The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."
Twitter Files show that the FBI previously worked with Twitter employees and flagged specific tweets and accounts
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
is responding to Twitter Files revealing that the agency regularly
contacted employees at the social media giant to notify them of accounts
that "may" constitute violations of the company's terms of service.
FBI officials told Fox News that the agency didn't ask Twitter
employees to "take action" based on the information provided, and said
the information was provided so that Twitter employees can make a
determination on whether to take action.
"We are providing it so
that they can take whatever action they deem appropriate under their
terms of service to protect their platform and protect their customers,
but we never direct or ask them to take action," the FBI officials said.
Substack
writer and journalist Matt Taibbi tweeted multiple internal files
between Twitter workers and FBI employees as part of the sixth
installment of the Twitter Files.
A split image of an FBI agent in an official windbreaker and the Twitter logo on a blue screen.
(iStock and AP Photo/Gregory Bull, respectively)
"Hello
Twitter contacts, FBI San Francisco is notifying you of the below
accounts which may potentially constitute violations of Twitter's Terms
of Service for any action or inaction deemed appropriate within Twitter
policy," one email FBI employee wrote in an email on Nov. 10.
In the email, an FBI employee listed several Twitter accounts which might violate the social media company's terms of service.
“HELLO TWITTER CONTACTS”: The master-canine quality of the FBI’s relationship to Twitter comes through in this November 2022 email, in which “FBI San Francisco is notifying you” it wants action on four accounts: pic.twitter.com/LjgB6fxENo
A Twitter employee responded that three of the four accounts were
suspended, and asked someone else at the company to review the fourth
account flagged by the FBI for "possible civic misinformation."
Taibbi said that one of the accounts tweeted on Nov. 8, "I want to remind republicans to vote tomorrow, Wednesday November 9."
One
of the emails shared by Taibbi shows the "Public Sector Engagement
Squad" at FBI's San Francisco office notifying Twitter employees of
"account activities" that "potentially constitute violations of
Twitter's Terms of Service."
Another tweet flagged by the FBI states, "Americans, Vote today. Democrats you vote Wednesday 9th."
The FBI is responding to Twitter Files, revealing that the agency
regularly contacted employees at the social media giant to notify them
of accounts that "may" constitute violations of the company's terms of
service.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
An FBI employee
wrote in an email that one user "claimed in her posts that she is a
ballot counter in her state and, in additional posts, states, 'For every
negative comment on this post, I'm adding another vote for the
democrats' and 'If you're not wearing a mask, I'm not counting your
vote.'"
Taibbi said that the tweet from the user claiming to be a ballot counter was satirical.
Twitter's
former Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker was told in one email shared by
independent journalist Michael Shellenberger that the company has
collected $3,415,323 from the FBI.
46. The FBI’s influence campaign may have been helped by the fact that it was paying Twitter millions of dollars for its staff time.
“I am happy to report we have collected $3,415,323 since October 2019!” reports an associate of Jim Baker in early 2021. pic.twitter.com/SmNse97QxK
"Jim, FYI, in 2019 SCALE instituted a reimbursement program for our
legal process response from the FBI. Prior to the start of the program,
Twitter chose not to collect under this statutory right of reimbursement
for the time spent processing requests from the FBI," a former Twitter
employee wrote. "I am happy to report we have collected $3,415,323 since
October 2019! This money is used by LP for things like the TTR and
other LE-related projects (LE training, tooling, etc.)."
The FBI official didn't deny the multimillion-dollar payment
to Twitter, but said it was a "reimbursement" for the "reasonable costs
and expenses associated with their response to a legal process…for
complying with legal requests, and a standard procedure."
However,
the FBI official said, "We don’t just reimburse Twitter," suggesting
that the FBI has reimbursed other social media platforms as well.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation emblem is seen on the headquarters building in Washington D.C, on Oct. 20, 2022.
(Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The
FBI officials also said that they didn't give Twitter employees
"specific instructions or details regarding the Hunter Biden laptop
story."
When asked if the FBI used back channel communications
with Twitter employees to suppress or spike the Hunter Biden laptop
story, the FBI officials said "We did no request anything of the sort.."
"We
focus on activities attributed to foreign actors, not on the content or
narrative," the FBI officials said when asked if the agency provided no
information to Twitter employees directly or indirectly, or regarding
Russian influence and Hunter Biden.
In a statement shared with Fox
News, an FBI spokesperson said, "The correspondence between the FBI and
Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional,
longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector
engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and
industries. As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides
critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to
protect themselves and their customers."
"The men and women of
the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate
that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public
misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the
agency," the spokesperson added.
Jake Gibson , Adam Sabes
Jake Gibson is the Fox News Department of Justice and Federal Law Enforcement Producer
Thanks to its new owner Elon Musk, the “Twitter Files” have been making the rounds, revealing just what kind of relationship the social media giant has with the bureau.
Things have not been good for the Federal Bureau of Investigation this year.
Thanks to its new owner Elon Musk, the
“Twitter Files” have been making the rounds, revealing just what kind of
relationship the social media giant has with the bureau. Apparently the
two had “constant and pervasive” communications, with the FBI treating
Twitter as a “subsidiary.” In other words, they were making note of
accounts and tweets that needed to be taken action against.
That
aligns with reports about surveillance on citizens and infringing on
free speech rights in a number of ways -- all in the name of “justice.”
Republicans
are working on getting hold of these “Twitter Files,” in hopes of being
able to get several subpoenas against both the FBI and the Department
of Justice. Leading this charge is Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who will
soon be the chairman for the House Intelligence Committee.
Speaking with Fox News on a recent episode of Sunday Morning Futures,
he stated, “We are definitely pursuing the Department of Justice and
also the FBI. We certainly intend to pursue subpoena power to expose the
extent to which the FBI has been doing this.”
“While
we pursue the intelligence community to try to hold them accountable,
while we’re doing that, Elon Musk is showing what’s happening on the
other side with the willing partners, the mainstream media, social
media, and really exposing coordination that was occurring between the
FBI and them,” he continued.
And how. With Republicans set to take
back the House next month, it appears they can finally get things
moving as far as taking a closer look at what the FBI is really doing.
Turner believes that, by attaining these files, “we can cut off the
funding and prevent, obviously, average Americans being impacted by FBI
actions.”
But this goes much deeper than that. “The FBI... under
the cover of saying they were pursuing foreign malign influence, had
really exploded into activities that involved engaging with mainstream
media and social media, and really impacting what is the normal debate
of democracy. What’s really troubling here in my opinion is this is not
based on intelligence.”
