Shapiro2 Bak

bak capt 3 26

SHAPIRO2326

see main for older

claremonster?

ODDLY PRO UKRAINE?

freq mma // kirk

just knee jerk 180 “algo” bs?

Ben Shapiro: “If you really want a booming economy, you should hope that the Supreme Court strikes down President Trump's tariffs” (https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-if-you-really-want-booming-economy-you-should-hope-supreme-court-strikes)

09/18/25

AN 7 25

A civil war is breaking out in the far-right media ecosystem, with some of the most popular MAGA podcasters now setting their sights on each other rather than Democrats.

In a Monday essay (https://www.salon.com/2025/08/04/the-right-wing-podcast-wars-just-got-really-ugly/), Salon's Sophia Tesfaye delved into the right-wing podcast wars in which MAGA mascots like Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes are all taking a scorched-earth approach in their criticisms of each other. Tesfaye likened it to "watching the MAGA snake eat itself," calling it "one of the few silver linings in the Trump (https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/trump) era."

Tesfaye began by recalling Carlson's most recent podcast episode, in which he interviewed Owens for approximately two hours. Both notably attacked Ben Shapiro, who is the co-founder of the far-right Daily Wire website, for his support of Israel's ongoing offensive in Gaza. They also attacked pro-Israel donors for revoking their support of certain universities in response to pro-Palestinian campus protests, saying they were being hypocritical for not doing the same following Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

READ MORE:(Opinion) Don't 'have any other choice': Outrage grows in the midwest as political crisis spirals (https://www.alternet.org/redistricting-2673856382/)

Owens also lobbed shots at neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes — another MAGA-aligned podcaster who was once invited to dine with President Donald Trump and rapper Kanye West (https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/trump-nick-fuentes) at Mar-a-Lago — during her interview with Carlson. Even though Owens invited Fuentes to her home studio for an interview on her podcast, she described her encounter with the Holocaust denier and white supremacist as "entirely fraudulent."

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Fuentes didn't take Owens' attacks lightly (https://youtu.be/gLMWLnpT96A), [VID]

calling her a "DEI hire" and an "Uncle Tom token Black" who "thinks she's some kind of boss b——." He added that he was "done with all the Uncle Toms," including conservative media pundit Jason Whitlock, saying that they "built their career on a grift that is now dead."

The invective against the Jewish community and the pro-Israel lobby prompted MAGA influencer Laura Loomer — also known as President Donald Trump's unofficial "loyalty enforcer" (https://www.alternet.org/trump-national-security-2673791543/) — to observe (https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/1951619998738169976) that while she previously thought antisemitism was confined to the left, she "never realized how bad it was on the right until last year." Loomer also called Carlson a "liar and a propagandist, adding that "deep down, he’s a Trump hater too."

Tesfaye wryly noted at the end of her article that watching MAGA voices snipe at each other was somewhat cathartic: "There is some fleeting comfort in knowing how much the people who hate everyone also hate each other," Tesfaye wrote. "It’s kind of like 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians.' But at least that family’s wealth provides an aesthetically pleasing background."

mma

June 25, 2025, edition of The Daily Wire'sThe Ben Shapiro Show

BEN SHAPIRO (HOST): Again, the leaks that are happening to The New York Times are happening for a reason. They're happening for a reason. People leak to the media in order to obtain a political result. If the goal is to undermine President Trump's credibility, if the goal is to undermine the more hawkish side of the Trump administration and to undermine President Trump's foreign policy, that's the goal, and you should all see the goal because leaks don't happen in a vacuum. They don't magically appear. A leak to the media is not like a leak in your shower head. It is a deliberate attempt to undermine the foreign policy of the president of the United States. That's what it is. Or it is leaked by the president of the United States. You can tell this ain't from the president. You can tell. So that means it's someone else, someone with an agenda and a group of people with an agenda. You might call them a deep state inside the Trump administration, actually, who have attempted to undermine the president's foreign policy every step of the way through coordinated leaking and messaging with their allies outside.

Ben Shapiro: “This is not a cut to Medicaid. It is a cut to future Medicaid growth.” (https://www.mediamatters.org/health-care/ben-shapiro-not-cut-medicaid-it-cut-future-medicaid-growth)}:

:{06/04/25

### Ben Shapiro: “It was always ridiculous to to suggest that we're going to name our Navy ships after sort of DEI heroes in American life” (https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-it-was-always-ridiculous-suggest-were-going-name-our-navy-ships-after-sort)

dissent gop/trump 5 25?some neglect? tariffs

May 22, 2025, edition of The Daily Wire's The Ben Shapiro Show

BEN SHAPIRO (HOST): And meanwhile, in a bit of shock news, apparently Donald Trump Jr is now hinting that he wants to run for president at some point in the future. Here he was yesterday.

...

SHAPIRO: OK. Again, that would be Omeed Malik and Don Jr. sitting at the Qatar Economic Forum in a session that was originally titled Monetizing MAGA. Not a great look. Not a great look. By the way, Tucker Carlson, who was funded by Omeed Malek and Don Junior at 1789 Capital has said, not a particularly good look. He's right about that. It is not, in fact, a good look.

I'm just gonna put it out there right now. No. No. OK. Dynasties are un-American. They are not good. OK. I — George W after George H W was not great for the country. The idea of Michelle Obama for Barack Obama, not great for the country. The idea of Hillary Clinton for Bill Clinton, not great for the country. No.

And we elected Donald Trump for a reason, but connection with President Trump's name does not mean that you should be president of the United States. President Trump ran against dynasties when he opposed Jeb Bush in 2016. This is literally one of his leading gambits, was attacking Jeb Bush for being part of a political dynasty. Why are we — why the American obsession with political dynasties? And that's not a critique of Donald Trump Jr. as a person or as a future politician — that's just a reality that dynasties in American politics are typically bad. Kennedy dynasties, Bush dynasties, none of this is good.

And when you combine that with the fact that many of the organizations that Donald Trump Jr. is connected to are making an enormous amount of money during this period of time when his father is president, which raises awkward questions, certainly, about Trump administration policy ranging from Trump memecoin to World Liberty Financial to gigantic real estate deals in Qatar, none of this is an amazingly good look.

It's — this administration is doing too many important — I'll say it again, this administration is doing too many important things to be bogged down with conversations about how members of the Trump family or the Witkoff family or any of the other families surrounding the administration are making bank while President Trump is president in countries that President Trump is attempting to negotiate with. That is not a good thing. At the very least, it is not a useful thing.

### Contrary to right-wing media claims, the GOP's Medicaid cuts are for far more than “able-bodied men” (https://www.mediamatters.org/health-care/contrary-right-wing-media-claims-gops-medicaid-cuts-are-far-more-able-bodied-men)

05/22/25 12:20 PM EDT

### Ben Shapiro's advice to the Trump administration: “Fire Peter Navarro into the ocean via catapult” (https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiros-advice-trump-administration-fire-peter-navarro-ocean-catapult)

05/20/25 2:06 PM EDT

### Matt Walsh urges Trump to ignore the Supreme Court's ruling on notice before deportations: “It's illegitimate. It's ridiculous. Trump should ignore it.” (https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/matt-walsh-urges-trump-ignore-supreme-courts-ruling-notice-deportations-its-illegitimate)

05/19/25

an 5 25

Right-wing media pundit Ben Shapiro is very much an example of what writers at The Bulwark (a website run by Never Trump (https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/trump) conservatives) call an "anti-anti-Trumper."

Shapiro isn't ultra-MAGA in his views like "War Room" host Steve Bannon or the staff at Breitbart Media, but he isn't in the Never Trump camp either. Never Trumpers, in 2024, argued that while they had some policy disagreements with then-President Joe Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris (https://www.rawstory.com/tag/white-house), they considered them far preferable to Trump; "anti-anti-Trumpers" like Shapiro, in contrast, weren't MAGA but considered Trump preferable to Democrats.

Yet some of Trump's policies — steep tariffs, a fondness for Russian President Vladimir Putin, protectionism, isolationism — fly in the face of what pre-MAGA conservatives preached for decades.

READ MORE:NPR reveals Trump planning to use IRS for retribution — just like Nixon (https://www.alternet.org/trump-nixon-irs-npr/)

In an article published on May 14 (https://www.salon.com/2025/05/14/ben-shapiro-is-cracking-under-the-pressure-to-shill-for/), Salon's Amanda Marcotte stresses that Shapiro finds himself in a difficult position: He's under pressure to shill for Trump even when it comes to positions he strongly disagrees with.

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"No one was more relieved than Daily Wire commentator Ben Shapiro when Donald Trump announced a 90-day 'pause' on Chinese tariffs," Marcotte explains. "Scare quotes around 'pause,' because there will still be a 30 percent tariff on Chinese goods, which economist Paul Krugman characterized as 'really, really high.' But Shapiro has been getting a lot of grief in recent days from his audience for ever-so-slightly acknowledging a reality everyone outside the MAGA bubble can see: Trump's tariff impulses — which hardly rise to the level of 'policy' — are both stupid and dangerous."

Shapiro, Marcotte notes, awkwardly tries to defend Trump's worst positions by blaming other MAGA Republicans.

"The first rule of MAGA is, 'Trump is never, ever wrong,'" Marcotte observes. "Understanding this, Shapiro tried to avoid blaming the president for his own decisions, instead focusing his ire on White House advisor Peter Navarro…. Shapiro is smart enough to know that a 30 percent tariff is still wildly inflationary, but he caved to pressure to return to the North Korea-style praise of Trump as the ultimate genius."

READ MORE:Revealed: Republican tax gifts to the rich would explode deficit they always complain about (https://www.alternet.org/trump-tax-cuts-2672016682/)

Marcotte points out that Shapiro is hardly the only right-wing media pundit who finds himself in this position.

"Shapiro is one of the most prominent and frankly hilarious examples," Marcotte writes, "but his dilemma is felt throughout the massive world of professional Trump apologists. Even for people who have years of practice declaring Trump a 'genius' while he prattles on about bleach injections or pet-eating immigrants, it's getting harder to feign ignorance about basic realities…. Shapiro's dilemma reflects a tension that is increasingly untenable for much of the right-wing media, including Fox News."

Marcotte adds, "They make a handsome living by telling Trump voters soothing lies, about how they were always right and the liberals were always wrong and Trump is actually a genius."

