropping Degree Requirements
Information services: 72%
Software: 62%
Finance and insurance: 61%
Construction: 55%
Healthcare and social assistance: 42%
Education: 35%'A person's educational credentials are not the only indicators of success, so we advanced our approach to hiring to focus on skills, experiences and potential,' CEO of Accenture North America, Jimmy Etheredge, told the outlet.
3- Unless you live in Florida, you may not have heard of the work of Christopher Rufo and the turnaround of an ultra leftist college, New College.
Please go to the link on Substack to watch the short video explaining a hopeful transformation. Education is vital to a thriving, productive society. We need to bring new ideas and different thinking to turn the tables on a system that clearly is not working.
Christopher F. Rufo on Substack
The Fight for New College
QUOTE: The hard Left has dominated the universities for generations. It has captured the academic disciplines, established ideologically driven bureaucracies, and put activism, rather than scholarship, at the center of academic life. The Left has long considered the university campus its own private domain, untouchable by political leaders—until now.
In a new short documentary, I tell the story of a small public college in Florida that's become the opening move in a conservative counterrevolution. Earlier this year, Florida governor Ron DeSantis appointed a new board majority, including me, to New College of Florida and tasked us with a simple, but audacious, mission: take over the failing school, bring in new leadership, and transform the institution into a liberal arts college in the classical tradition.
The move caused a firestorm. Conservatives cheered it on as an essential step in recapturing democratic institutions. Progressives denounced it as a violation of some principle or another. But, whatever your opinion, one thing is certain: the takeover of New College has changed the dynamics of America's culture war and, if successful, will provide a model for conservatives across the nation.
4- Another subtle shift in the culture of America is happening in Hollywood. And that can be nothing but good for America.
Paul Mirengoff at Ring Side At The Reckoning on Substack
A Hollywood two-fer
QUOTE: It isn't often that an article in the Washington Post brings a smile to my face. This story in the Post — "After industry tumult, some fear Hollywood will backslide on diversity" — brought two.
Smile Number One: Industry tumult in Hollywood
According to the Post, studios are expected to produce far fewer scripted shows this coming season than the 600-plus produced last season. Indeed, some industry estimates project that the number of shows will drop by one half.
Why does the reduction in such programs make me smile? Because I believe Hollywood is a major corrupting influence on America. It's a bastion of wokeism, leftism and, in my opinion, anti-Americanism. The less Americans are exposed to its products, the better.Smile Number Two: Backsliding on diversity
According to the Post: With fewer shows getting sold, producers are more focused on landing guaranteed hits and awards show fodder.
"When people want hits they become more risk averse, which means that the market for original ideas is much tougher," said Carter Covington, who is gay and has championed shows depicting the queer community. "What I keep hearing is that it's a harder sell right now."
Translation: With the goose no longer laying golden eggs, Hollywood is reverting to programs people actually want to watch, rather than programs Hollywood leftists want them to watch. The horror!The counting of LGBTQ characters reflects Hollywood's obsession with DEI. For example, Amazon Studios' inclusion policy requires the casting of at least one Black, Hispanic ("Latinx," to quote the policy), Indigenous, Middle Eastern, or Asian character for speaking roles in each of its projects. And starting next year, the Motion Picture Academy will impose diversity quotas that movies must meet to qualify for an Oscar as best film of the year.
These quotas will remain in place notwithstanding the developments I discuss here. However, anything that chips away at Hollywood's DEI obsession is worth applauding. In any case, if Hollywood is backsliding on its obsession with diversity, that's good reason to smile.
5- Praise God for every single child born.
BE THANKFUL: 1 in 4 Babies That Would've Been Aborted Have Been Born in a Post-Roe World.
QUOTE: Over 1-in-4 women who considered an abortion have instead chosen instead to take their pregnancy to term in states where protections for the unborn were enacted following the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The data, found in a study by the left-wing Institute of Labor Economics, only covers the first six-months of 2023 but signals to pro-life activists their efforts to save unborn lives is making progress – despite set-backs at the ballot box in the 2022 and 2023 elections.
While pro-life Americans might see the new data as a positive development, Middlebury College professor Caitlin Myers – who co-authored the Institute of Labor Economics study – does not.
Pushing back, pro-life groups argue the increase in births is good for families, communities, and the United States overall.
"The insinuation of a lot of coverage of such data points is that it's a bad thing for there to be more children welcomed in states with better laws than in states that fast-track abortion," said Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins in an interview with the New York Times. Hawkins added, "It's a triumph that pro-life policies result in lives saved."