I agree wholeheartedly. When you have a
bureau that’s taking actions that could very well infringe the law that
they’re sworn to uphold – for the sake of surveilling who they see
as troublesome individuals -- it can’t be considered justice in the
least. And with so many employees leaving and explaining the absolute
hell they went through in their time there, I can’t help but wonder what
director Christopher Wray and their team are really up to.
But,
honestly, this whole Twitter “partnership” just feels next level.
Imagine the FBI being able to sort through your tweets and decide what
seems fit and what doesn’t. Without your say, and, for that matter,
without the say of Twitter. Is that free speech? Is that really about
delivering justice? Finding actual threats is one thing. But simply
looking for someone who might be a troublesome factor when they’re not
doing anything? That’s something else entirely.
We’ll have to wait
a few weeks, past the Christmas season, to see what the House Committee
does next. But it’s about time that we took a microscope to the FBI’s
actions and get a closer look at what’s happening there. Because who
knows? They might be “working” with other social media groups as well,
combing over pictures just because they feel like it.
The sooner we get the FBI in order, the better. Now that’s a holiday gift I can certainly get behind.
Michael Letts is the Founder, President, and CEO of InVest USA, a national
grassroots non-profit organization that is helping hundreds of
communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police
forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and
fundraising programs. He also has over 30 years of law enforcement
experience under his belt, hence his pro-police stance for his brothers
and sisters in blue. Those interested in learning more about Letts can
visit his official website here.
"Much of the intelligence collection effort consequently is focused on micro-targeting of individuals"
Countries, including allies, routinely spy on each other. That’s not
news. The question is what do they hope to gain by it? Often some form
of information. Some allies spy on each other because they possess
information about mutual enemies and aren’t sharing it. Others because they’re enemies rather than allies.
The opening of the Newsweek article states that, “Preparing for any
potential war against Iran, the Biden administration has formally
elevated Israel in military planning. Israel’s changed status comes as
the U.S. military refocuses from the ‘war on terror’ to potential combat
with the big four—China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. As Israel has
become a full-fledged military partner, the U.S. intelligence community
is also putting more emphasis on its Hebrew language program to spy on
its number-one Mideast ally.”
It’s easy to elevate Israel’s role in military planning when…
1. The Biden administration is dead set on not fighting a war against Iran anyway.
2. The primary reason for the military keeping Israel at a distance
were the objections from the Saudis. That is no longer a factor. If
anything, bringing Israel in is meant to neutralize the possibility of
some independent Israeli-Arab action against Iran.
The ‘tell’ here is that the Biden administration is doubling efforts to spy on Israel. Why?
Israel is consistently at the top of U.S. intelligence priorities.
Israel is a world military leader and an expert in many forms of
modern warfare—air and missile defense, directed energy weapons such as
lasers, and unmanned systems—that the Pentagon perceives are crucial in
any future battle. Israel possesses nuclear weapons and has unilateral
policies and plans against its adversaries that are of interest to the
top decision-makers in Washington.
Israel’s weapons technology isn’t an issue here. Israeli defense
contractors are eager to work with their U.S. counterparts. A big reason
for what’s often labeled as foreign aid to Israel is that the defense
industries of both countries are entangled. And technologies like
certain kinds of drones or missile defense systems are developed and
tested in Israel before being adopted by the U.S. defense industry.
The latter is more accurate.
The Obama administration aggressively amped up spying on Israel in
order to gain early information on any Israeli attack plans against Iran
in order to sabotage them as it did on at least one occasion.
That’s what the Biden administration is also obsessed with.
Functionally, the Biden administration is spying on Israel for Iran.
The
NSA—responsible for signals intelligence—currently has some 250 Hebrew
linguists who translate secure Israel government dispatches, military
communications, and highly targeted cell phone traffic. A significant
number also monitor and analyze Israeli press, social media and other
open source communications in Hebrew. (Hundreds more Hebrew linguists
work under contract, both at the NSA and other intelligence agencies,
assisting government employees and members of the armed services.)
By 2025,
according to intelligence sources, the number of qualified military
Hebrew linguists is programmed to double. That number is increasing,
according to intelligence documents and government sources, partly to
service the increased cooperation.
English is widely
spoken in Israel. Anyone detailed to work with the United States is
going to speak English even if it’s rough or with an accent. Anything
provided to the United States can easily be translated into English and
likely is. A whole lot of extra Hebrew linguists aren’t needed for a
cooperative relationship.
For that matter this
is true of most countries. A whole lot more people abroad speak English
than Americans speak foreign languages that aren’t Spanish. Rushing
linguists isn’t a matter of being able to communicate with opposite
numbers.
Israel is a difficult
country to spy on, not only because of its technical expertise and its
routine focus on “operational security” against its neighbors and other
adversaries. That means that it practices good communications and
cybersecurity discipline and uses sophisticated cryptography in coding
its messages. Much of the U.S. intelligence collection effort
consequently is focused on micro-targeting of individuals (i.e., their
cell phones, computers and other devices) where intelligence can be
gleaned from more easily exploitable devices.
That’s not being done to steal technology, but to gain insight into what Israeli officials are planning.
“The more that Israel
is a credible military opponent of Iran, the very reason for this
shake-up, the more that they are also suspect for the very capabilities
that we are helping to create and improve,” says the senior intelligence
official who has worked on the relationship. “This is a case of ‘keep
your enemies close and your friends closer,'” the official says.
Fr. Pavone says he's in 'a battle for the soul of the Catholic Church,' calls some bishops 'Democrat loyalists'
FIRST ON FOX: Outspoken Catholic
priest and political activist Frank Pavone, the national director of the
influential pro-life ministry Priests for Life who has been laicized,
or dismissed, from the clerical state by the Catholic Church, told Fox News Digital this week that he is involved in a battle "for the soul of the Catholic Church."
He suggested, too, that the abortion issue is at the center of it.
Pavone, whose organization is headquartered in Titusville, Florida.
also said that some bishops in the Church do not want to "offend"
powerful Democrats and members of Congress — which is why they
purposefully soften their pro-life message.
On
Dec. 13, the Catholic bishops of the United States were informed that
Pavone was laicized on Nov. 9 for his "blasphemous communications on
social media, and for persistent disobedience of lawful instructions
from his diocesan bishop," according to a Vatican statement.
Since 2016, "Pavone has posted tweets, Facebook statuses, videos and other social media postings urging support for the Republican Party,
calling into question the validity of the 2020 presidential election
and disparaging Democratic lawmakers," Catholic website
Pillarcatholic.com reported.
Frank Pavone (at left), the national director of Priests for Life,
celebrates Catholic Mass for attendees at the 2021 Conservative
Political Action Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Florida.
Pavone has been "laicized," or defrocked, by the Catholic Church.
