Trump is having a horrible week and further chirps will adress. I will try to hold my glee in check. However, there is another news story that has pretty well been drowned out by the Trump fiasco. Though I am sure the coverage will increase.

One of my male gender’s many faults is that we tend to underestimate the power of women. At one time, Republicans were expected to win an overwhelming majority in Congress, come the November midterms. Then the Republican leaning Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe vs Wade. Some male Republicans have even tried to double down on this, such as Lindsey Graham promoting a nation wide ban on abortions over 15 weeks. The state rights Republicans. Women have responded. Female voter registrations are up substantially. Kansas happened. Now there is talk that the Democrats might actually carry the House in November

The person above is Mahsa Amini. An Iranian woman, aged 22. She was arrested by the Iranian morality police on September 13. Under Iran’s Sharia law, women are obliged to cover their hair with a hijab and to wear loose fitting clothing, to hide their bodies. Mahsa was arrested because she had hair showing under her hijab. She was taken into detention, collapsed soon after, fell into a coma and died three days later. There is evidence that she was severely beaten. Her family claims that she had no health problems, at all, before she was arrested.

There have been riots since then, with riots occurring in over 50 cities and ten reported deaths, so far. The authorities have started shutting down the internet, certain cell phone networks and have begun restricting access to Instagram, Iran’s only majot social merdia site. Women have played a significant role in the protests, waving and burning their veils and some cutting their hair in public. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard are urging the judiciary to arrest anyone spreading “false news”. (sound familiar Donnie, Vlad?)

Like abortion rights where the Roe vs Wade decision had been in effect for 50 years, women, in Iran, wore westernized clothing, including mini skirts, until the Iranian Revolution, in 1979. Once you have a right, it is impossible to take it away ,without consequences. Iran has had protests before and they have been quashed brutally. It may happen again. This time, though, they are intent on quashing the protests of an entire gender, and their supporters. Mahsa’s funeral is on Sunday.