Daily Caller
World’s Largest State Sponsor Of Terrorism Sets Sights On New Goal: Become A Vacation Destination
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Jake Smith
The world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, is setting its sights on a new goal: to become a first-rate resort and tourism destination.
Iran is sanctioned by vast swaths of the international community for its support and funding of various terrorist networks in the Middle East that have killed a number of U.S. forces in recent years. Though the Islamic regime is infamous for imposing an iron rule against the Iranian people and has one of the world’s worst economies, Tehran is hoping to break into the vacation game and bring in millions of tourists per year, according to reports.
“Tourism is the greatest asset for Iran’s cultural diplomacy,” Iranian Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri said at an event Tuesday. “Cultural diplomacy fosters relations between nations, shared understanding, and collective peace and stability.”
“We must recognize that cultural heritage and tourism should become one of the country’s top three priorities. By promoting cultural diplomacy, we can aim for a future where tourism replaces the oil revenues as a primary economic driver,” Salehi-Amiri said.
Salehi-Amiri explained that the goal is to attract 15 million tourists to Iran by 2028. He also went on to say that Iran should build hundreds of new hotels by that year.
What our armed forces did was to inflict the minimum punishment on that usurping Zionist regime in response to its appalling crimes. It’s a bloodthirsty regime, a wolf-like regime, and the US’s rabid dog in the region.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) October 6, 2024
Iran enjoyed a 21% increase in tourism in 2023, according to the Tehran Times.
“Cultural heritage is Iran’s soft power. Just as we need hard power for deterrence, we need soft power to showcase our cultural and civilizational capacities to the world,” Salehi-Amiri said on Tuesday.
His comments leave many open questions in place, such as how practical it is to build hundreds of new hotels in such a short time frame, as Iran’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) is only a fraction of other Arab states in the region, such as Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates. Iran’s economy is considered “repressed,” given rampant corruption in the government, weak rule of law and a lack of robust trade relations with virtually any Western nation, according to The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom.
There are also questions as to how the theoretical tourists would be treated, given Iran’s incredible hostility toward the West and scores of reports of human rights abuses, particularly against women. Because of corruption at even the highest ends of Iran’s government and law enforcement structure, these abuses often go unpunished.
The regime in Iran also sends a considerable amount of money to its various terrorist groups in the Middle East, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Iran’s chief export — oil — brings in money for the regime to send to its actors in the region.
Iranian oil revenues fell sharply under the former Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Iran. However, in recent years under the Biden-Harris administration’s foreign policy and eased sanctions, Iran has made tens of billions in additional revenues.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
The Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance Tuesday designating the city as a “sanctuary city” following President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan.
This measure prevents the use of local resources for immigration enforcement and prohibits city agencies from sharing information about undocumented residents with federal immigration authorities, according to The Associated Press. The council voted unanimously, aligning Los Angeles with numerous cities across the U.S. that have adopted similar policies.
The ordinance will undergo a second council vote for procedural reasons as Mayor Karen Bass, who has expressed support for the initiative, holds veto power but is unlikely to use it, AP reported. Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez pointed out the city’s firm stance against cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
🚨 President-Elect Trump has named Tom Homan as Border Czar. pic.twitter.com/XNfp4to0Ev
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 11, 2024
“We’re going to send a very clear message that the city of Los Angeles will not cooperate with ICE in any way,” Soto-Martinez said. “We want people to feel protected and be able to have faith in their government and that women can report domestic violence crimes.”
Soto-Martinez also noted that many immigrants without legal status are integral to the community, working in roles such as housekeepers, nannies, and cooks, AP reported. While the ordinance highlights the city’s values, critics argue that Los Angeles already refrains from cooperating with federal immigration agencies, suggesting the policy may not bring significant operational changes.
Trump announced that former acting ICE Director Tom Homan will take on the role of border czar in his upcoming administration. Homan will oversee border operations, including deportations, security at land and sea entry points, and aviation safety measures.
Trump revealed Monday that he plans to declare a national emergency and deploy military resources to execute his mass deportation agenda. He confirmed reports from Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton, who claimed the administration is ready to use emergency powers to address what he called the “Biden invasion.”
Daily Caller
“I know three families that have gone to Canada.”: Locals Say Haitians Are Hoofing It Out Of Springfield After Trump Win
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
‘They Are Afraid’
Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio appear to be fleeing the city in droves after President-elect Donald Trump was declared the winner of the election, according to reports from locals.
The national spotlight shined on Springfield, a city of roughly 60,000 residents nestled in central Ohio, for weeks following unverified viral online claims that Haitians migrants had been spotted butchering a pet for consumption. The subsequent uproar about Springfield sparked further media debate about mass migration and its consequences, as Springfield has been dealing with an influx of Haitian migrants in a relatively short amount of time.
“The traffic situation seems to be better now,” longtime resident Barron Seelig said to the Daily Caller News Foundation, referring to widespread accounts from city residents in past months that Haitian drivers are causing mayhem on the roads.
While Seelig did speak about local rumors of impending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids possibly scaring Haitians away, he also mentioned recent crackdowns by highway patrol officers and added that some migrants are leaving because they don’t enjoy the Ohio winters. Another Springfield local told the DCNF that he heard it was virtually impossible to rent a U-Haul truck because so many Haitians are currently renting them — presumably to leave town.
Those who provide services to immigrant services in the city have also said that Trump’s election victory has prompted Haitians to flee en masse.
“Some folks don’t have credit cards or access to the internet, and they want to buy a bus ticket or a plane ticket, so we help them book a flight,” Margery Koveleski, who helps Haitian migrants manage government bureaucracy, told The Guardian. “People are leaving.”
“People are fully aware of the election result, and that is why they are leaving; they are afraid of a mass deportation” Jason Payen, a co-founder of the Haitian Community Alliance, said to the Guardian.
“Several of my customers have left. One guy with his family went to New Jersey; others have gone to Boston,” Payen continued. “I know three families that have gone to Canada.”
Trump, for his part, has vowed to embark on a border enforcement agenda that will apply to the entire country.
During the campaign, Trump pledged to continue building the U.S.-Mexico border wall, revive the Remain in Mexico program, hire more border patrol agents and conduct the “largest deportation program in American history,” and end birthright citizenship for those born on U.S. soil to illegal migrant parents.
Trump said in October that he would revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals and “bring them back” to the country. The Biden-Harris administration has provided TPS — which temporarily gives deportation protections to its designees — to hundreds of thousands of Haitian nationals currently living in the U.S.
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