(Getty Images)
Pavone served as a member of the campaign advisory group Catholics for Trump during the 2020 election, the same site noted.
Pavone explains issue from his viewpoint
Specifically,
"they [meaning some in the Church hierarchy] got upset by a comment I
made to someone who was arguing with me on Twitter, a Biden supporter,"
Pavone told Fox News Digital.
"It was in the midst of the nationwide frustration and anger of the 2020 election," he continued.
"I used the word ‘g**damn’ in a tweet, which I shouldn't have done, and normally never do."
"We
have high-placed cardinals and others at the Vatican who strongly
support our work. We're side by side with the Holy See in doing this
pro-life work."
Ordained in New York in 1988, Pavone said he also called Biden a "loser" in the tweet.
"I went to confession. I shouldn't have done that, but that's the world we live in. We get angry."
Pavone said that while he has "tremendous support" from many in
the Catholic Church, there are some who do not want to "offend"
Democrats and certain members of Congress with a hard-line pro-life
stance.
(iStock)
Pavone
said the Church’s position became, "Fr. Frank has taught a heresy. God
does not damn people and he has put Biden and the Democrats in the
category that they are to be damned and go to hell. This is not right
for a priest to be teaching this."
While there is support, many bishops are ‘obstacles’
Noting
that his ministry has "tremendous support" in some segments of the
Church itself, he said, "We have high-placed cardinals and others at the
Vatican who strongly support our work. We're side by side with the Holy
See in doing this pro-life work."
Pavone said that his organization "works right at the heart of the Church."
In "the last 20 years," he's had "one battle after another," said Pavone.
Pavone
also said, "In the midst of this support, you've got a certain segment
of bishops who have really been doing everything they can to put
obstacles in the way of this work and of my doing this work."
"The last 20 years," he said, have presented "one battle after another" set up by bishops.
He said there's been friction between himself and Bishop Patrick Zurek of the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, where he was last incardinated.
Fox
News reached out for comment to Bishop Zurek, as well as to the United
States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Vatican. As of
publication time, no response has been received.
Pavone feels there are several reasons for the pushback he's gotten from some segments within the Catholic Church.
St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in Rome, Italy. Pavone said that
after his politically charged tweet, which included a curse word, the
Church’s position became, "Fr. Frank has taught a heresy. God does not
damn people and he has put Biden and the Democrats in the category that
they are to be damned and go to hell. This is not right for a priest to
be teaching this."
(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
First, "they see the influence our ministry has, and they feel they can't control it," said Pavone.
Secondly,
he feels some within the hierarchy are "envious" of his group’s
fundraising — and also "envious of our influence with the Catholic
people."
Politics enters the debate
Pavone said that for
years, politics has been at the heart of the friction between himself
and some of the bishops of the Church — both national politics and
politics within the Church itself.
"Election
time rolls around, and they all have their seminars in their dioceses,
and they say to the people, ‘OK, here are the Catholic principles of
voting. And, we have to look at all the issues. We can't judge people
just on one issue'" — meaning abortion.
FIRST ON FOX: Outspoken Catholic priest and political activist Frank Pavone, the national director of the influential pro-life ministry Priests for Life who has been laicized, or dismissed, from the clerical state by the Catholic Church, told Fox News Digital this week that he is involved in a battle "for the soul of the Catholic Church."
He suggested, too, that the abortion issue is at the center of it.
Pavone, whose organization is headquartered in Titusville, Florida. also said that some bishops in the Church do not want to "offend" powerful Democrats and members of Congress — which is why they purposefully soften their pro-life message.
DEFROCKED CATHOLIC PRIEST SPEAKS OUT: ‘KNOWN’ FOR DECADES THAT SOME BISHOPS ‘HATE’ PROLIFE WORK
On Dec. 13, the Catholic bishops of the United States were informed that Pavone was laicized on Nov. 9 for his "blasphemous communications on social media, and for persistent disobedience of lawful instructions from his diocesan bishop," according to a Vatican statement.
Since 2016, "Pavone has posted tweets, Facebook statuses, videos and other social media postings urging support for the Republican Party, calling into question the validity of the 2020 presidential election and disparaging Democratic lawmakers," Catholic website Pillarcatholic.com reported.
Frank Pavone (at left), the national director of Priests for Life, celebrates Catholic Mass for attendees at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Florida. Pavone has been "laicized," or defrocked, by the Catholic Church.
Frank Pavone (at left), the national director of Priests for Life, celebrates Catholic Mass for attendees at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Florida. Pavone has been "laicized," or defrocked, by the Catholic Church. (Getty Images)
Pavone served as a member of the campaign advisory group Catholics for Trump during the 2020 election, the same site noted.
Pavone explains issue from his viewpoint
Specifically, "they [meaning some in the Church hierarchy] got upset by a comment I made to someone who was arguing with me on Twitter, a Biden supporter," Pavone told Fox News Digital.
"It was in the midst of the nationwide frustration and anger of the 2020 election," he continued.
"I used the word ‘g**damn’ in a tweet, which I shouldn't have done, and normally never do."
"We have high-placed cardinals and others at the Vatican who strongly support our work. We're side by side with the Holy See in doing this pro-life work."
Ordained in New York in 1988, Pavone said he also called Biden a "loser" in the tweet.
PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST ARRESTED FOR PRAYING SILENTLY NEAR AN ABORTION FACILITY
"I did the wrong thing," he said of his tweet.
"I went to confession. I shouldn't have done that, but that's the world we live in. We get angry."
Pavone said that while he has "tremendous support" from many in the Catholic Church, there are some who do not want to "offend" Democrats and certain members of Congress with a hard-line pro-life stance.
Pavone said that while he has "tremendous support" from many in the Catholic Church, there are some who do not want to "offend" Democrats and certain members of Congress with a hard-line pro-life stance. (iStock)
Pavone said the Church’s position became, "Fr. Frank has taught a heresy. God does not damn people and he has put Biden and the Democrats in the category that they are to be damned and go to hell. This is not right for a priest to be teaching this."
While there is support, many bishops are ‘obstacles’
Noting that his ministry has "tremendous support" in some segments of the Church itself, he said, "We have high-placed cardinals and others at the Vatican who strongly support our work. We're side by side with the Holy See in doing this pro-life work."
Pavone said that his organization "works right at the heart of the Church."
In "the last 20 years," he's had "one battle after another," said Pavone.
Pavone also said, "In the midst of this support, you've got a certain segment of bishops who have really been doing everything they can to put obstacles in the way of this work and of my doing this work."
"The last 20 years," he said, have presented "one battle after another" set up by bishops.
He said there's been friction between himself and Bishop Patrick Zurek of the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, where he was last incardinated.
BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY: CHRISTIAN LEADERS HAVE A ‘MANDATE’ TO ‘FEED THE CURCH SPIRITUALLY’ WITH THE WORD OF GOD
Fox News reached out for comment to Bishop Zurek, as well as to the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Vatican. As of publication time, no response has been received.
Pavone feels there are several reasons for the pushback he's gotten from some segments within the Catholic Church.
St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in Rome, Italy. Pavone said that after his politically charged tweet, which included a curse word, the Church’s position became, "Fr. Frank has taught a heresy. God does not damn people and he has put Biden and the Democrats in the category that they are to be damned and go to hell. This is not right for a priest to be teaching this."
St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in Rome, Italy. Pavone said that after his politically charged tweet, which included a curse word, the Church’s position became, "Fr. Frank has taught a heresy. God does not damn people and he has put Biden and the Democrats in the category that they are to be damned and go to hell. This is not right for a priest to be teaching this." (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
First, "they see the influence our ministry has, and they feel they can't control it," said Pavone.
Secondly, he feels some within the hierarchy are "envious" of his group’s fundraising — and also "envious of our influence with the Catholic people."
Politics enters the debate
Pavone said that for years, politics has been at the heart of the friction between himself and some of the bishops of the Church — both national politics and politics within the Church itself.
CHRISTIAN LEADER SAYS ENOUGH WITH ‘MY TRUTH’: SOCIETY MUST RETURN TO 'THE TRUTH'
"Election time rolls around, and they all have their seminars in their dioceses, and they say to the people, ‘OK, here are the Catholic principles of voting. And, we have to look at all the issues. We can't judge people just on one issue'" — meaning abortion.
Adding Clarity for everyone to see. 21 years of persecution from some Catholic Bishops and fantastic support from many other Bishops and Cardinals. pic.twitter.com/bRTm4KfKYO
Invariably, Pavone also said, someone holds up a Priests for Life
brochure and says, "Oh, but Fr. Pavone says that abortion is the primary
issue, and we have to elect a pro-life candidate."
"They don’t like that," he said, referring to certain segments of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.
He added, "I think the battle is this: Who has the heart and soul of the Catholic pro-life movement?"
"I'm not rebellious – I have a vocation."
Pavone
said he and his 50-member team "have become very influential — probably
the most influential Catholic pro-life voice, and that's [what] they
want to regain control of."
Parties within the Church, said
Pavone, have tried to discredit or dissuade him by aiming to get him to
return to parish work, in part, and by investigating the finances of
Priests for Life.
He says his group's finances have been looked into by the Vatican — with his organization "coming out clean."
Frank Pavone shown at left, the Vatican in middle, and an
ultrasound image of an unborn baby at right. Pavone says some in the
Catholic Church want to deliver a pro-life message "in a way that
doesn't offend Democrats."
(Getty Images/Associated Press/iStock)
"I'm not rebellious. I have a vocation," Pavone said.
He added, "I'm convinced that I'm called to do this work. And why shouldn't a priest be able to protect the unborn?"
‘We were vindicated’
Pavone said that some in the Church have been "very, very troubled" by his vocal support of President Donald Trump.
"I
said to them, ‘OK, would you prefer that I support a pro-abortion
president rather than the most pro-life president in American history?’"
"Very
respectfully, I ask, what part of what I'm doing do you not like doing?
Are we saving too many lives or are we having too many prayer
campaigns?"
He continued, "Of course, we were vindicated by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, because without President Trump, that wouldn't have happened."
Pavone says some in the Catholic Church want to deliver a pro-life message "in a way that doesn't offend Democrats."
Priests For Life is a reform movement within the #Catholic Church. And any reform movement is going to get pushback from the institution that it is trying to reform. The teaching of the Church is stable and clear. The issue is how much priority do we give it?
He added, "And I say Democrats, but I don't mean the grassroots
people, because there are tens of millions of pro-life Democrats."
Bishops ‘don’t want pushback'
He
continued, "I'm talking about their friends in high places, whether
it's members of Congress or leaders of the Democrat Party. They're
Democrat loyalists, a lot of them."
He added, "The bishops are in tight with a lot of those people, and they don't want pushback from them."
He
also said, "I actually had a bishop say to me one time when we looked
over our [Priest for Life] voter guide, which I regard to be strictly
neutral, ‘Well, your voter guide is not critical enough of the
Republicans.’"
"You have Catholics every day making big sacrifices to be able to receive communion, to be able to live their faith."
Pavone
continued, "Very respectfully, I ask, 'What part of what I'm doing do
you not like doing? Are we saving too many lives or are we having too
many prayer campaigns? Are we healing too many women from abortion? Am I
leading too many people from the abortion industry into the Catholic
Church ministry?'"
Pavone said a hard-line stance from the Catholic Church in terms of protecting the unborn is "crucial."
Pavone, who is fervently pro-life, said that a hard-line stance
from the Catholic Church in terms of protecting the lives of the unborn
is "crucial." He also told Fox News Digital, "I'm convinced that I'm
called to do this work."
(iStock)
"It's
part of the DNA of the Church herself and has been from the very
beginning," he said. "Why? Because the Church is all about the gospel
and kingdom of Jesus Christ."
'Don't see the Church stepping up on this issue'
Pavone
said others around the world "don't see the Church stepping up on this
issue, and they're going to scratch their heads and say, ‘What's the
matter with them? They lack courage. Do they not know their own church's
teachings?’"
Pavone
said that wavering on the big issues of the day, such as taking
communion while being pro-abortion, cloud the Church’s authority.
"It is … not their prerogative to do that, to try to shape people into their own image and likeness."
"You have Catholics every day making big sacrifices to be able to receive communion, to be able to live their faith," he said.
"They're
sacrificing relationships. They may be sacrificing jobs, opportunities
and money. People do all sorts of sacrificial things to stay faithful to
the demands of their faith."
"Can we please listen to each other and try to understand one
another?" Pavone asked of the Catholic Church during an interview with
Fox News Digital.
(do seongyun via Getty Images)
Pavone feels that the Church cannot legislate his personality or his forthright way of expressing himself.
"It's a basic human right for people to express themselves in the way that they want to express themselves," he said.
He
added, "This is reflected, of course, in our American constitutional
way of life. Without taking away anything from the role of or proper
obedience within the Church and authority, it is still not their
prerogative to do that, to try to shape people into their own image and
likeness."
Pavone said that if the Catholic Church shuts the door
on him — and he has not had any official communication informing him of
his laicization, he said — then he will be on the other side, waiting.
He
added, "This has been my appeal all along and this is my appeal today
to this whole latest action. Can we please listen to each other and try
to understand one another?"
Deidre Reilly is a senior editor in lifestyle with Fox News Digital.
