Blue Horseshoe

Israel-Gaza violence: The strength and limitations of Hamas' arsenal .....Hamas and Islamic Jihad, though the weaker parties, have weapons enough with which to attack Israel.....But by far and away the most significant weaponry in the Palestinians' arsenal is their wide variety of ground-to-ground missiles. Some of these (along with other systems employed like the Kornet guided anti-tank missiles used during recent days), are believed to have been smuggled in through tunnels from Egypt's Sinai peninsula.....But by far the bulk of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad arsenals come from a dynamic and relatively sophisticated manufacturing capability inside the Gaza Strip itself. Israeli and outside experts believe that Iranian know-how and assistance have played a significant role in building up this industry. Accordingly, weapons manufacturing and storage sites have been among the chief targets of the Israeli strikes.... ......While the names and designations of specific missiles can be a bit confusing, Hamas has a huge inventory of shorter-range systems like the Qassam (up to 10km or 6 miles) and the Quds 101 (up to about 16km); bolstered by the Grad system (up to 55km); and the Sejil 55 (up to 55km). These probably make up the bulk of its inventory and for the shortest ranges can be bolstered by mortar fire......But Hamas also operates a variety of longer-range systems like the M-75 (up to 75km); the Fajr (up to 100km); the R-160 (up to 120km); and some M-302s which have a range of up to 200km. So it is clear that Hamas has weapons that can target both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and threaten the whole coastal strip which contains the greatest density of Israel's population and critical infrastructure.... Armed drones have been used for the first time by Hamas to take out Israel's most well-defended tank, the Merkava IV. According to Hamas, these weapons were obtained through clandestine means, bypassing military bases, and aviation and maritime patrols. While Hamas maintains close alliance with Iran and Syria, it has also procured arms, including Fajr-3, Fajr-5, Iranian R-160, and M302 rockets. They also have drones, anti-tank missiles and shoulder-launched rockets. Plans are underway to acquire Chinese C-704 missiles, anti-ship missiles with a range of 35 kilometres (21 miles) and radar systems for guided missiles. Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, with estimates of its stockpile ranging from 80 to 200 warheads. According to the Arms Control Center, Israel has approximately 90 plutonium-based nuclear warheads, with enough plutonium production capacity for 100-200 weapons. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that Israel has around 80 nuclear weapons, of which 30 are gravity bombs designed for delivery by aircraft and the remaining 50 are intended for deployment via Jericho II medium-range ballistic missiles. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57092245

Twitter fueled attacks on Muslim candidates in 2018, study finds .....Muslim candidates, including Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, endured torrents of hateful, xenophobic and threatening tweets during last year’s campaign season, much of it amplified through bots and other fake accounts, according to a study to be released Tuesday.....The study, by the Social Science Research Council, analyzed 113,000 Twitter messages directed at Muslim candidates. The tweets called the candidates “dogs” and “pieces of garbage” and accused them of marrying siblings, being terrorists and seeking to impose the values of a “demonic” faith on Americans..... ....“Death threats, incitement to violence, and hateful conduct have no place on Twitter,” said company spokeswoman Katie Rosborough after reviewing an advanced copy of the report. “We believe this behavior undermines freedom of expression and the power of healthy public conversation. People using their accounts to spread this type of content will face enforcement action.”.....Omar complained publicly Sunday about the threats against her life on Twitter by retweeting a compilation of them and saying, “Twitter this is unacceptable!” That prompted talks between her office and the company.....Tlaib (D-Mich.) said: “Sadly, the SSRC report on Islamophobia online during the 2018 campaign is not surprising — anyone who has ever read my Twitter mentions and replies has already seen the level of hate that exists online.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/twitter-fueled-attacks-on-muslim-candidates-in-2018-study-finds/2019/11/04/be0bf432-ff51-11e9-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html

Ilhan Omar stokes outrage with plea against sending US weapons to back ‘war crime’ in Israel .....Rep. Ilhan Omar elicited outrage Monday with a public entreaty for the US to shift from giving Israel “unconditional weapons sales and military aid” to diplomacy.....“The Israeli Defense Minister has called Palestinians ‘human animals’ and promised to cut off all electricity, all food, and all fuel to civilians in Gaza,” Omar wrote in a lengthy threat on X, formerly Twitter.....“This is collective punishment, a war crime, and the U.S. should oppose any violations of international law if we truly support a rules-based international order,” she continued.....The 41-year-old congresswoman who’s long been a vocal critic of Israel’s settlement policies and defender of the Palestinians, further argued, “the solution to this horror, as ever, is a negotiated peace.” ......“Instead of continuing unconditional weapons sales and military aid to Israel, I urge the United States at long last to use its diplomatic might to push for peace,” she stressed.....Omar became the first female Muslim elected to the House of Representatives alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in 2019....Tlaib, the first Palestinian member of the lower chamber, described Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians as an “apartheid system” on Sunday while emphasizing that she grieves both the “Palestinian and Israeli lives lost.”....“The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance,” Tlaib said.... https://nypost.com/2023/10/09/ilhan-omar-stokes-outrage-with-plea-against-sending-us-weapons-to-back-war-crime-in-israel/