6- A major tool of the left to foster fear is the FACE MASK. We always knew masks were worthless but now we see they are actually dangerous to your health.
Do not ever be force to participating in this lie again!
Study: Mask-Wearing Associated With INCREASED COVID Infection Risk.
QUOTE: Face mask wearers were found to be up to a staggering 40 percent more likely to report a COVID-19 infection compared to those who refuse to wear them, according to a recent peer-reviewed Norwegian study published in the Epidemiology and Infection Journal earlier this month.
The results, collected after surveying 3,209 Norwegians, indicated a higher incidence of positive test results among regular mask users, with a 33 percent to 40 percent increase, as compared to non or seldom-mask users.
"Our findings suggest that wearing a face mask may be associated with an increased risk of infection," the researchers concluded. They did add, however, that "it is important to note that this association may be due to unobservable and non-adjustable differences between those wearing and not wearing a mask."
In North America, the study comes amidst a resurgence of mask mandates in response to an uptick in COVID-19 cases. With extended mandates in California and new rules in Maryland and Canada, the discussion around the effectiveness of masking policies continues.
7- The first hospital in the USA to force employees to be injected has declared defeat on that policy.
Houston Methodist reverses course on COVID vaccine employee mandate
QUOTE: Years after being sued and as a new state law will soon go into effect, the first hospital in the country to impose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate as a condition of employment has reversed course.
Methodist Hospital announced it was implementing a new employment policy beginning Dec. 1 to comply with a new Texas law.
The Texas legislature passed a ban on private employers imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates as a condition of employment during the third special legislative session this year. Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law earlier this month. The new law goes into effect Feb. 6, 2024.
It bans private employers from adopting or enforcing a COVID-19 mandate "requiring an employee, contractor, applicant for employment, or applicant for a contract position to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment or a contract position."It also authorizes employees to file complaints about alleged employer violations with the Texas Workforce Commission and imposes a $50,000 fine per violation. It also stipulates that the attorney general may sue violators and provide injunctive relief against them.
"It's long past time to put COVID behind us and restore individual freedom to all Texans," Abbott said at the bill signing.Many nurses and medical professionals lost their jobs because of private employer mandates, including at Houston Methodist, which was the first hospital in the country to impose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Now, Methodist has reversed course, issuing a new policy, obtained by The Center Square. It states: "The Texas legislature passed a law in the special session that prohibits private employers from requiring employees and contractors to get a COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment. Houston Methodist has always put the safety of our patients and employees first. We will continue to encourage everyone to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, but it will no longer be mandated at Houston Methodist."
Houston-based attorney Jared Woodfill, who sued Methodist, argued frontline medical professionals who worked during the COVID outbreak were considered heroes. "Unfortunately, it took the legislature way too long to catch up with our lawsuits. When will Methodist's CEO send out a press-release apologizing to those who were evicted from their homes, had their cars repossessed or lost their life savings because they refused to take an experimental COVID-19 shot?"
8- Humans can be amazingly wonderful!
MIRACULOUS RESCUE: When All Machines Fail, Indian 'Rat Miners' Dig Non-Stop for 26 Hours WITH HAND TOOLS To Free 41 Workers Trapped in a Collapsed Tunnel
QUOTE: If you need a story to rekindle your love for our fellow human beings, you got one here.
I diligently avoided this story for days on end, I felt it was too horrific: 41 workers were trapped in a collapsed mountain tunnel in India, while frantic efforts were made to free them.
It is true that they had oxygen, and at some point even food was delivered to them. But the days went on and the attempts to free them failed, you ask yourself: how long can they last?
Finally, 17 days in, it arose that they were sending human diggers, called 'rat hole miners' to do the job. They are specialists in dealing with digging in perilous circumstances.
To everyone's glad surprise and relief, the 'rat miners' came through, and saved every one of the 41 trapped workers.
So, now – of course – it's my favorite story in the whole wide world.
The "rat hole" miners have said that the operation involved 26 hours of digging by hand (tools).
That's what it means to RISE to the occasion. Qureshi said he hoped that the work laborers, hailed as heroes by the politicians, would lead to greater awareness about their value and the risks of their work.
9- We started with a video with Sidney and we end today's Good News with another video about the longest study of happiness in the world.
Not to give away the ending but, the key to happiness is relationships and community. Join our community on Substack and treat someone you know to their own subscription.
What The Longest-Running Study on Happiness Reveals
How to lead a happier, healthier and longer life.
PRAY for divine intervention. PRAY for safety from terrorism. PRAY for victims of terrorism. SHARE the truth.
Hold Fast,
Defending The Republic
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