As evidence of this negative trend in US prestige, the Saudi crown prince ignored US warnings not to sign deals with the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. Saudi Arabia inked Huawei-associated contracts on data centers and cloud computing.
China is fully exploiting the
cooling of US-Saudi relations engineered by the Biden administration's
repeated public personal attacks on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman (MBS) as well as perceived decreased support for the Saudi-led
coalition's efforts to blunt Iranian expansionism in Yemen.
The Saudis had most likely hoped that the US would finally scuttle the Iran nuclear deal for good, which did not take place.
Just a few weeks into the Biden administration, on February 12,
2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken removed the Houthis from the
list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. A few months later, the Houthis
expressed their appreciation by raining rockets and missiles down on
Saudi Arabia's "critical energy facilities" and the United Arab
Emirates.
Saudi leaders therefore seem to be seeking to diversify their
commercial and security links by improving relations with China, as
superficially symbolized by the pomp and ceremony associated with Xi's
welcome to Riyadh. If so, this Saudi initiative plays well with Xi's
concept of an emerging multi-polar world.
Xi has agreed to buy more oil from Gulf Cooperation Council
states but suggested that the purchases be paid for in Chinese yuan
rather than US dollars. If the oil-exporting states agree to Xi's
request, it will further reinforce the notion that US influence with
Saudi Arabia is on the decline.
As evidence of this negative trend in US prestige, the Saudi
crown prince ignored US warnings not to sign deals with the Chinese
telecommunications company Huawei. Saudi Arabia inked Huawei-associated
contracts on data centers and cloud computing.
The Saudis seem to be welcoming China as a potential strategic
partner -- one that will not, unlike the US, interfere in what the
Kingdom undoubtedly considers its most urgent existential need.
China is fully exploiting the cooling of US-Saudi relations
engineered by the Biden administration's repeated public personal
attacks on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as well as perceived
decreased support for the Saudi-led coalition's efforts to blunt Iranian
expansionism in Yemen. Pictured: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on
February 22, 2019. (Photo by How Hwee Young/AFP via Getty Images)
China is fully exploiting the cooling of US-Saudi relations
engineered by the Biden administration's repeated public personal
attacks on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) as well as
perceived decreased support for the Saudi-led coalition's efforts to
blunt Iranian expansionism in Yemen.
China's first summit with Arab state leaders in Saudi Arabia occurs
at a propitious time for both Chinese President Xi Jinping and MBS. Xi
is at the height of his power, having been approved in November by the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee for an unprecedented
third term as party General Secretary. MBS, already Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, was just appointed as the Prime Minister by his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
MBS's recent meeting with US President Joe Biden further added to the
crown prince's reputation as a decisive leader. During their October
meeting in Riyadh, it was Biden who appeared to be the junior partner.
During the sessions, MBS dashed any US hopes that Riyadh would grant
the American leader's request to increase its oil production, which
Biden had hoped would continue throughout December.
Such an increase, if implemented, could have helped reduce US domestic
gasoline prices at the pump in the run-up to US mid-term elections and
during the holiday shopping and travel season. Biden administration
officials were reportedly disappointed by an unexpected OPEC's Saudi-led decision to reduce oil production by two million barrels per day. The Saudis had most likely hoped that the US would finally scuttle the Iran nuclear deal for good, which did not take place.
The Saudi chill
toward the US president reflects the political reality that the
decades-long US-Saudi strategic partnership is at a nadir. Relations
soured following the murder of the Muslim Brotherhood-aligned US-resident and Washington Post
columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul in
October 2018, although Washington never showed any signs of pique toward
Iran for the abduction and apparent murder
of the retired FBI agent and CIA contractor Robert Levenson.
Allegations that MBS ordered the murder of Khashoggi were embraced by
Biden, who went on to publicly condemn the crown prince.
Subsequently, Biden's position was further weakened as he was forced to
climb down from his pledge to punish MBS, by admitting that MBS, as
Saudi Arabia's prime minister, is immune from prosecution.
The Kingdom also continues to absorb bizarre US criticism that Saudi airstrikes
hit 72 Yemeni targets whereas the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen bombed
only 52 Saudi facilities Yemen is indeed suffering a profound
humanitarian crisis but the responsibility for this disaster lies wholly with Iran, which has been arming, training and supplying its Shiite Houthi tribal ally to take over Yemen, thereby threatening Sunni Saudi Arabia and its oil facilities. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah continue to aid the Houthis,
who have launched missiles and weaponized drones against targets in
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Just a few weeks into the
Biden administration, on February 12, 2021, Secretary of State Antony
Blinken removed
the Houthis from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. A few
months later, the Houthis expressed their appreciation by raining
rockets and missiles down on Saudi Arabia's "critical energy facilities" and the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi leaders therefore seem to be seeking to diversify their
commercial and security links by improving relations with China, as
superficially symbolized by the pomp and ceremony associated with Xi's welcome to Riyadh. If so, this Saudi initiative plays well with Xi's concept of an emerging multi-polar world.
Riyadh choreographed a colorful and festive salute to the Chinese
leader with ceremonies equivalent to the elaborate welcome extended then
President Trump in his visit to Saudi Arabia
in 2017. There is little doubt that MBS was sending a message to the
Biden Administration that Saudi Arabia and Gulf States will be looking
to expand relations with other geopolitical powers, despite the White
House's warnings about deepening ties to Communist China.
Xi has agreed to buy more oil from Gulf Cooperation Council states but suggested that the purchases be paid for in Chinese yuan
rather than US dollars. If the oil-exporting states agree to Xi's
request, it will further reinforce the notion that US influence with
Saudi Arabia is on the decline. As evidence of this negative trend in US
prestige, the Saudi crown prince ignored US warnings not to sign deals
with the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. Saudi Arabia inked
Huawei-associated contracts on data centers and cloud computing.
China now imports about 18% of its crude oil from Saudi Arabia, slightly less from Russia, and substantial quantities from other Middle East states such as Iraq,
Kuwait and Oman. China, as the world's largest importer of oil, may be
seeking to continue to diversify its sources of energy, as it already
imports petroleum products from 44 countries.
The Saudis seem to be welcoming China as a potential strategic partner -- one that will not, unlike the US, interfere in what the Kingdom undoubtedly considers its most urgent existential need.
Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the
U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
There is much for Israel to be proud of, even as it faces challenges both from without and within. No nation is subjected to more unfounded and disproportionate condemnation -- from the United Nations, from international tribunals, from NGOs, from campus radicals, from many in the media -- than the nation-state of the Jewish people.
Israel's democratic system is
based on a unicameral parliament, the Knesset, the members of which are
chosen in an election based on nationwide proportional representation.