Rep. Rashida Tlaib denounces ‘violent reality’ of Israeli ‘apartheid’ — but fails to condemn Hamas ....Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Sunday blasted Israel’s “occupation” policies while saying she grieves those killed as violence engulfed the region following Hamas’ unprecedented incursion from Gaza......Tlaib — the first Palestinian-American sworn into Congress back in 2019 — issued the statement slamming Israel as an “apartheid” state after some of her fellow “Squad” members sparked controversy Saturday for urging a ceasefire in the Middle East. “I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day. I am determined as ever to fight for a just future where everyone can live in peace, without fear and with true freedom, equal rights, and human dignity,” Tlaib said. “The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.” Tlaib did not condemn the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which launched a sneak attack involving a barrage of thousands of rockets and a ground assault into Israel on Saturday — sparking retaliatory strikes by the US ally and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare the country was at “war.”......“As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue,” Tlaib added.... https://nypost.com/2023/10/08/rashida-tlaib-denounces-violent-reality-of-israeli-apartheid-grieves-violence/

Egypt intelligence official says Israel ignored repeated warnings of ‘something big’ ......Mounting questions over Israel’s massive intelligence failure to anticipate and prepare for a surprise Hamas assault were compounded Monday when an Egyptian intelligence official said that Jerusalem had ignored repeated warnings that the Gaza-based terror group was planning “something big” — which included an apparent direct notice from Cairo’s intelligence minister to the prime minister.....He said Israeli officials were focused on the West Bank and played down the threat from Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is made up of supporters of West Bank settlers who have demanded a security crackdown there in the face of a rising tide of violence over the last 18 months. “We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the content of sensitive intelligence discussions with the media, told The Associated Press. Netanyahu denied receiving any such advance warning, saying in the course of an address to the nation Monday night that the story was “fake news.”......“No early message came from Egypt and the prime minister did not speak or meet with the intelligence chief since the establishment of the government — not indirectly or directly,” his office said in a statement earlier in the day.....In one of the said warnings, Egypt’s Intelligence Minister General Abbas Kamel personally called Netanyahu only 10 days before the massive attack that Gazans were likely to do “something unusual, a terrible operation.....” .....Israel’s intelligence agencies have gained an aura of invincibility over the decades because of a string of achievements. Israel has foiled plots seeded in the West Bank, allegedly hunted down Hamas operatives in Dubai and has been accused of killing Iranian nuclear scientists in the heart of Iran. Even when their efforts have stumbled, agencies like the Mossad, Shin Bet and military intelligence have maintained their mystique. “This is a major failure,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This operation actually proves that the [intelligence] abilities in Gaza were no good.” .....“The other side learned to deal with our technological dominance and they stopped using technology that could expose it,” said Avivi, who served as a conduit for intelligence materials under a former military chief of staff. Avivi is president and founder of Israel Defense and Security Forum, a hawkish group of former military commanders.......“They’ve gone back to the Stone Age,” he said, explaining that terrorists weren’t using phones or computers and were conducting their sensitive business in rooms specially guarded from technological espionage or going underground..... https://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-intelligence-official-says-israel-ignored-repeated-warnings-of-something-big/

This is correct. But there is context. Multiple hostile nations against US interests and the safety and security of this country have sleeper cells embedded within our population. 1) However many are compromised. Not all though. Just being in the "West" is a corrupting factor. This culture isn't just poison to many actual Americans, it's slow poison to those who unintentionally assimilate, even those who started as hostile actors. 2) There is an informal understanding of a "legacy" retribution order for terrorists now. If you attack America on American soil, our intelligence agencies will hard ID you, then contractors will wipe out your entire family overseas. All of them. It's the most effective insurance policy that the US quietly has to date, and it's one of the reasons that another major terror attack hasn't happened since 9/11 3) It's close to impossible to bring a suitcase nuke into this country and not have it detected at some point. Chemical weapons are a larger threat. Someone attacking a nuclear power plan by force and with platoon strength, then causing it to go critical is another larger threat. Also many of the power players overseas who are funding terrorism, their children and some of their family live in the US. It's possible. The world is in a bad place, a very bad place right now, but there's a reason it hasn't happened more often. The fracture signs are troubling though looking at overall foreign policy.

