Today, the mullahs in Iran will hold their 12th presidential election.  Before you hear what the mainstream media might suggest, let's remember what this is first: the election of Iran's Number Two.  The power of the president remains secondary to that of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who is an unelected head of state. Nevertheless, the office of the president is powerful, and only the most faithful of the mullahs' loyalists ever reach it.  The presidential race is between incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, seeking a second term in office, with 3,000 executions during his tenure, and Ebrahim Raisi, the candidate closest to the supreme leader, who was part of a tribunal that oversaw the execution of 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988.  Raisi is also the preferred candidate of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It's a rigged election, and the winner will be a mullah loyalist, but there is also an authentic...(Read Full Post)