READ MORE:'This is a bribe': Trump buried for saying Qatar jet would save American taxpayers' money (https://www.alternet.org/trump-qatar-jet-taxpayers/)

*Amanda Marcotte's full article for Salon is available at this link (https://www.salon.com/2025/05/14/ben-shapiro-is-cracking-under-the-pressure-to-shill-for/).

mma

[## Ben Shapiro defends the Trump administration after a judge noted a two-year-old US citizen may have been removed from the country with “no meaningful process” 04/28/25

mma

Study: Most Pro-Trump podcasters support Trump's tariffs but some fractures emerge

Written by Kayla Gogarty (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/kayla-gogarty), Courtney Hagle (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/courtney-hagle) & John Whitehouse (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/john-whitehouse)

Research contributions from Payton Armstrong (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/payton-armstrong), Jack Wheatley (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/jack-wheatley), Jack Winstanley (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/jack-winstanley), Chloe Simon (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/chloe-simon), Pete Tsipis (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/pete-tsipis), Gideon Taaffe (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/gideon-taaffe), Ben Van Bloem (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/ben-van-bloem), Reed McMaster (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/reed-mcmaster) & Sage Hodil (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/sage-hodil)

:{Published 04/16/25 mma

In a new study of top pro-Trump online shows in the days after President Donald Trump launched his formal tariff plan, Media Matters has found some dissension as his economic policy disrupts the global economy — even as this ecosystem still overwhelmingly supports him.

Between April 2 (so-called “Liberation Day”), when tariffs were first announced, and April 8, when Trump first announced an alleged “pause” on some of the tariffs, we found that a majority of top right-leaning online shows that self-categorize as related to news and politics had mostly positive coverage of tariffs.

Among right-leaning online shows that self-categorize as nonpolitical, a full quarter of discussions also embraced the president’sdeeply unpopular (https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/polls-trump-is-underwater-on-tariffs)tariff policy.

There was some dissent, notably from Ben Shapiro and Joe Rogan (https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-criticism-musk-rogan-portnoy-ackman-7ee3cda2fe172d707af93e042e2009dd), who provided mostly negative coverage of tariffs during this time frame. But none of the shows — including those with critical tariff coverage — have abandoned Trump over his economic malfeasance.

The amount of discussion on the topic of tariffs varied greatly from show to show overall (Rogan, for example, covered the tariffs sparingly in comparison to other top right-leaning shows). Many shows did not discuss the tariffs at all, and some did not upload any episodes in the studied time frame.

A Media Matters study (https://www.mediamatters.org/google/right-dominates-online-media-ecosystem-seeping-sports-comedy-and-other-supposedly) of online shows published in March 2025 found that the most popular content in online and streaming shows is overwhelmingly right-leaning. In this new study, we examined those right-leaning podcasts -- and not the neutral or left-leaning shows -- from that prior assessment.

The majority of top right-leaning online shows/figures that self-categorize as related to news and politics — 63% — had mostly positive coverage of tariffs.

21% had mixed positive and negative coverage of tariffs.

11% completely ignored tariffs.

5% had mostly negative coverage of tariffs.

A plurality of top right-leaning online shows/figures that self-categorize asunrelatedto news and politics — 30% — completely ignored tariffs. (These shows categorize themselves with labels such as business, comedy, education, and entertainment.)

25% had mostly positive coverage of the tariffs.

20% had mixed positive and negative coverage of tariffs.

5% had mostly negative coverage of tariffs.

17 right-leaning online shows/figures — or 44% of the top right-leaning online shows/figures overall — had mostly positive coverage of tariffs.That tally consisted of 12 news and politics shows and 5 supposedly nonpolitical shows.

8 right-leaning online shows/figures — or 21% of the top right-leaning online shows/figures overall — had mixed positive and negative coverage of tariffs.That tally included 4 news and politics shows and 4 supposedly nonpolitical shows.

2 right-leaning online shows/figures — or 5% of the top right-leaning online shows/figures overall — had mostly negative coverage of tariffs.That tally included 1 news and politics show and 1 supposedly nonpolitical show.

Tariff discussion

A Media Matters study (https://www.mediamatters.org/google/right-dominates-online-media-ecosystem-seeping-sports-comedy-and-other-supposedly) of online shows published in March 2025 found that the most popular of this content (as evidenced by subscribers and followers) is overwhelmingly right-leaning. Zeroing in on the most popular of the pro-Trump right-leaning shows in that study, we have found meaningful but limited dissension on tariffs.

no charts

mma

Ben Shapiro says Trump's pause of military aid to Ukraine “is not a particularly good move”

03/04/25 1:47 PM EST

Ben Shapiro: “The tariffs are in fact a tax on American consumers. They drive up the prices.”

03/04/25 1:28 PM EST

Right-wing media lay foundations for Republican cuts to Medicaid

03/04/25 12:33 PM EST

War Room correspondent: “It's the reality of this world” that Trump's tariffs may cause “temporary pains for the consumer lives”

03/04/25 11:44 AM EST

Fox interviews car dealer about Trump tariffs: “We're afraid. It's going to have a gigantic impact on our business.”

03/04/25 11:39 AM EST

CNBC's Joe Kernen mocks media “hyperventilating” about turmoil caused by Trump's policies

03/04/25 11:15 AM EST

Fox Business guest: “These tariffs are really scary ... it has a real possibility of bringing on a recession”

03/04/25 11:03 AM EST

Fox host on Trump's tariffs: “There might be some pain in the beginning, but ultimately this is to help all of us”

03/04/25 10:45 AM EST

Fox host Brian Kilmeade shocked by co-hosts' suggestion that Starlink could be shut off for Ukraine: “You are saying Zelensky is worse than Putin”

03/04/25 10:01 AM EST

Fox's Greg Gutfeld: Zelensky “had it coming, he’s a criminal and he deserved it”

03/03/25

MMA

Ben Shapiro says he has “moral objections” to Trump's remarks on Ukraine: “Ukraine absolutely did not start the war” (https://www.mediamatters.org/russias-invasion-ukraine/ben-shapiro-says-he-has-moral-objections-trumps-remarks-ukraine-ukraine)

02/19/25

### Ben Shapiro downplays cuts to national park workers: “You can cut all those people by just having an automatic parking meter” (https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-downplays-cuts-national-park-workers-you-can-cut-all-those-people-just)

02/19/25

MMA

### Ben Shapiro: “These inspectors general tend to be Democratic plants very often” (https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-these-inspectors-general-tend-be-democratic-plans-very-often)

01/27/25 2:18 PM EST

### Ben Shapiro on FEMA: “It is a bizarre thing that area-specific crises ought to be thrust on the federal government” (https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-fema-it-bizarre-thing-area-specific-crises-ought-be-thrust-federal)

01/27/25

no lnx

:{Alternet

Social media shows Antioch shooter was influenced by Holocaust deniers, white nationalists

Antioch High School.

Jordan Greenand Raw StoryJanuary 23, 2025

The 17-year-old who killed a female student at a high school in Nashville before taking his own life was an African-American Reserve Officers' Training Corp member who hated Black people and identified as involuntarily celibate, according to a manifesto apparently posted by him online.

A document outlining the views was posted to the X account of the shooter, Solomon Henderson, along with a photo of a handgun in a backpack that appears to have been taken in a bathroom before he walked into the cafeteria at Antioch High School and opened fire around 11 a.m. Central Time. Henderson’s X account was still active, with the link at the time of publication.

In a question-and-answer section in the document, Henderson indicated the attack was motivated by “hatred” of Black people referenced through a racial slur. Europeans, according to the shooter, “need to be protected because they are conquerors, inventors and revolutionary’s [sic] thinkers.” It goes on to accuse Jews of subverting Europeans and imperiling their existence, echoing the racist Great Replacement theory.

ALSO READ: Trump's MAGA America revives a Confederate nightmare

The final page of a diary that was also posted on the shooter’s X account shows a photograph of Henderson, accompanied by the inscription: “God I am ugly. 4 hours to go.”

An entry in the position document on Henderson's opinions of Black people includes a litany of shockingly dehumanizing and ultraviolent descriptors of murder and atrocities.

Henderson credited less than a dozen internet personalities, mostly far-right influencers with radicalizing him.

The list includes Candace Owens, a Black conservative who left the Daily Wire website founded by Ben Shapiro last March following a string of increasingly antisemitic comments. In 2019, Owens testified before a House subcommittee hearing on white supremacist terrorism as a witness for the Republican minority. Owens lashed out at another witness during the hearing, saying, “The audacity of you to bring up the Christchurch shooting manifesto and make it seem as though I laughed at people that were slaughtered by a homicidal maniac is in my opinion absolutely despicable.”

Henderson wrote: “To expand on this, Candace Owens has influenced me above all. Each time she spoke I was stunned by her insights and her own views helped push me further and further into the belief of violence over the Jewish questions.”

Henderson also said he was influenced by Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist and Holocaust denier who dined with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2022, and Ethan Ralph, a far-right podcaster who helped stoke the Gamergate controversy, a culture war flashpoint in 2014 that proved to be a staging ground for a misogynist backlash against women’s participation in gaming and other male-dominated spaces.

Henderson describes himself as a "Groyper incel," using terms that respectively refer to Fuentes followers and the involuntary celibate, or incel, movement.

Fuentes responded to the shooting by acknowledging that Henderson called himself a 'groyper,' but distanced himself from the attack in a post on X.

The document also credits the rapper Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) with inspiring his violence and extremism.

Henderson's position document pays tribute to an array of white supremacist mass murderers, including Patrick Crusius, who carried out a massacre targeting Hispanics in El Paso, Texas, in 2019; Brenton Tarrant, who killed Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019; and Anders Breivik, who murdered young people at a youth camp in Norway in 2011.

Henderson's document expresses support for neo-Nazi ideals, which he described as "a better, neater, cleaner world by eliminating all undesirables." He added, "We must aid the Aryans regardless of our race."

Henderson’s diary indicates that he had initially planned to attack on Thursday, but decided to move it up to Wednesday because he wanted “to speed things up.” He said he was “scared of failing to kill myself and then going to jail,” and that his “goal was to kill at least 10 people.”