Iran sends deadly message to Biden with Hamas attack on Israel ....Regardless of whether Iran plotted and ordered the massive Hamas attack against Israel over the weekend, Tehran’s backing and support for the Palestinian militant group sends a clear and defiant message to Washington. The U.S. has yet to confirm a direct involvement from Tehran in the operation, but officials acknowledge Iranians are indirectly complicit in training, funding and supporting Hamas. The Hamas invasion, the worst attack on Israel in 50 years, shows Tehran is increasingly willing to damage U.S. allies and, in effect, try to weaken American influence through proxy groups. It comes as Iran’s influence as a regional power appears on the rise. Jonathan Spyer, the director of research at the Middle East Forum, said Iran seeks to defeat Israel with a strategy of “death by a thousand cuts.” ......“They intend to reduce the morale of Israelis, to cause Israelis to lose faith in their institutions, to cause Israelis to quit Israel,” said Spyer. “That’s the reason why they’re backing Hamas. That’s the reason why they created Hezbollah. They intend to try to surround Israel with what we would call hybrid military forces.” Iran has denied any role in the brutal surprise attack by Hamas but has welcomed the news, reportedly with celebrations of what Iranians are calling a Palestinian victory. Both Hamas and Iran have publicly acknowledged a strategic partnership. They hold separate goals in the decades-long conflict with Jerusalem, but those aims appear to have aligned during the early Saturday attack, which has left hundreds dead in Israel and fighting still flaring up in the south near Gaza. Iran has for years been fighting a shadow war against Israel through proxy groups, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and others. Tehran considers Israel an American client state, hostile to Muslims......Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, has suffered from corruption and domestic turmoil as relations with Israel have worsened with the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has expanded settlements into the Israeli-occupied West Bank and cracked down against militant groups....Amid Israel’s domestic strife, Hamas wanted to display strength and put the Palestinian movement back on the international stage, said Matthew Levitt, the director of counterterrorism and intelligence at the Washington Institute for Far East Policy.....“They saw an Israel they believed was weak, and they wanted to do something that would demonstrate that Israel is not 10 feet tall,” he said. “It was showing that it could happen, that Israel is not invincible and that you can’t ignore Hamas.” https://thehill.com/policy/international/4246378-iran-hamas-fighting-proxy-war-israe/

Americans among hostages taken by Hamas, Israeli ambassador says ......Americans are among the hostages taken into Gaza by Hamas, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog confirmed Sunday.....Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, launched an unprecedented attack on Israel early Saturday morning, killing hundreds and kidnapping others. The massive incursion came a day after Israel marked the 50th anniversary of the surprise invasion on Yom Kippur, up until now the worst surprise attacks.... .....The Saturday morning incursion caught Israel and its allies completely by surprise, as Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel and dozens of heavily armed gunmen mowed down a barrier along Israel’s southern border; some also entered by air and sea. Israel began tracking down the invaders and then launching retaliatory air strikes on targets in Gaza shortly after. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday morning that it was likely that Americans were among those killed and kidnapped.....“..... At the same time, there are reports of missing Americans and, there again, we’re working to verify those reports,” Blinken said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/08/americans-hostages-hamas-israel-00120521