Because no one single political party has ever in the country's history
won a majority of 61 out of 120 Knesset seats, multiple parties --
including small ones -- need to group together in a coalition to form
the government.
It is often necessary to make significant compromises among the
parties in order to make up a governing coalition. That is what is
happening now with Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who ....
promises to continue to oppose [bigotries] in the new government he is
working to form under himself as Prime Minister.
Israel, however, presents a very different face through the
persona of its President Isaac Herzog. In Israel, the presidency is a
non-partisan ceremonial role, without executive powers. Herzog... in
2015 ran unsuccessfully for prime minister as leader of the left-wing
Labor Party. Today, as president, he represents all the citizens of
Israel. His face is that of a centrist patriot with a long history of
supporting human rights for all....
Herzog can remind the world that no country in history has
contributed more to the world -- medically, scientifically,
technologically, agriculturally, culturally, in human rights and in
other ways -- during its first 75 years of existence than Israel. This,
despite having to devote so much of its resources to defending itself
against genocidal threats from Iran and other nations and terror groups
committed to its destruction. Israel has signed peace treaties with
Egypt, Jordan and other Arab nations, and is seeking peace and
normalization with still others.
Netanyahu, who was Israel's longest-serving prime minister, has
played an extremely positive role in many of these developments, as well
as in creating a peace that few thought possible with four Arab
countries -- the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco --
after decades of hostility – all while countering deadly threats from
Iran and leading Israel's economy away from socialism into the high-tech
wonder that it is.
There is much for Israel to be proud of, even as it faces
challenges both from without and within. No nation is subjected to more
unfounded and disproportionate condemnation -- from the United Nations,
from international tribunals, from NGOs, from campus radicals, from many
in the media -- than the nation-state of the Jewish people.
Pictured: Israel's President Isaac Herzog (L) and Likud
Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, on November 13, 2022.
(Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images)
A recent visit to Israel revealed matters different from previous
visits -- and similar to what is happening in the United States.
Today's Israel, like the US, is a deeply divided nation. Israel's
democratic system is based on a unicameral parliament, the Knesset, the
members of which are chosen in an election based on nationwide
proportional representation. Because no one single political party has
ever in the country's history won a majority of 61 out of 120 Knesset
seats, multiple parties -- including small ones -- need to group
together in a coalition to form the government.
It is often necessary to make significant compromises among the
parties that make up the governing coalition. That is what is happening
now with Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who is by nature a
center-right moderate, and who had to join forces with some parties
considerably to the right of him. These include individuals who
unfortunately have histories of racism and homophobia -- bigotries that
Netanyahu has always opposed and promises to continue to oppose in the
new government he is working to form under himself as Prime Minister.
These partners also include potential ministers who want to curtail the
powers of Israel's Supreme Court, which many believe favors the left.
Israel, however, presents a very different face through the persona
of its President Isaac Herzog. In Israel, the presidency is a
non-partisan ceremonial role, without executive powers. Herzog is a
career politician who in 2015 ran unsuccessfully for prime minister as
leader of the left-wing Labor Party. Today, as president, he represents
all the citizens of Israel. His face is that of a centrist patriot with a
long history of supporting human rights for all. Although the Israeli
president's role and power is limited, just as the role of king or queen
is limited in Great Britain and other parliamentary monarchies, he can
do a great deal to represent the best of Israel , especially as it
approaches its 75th birthday in late April 2023.
Herzog can remind the world that no country in history has
contributed more to the world -- medically, scientifically,
technologically, agriculturally, culturally, in human rights and in
other ways -- during its first 75 years of existence than Israel. This,
despite having to devote so much of its resources to defending itself
against genocidal threats from Iran and other nations and terror groups
committed to its destruction. Israel has signed peace treaties with
Egypt, Jordan and other Arab nations, and is seeking peace and
normalization with still others. It has revived an ancient language,
turned malaria-infested swamps into productive agricultural land,
brought its great medical and agricultural discoveries to other nations,
and provided refuge to millions of Jews and others facing persecution.
Netanyahu, who was Israel's longest-serving prime minister, has
played an extremely positive role in many of these developments, as well
as in creating a peace that few thought possible with four Arab
countries -- the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco --
after decades of hostility – all while countering deadly threats from
Iran and leading Israel's economy away from socialism into the high-tech
wonder that it is.
There is much for Israel to be proud of, even as it faces challenges
both from without and within. No nation is subjected to more unfounded
and disproportionate condemnation -- from the United Nations, from
international tribunals, from NGOs, from campus radicals, from many in
the media -- than the nation-state of the Jewish people.
Together, Netanyahu and Herzog present what is best about Israel as
well as complications that can arise in any democracy. I am proud to be
their friend and a defender of the great country they represent --
Israel.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of The Price of Principle: Why Integrity Is Worth The Consequences. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute, and is also the host of "The Dershow" podcast.
According to a declaration from a Runbeck employee, the delivery receipts for the early voting ballots cast on Election Day never existed.
An election integrity witness in the civil trial
of Kari Lake's lawsuit testified Wednesday that Maricopa County said
they "misplaced" the delivery receipts for early voting ballots that
were delivered to Runbeck Election Services.
Lake, the Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee, is suing her Democratic
opponent, Governor-elect and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, Maricopa
County Recorder Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County Board of
Supervisors, and Maricopa County Director of Elections Scott Jarrett,
alleging that the "number of illegal votes cast in Arizona's general
election ... far exceeds the 17,117 vote margin" between Lake and Hobbs.
Heather Honey, the founder of election integrity watchdog Verity Vote, testified about ballot chain of custody on Wednesday.
Under direct examination by Lake's legal counsel Bryan Blehm, Honey
said that when Lake sought all chain of custody documents from Maricopa
County, the county provided all of the requested documents except for
the county's delivery receipt forms for early voting ballots. The county
told them, she testified, that the receipts were "misplaced." However,
she said, a Runbeck employee wrote in a declaration that the receipts
never existed for Election Day.
Honey explained that when the early voting ballots are retrieved from
ballot drop boxes, the Early Votes Ballot Transport Statement (EVBTS)
is used to document the chain of custody of the ballots. Maricopa County
election officials then create delivery receipts that have the precise
counts of ballots loaded onto trucks and transferred to Runbeck, the
election services contractor the county uses. Runbeck then creates a
document specifying how many ballots were dropped off.
Honey said that none of the delivery receipts were provided for the entire election, including early voting and Election Day.
Richer testified prior to Honey that his office is in charge of maintaining the chain of custody for early voting ballots.
Honey also testified that records of Post Office receipts for mail-in
ballots from Maricopa County weren't provided by the county for the
chain of custody public records request but that Runbeck has them. The
receipts from the Post Office for mail-in ballots are based on the
weight of trays that contain mail-in ballots so that the county can pay
the Post Office for the postage.