He wrote on X that he had saved money for a GoPro camera "but it was hard to explain to my parents why I needed it so I couldn't buy it." Henderson's X account includes a link to the streaming platform Kick.com, where three videos documenting his attack were posted. The videos have since been taken down from that site, although Henderson's X account remains active.

Henderson’s X account re-shares posts from four other accounts that promote violence, self-hatred, white supremacy and the incel movement. Some of the accounts show pictures of the users making the A-OK hand signal and writing, “Goodbye everyone.”

The similarities suggest some degree of coordination, although it is unclear whether the other account owners carried out attacks of their own.

Henderson said he had "connections" to some of the other shooters, although "only loosely via online messaging platforms."

In a section of his position document, Henderson paid tribute to what he called "new gen cases," including Natalie Rupnow, the 15-year-old girl who fatally shot two students at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, last month.

just knee jerk 180 “algo” bs?

mma

Ben Shapiro says Jimmy Carter “was a vindictive, not particularly nice human being”

01/06/25

https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-says-jimmy-carter-was-vindictive-not-particularly-nice-human-being)

MMA

### Ben Shapiro: $100 billion of disaster relief funds is “overkill” (https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-calls-100-billion-disaster-relief-funds-overkill)

12/19/24 2:15 PM EST

### Ben Shapiro: A “government shutdown isn't the end of the world. We've done it before. It's not that big a deal.” (https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-government-shutdown-isnt-end-world-weve-done-it-its-not-big-deal)

12/19/24

fashy

Ben Shapiro on France: Le Pen's “National Rally is not really a far-right party anymore” (https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-france-le-pens-national-rally-not-really-far-right-party-anymore)

12/05/24 mma

AN 9 24

Ben Shapiro’s call for GOP voters to nominate 'normies' lampooned: You 'make money terrifying them' (https://www.alternet.org/shapiro-gop-robinson/)

an 9 24

Back in 2016, right-wing radio host and Daily Wire publisher Ben Shapiro was highly critical of Donald Trump (https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/trump) and said he would never vote for him. But he endorsed Trump in the 2020 election and is supporting him again in 2024, although Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was his first choice in the GOP presidential primary.

In an article published on Labor Day 2024 (https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/02/ben-shapiro-gop-fundraiser-00176942), Politico's Alex Isenstadt reports that Shapiro has recently been "trying a new role: Republican fundraiser."

Shapiro, according to Isenstadt (https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/02/ben-shapiro-gop-fundraiser-00176942), is "slated to fundraise" for several Republican U.S. Senate candidates — including Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania, Bernie Moreno in Ohio, Eric Hovde in Wisconsin, Tim Sheehy in Montana, and Sam Brown in Nevada. All of them are trying to unseat incumbent Democratic senators, but Shapiro is also helping an incumbent Republican: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is being challenged by Democratic Rep. Colin Allred.

READ MORE:Trump was reportedly 'stunned' and 'troubled' at wave of negative JD Vance coverage: report (https://www.alternet.org/trump-jd-vance-coverage/)

"The move represents a shift for the 40-year-old Shapiro in his evolution as a conservative media personality, as Republican candidates seek to parlay his influence into cash," Isenstadt explains (https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/02/ben-shapiro-gop-fundraiser-00176942). "And it shows how an ascendent generation of conservative podcasters have emerged as behind-the-scenes players in Republican politics, especially among young people who don't view previous GOP media figures like Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity with as much deference as their parents or grandparents."

Cruz noted that Shapiro (https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/02/ben-shapiro-gop-fundraiser-00176942) reaches a lot of younger Republicans, telling Politico that "people who would never turn on Fox News listen to Ben Shapiro regularly."

But Isenstadt points out that (https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/02/ben-shapiro-gop-fundraiser-00176942) Shapiro can be a very polarizing figure.

"Shapiro's style has drawn the ire of liberals, who have derided Shapiro as toxic," the Politico reporter explains (https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/02/ben-shapiro-gop-fundraiser-00176942). "In July, 'Daily Show' host Jon Stewart criticized Shapiro for saying (Vice President Kamala) Harris (https://www.rawstory.com/tag/white-house) owed her rise to her past romance with ex-San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown…. And tapping Shapiro is not without risk for Republicans seeking to win over moderates in November, given his controversial remarks on race and ethnicity."

READ MORE:How 'Red Dawn conservatives' have formed anti-Trump alliance with 'educated suburban dads' (https://www.alternet.org/red-dawn-conservatives-dobbs-dads/?utm_source=push_notifications)

*Read Politico's full article at this link (https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/02/ben-shapiro-gop-fundraiser-00176942).

Ben Shapiro falsely suggests a proposed tax for households with $100 million in net worth would apply to everyone (https://www.mediamatters.org/daily-wire/ben-shapiro-falsely-suggests-proposed-tax-households-100-million-net-worth-would-apply)

08/21/24 mma

mma 8 24

on Facebook, right-leaning content overwhelmingly dominates the immigration conversation

Right-leaning pages earned over 65% of interactions — nearly 19.5 million — on posts about immigration from U.S. politics and news pages during the first half of 2024

Written by Kayla Gogarty (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/kayla-gogarty) & Courtney Hagle (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/courtney-hagle)

Research contributions from Carly Evans (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/carly-evans)

Published 08/12/24

A new Media Matters analysis found that right-leaning pages dominated conversations about immigration on Facebook during the first half of this year. While right-leaning pages have posted about immigration a similar amount as ideologically nonaligned pages, right-leaning posts have received the greatest number of total interactions by far on related posts compared to other news and politics pages.

Our key findings include:

Immigration-related posts from right-leaning and ideologically nonaligned pages during the time period analyzed far outpaced those from left-leaning pages, with ideologically nonaligned pages accounting for 48%, right-leaning pages accounting for 47%, and left-leaning pages accounting for only 6%.

Right-leaning pages earned the greatest number of interactions on immigration-related posts, with nearly 19.5 million interactions, or 65% of all interactions earned by news and politics pages.

Five of the six Facebook pages that posted the most about immigration during the time frame were right-leaning pages dedicated to right-wing media outlets, including The Daily Wire, Newsmax, Just the News, Washington Examiner, and Breitbart. Fox News, Newsmax, and Breitbart were also among the 5 pages that received the most engagement.

Half of the 10 immigration-related posts that received the greatest number of interactions were from right-leaning pages. These posts attacked Biden and fearmongered about his immigration policies.

Networks of Facebook pages affiliated with right-wing outlets The Daily Wire, the Western Journal, The Epoch Times and its sister network New Tang Dynasty, Fox News, and The Blaze amplified their content across the platform, accounting for nearly 34% of immigration-related posts from right-leaning pages and nearly 16% of related posts from all news and politics pages.

Networks of right-wing Facebook pages pushed falsehoods about noncitizens voting in Pennsylvania and claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris was the “border czar.”

For years, conservatives have falsely claimed that social media platforms like Facebook are (https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/msnbc-angelo-carusone-discusses-how-elon-musks-purchase-twitter-could-increase) biased (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/19/peter-thiel-facebook-new-right/) against them (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/tucker-carlson-gives-breitbarts-editor-friendly-space-complain-about-nonexistent-facebook), continuing to attack (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/facebook-caved-right-wing-media-demands-reinstate-trump-they-keep-attacking-platform) the company even after it bent its rules (https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/report-january-6-investigators-confirm-social-media-platforms-bent-their) to appease them. Media Matters and others have repeatedly debunked (https://csmapnyu.org/research/echo-chambers-rabbit-holes-and-algorithmic-bias-how-youtube-recommends-content-to-real-users) these (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/22/twitter-admits-bias-in-algorithm-for-rightwing-politicians-and-news-outlets) claims (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/mark-zuckerberg-denies-facebook-right-wing-echo-chamber-facts-tell-different-story), including by showing that Facebook incentivizes (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/facebook-whistleblower-just-confirmed-everything-weve-been-reporting-months#paragraph--section-heading--3422726) sensational political content in a way that effectively makes it a propaganda machine (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/how-facebook-right-wing-propaganda-machine-works) for the right.

Media Matters has documented (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/right-wing-facebook-pages-dominated-conversation-around-equality-act-and-dr-rachel-levine) numerous (https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/hurricane-ian-pummeled-florida-facebook-allowed-anti-science-content-thrive) instances (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/facebook-right-leaning-pages-dominate-conversation-about-kyle-rittenhouses-acquittal) in which right (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/right-leaning-pages-dominated-conversation-facebook-during-supreme-court-confirmation)-leaning (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/study-right-wing-sources-dominated-migrant-caravan-coverage-facebook-and-youtube) pages (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/right-dominating-facebook-engagement-content-about-trans-issues) have (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/trump-and-his-administration-are-leading-discussion-about-reopening-schools-among-right) dominated (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/facebook-right-leaning-pages-are-dominating-conversation-around-supreme-court-ruling) the (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/during-bidens-state-union-right-leaning-facebook-pages-dominated-political-conversations) conversation (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/facebook-right-leaning-pages-are-dominating-conversation-around-trucker-protests-canada) on Facebook amid prominent news cycles. In recent months, right-wing media and politicians have sought to make immigration a key issue in the 2024 election, relentlessly (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-migrant-crime-fearmongering-numbers) fearmongering (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/study-fox-news-ran-nearly-400-weekday-segments-migrant-crime-first-10-weeks-2024) about migrant crime (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-returns-migrant-crime-fixation-migrant-crossings-crime-plummet) as Trump (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/us/politics/trump-border-blood-bath.html) leads the charge (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/trump-debate-immigration-misinformation-biden-lack-response-rcna159456) on demonizing migrants and smearing Democrats on the issue of immigration.

Right-leaning pages earned the most total interactions on posts related to immigration

Facebook pages that regularly post about news and politics shared nearly 80,000 posts about immigration between January 1 and June 30, 2024, earning over 30 million total interactions.

Related posts from right-leaning and ideologically nonaligned pages far outpaced those from left-leaning pages, with ideologically nonaligned pages accounting for 48% (or more than 38,100 posts), right-leaning pages accounting for 47% (or more than 37,300 posts), and left-leaning pages accounting for only 6% (or 4,400 posts).

Notably, right-leaning pages earned the most interactions on immigration-related posts, with nearly 19.5 million interactions, or 65%. Left-leaning pages earned over 5.8 million interactions (or 19%) and ideologically nonaligned pages earned over 4.7 million interactions (or 16%).