Here is a timeline of the clashes between Palestinian militants and Israel. Here is a summary of the main events of the conflict, which spans two centuries. On several occasions this year, hundreds of Israeli forces carried out military raids in the Palestinian city of Jenin. In January, a Palestinian man killed seven people outside a synagogue in East Jerusalem. After a spate of terrorist attacks in Israeli cities in 2022, Israeli forces killed at least 166 Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In May 2021, the Israeli police raided Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third-holiest site in Islam, which set off an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas that killed more than 200 Palestinians and more than 10 Israelis. In 2018, at least 170 Palestinians were killed as Israel responded to protests along the barrier fence that separates Gaza and Israel. In 2014, Hamas kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers, prompting attacks from Israel, and rocket launches from Gaza, in a conflict that killed more than 1,881 Palestinians and more than 60 Israelis. In November 2012, Israel killed Ahmed al-Jabari, Hamas’s military chief, setting off more than a week of an exchange of fire in which more than 150 Palestinians and at least six Israelis are killed. In January 2009, Israel and Palestinian groups declared unilateral cease-fires, then Israel withdrew from Gaza, and redeployed to the strip’s perimeter. In response to rocket fire from Gaza, Israel launched an attack on Hamas targets in December 2008 that killed 200 Palestinians. Shortly after, they opened a ground war against Hamas. In total, 1,200 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. In January 2006, about a year after the death of the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, the co-founder of the paramilitary organization Fatah, Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary election. One year later, Hamas seized control of Gaza, routing the Fatah forces. In September 2005, Israeli troops pulled out of Gaza, but Israel came under criticism for restricting the movement of Palestinians coming in and out of the strip. In September 2000, a few months after negotiations between Israel and Palestine reached an impasse at Camp David, a Second Intifada began, with Palestinian youth throwing stones at the Israeli police. Support for Hamas continued to grow within Palestine because of its readiness to fight Israel. In 1997, two suicide bomb attacks killed 27 people, and Israel’s prime minister, Shimon Peres, said he would wage an incessant war against Hamas. In 1993, Mr. Arafat signed the Oslo accords with Israel, and committed to negotiating an end to the conflict based on a two-state solution. Hamas, which opposed the deal, launched a series of suicide bombings in Israel. In December 1987, Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza started the First Intifada against Israel. Muslim Brotherhood members founded Hamas. On March 26, 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty at the White House which led to Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. The two countries agreed on the framework of an agreement to allow for self-rule for Palestinians living in occupied territories. Three years later, President Reagan expressed his support for their full autonomy with some Jordanian supervision, but Israel rejected the plan. On Yom Kippur in October 1973, invading forces from Egypt and Syria tried to persuade Israel to negotiate better terms for the Arab countries. Nearly 2,700 Israeli soldiers died in the 19-day war and thousands were injured out of a population of about three million at the time. In June 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israel gained control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. In January 1957, Israel withdrew from Egyptian land, except from the Gaza Strip and the area of the Gulf of Aqaba, arguing that the Gaza Strip never belonged to Egypt. In October 1956, a few months after the Egyptian president nationalized the Suez Canal waterway, cutting off Israel from shipping, Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. In November that year, the United Nations called for Britain, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Egypt. In 1949, the newly created State of Israel signed a series of truces with Arab countries that had declared war on it. Under the 1949 agreements, the Gaza Strip was under Egypt’s control. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/07/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-conflict-timeline.html

Just put him on "ignore" He's like Tim, he doesn't mean anything he says, he's just here to cause problems for the sake of causing problems.

Great thread @Patented Phil , I'll also contribute to it. If Jasper Wu was black instead, or his parents wanted to "transition" him, how much different would this outcome be?

Dems pressure White House to change economic message .....President Joe Biden placed a big bet that he could sell an improving economy under the banner of “Bidenomics.”......Three months later, some allied Democrats fear he’s made a serious misstep. Several top Biden allies have privately raised concerns about the phrase to the White House, according to two people familiar with the backchanneling......“With all due respect to the president, to the White House, this is not so much about them as it is the people who are benefiting by the policies that they came out and demanded,” said Horsford (D-Nev.). “We have to do a better job framing this not so much for one person — for the office of the presidency — but for the people.....” ......The rising cost of living remains a dominant theme in voters’ minds...... And so far, the Bidenomics drumbeat that began earlier this summer has yet to prove it can change their minds......“At this point, Bidenomics doesn’t really have strong answers to people’s biggest worries,” said Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist Democratic think tank. “.....But the administration’s case for patience is no longer masking the angst within the party that Bidenomics as a brand is falling flat — and perhaps is a microcosm of larger obstacles facing the coming campaign. An administration with accomplishments to sell has struggled to do so. A president who wants more credit for his work may, Democrats worry, be alienating voters by appearing insulated from their real life struggles.... .....In more than a dozen interviews across the party, Democrats offered various defenses and diagnoses of the administration’s messaging strategy and what may need to change. But nearly all acknowledged that the Bidenomics messaging blitz has failed to brighten voters’ view of the economy to date. Some now bemoan that the White House has tied itself so closely to a future economic trajectory .........“I’ve never understood why you would brand an economy in your name when the economy hasn’t fully recovered yet,” said Michael LaRosa, a former spokesperson for first lady Jill Biden. “People need to be able to see and feel an economy in their own personal bank accounts. And it doesn’t change no matter how loud you scream the economy is better.....” .......“The place where economic confidence is faltering most is with the base of the Democratic Party — so it’s among young people, among African Americans and Latinos,” said Republican pollster Micah Roberts, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies who handled the economic questions in the bipartisan NBC poll. “There’s a disconnect between the two or three months of [the Bidenomics] campaign and what people are actually feeling.....” https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/29/white-house-bidenomics-failure-00118949