Under cross-examination, Honey said that she knew the receipts
existed at Runbeck. The Maricopa County legal counsel said that the
defendants held a different position and asked if Honey could have
missed the documents. She said, "Absolutely not," adding that they
haven't received the Post Office receipts over the last three weeks.
The trial began Wednesday with the testimony of Richer, Maricopa
County Director of Elections Scott Jarrett, cybersecurity expert Clay
Parikh, Maricopa County temporary technician Bradley Benticort, and RNC
roving attorney Mark Sonnenklar.
Jarrett explained under direct examination that the vote center wait
times reported by the county were based on prior elections, and
calculated that voters would wait in line for about 30 minutes on
average. He said that wait times included how long it would take voters
to check in at the vote centers. The election director said under
cross-examination by defendants' legal counsel that the average wait
time for all voters was less than a few minutes on Election Day.
When asked by Lake's legal counsel about reports from poll workers
that wait times were over two hours, Jarrett said that those workers
report the number of voters in line to the county and could make
estimates on the wait times, but unless they were timing voters, it was
an assumption.
Sonnenklar, who visited 10 vote centers on Election Day and
compiled a report based on his and the other roving attorneys'
observations, testified that he believed the Maricopa County Board of
Supervisors was not truthful in its response to the Arizona attorney
general's office regarding the wait times at vote centers on Election
Day. He said that many vote centers had over 80-minute wait times, some
of which weren't included on the list that Maricopa sent to the attorney
general's office.
The Arizona attorney general's office wrote a letter to Maricopa County attorney Tom Liddy on Nov. 19 regarding the Election Day issues at vote centers in Maricopa County. The county replied to the letter on
Nov. 27, saying that it followed the law on Election Day and the
election problems were "regrettable." The county insisted, however, that
"every lawful voter was still able to cast his or her ballot."
With regard to the ballot-on-demand printer issues, Jarrett also
testified that there was no 19-inch ballot design for the 2022 general
election since the November election had 20-inch ballots. He said that
only the August primary had 19-inch ballots, so the ballot printers
couldn't have printed 19-inch ballots instead of 20-inch ballots.
However, Parikh, who has previously worked with election systems,
testified that the settings on either the printers or the laptops at the
vote centers that sent the ballot print jobs to the printers had to
have been intentionally changed to cause the printer errors that were
rife on Election Day. Parikh inspected some Maricopa County ballots on
Tuesday and testified that he believed 19-inch ballot printing settings
were used on 20-inch paper, instead of 20-inch ballot printing settings,
which caused the issues with ballots not being read by ballot
tabulators.
Richer was questioned by Blehm about his responsibilities as the
Maricopa County Recorder, which include early voting ballots and ballots
in drop boxes, including any early ballots dropped off on Election Day.
Under cross-examination by the defendants' legal counsel, Richer said
that he had "absolutely not" done anything to make the ballot printers
not print correctly and did not know of anyone who did.
Latest defection comes after several Democratic elected officials switched parties last year, including judges.
Another Democratic elected official in Texas has switched to the Republican Party – Karnes County Sheriff Dwayne Villanueva.
The sheriff announced he switched parties on Wednesday, saying, “I
look forward to continuing the strong tradition of excellent law
enforcement in Karnes County, which requires us to come together for a
common cause and seek out leaders of integrity and merit.”
Of the announcement, Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi
said, “I am proud to welcome Sheriff Villanueva to the Republican Party.
As Democrats increasingly abandon and cripple law enforcement, it is no
wonder more people are turning to the Republican party.”
Villanueva switching parties comes after several Democratic elected
officials switched parties last year, including the judges of Terrell
and Presidio counties in west Texas and state Rep. Ryan Guillen, in
House District 31.
Both Terrell and Presidio counties have declared an invasion at the
southern border. Karnes County, which is located southeast of San
Antonio and west of Victoria, has yet to do so.
Villanueva, who is serving in his third term as sheriff, was first
elected in 2013, after serving as a constable since 2009. Since he began
his law enforcement career in the county in 1993, he’s built a track
record of making several high-profile arrests. They include a serial
arsonist responsible for over 50 fires, an escaped inmate, multiple
murderers, burglars in a serious home invasion case, a local police
officer who was selling narcotics, among others.
Villanueva switching parties comes after Brooks County Sheriff Benny
Martinez, a Democrat, told The Center Square that the Democratic Party
no longer represents his and South Texas values.
“The Democratic Party doesn’t represent us,” he said, and is out of
touch with the struggles of his community where he and his deputies are
daily combating drug cartel and gang activity stemming from the southern
border.
Villanueva switching parties also comes after a recent poll found
that more Hispanic Texans say the Democratic Party doesn’t represent
their values, and after another found that U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores, R-TX,
had a higher favorability rating among Hispanics than U.S. Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, did.
Flores was elected to Congress during a special election in March and
lost her reelection bid in the general election in a different district
in south Texas in November.
Newly elected Republican Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz, now
representing a new district in south Texas, also maintains the Democrat
Party “has become woke, pushing down their cultural radicalism,” which
she says “is an insult to us, quite frankly, and just one of the many
reasons why the people who were once with the Democrat Party are now
walking away.
"The people in South Texas want a secure border. We believe in law
and order, and that's where the Democrat Party goes wrong," she added.
"They think that Hispanics want an open border and that just simply is
not true. The Hispanics here, the people, South Texas want a safe and
secure system."
After losing statewide office in the midterm elections in November,
Texas Democratic Party leaders issued a statement, saying, “We won’t
beat around the bush: at the statewide level, this was a tough cycle,”
but vowed to “continue to make gains in cities and counties across the
state” to build “our Democratic base over time until we win at the
statewide level.”
They also referred to Texas Republicans as “extremists” and vowed to
“do everything in our power in the coming years to blunt the blows of
these inevitable Republican assaults” and “put an end to their reign of
terror.”
Why an ideology so graphically repudiated by history - and so bloody in its application - continues to endure.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 sparked a wave of optimism
and triumphalism across the West. Our nuclear-armed rival and
ideological enemy had suddenly disappeared, taking with it the shadow of
nuclear apocalypse. But for the Left, since 1917 the Soviet Union had
been the locus of the hopes and dreams of leftist collectivism. Now
history, understood as an ideological game of thrones, had ended,
dashing that hope. Liberal democracy, private property, and free-market
capitalism had prevailed, and no credible alternative remained.
This optimism was expressed by George H.W. Bush in 1991, when he
celebrated this “new world order, where diverse nations are drawn
together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of
mankind––peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law.” Yet the
demise of the USSR did not mean the end of various Marxist ideals like
collectivism and the “command economy,” which haven’t just survived, but
in recent decades have grown stronger under progressivist rule.