Right-wing media outlets and politicians posted the most about immigration and earned the greatest number of interactions

Five of the six Facebook pages that posted the most about immigration during the assessed time frame were right-leaning pages dedicated to right-wing media outlets, including The Daily Wire (more than 800 posts), Newsmax (roughly 760 posts), Just the News (nearly 650 posts), Washington Examiner (more than 640 posts), and Breitbart (nearly 580 posts). The only ideologically nonaligned or left-leaning page that rivaled the quantity of immigration-related posts from those right-wing outlets was CBS 4 News Rio Grande Valley (nearly 700 posts).

Fox News, Newsmax, and Breitbart were also among the 5 pages that received the most engagement on posts about immigration. Posts from left-leaning accounts, including historian Heather Cox Richardson and Occupy Democrats, rounded out the top 5.

Half of the 10 immigration-related posts that received the greatest number of interactions were from right-leaning pages, including Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Newsmax, former President Donald Trump, and Franklin Graham. Most of these posts attacked Biden and fearmongered over his immigration policies, with Trump accusing Biden of “aiding and abetting a massive Invasion of millions of Illegal Migrants” and calling immigrants “Crooked Joe Biden's Illegal Immigrant Criminals.” These posts include:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s video showing “Texas border wall construction is ongoing in Maverick County,” which earned nearly 174,000 interactions.

Newsmax’s post about the Border Patrol union saying they never endorsed Biden after he said they did at the debate, which earned more than 117,000 interactions.

Trump’s post claiming, “When I was President, we had the most secure Border in History,” and that “Joe Biden has surrendered our Border, and is aiding and abetting a massive Invasion of millions of Illegal Migrants,” which earned nearly 102,000 interactions.

Franklin Graham’s post saying, “I hope President Biden’s trip to the border is going to make a difference, but his policies have caused this crisis,” which earned nearly 88,000 interactions.

Trump’s post about the death of Rachel Morin claimed that “one of Crooked Joe Biden's Illegal Immigrant Criminals was just charged,” earning over 84,000 interactions.

[grx]

Networks of Facebook pages amplified right-wing media’s content across the platform, including pushing false claims about noncitizens voting and Harris being a “border czar”

Facebook has a history of allowing networks (https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/daily-wire-and-western-journal-use-facebook-page-networks-spread-right-wing) of right-wing pages to exploit its platform and amplify pro-Trump (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/trump-returns-facebook-vast-network-ready-amplify-his-misinformation-and-conspiracy) and other (https://www.mediamatters.org/daily-wire/meta-has-profited-millions-ad-revenue-daily-wires-anti-trans-campaign) right (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/breitbart-thrives-facebook-part-because-platform-rewards-sensational-photos-and-videos)-wing (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/facebook-profited-ads-promoting-white-supremacist-great-replacement-theory#paragraph--section-heading--3434551) narratives (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/how-facebook-being-used-anti-abortion-organizing-tool).

Networks of Facebook pages affiliated with right-wing media outlets amplified their immigration-related content across the platform, including The Daily Wire, the Western Journal, Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty, Fox News, and The Blaze. These networks accounted for nearly 34% of immigration-related posts from right-leaning pages and nearly 16% of related posts from all news and politics pages. Interactions earned on the immigration-related posts from these networks accounted for 28% of all interactions earned by right-leaning pages and 18% of all interactions earned by all news and politics pages.

The Daily Wire’s network of 10 Facebook pages shared over 3,500 posts about immigration during the studied time period, earning over 1.7 million total interactions. One of the immigration-related posts (https://www.facebook.com/100044139414360/posts/1144580277023275) from the network that earned the greatest number of interactions came from Ben Shapiro and claimed that “the left clearly wants illegal immigrants in the United States.” Pages in The Daily Wire’s network repeatedly shared the outlet’s articles.

The Western Journal’s network of 22 pages shared over 4,000 posts, earning over 320,000 interactions. Pages in the network repeatedly amplified articles from the Western Journal, including an article (https://www.westernjournal.com/man-border-allegedly-racks-pistol-levels-innocents-head-everyone-hears-single-distant-shot-punk-drops/) about border patrol allegedly killing someone near the border. The pages amplified the article, writing, “A single click in the distance sealed his fate,” and, “This fatal surprise caught him totally off-guard.”

The Western Journal’s network also amplified an article (https://www.westernjournal.com/watch-vp-kamala-harris-says-absolutely-ready-president/) pushing the false narrative (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kamala-harris-immigration-biden-administration-border/) that Vice President Kamala Harris was the “border czar.” The outlet’s network of pages posted the article on Facebook at least 19 times, with right-wing outlet the Independent Journal Review also republishing the article (https://ijr.com/watch-vp-kamala-harris-says-absolutely-ready-president/) and amplifying it from its own Facebook pages.

The Epoch Times/NTD network includes 6 pages, which shared over 1,100 posts and earned over 62,000 interactions. One of the immigration-related posts from the network that earned the greatest number of interactions pushed (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4021899) a false claim (https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/vote/elections/fact-checking-pa-related-election-claims.html#accordion-95369eba2e-item-67367be23a) about noncitizens voting in Pennsylvania.

Eight Facebook pages run by Fox News shared over 1,200 posts, earning over 2.8 million interactions on right-wing posts about immigration. Some of the immigration-related posts from the network that earned the greatest number of interactions amplified (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4021900) criticism of Biden’s immigration policies.

The Blaze’s network of 9 pages shared more than 2,600 posts, earning over 480,000 interactions. Some of the immigration-related posts from the network that earned the greatest number of interactions promoted (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4021901) Texas’ actions at the border.

These networks of pages also promoted the false claim (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/noncitizen-voting-already-illegal-and-vanishingly-rare) that noncitizens are voting en masse in elections.

[pix]

Methodology...

The Daily Show host Jon Stewart on Monday night slammed ex-President Donald Trump, 2024 GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance (R-OH), Republican lawmakers and commentators' inability to make a strong case against Vice President Kamala Harris in her pursuit of the presidency.

"You're going to have to shift gears — recalibrate," Stewart said, referring to the fact that the GOP's constant attacks on President Joe Biden's age no longer stand. "You've had 'Crooked Joe' and 'Sleepy Joe' on speed dial. You're going to need a new line of attack," the late-night host added.

Stewart played a clip of former Fox News host Megyn Kelly on right-wing political commentator Ben Shapiro's show, saying, "It is relevant when a young candidate tries to sleep her way into politics and into power. And that is what it appears Kamala Harris did.

READ MORE:'Got a lot harder': House Republicans privately fear JD Vance 'doesn’t add much' to Trump ticket (https://www.alternet.org/jd-vance-trump-harris-axios/)

Shapiro added, "She never earned or won anything. She was legitimately handed her original post in California state government because she was sleeping with [former San Francisco Mayor] Willie Brown. And then he backed her in her race for San Francisco DA."

Stewart then said, "I don't know, guys. You're being awfully subtle here. Isn't there a grosser way you can say that?"

"Does anybody have a substantive critique? he added. "Nobody believes Kamala Harris is the second coming of Karl Marx. And even when they get substantive policy critiques, they undercut them immediately."

Stewart then pointed to the fact Republicans can't decide whether Harris is too soft, or too tough on crime.

READ MORE:'Obsession with controlling women': Harris calls JD Vance a 'creep' in scathing statement (https://www.alternet.org/harris-jd-vance-creep/)

"People, we open in three months!" Stewart yelled. "You're flailing! Dig deep!"

Stewart then played a clip of far right podcast host Mark Levin criticizing Harris, saying, "There's one final thing that nobody talks about: She's hated by people who work for her."

The Daily Show host screamed, "Are you kidding me? Your candidate's Donald Trump. His catchphrase is literally, 'You're fired!' Donald Trump hired 44 cabinet members — 75% of them want nothing to do with the guy. His Secretary of State called him a f—ing moron. His chief of staff said 'He's the most flawed person I've ever met.' You know why he needs a new vice presidential running mate? I'll tell you why. He tried to get the last one killed.

Watch the video below or at this link (https://www.alternet.org/jon-stewart-gop-harris/).

an 7 24

sorta ref 2023

Brookings Institution reviewed dozens of top political podcasts and how many lies they air.

Conservative hosts shared by far the most falsehoods, with Steve Bannon on top.

The top 10 podcasts sharing 60% of falsehoods were all right-leaning, the study found.

Bull

A major study reviewing the top US political podcasts found that conservative-leaning shows are vastly more likely to include misinformation — with Steve Bannon's War Room coming way out ahead.

Bannon called it a "badge of honor," according to The New York Times.

The study released by the Brookings Institute this week reviewed more than 36,000 episodes released on Apple Podcasts up to January 2022, by 79 leading podcasters across the political spectrum. They included Bannon, Dan Bongino, Seth Myers, Ben Shapiro, and Trevor Noah.

"Conservative podcasters were 11 times more likely than liberal podcasters to share claims fact-checked as false or unsubstantiated," the study said.

Major topics of misinformation were the 2020 election and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fifty-six of the podcasters reviewed shared false or unsubstantiated claims at some point, the study found. But 10 of those were responsible for a full 60 per cent of the misleading material found. And of those, all were conservative-leaning, the study said.

...Out of the top 10 posts with the most interactions that Media Matters analyzed, 6 were from right-leaning Facebook pages

These 6 posts were from Newsmax, Ben Shapiro, Sean Hannity, Mike Huckabee, and Fox News, which had 2 posts. Out of these 6 posts, half contained industry talking points or attacked the administrative state and federal agencies that the right has villainized (https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-rules-against-bidens-epa-says-agency-does-not-have-authority-to-regulate-carbon-dioxide-emissions) for enforcing (https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/10/legal-challenges-cdc-public-health-policy-00031253) lockdowns and vaccine mandates (https://cei.org/opeds_articles/the-supreme-courts-vaccine-decisions-are-a-blow-to-the-administrative-state/). These reactions and the sources cited in them further demonstrated the decision as a victory for the fossil fuel industry and its conservative allies which helped orchestrate this result to line their pockets and hinder progress on climate action.