The Hypocrisy of Mandatory Diversity Statements .....John D. Haltigan sued the University of California at Santa Cruz in May. He wants to work there as a professor of psychology. But he alleges that its hiring practices violate the First Amendment by imposing an ideological litmus test on prospective hires: To be considered, an applicant must submit a statement detailing their contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion......According to the lawsuit, Haltigan believes in “colorblind inclusivity,” “viewpoint diversity,” and “merit-based evaluation”—all ideas that could lead to a low-scoring statement based on the starting rubric UC Santa Cruz publishes online to help guide prospective applicants.....“To receive a high score under the terms set by the rubric,” the complaint alleges, “an applicant must express agreement with specific socio-political ideas, including the view that treating individuals differently based on their race or sex is desirable.” Thus, the lawsuit argues, Haltigan must express ideas with which he disagrees to have a chance of getting hired... ......UC Santa Cruz’s requirement is part of a larger trend: Almost half of large colleges now include DEI criteria in tenure standards, while the American Enterprise Institute found that 19 percent of academic job postings required DEI statements, which were required more frequently at elite institutions. Still, there is significant opposition to the practice. A 2022 survey of nearly 1,500 U.S. faculty members found that 50 percent of respondents considered the statements “an ideological litmus test that violates academic freedom.” And the Academic Freedom Alliance, a group composed of faculty members with a wide range of political perspectives, argues that diversity statements erase “the distinction between academic expertise and ideological conformity” and create scenarios “inimical to fundamental values that should govern academic life......” ....In 2020, at the height of the racial reckoning that followed George Floyd’s murder, voters in deep-blue California reaffirmed race neutrality by an even wider margin. This continued to block the UC system’s preferred approach, which was to increase diversity in hiring by considering, not disregarding, applicants’ race. Indeed, the insistence on nondiscrimination by California voters has long been regarded with hostility by many UC system administrators. Rewarding contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion is partly their attempt to increase racial diversity among professors in a way that does not violate the law..... Around 2005, the UC system began to change how it evaluated professors. As ever, they would be judged based on teaching, research, and service. But the system-wide personnel manual was updated with a novel provision: Job candidates who showed that they promoted “diversity and equal opportunity” in teaching, research, or service could get credit for doing so.... ......What began as an option to highlight work that advanced “diversity and equal opportunity” morphed over time into mandatory statements on contributions to “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” The shift circa 2018 from the possibility of credit for something to a forced accounting of it was important. So was the shift from the widely shared value of equal opportunity to equity (a contested and controversial concept with no widely agreed-upon meaning) and inclusion. The bundled triad of DEI is typically justified by positing that hiring a racially and ethnically diverse faculty or admitting a diverse student body is not enough—for the institution and everyone in it to thrive, the best approach (in this telling) is to treat some groups differently than others to account for structural disadvantages they suffer and to make sure everyone feels welcome, hence “inclusion.....” .....Perhaps the most extreme developments in the UC system’s use of DEI statements are taking place on the Davis, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, and Riverside campuses, where pilot programs treat mandatory diversity statements not as one factor among many in an overall evaluation of candidates, but as a threshold test. In other words, if a group of academics applied for jobs, their DEI statements would be read and scored, and only applicants with the highest DEI statement scores would make it to the next round. The others would never be evaluated on their research, teaching, or service. This is a revolutionary change in how to evaluate professors.....When UC Berkeley hired for life-sciences jobs through its pilot program, Ortner reports, 679 qualified applicants were eliminated based on their DEI statements alone. “Seventy-six percent of qualified applicants were rejected without even considering their teaching skills, their publication history, their potential for academic excellence, or their ability to contribute to their field,” he wrote. “As far as the university knew, these applicants could have well been the next Albert Einstein or Jonas Salk......” .....Mandatory DEI statements send the message that it’s okay for academics to chill the speech of colleagues. If half of faculty members believe that diversity statements are ideological litmus tests, fear of failing the test will chill free expression within a large cohort, even if they are wrong. Shouldn’t that alone make the half of academics who support these statements rethink their stance?.....And mandatory DEI statements send the message that viewpoint diversity and dissent are neither valuable nor necessary—that if you’ve identified the right values, a monoculture in support of them is preferable. The scoring rubric for evaluating candidates’ statements that UC Santa Cruz published declares that a superlative statement “discusses diversity, equity, and inclusion as core values of the University that every faculty member should actively contribute to advancing.” Do academics really want to assert that any value should be held by “every” faculty member?.... I do not want California voters to strip the UC system of more of its ability to self-govern, but if this hypocrisy inspires a reformist ballot initiative, administrators will deserve it, regardless of what the judiciary decides about whether they are violating the First Amendment..... https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/hypocrisy-mandatory-diversity-statements/674611/