How is it that an ideology so graphically repudiated by history and
so bloody in its application, has managed to endure, especially in the
West, which has provided the greatest and most widespread prosperity,
political equality, and freedom in human history?
The survival of the Left has nothing to do with the intellectual
coherence or truth of its ideas. Leftism is predicated on dubious, if
not wildly absurd, assumptions and ideas about human nature and
motivation: secularism, philosophical materialism, determinism, and the
technocratic fallacy that “science” can discover and exploit the
timeless forces and laws of human progress and social improvement. The
latter claim in particular has been repudiated by Marxism’s ghastly toll
of 100 million dead, and millions more enslaved in gulags and
forced-labor camps like the ones we see today in Communist China’s
Xinjiang western region, where more than a million Muslim Uighurs are
being subjected to forced labor and brutal “re-education.”
One obvious reason for Leftism’s survival in the West is its
successful “long march” through our educational institutions. It started
in the universities, where tenure, unions, and a lack of accountability
to voters or the market ensured that bad ideas could flourish, then
trickle down into K-12 schools through higher education’s monopoly on
teacher-training.
Just track how widespread transgenderism, the unscientific notion
that biological sex can be chosen, has become. From its beginnings in
universities and the work of intellectual farceurs like Michelle
Foucault, these pernicious ideas now are shaping grammar school
curricula and activities, government regulations, and corporate C-Suites
and boardrooms, including the U.S. military.
As transgenderism also shows, this form of Leftism has evolved away
from Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy, or the ruthless, dangerous work of
making a revolution or organizing on the factory floor. The failure of
the Marxist libretto to achieve the predicted eventual triumph of
collective ownership of the means of production, and the “withering away
of the state,” has made Cultural Marxism much more comfortable and
profitable.
This sort of Marxism also has other attractions more suited for the
affluent cognitive elites. The decline of faith in a justifying,
transcendent narrative does not mean that the need for such assurance
and solace disappears. Communism has long been defined as a “political
religion,” one based on faith rather than reason and empirical evidence,
on many points corresponding to Christianity.
Historian Michael Burleigh has catalogued the similarities between Marxism and the Judeo-Christian heritage:
““consciousness” (soul), “comrades” (faithful),
“capitalists (sinner), “devil” (counter-revolutionary), “proletariat”
(chosen people), “classless society” (paradise). The ruling classes were
going to face a “Last Judgement” . . . . But there were far deeper
unacknowledged correspondences, including nostalgia for a lost oneness
and the beliefs that time was linear . . . , that the achievement of
higher consciousness brought salvation, and that history was progressing
with its meaning and purpose evident to the discerning knowledgeable
vanguard.”
Moreover, these correspondences fit as well the master narrative of
the modern West, particularly the idea that knowledge of the material
world is sufficient for understanding and improving the human world, and
this progress is inevitable, if only the ignorant and superstitious who
“cling to their guns and religion” could be converted––and the
anachronistic Constitution be replaced with a technocracy of cognitive
elites.
The gratification Marxism provides from knowing one is part of that
elite is another reason Marxism or progressivism, Marxism Lite, has
maintained its hold on our culture. In other words, pure snobbery, the
sense that one is better than everybody else. By espousing, usually in
word rather than deed, the “liberation” of the “oppressed victims of
capitalism,” the Marxiste snob can show off his superiority to the
vulgar entrepreneurs, manufacturers of low-brow products, and commercial
hucksters who generate all the wealth, while also stiring bitter
resentment in many “brights,” especially academics who chronically whine
that they’re underpaid and unjustly ignored.
The Leftist confection of “false consciousness” also conveniently
allows the snob to champion the masses afflicted by this malady at the
same time he sneers at “smelly Wal-Mart shoppers.” The snob thinks he’s
superior because he knows what’s really politically true, just
as he knows which films or novels or restaurants or music or fashion is
superior. Leftist ideas, then, are like designer labels, emblems of
class superiority. Only the vulgar rich and bourgeois parvenus vote
Republican.
Another modification of Leftism is its therapeutic thrust: its
sentimental privileging of the suffering masses and victims of American
global depredations; and its smug displays of “conspicuous compassion,”
as Allan Bloom called it. Hence the therapeutic Leftist opposes
free-market capitalism because it creates winners and losers and so
hurts people’s feelings, not to mention besmirching the environment. He
feels bad about all the unjust suffering in the world, but he practices
what Charles Dickens called “telescopic philanthropy,” the conspicuous
display of sensitivity to suffering, but from a safe distance.
Endorsing Marxist or progressive illusions about the perfectibility
of human life, the sentimentalist chafes at tragic limits and human
corruption, seeing these as distortions of a fundamentally good and
cooperative human nature. And Marxiste politics is the political program
that will sweep away the economic and political impediments to this
authentic human nature, one warped by traditional superstitions like
free will and responsibility for one’s bad choices––which are in fact
determined by an unjust political order.
Finally, “woke” identity politics, a species of parochial
particularism––which, like nationalism, real Marxists would have
contemptuously dismissed––has added being Left to the “woke” suite of
identity markers. Hence the popularity of socialism among the young, who
endorse it as a hip token of identity like being trans or gay. Indeed,
as Robert Spencer reported,
“Eric Kaufmann, a Center for the Study of Partisanship
and Ideology research fellow, says that this expansion correlates with
the students’ identification with the Left: ‘The trend toward LGBT
identification among young people, which has seen a threefold expansion
since 2008, encompasses both university and non-university young people,
white as well as minority. That said, those who identify as ‘very
liberal’ are substantially more likely to say they are LGBT and white
left-wing activists are extremely likely to do so, with some 70% of very
liberal women who support shouting down offensive speakers identifying
as LGBT.’”
Being a leftist, like being gay, is now a brand in the intersectionality of identity fashion.
In short, human weakness and frailty––its susceptibility to
“black-market” religions, as Chantal del Sol defines political
religions; its thirst for status and superiority, and its indulgence of
showy feelings that signal one’s superior virtue and compassion––have
kept Leftism alive despite its manifold bloody failures, and has helped
it to persist by making it immune to empirical evidence and rational
argument.
Unfortunately, the rest of us are paying for this reliance on bloody
nonsense to secure status, a sense of superiority, and, of course, the
acquisition of a fat income, social power, and political leverage. We
will likely soon see that the cost is too high.
Bruce Thornton is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center,
an emeritus professor of classics and humanities at California State
University, Fresno, and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.
His latest book is Democracy’s Dangers and Discontents: The Tyranny of
the Majority from the Greeks to Obama.