Among the top examples from right-leaning pages that contained misinformation was a post from Ben Shapiro with nearly 22,000 interactions that linked to an article from the Daily Wire (https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-rules-against-bidens-epa-says-agency-does-not-have-authority-to-regulate-carbon-dioxide-emissions). The article quoted Heritage Foundation research fellow Daren Bakst, who claimed that the court had rightfully blocked the EPA from overstepping its boundaries and that only Congress can make certain regulatory decisions under the Constitution.

The Heritage Foundation (https://www.desmog.com/heritage-foundation/) has received millions of dollars in funding from Koch-connected organizations, as well as considerable funding from the fossil fuel industry, while outwardly denying the scientific consensus on climate change. The foundation has also played a major role in moving courts to the right, and even created a secretly financed program (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/us/politics/heritage-foundation-clerks-judges-training.html) to train law clerks to elevate its views. According to The New York Times, Heritage helped the Federalist Society compile the lists of potential Supreme Court nominees from which President Donald Trump chose to appoint Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Both justices voted to stifle the EPA. However, the Daily Wire article ignored these connections between the conservative think tank, its financial backers in the fossil fuel industry, and the court’s ruling.

The article also quoted Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who baselessly claimed that the Clean Power Plan would “lead to higher utility bills, job loss and overall increased energy prices.” While these regulations were never implemented, the plan was predicted (https://archive.epa.gov/epa/cleanpowerplan/fact-sheet-clean-power-plan-keeping-energy-affordable-and-reliable.html) to have cut electricity bills by 7% and deliver up to $34 billion in health benefits (https://www.nrdc.org/stories/how-clean-power-plan-works-and-why-it-matters#::text=Economists%20believe%20that%20in%202030,its%20electricity%20bills%20in%202030.).

[twt ben shapiro]

Many of the top 10 posts, particularly those from right-leaning pages, framed the decision primarily as a victory against the EPA’s ability to enforce regulations – or what Mike Huckabee (https://www.facebook.com/100044545174732/posts/601740694654098) referred to, in a post that received more than 11,000 interactions, as “the reign of tyranny by unaccountable bureaucrats.” A post from Sean Hannity (https://www.facebook.com/100047112765345/posts/606306527616434) that garnered 14,000 interactions also linked to an article (https://hannity.com/media-room/unleash-american-energy-scotus-deals-blow-to-climate-extremists-epa-cant-cap-emissions/) on his website describing the decision as a “blow to climate extremists” and calling to “unleash American energy.”[twt]

The top left-leaning post, which was from historian Heather Cox Richardson (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3990723) and had over 61,000 interactions, provided an overview of several recent and upcoming Supreme Court decisions and pointed out that the court set a precedent in West Virginia v. EPA using legal reasoning that was even rejected by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia in 2001. She also highlighted excerpts from Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent (https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/20-1530#writing-20-1530_DISSENT_6) pointing out that Congress already delegates power to federal agencies to address issues where it does not have expertise.

Another popular left-leaning post about the case from former President Barack Obama,which had over 55,000 interactions, mentioned climate impacts on vulnerable populations and urged Congress to “pass President Biden’s climate and clean energy investments.” Though right-leaning posts received more engagement overall, Richardson and Obama’s posts each had twice as many interactions as the top right-wing misinformation posts.

the top Facebook posts about the ruling from left-leaning pages, which accounted for 3 of the top 10 posts, criticized the decision while highlighting various grievances with how the court came to its decision and what impact the ruling will have on the communities being affected by the climate crisis. [twt]

The only post about the case from an ideologically nonaligned Facebook page in the top 10 came from CNN. It received just over 12,000 interactions and linked to a fairly detailed article (https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/30/politics/supreme-court-climate-change-epa-regulations/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_medium=social&utm_content=2022-06-30T14%3A08%3A51&utm_source=fbCNN&fbclid=IwAR0da4pzRAZt7PNKqUsk0H6lmQQcRwZFLrcVahXV03HNcIvIYczvxuSTFMU) putting the decision in the context of urgent calls from scientists to cut emissions and transition away from fossil fuels, and citing the 2021 report (https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/08/1097362) from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which called the climate crisis a “code red” for humanity.

Although left-leaning and nonaligned pages were vocal about the gravity of the Supreme Court’s decision, the right was was still able to co-opt much of the conversation on Facebook, shifting attention and blame away from the small group of right-wing figures and industry executives who benefit from the ruling to hamstring environmental protections in the face of the worsening climate crisis, leaving the rest of us to grapple with an uncertain future.

none of the top 10 posts outlined how, as The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/climate/supreme-court-climate-epa.html) puts it, the case “is the product of a coordinated, multi-year strategy by Republican attorneys general, conservative legal activists and their funders, several with ties to the oil and coal industries.” Some only mentioned the court case in passing – for example, a popular post with more than 16,000 interactions from controversial documentarian Michael Moore (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3990722) referenced the case once among a host of other political grievances in a “declaration.”...

some events stories demand soc media?

see rhet god/devil terms

guns of course muy macho, kyle said he picked the AR15 b/c it looked cool = manly, warrior, lethal = power

note pedo-commie and bitch (co-opts black thug rap?]

pudgey white suburban so gets invite/summons on facebook to man up and go help the good guy cops who are besiged by black thugs [dylann r radicalized by blk on wht crime]

aha anti commie, fag and semite:

omfg parasite = cockroaches = exterminate vermin carry disease dirty

https://www.alternet.org/2021/11/rittenhouse-2655770737/

no lnx pix req

Rittenhouse verdict championed on right-wing social media as green light for killing protesters

[Charlottesville "Unite the Right" Rally. Far-right Oath Keepers patrol Emancipation Park. Credit: Anthony Crider]

David Neiwertand Daily Kos November 21, 2021

The exultation on right-wing social media following Kyle Rittenhouse's acquittal has been sickeningly predictable: Mainstream conservatives loudly valorize Rittenhouse as a "hero," while more extremist voices, applying the same logic, demand that more Americans follow his footsteps—urging the likeminded to take to the street now to begin using guns to "be like Kyle." They have even appropriated his name for their future plans, voiced in numerous celebratory threads: Any leftist protester shot by a right-wing "patriot" henceforth will have been "Rittenhoused."

As we forecasted, the acquittal is now a beacon-like green light granting permission to violent right-wing extremists to openly wage the kind of "civil war" against "the left"—which ranges from liberal Democrats like Joe Biden to the "antifa" bogeyman they have concocted—that they have been fantasizing about for the past decade. In the words of Charlie Kirk's interlocutor, it's the signal that now they "get to use the guns."

The bloodlust has been palpable. Online trolls celebrated that "it's Open Season on pedo-commies" and boasted that the verdict means "there's nothing you can do about it." A neo-Nazi channel on Twitter urged readers to "let this win fuel your rage." A fan of pseudo-journalist Andy Ngo commented in a retweet: "Every one of these anarchist criminal thugs should be shot in the street like the worthless dogs they are."

Far-right maven Ann Coulter posted a meme showing a gantlet of [marvel nazi nerd wet dr] comic-book superheroes bowing to Rittenhouse. On Facebook, Ben Shapiro framed any future violence as being left-wing: "The Left accepting the verdict in a peaceable manner remains the sizable elephant in the room." NOTE MIRROR CRYPTO DEFLECTION DEFENSE; HE'S AN ACTIVE MASS SHOOTER?!

The white-nationalist site VDare also extolled Rittenhouse's heroism:

This much is true: Kyle Rittenhouse is the hero we've been waiting for throughout the turbulent summer of 2020, where a Black Lives Matter/Antifa/Bolshevik revolution has our country on the brink of total chaos.

[Coulter-RittenhouseMeme.jpeg]

Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire blamed the media for there even having been a trial:

The verdict is right and just but Kyle Rittenhouse never should have been on trial at all. Now themedia will go to work, like the demonsthey are, to ensure that Kenosha burns because they did not get their blood sacrifice.

Walsh then added:

I hope Rittenhouse bankrupts all of you dirtbags in media who smeared him as a white supremacist. [sue for libel based on verdict? // charlottesville ~ KKK case finished ] I hope he ruins your life. I want you to suffer. It's what you deserve. It's justice.

Idaho legislator Tammy Nichols, a Republican, posted a meme featuring the Gadsden-flag "Don't Tread On Me" design, but with a graphic of Rittenhouse firing from a seated position as he did in Kenosha.

The Gun Owners of America (GOA)—a gun-rights extremist group headed by far-right militia figure Larry Pratt—joined in the celebration by announcing it was giving Rittenhouse a new gun.

Alert: GOA will be awarding Kyle Rittenhouse with an AR-15 for his defense of gun rights in America. Join us in saying THANK YOU to Kyle Rittenhouse for being awarrior for gun rights and self defense rights across the country!

Other "Patriot" Movement extremists saw the verdict as vindication for vigilantism and militia organizing. The "Washougal Moms," a militia-friendly group from eastern Washington state, opined:

Today the jury and legal system has reaffirmed our rights as citizens. The second amendmentin all aspects, to form a well regulated militia, the right to bear arms in self defense, and against enemiesboth foreign and domestic!

Kurt Schlichter, the right-wing troll with over 380,000 followers, taunted MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan, who had expressed concern about the double racial standard that the verdict reflects, on Twitter.

Your pain delights me. Kyle Rittenhouse killed two leftistcatspawsand bisected the bicep of another and there's nothing you can do about it.

A white-nationalist Twitter account called "Based Teutonic" celebrated the verdict by posting a fantasy that Rittenhouse would now embark on an action-hero-like mission—with the help of Judge Bruce Schroeder, who oversaw the trial in markedly biased fashion.

About to exit court room

Judge yells from behind:

Rittenhouse turns around

You forgot this

Tosses him his AR15

Credits roll, Eye of the Tiger plays

"Based Teutonic" wasn't alone in celebrating Schroeder's role in the verdict. On Telegram, a commenter in a Proud Boys channel observed:

Kyle's case shows how important is to have your guys in power on a local level. One vaguely conservative boomer judge made all of the difference in a monumental trial.

Other Proud Boys were more focused on their long-anticipated civil war. "There's still a chance for this country," wrote one. Another wrote: "The left wont stop until their bodies get stacked up like cord wood."

The Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights monitored a number of far-right chat forums (particularly Telegram) following the verdict, and found an outpouring of extremist bile, much of it anticipating the ability to inflict lethal violence on "leftists," as well as Black "parasites" and, of course, Jewish people. A user called The Western Chauvinist commented: "The parasites are planning multiple 'protests' across the United States."

One user calling himself "Proud Boy To Fascist Pipeline" replied to one of these comments mocking Black leaders protesting the verdict as "parasites": "Your 17 year olds are already armed and terrorizing our neighborhoods, n----er."

Fittingly, Charlie Kirk fans—following the example of his Idaho audience member—were focused on the violence: "Arm up and tell them fcking bring it!" one replied to predictions of leftist protests after the verdict. "Shoot these phukers," commented another.

Nick Fuentes' "Groypers" were also unbridled in their anticipation of gunning down their opponents. "The most American thing you can do is Killing Commies," opined one on the white-nationalist forum Gab.

Another Gab user exulted with a meme showing Joaquin Phoenix as The Joker, dancing: "When you find out it's officially Open Season on pedo-commies." Mocking "wannabe street thugs upset with the verdict," another Gab user replied, "you're gonna get Rittenhouse'd. Bitch."

Gab-OpenSeason.png

"Getting Rittenhoused" became a popular way of threatening leftists. After Ngo posted a handful of tweets from leftists angry about the verdict, hundreds of his fans piled on, making threats of violence against them. "Someone will Rittenhouse them too," one responded. Another replied: "I came here to say that!"

Antisemitism also was a common theme. Right-wing troll Keith Woods, who has 23,500 followers on Twitter, declared after the verdict: "Huge L for the Jews." His followers piled on; one responded with a GIF meme of Gollum and the text, "Curse you goyim." Another replied, "hopefully they take an L in Charlottsville trial too. WHITE BOY WINTER!"

White nationalist Eric Striker was more explicitly antisemitic, as well as strategic, in his commentary:

Beating the Jews to the narrative as incidents unfold is more important than anything that happens in court.

Once you frame a story with the facts (and the facts have to be 100% accurate) and disseminate it with an effective propaganda network, Jews will struggle to challenge it once it's cemented.

Notorious white nationalist and antisemite Mike "Enoch" Peinovich put out a statement through his National Justice Party: "This victory for Kyle Rittenhouse over the cosmopolitan elite forces that plague the nation isn't only a victory for the young man himself, it's a victory for justice and for all White people who take a stand," Peinovich said.

On Telegram, a white nationalist commented: "The victory of Kyle Rittenhouse over thejewish forces that plague the nation isn't just a victory for the man himself, it's a victory for justice, and for the masses of disenfranchised White people which populate the globe.

The neo-Nazi group White Lives Matter had this advice for its white-supremacist followers:

Don't let this one victory lull you back to sleep. That's what they want. They know small "victories" can placate the angry masses more than anything else. Instead let this win fuel your rage.Never forget the simple fact that this clear-cut self-defense should never have gone to trial in the first place. Muslim, Hispanic, and African invaders have raped millions of our women, WHITE women.Their time ofterrorizing our People with 0 consequences is coming to an end. The Rittenhouse verdict is a single tick in the scoreboard on our side. Our enemy doesn't have a scoreboard big enough for their victories. Fight harder, stronger, fiercer, and with the same remorse they have shown us. None. Get going, White man.

"This might be interpreted across the far right as a type of permission slip to do this kind of thing or to seek out altercations in this way, believing that there is a potential that they won't face serious consequences for it," Jared Holt of the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council told NPR. "I worry that that might end up being interpreted by some people as a proof of concept of this idea that you can actually go out and seek a 'self-defense situation,' and you'll be cheered as a hero for it."

5 22

edit bd:

...And finally …

IMAGE OF THAT VENOMOUS TOAD SHAPIRO

When they say that "49 Democrats voted for abortion up to and including the point of birth," they do not mean what they say.

They want you to believe they mean what they say.

What they mean, but do not say, is that “the point of birth” is the same thing as “the point of viability.” That is, the point at which the baby can survive outside its mother, which is generally about 24 months into a pregnancy, isthe same thing as birth after nine months.

Let’s be clear.

No parent on this planet sees them as the same thing.

No parent thinks the point of viability is the same thing as the due date.

In other words, they are lying to you.

My hope is now you know they are lying.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/samuel-alito-just-laid-out-an-argument-for-rolling-back-a-variety-of-20th-century-progress-journalist/

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/ben-shapiro-unwind-gay-marriage/

https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/dozen-times-right-wing-media-said-something-ridiculous-about-climate-change-2021

no lnx mant vids

A dozen times right-wing media said something ridiculous about climate change in 2021

Special PROGRAMS

CLIMATE & ENERGY

WRITTEN BY TED MACDONALD

PUBLISHED 12/23/21

The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro doesn’t think that 4 degrees Celsius of warming is an emergency

On the April 14 edition of The Daily Wire’s The Ben Shapiro Show, host Ben Shapiro stated that “I do not consider it a quote-unquote ‘emergency’ if the climate were to warm 4 degrees Celsius over the course of the next century. … It’s just a way for them to create a certain level of alarmism that is unjustifiable by the facts on the ground."

It’s a good thing that Shapiro, whose publication is backed by fracking billionaires, has no authority or credibility within the climate science community: 4 C of warming would be literally catastrophic for large swaths of the globe. As The Guardian reported in 2019, at 4 C of climate change, we’d have sea levels that would be around 2 meters higher than today (which would render many coastal areas obsolete), destruction of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, oceanic dead zones, temperatures in the equatorial belt so high that would make for impossible living conditions for most of the year, and the beginning of a potential mass extinction for many species. This is not the first time that Shapiro has said something ignorant about the climate crisis; he once theorized that people affected by rising sea levels could just sell their inundated homes and move.

Fox’s Dagen McDowell thinks that cold temperatures in certain parts of the U.S. entirely disprove global warming

Fox News personalities regularly conflate climate with weather, and they generally do it to dismiss global warming. On the April 21 edition of The Five, co-host Dagen McDowell mockingly suggested that “they stopped calling it global warming” because of abnormally cold U.S. temperatures.

Video file

CitationFrom the April 21, 2021, edition of Fox News' The Five

In reality, our warming climate has not eradicated cold weather, and in some cases, it has even made cold weather more severe and unpredictable. Nor have abnormally cold temperatures caused a dent in the Earth’s alarming warming trend, in which the past decade was the warmest on record.

Ex-coal lobbyist Steve Milloy lies about warming temperatures on One America News: “The June 2021 temperature was actually below the 40-year average”

On the August 2 edition of OAN’s The Tipping Point, former coal lobbyist and Fox News contributor Steve Milloy stated: “The June 2021 temperature was actually below the 40-year average. … There’s just so much bad information going on around, and you know, you’ve just got to be careful with climate alarmists.”

Video file

CitationFrom the August 2, 2021, edition ofOAN's The Tipping Point

In reality, the U.S. suffered through its hottest June on record, while it was the fifth-warmest June on record globally (followed by the hottest July ever recorded in earth’s history). Milloy is a longstanding figure in the climate denial community, and viewers have really “got to be careful” with his objectively false information.

Fox's Laura Ingraham suggests that climate change is really “about controlling the people” and fearmongers that climate action will lead to pandemic-style lockdowns

On both the May 18 and 19 editions of Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, host Laura Ingraham theorized that Democrats will use climate change to control Americans’ lives through pandemic-style lockdowns.

Video file

CitationFrom the May 19, 2021, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle

This is a dangerous conspiracy theory being pushed by prominent climate deniers that has taken hold among far-right media figures. To be clear, the way to fight climate change is not via lockdowns (COVID-19 lockdowns “only marginally reduced greenhouse gas emissions”), but by bringing about systemic change in our energy system and reimagining our economy and the way we live.

Newsmax’s Chris Salcedo doesn’t believe in “proof” that CO2 emissions are contributing to climate change

There were multiple times this year when Newsmax host Chris Salcedo went on a perplexing rant claiming there’s somehow no proof that rising CO2 emissions affect temperatures in any meaningful way. On the August 18 edition of The Chris Salcedo Show, Salcedo called global warming a “religion” that “has not been proven through science” before going on to say, “There's no mathematical proof out there that states that X amount of man-made CO2 yields Y amount of temperature change.”

Then on the December 14 edition of his show, Salcedo stated: “From experts I have read and interviewed over the years, I can say that there is no proof that man's C02 emissions are destroying the planet.” Salcedo must be interviewing some pretty fringe climate deniers as “experts,” as there is effectively unanimous scientific consensus that “humans are changing Earth's climate, primarily through greenhouse gas emissions.”

Fox’s Tucker Carlson rants that climate change is somehow a conspiracy to shrink your children

While Tucker Carlson is no stranger to promoting weird conspiracy theories about climate change, one of his segments from June went completely overboard. On the June 22 edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, the Fox prime-time host accused climate scientists of wanting to use “human engineering” to “make human children smaller than they are now” and thereby reduce their lifetime greenhouse gas emissions: “All we need to do is experiment on human children and we can solve climate change.”

Tucker Human Engineering

Carlson’s claim was based on a speech given by a bioethicist nearly five years ago. As Gizmodo reported, “The ideas are bad, but they’re utterly fringe. Activists are clamoring for transforming society, not individual humans. You’d never know that from watching the segment, though.” But taking a fringe remark out of context and repurposing it to claim that the government will take over our lives seems pretty on-brand for Fox News.

Dennis Prager thinks the simple solution to a warming climate is to just use more air conditioning

Conservative commentator Dennis Prager, who leads a nonprofit online “university” that promotes climate denial, among other conservative talking points, offered his own absurd “solution” to climate change during a talk on September 22: “Did you know that there is a solution to a warm climate? It's called air conditioning. It's very effective.”

Prager’s comments follow a concerning new form of climate denial in right-wing media: acknowledging the climate is changing but claiming there’s nothing we can do to prevent it -- we must learn to live with it instead. In Prager’s case, he suggests that well-off people can just adapt to the warming climate by using air conditioning when it gets hot (which would only increase emissions even further), while those without access to air conditioning will suffer.

On Fox News’ The Five, Greg Gutfeld claims that the data to prove climate change is “never there”

On the September 2 edition of Fox News’ The Five, co-host Greg Gutfeld criticized those who connect climate change to extreme weather events -- specifically to the destructive Hurricane Ida. He stated that the data is “never there,” and that “the severity” of such storms “has been on the decline.”

LOMBORGIAN?

Video file

CitationFrom the September 2, 2021, edition of Fox News' The Five

For one, science has shown that climate change is affecting hurricanes in a number of ways as storms are dumping more rain, moving slower, and rapidly intensifying -- all hallmarks of Hurricane Ida. Secondly, the data is indeed “there,” as climate models have been correct over the past 50 years. Additionally, Gutfeld talks about “severity” only in terms of decreasing deaths from natural disasters. However, focusing on this statistic obscures the many other reasons that climate change is a serious and deadly threat. As one scientist puts it, “climate change kills, from poor nutrition status and poor health linked to episodes of drought and harvest failures, the spread of infectious diseases, … increasing violent conflict, … and of course the impact of extreme events like tropical cyclones and flash floods.”

On Newsmax, Republican commentator Ford O’Connell claims that “climate change is the ultimate Trojan horse for socialism” before stating that the Earth “may or not be warming”

Newsmax had a wild year of promoting climate denial, and right-wing pundit Ford O’Connell’s claim that the Earth “may or may not be warming” on the October 25 edition of American Agenda is just another sad example.

Video file

CitationFrom the October 25, 2021, edition of Newsmax's American Agenda

The context behind this segment is noteworthy -- Newsmax was attacking its much larger rival Fox News for “going woke” and “making a permanent hard-left turn” by suggesting that the newly launched Fox Weather streaming service is taking climate change too seriously. In actuality, Fox Weather is just ignoring the issue altogether, but it’s funny to see Newsmax melt down over the fact that Fox is apparently not right-wing enough.

On Fox Business, Patricia Lee Onwuka of the Independent Women’s Forum claims that climate change is a “fallacy”

Discussing President Biden’s response to Hurricane Ida on the September 3 edition of Fox Business' Mornings With Maria, right-wing commentator Patricia Lee Onwuka suggested that climate change is a “fallacy” that Biden is using to advance his agenda; she also said that “the facts dispute” the idea that extreme weather events like hurricanes are connected to climate change.

Video file

CitationFrom the September 3, 2021, edition of Fox Business' Mornings With Maria

As noted above, we already know the ways in which climate change is affecting hurricanes and worsening their impacts on our warming world. Those facts don’t seem to matter to Onwuka or the Independent Women’s Forum, which has received both Koch and tobacco industry money and has a history of climate denial.

On OAN, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) says that “we have the cleanest environment anywhere in the world” because of the fossil fuel industry

A lot of stupid things were said by right-wing media regarding this year’s United Nations climate conference, known as COP26. One of the more head-scratching comments came from Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), who was featured on a November edition of OAN’s In Focus With Stephanie Hamill to downplay the seriousness of climate change. He went on to hype up the U.S. fossil fuel industry by stating that “we have the cleanest environment anywhere in the world” because of “clean energy practices” like fracking.

While Cawthorn was alluding to the fact that natural gas obtained by fracking is cleaner than coal (it emits much less CO2 than coal when burned), it’s important to remember that fracking also releases methane, which is about 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. And like coal, there are numerous water and air pollution problems associated with its use. In any case, the side effects of fossil fuel operations involve literally polluting our air and waterways, so in no way are they responsible for making our environment clean and safe. Additionally, despite Cawthorn’s boast that “I’ll put our air [quality] up against anyone’s,” the U.S. is nowhere near the top of global environmental rankings by any metric.

Fossil fuel lobbyist Daniel Turner thinks concern about climate change is “so overblown that it is hyperbolic and silly”

On the November 1 edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, Daniel Turner of the fossil fuel shill group Power the Future tried to throw cold water on COP26 by claiming that “climate change panic is so overblown that it is hyperbolic and silly” and suggesting that the U.N. tries to scare people by publishing “nonsense reports.”

Video file

CitationFrom the November 1, 2021, edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom

We’re not sure what’s so “silly” about being concerned with a planet that’s on track for over 2.5 C of warming, which will have devastating consequences for billions of people around the world. Turner, who has spent almost his entire career working for Koch-backed groups, has made similar ludicrous statements in the past, including claiming that climate activists are somehow thrilled with the COVID-19 pandemic because it’s supposedly accomplishing their goals of implementing a Green New Deal.

mma on fox

kyle r

Daily Wire host: “Shooting people is not against the law”

ccdh toxic ten

the Daily Wire is the most popular publisher on Facebook and in May 2021 its articles received more engagement on Facebook than The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News and CNN combined.84 Founded in 2015 by commentator Ben Shapiro and fracking billionaire Farris Wilkes, The Daily Wire earned $65 million in annual revenue in 2020 last year through advertisements and subscriptions and is reportedlyexpanding into the entertainment sector.85

The site has published many misleading and false claims, on topics ranging from Covid to immigration.86 It also publishes misleading climate content, including the debunked claim that after the winter storm of February 2021, wind turbine failures led to power outages across Texas. The site has also posted claims that “there is no evidence that [climate change] will pose any problems for humans.”87Ben Shapiro has used his platform of over 11 million followers across Facebook and Twitter to reject scientific consensus on climate change and has tweeted that “climate change is not an existential threat to humanity.”88 [graham plug for morano grn fraud bk]

This Daily Wire article included in our sample alleges that “the Left never really relies on the scientific method” when it comes to climate change and green policies, but rather “intimidates its opponents into silence”.89 The article has carried ads for Capital One, the credit card company, whose website states “we believe addressing climate change is fundamental to ensuring our world has a healthy and prosperous future… it’s our duty to limit the environmental impact of our entire value chain.”90

incubatorkirk, ben shapiro and Mollie Hemingway, Lincoln Fellow 2014

Senior Editor, The Federalist

A longtime journalist, Mollie Hemingway writes about culture, policy, and the political horse race for one of the Right’s hottest new web magazines.

proud boys infighting kirk vs fuentes? 1220

https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/after-newsom-recall-fails-ben-shapiro-says-secession-may-be-best-hope-conservatives

hypocrisy

Former Associated Press reporter Emily Wilder (https://www.jewishaz.com/community/you-should-know-emily-wilder/article_0b95d5a6-25cb-11eb-9680-1fc9a12d4dbc.html) was fired from the international media company late Thursday following a pressure campaign by right-wing media, including publications such as The Federalist and The Washington Free Beacon working in tandem with the Stanford College Republicans. Wilder was "canceled," if you will, for pro-Palestinian activism during her years in college — not at the AP.

The campaign to have Wilder fired started on Monday with the Stanford College Republicans taking to Twitter to bill the reporter's past pro-Palestine demonstrating as controversial, coming to the verdict that she would never be able to be impartial while covering national news.[twt pix]

"Recently, we discovered that theAssociated Press has hired former Stanford anti-Israel agitator, Emily Wilder, who referred to the late Sheldon Adelson as a 'naked mole rat' as one of their 'journalists,'" the college Republican organization (https://www.stanforddaily.com/2018/03/15/stanford-college-republicans-navigate-trump-friction-with-mainstream-liberalism-and-their-own-future/) tweeted. The series of tweets from the Standford Republican chapter went onto claim that the reporter, who is Jewish, during her college years belonged to a "Students for Justice in Palestine," on-campus group. The college Republicans — who appear (https://twitter.com/EyesOnTheRight/status/1395613751139786754) to have (https://twitter.com/EyesOnTheRight/status/1395754031356723214) their own questionable Twitter activity — also took offense to Wilder calling right-wing provocateur Ben Shapiro (https://www.salon.com/2019/03/23/salon-interview-how-to-have-an-argument-with-ben-shapiro/) a "little turd" (https://twitter.com/Stanford_GOP/status/1394456142936477701) and Sheldon Adelson (https://www.salon.com/2021/04/20/12-white-megadonors-contributed-1-of-every-13-spent-on-us-elections-since-citizens-united-report/) a "naked mole-rat."

From there, the right-wing outrage machine got ahold of the story, including The Federalist (https://thefederalist.com/2021/05/19/associated-press-brings-on-anti-israel-activist-as-news-associate/), The Washington Free Beacon (https://freebeacon.com/media/ap-hires-anti-israel-activist-as-news-associate/), and Fox News (https://www.foxnews.com/media/associated-press-rough-week-continues-report-anti-israel), which billed the reporter as being "anti-Israel." Notably, the Free Beacon ran their hit-piece with no attached byline and didn't return Salon's request for comment as to why.

On Thursday, an all-staff email from AP News director Peter Prengaman to employees read: "A note to say that news associate Emily Wilder is no longer with the AP[twt pix]

but the Associated Press claims it wasn't her activism in college. "While AP generally refrains from commenting on personnel matters, we can confirm Emily Wilder's comments on Thursday thatshe was dismissed for violations of AP's social media policy during her time at AP," an AP spokesperson told The Wrap (https://www.thewrap.com/emily-wilder-ap-witch-hunt/).

"Amazing how quickly a talented young reporter's career can be snuffed out by a Twitter mob that decided to feign outrage over some college tweets. And if @vv1lder somehow violated @AP's social media rules, the solution is to offer guidance, not termination, to a new reporter," TheWashington Post's Glenn Kesslerwrote on Twitter following the ouster.

[twt pix] responding to her firing, Wilder told SFGATE (https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Emily-Wilder-Associated-Press-Israel-Palestine-AP-16192391.php) that her firing was nothing more than a right-wing outrage mob that reportedly disdains "cancel culture," doing what they claim to resent.

"There's no question I was just canceled," told SFGATE reporter Eric Ting on Thursday following the news of her firing. "This is exactly the issue with the rhetoric around 'cancel culture.' To Republicans, cancel culture is usually seen as teens or young people online advocating that people be held accountable over accusations of racism or whatever it may be, but when it comes down to who actually has to deal with the lifelong ramifications of the selective enforcement of cancel culture — specifically over the issue of Israel and Palestine — it's always the same side."

in her interview with SFGATE, Wilder noted an "onslaught of absolutely vile messages" she received after right-wing media began running with the story. Wilder didn't immediately return a request for comment from Salon.

While The Associated Press might have folded to the demands of the right-wing mob, many journalists on Twitter voiced their support for the young journalist. "Shame on @AP @peterprengaman. I stand with Emily. Her reporting at our newspaper was excellent. Reverse your decision NOW," The Arizona Republic's reporter Rebekah Sanders wrote (https://twitter.com/RebekahLSanders/status/1395490310118014976). The Washington Post's Dave Weigel responded (https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1395486236937162753): "'Hire @vv1lder' is something more and more people are saying."

"Every journalist should be outraged about @AP firing [Wilder] over college activism in favor of freedom for Palestinians. The industry is rife with clear double-standards on this," Los Angeles Times investigative reporter Adam Elmahrek commented (https://twitter.com/adamelmahrek/status/1395535098443821057) on the firing. The Daily Beast's senior politics reporter Will Sommer replied (https://twitter.com/willsommer/status/1395499844509310980), "It's crazy that editors are still falling for these bad-faith campaigns from right-wing media."

The decision to out Wilder comes on the heels ofright-wing pundits cheering (https://www.salon.com/2021/05/16/far-right-pundits-celebrate-the-israeli-bombing-of-ap-bbc-al-jazeera-offices-in-gaza/) the Israeli airstrike that leveled a building in Gaza (http://www.salon.com/2021/05/15/israeli-airstrike-levels-ap-al-jazeera-office-building-on-live-tv/) on Saturday, housing several international news outlets, including The Associated Press.

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

'Criminal complicity': Outrage as Biden pushes $735 million ... › (https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/israel-gaza-2653013565/)

The Associated Press says it can't declare a winner in Iowa as ... › (https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/the-associated-press-says-it-cant-declare-a-winner-in-iowa-as-buttigieg-and-sanders-both-claim-victory/)

Fox News confirms shocking story on Trump's contempt for ... › (https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/fox-news-confirms-shocking-story-on-trumps-contempt-for-american-troops-after-the-he-argued-it-was-fake/)

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/gaza-2653011635

salon

Far right pundits cheered the Israeli airstrike that leveled a building in Gaza (http://www.salon.com/2021/05/15/israeli-airstrike-levels-ap-al-jazeera-office-building-on-live-tv/) Saturday housing several international news outlets, including The Associated Press, Al Jazeera and the BBC.

The Israel Defense Forces later said the militant group Hamas had "military intelligence assets" in the building (http://www.salon.com/2021/05/15/israeli-airstrike-levels-ap-al-jazeera-office-building-on-live-tv/) — though as of Sunday afternoon no evidence supporting the claims had been made public.

The bombing, broadcast live television by several journalists who had just escaped the blast, quickly gained widespread media attention Saturday due to the nature of the attack, which drew condemnation from many press freedom advocates around the globe.

Yet, right-wing pundits on Twitter had a different view on it all — they celebrated and jeered at the destruction.

Senior columnist at the right-wing site Townhall, Kurt Schlichter, called those who carried out the bombing "heroes (https://twitter.com/KurtSchlichter/status/1393564586624778241)," while seemingly finding pleasure in the attack. "Let's stop pretending that the media is not a participant and that it is somehow entitled to not be treated like every other active enemy," he declared.

Let’s stop pretending that the media is not a participant and that it is somehow entitled to not be treated like every other active enemy.

— Kurt Schlichter (@Kurt Schlichter)1621090669.0 (https://twitter.com/KurtSchlichter/statuses/1393581391732895744)

Popular conservative Twitter pundit, Stephen L. Miller, who is currently a contributor at the conservative opinion site The Spectator, reacted by mocking the bombing with a meme of a lady smiling....[twt]

Former Newsmax TV host John Cardillo (https://www.salon.com/2021/04/05/roger-stone-and-allies-seek-to-destroy-fellow-gop-operative-in-bizarre-personal-feud/) wrote (https://twitter.com/johncardillo/status/1393556766982561793) on Twitter: "Looks like the IDF took out Hamas's PR team," while fellow right-wing Twitter pal David Reaboi called the bombing "based (https://twitter.com/davereaboi/status/1393556193864568832)," a term coined by the rapper Lil B to signal that one agrees or approves of a statement.

"Just warms your heart to see," a contributing editor for right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro's (https://www.salon.com/2019/03/23/salon-interview-how-to-have-an-argument-with-ben-shapiro/) Daily Wire, Harry Khachatrian, responded to the attack.

@davereaboi Probably watched this a dozen times already, what a great start to the weekend

— Harry Khachatrian

Many online also tried to draw spurious connections between the destruction and last summer's Black Lives Matter protests.

GOP operative Arthur Schwartz, who is known for losing his cool (https://www.washingtonian.com/2021/02/19/trump-hotel-employees-tell-all-what-it-was-really-like-serving-right-wing-elite/)after a waiter spilled steak sauce on him while dining with Trump, tweeted (https://twitter.com/arthurschwartz/status/1393600539838009344?s=21), "Black Lives Matter, Inc. thugs burned and looted American cities, we're now told that property damage is a big deal? What's different here?"

No journalists were reported injured as a result of the airstrike. According to several firsthand reports from inside the building, residents and workers were warned ahead of time that the bombing would occur, sparking a mad scramble to evacuate the premises.[10 min?!]

"I have been covering lots of events from this building. We have lots of good memories with our colleagues," Safwat al-Kahlout, a reporter for Al Jazeera, said. "Now everything, in two seconds, just vanished."

The AP reports at least 188 Palestinians were killed this week in the most recent round of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. That number includes 55 children and 33 women, with more than a thousand wounded. Eight people in Israel have died from rocket attacks launched from Gaza.

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

Noam Chomsky: The Real Reason Israel "Mows the Lawn" in Gaza ... › (https://www.alternet.org/2014/09/noam-chomsky-real-reason-israel-mows-lawn-gaza/)

Israeli military accused of intentionally misleading the media about a ... › (https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/idf-media/)

Israeli bombs destroy Gaza media center — AP, Al-Jazeera and ... › (https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/israeli-bombing/)

See also

L. Brent Bozell III (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/L._Brent_Bozell_III): Shapiro's "media watchdog" crybaby-in-arms; also able to spot liberal propaganda in every facet of reality.

David Horowitz (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/David_Horowitz): Befriended Shapiro in his quest to reveal leftist plots.

Newsbusters (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Newsbusters)

Katie Pavlich (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Katie_Pavlich): His female counterpart.

Dennis Prager (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Dennis_Prager): Shapiro has hosted several PragerU videos[90][91][92] and has had Prager on his Sunday Special show.[93]

Townhall.com (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Townhall.com): Shapiro wrote several cranky editorials for the website.[94][95]

External links

THE COOL KID’S PHILOSOPHER (https://static.currentaffairs.org/2017/12/the-cool-kids-philosopher), Current Affairs (https://www.currentaffairs.org/)

- Chapo Trap House reads *True Allegiance* (https://youtu.be/J1FLVnzMBIY)

Notes

Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-38) Invented outside Europe by cultures such as Sumer, Egypt, Phoenicia, China, and Mesoamerica (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_writing_systems) So, as usual, he's full of shit.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-39) Like that's something to be proud of.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-46) We wonder who?

References

Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-1) Wilson, "Ben Shapiro's Homophobia" (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/29/1205635/-Ben-Shapiro-s-Homophobia), Daily Kos (4/2913 9:42 AM PST).
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-2) Chris Evans “Genuinely Dislikes” Noted Tool Ben Shapiro Over Anti-Gay Comments (https://www.queerty.com/chris-evans-genuinely-dislikes-noted-tool-ben-shapiro-over-anti-gay-comments-20130504)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-3) https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/330229601844477952
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-4) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/10/nyregion/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-debate-catcalling-ben-shapiro.html
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-5) https://mobile.twitter.com/_Almaqah/status/1019756028093784067 (https://mobile.twitter.com/_Almaqah/status/1019756028093784067)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-6) https://mobile.twitter.com/danielsieradski/status/989364997095641088
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-7) https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/695638866993115136?lang=en
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-8) Vox.com, ""A former Breitbart editor on what Trump's victory means for the alt-right (http://www.vox.com/conversations/2016/11/15/13629484/donald-trump-alt-right-ben-shapiro-richard-spencer-2016-elections)." November 15, 2016.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-9) True Allegiance (https://www.amazon.com/True-Allegiance-Ben-Shapiro/dp/1682610772)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-10) How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them (https://www.amazon.com/How-Debate-Leftists-Destroy-Them-ebook/dp/B00JRJQ7Z2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1548132244&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+debate+leftists+and+destroy+them)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-11) PDF of How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them: 11 Rules for Winning the Argument (http://iii.thruhere.net/misc-files/how_to_debate_leftists_and_destroy_them.pdf)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-12) Militant gay English on the rise (http://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2003/08/20/militant_gay_english_on_the_rise/page/full) (the full article is even more bizarre)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-13) Kehe, Marjorie. "Brainwashing on campus? (http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0524/p12s01-legn.html)" Christian Science Monitor: May 24, 2004.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-14) (https://youtu.be/8W1NURCkQHM), The Big Picture 6.8.11. (Is Dora the Explorer promoting white genocide? (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines#Betteridge.27s_law_of_headlines))
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-15) (https://youtu.be/1y45-InPHt4)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-16) BEN SHAPIRO ON CLIMATE CHANGE: FACT VERSUS FICTION (http://www.theredlandsbulldog.com/ben-shapiro-climate-change-fact-versus-fiction/)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-17) Dunning-Kruger in full effect (http://www.wnd.com/2007/05/41825/)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-18) Shapiro, " (https://web.archive.org/web/20070623184609/http://www.creators.com/opinion/ben-shapiro/the-left-s-global-warming-solution-no-more-children.html), Creators. Fresh air. The scent of...pine. (http://cinemaunrest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Addams-Family-Values-1993-06.jpg)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-19) Shapiro, "Secret Hagel Donor?: White House Spox Ducks Question on 'Friends of Hamas'" (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/02/07/Hagel-Friends-of-Hamas-WH), Breitbart 2.7.13.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-20) Shapiro, "About the Birth Certificate" (http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/benjamin-shapiro/about-the-birth-certificate/), Frontpage Mag 4.21.11
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-21) Just remember, mosquitoes don't grow an immunity to overused pesticides (http://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2002/08/15/rachel_carsons_deadly_summer)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-22) Menachem, Seth, "Ben Shapiro’s culture of fear mongering" (http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/ben_shapiros_culture_of_fear_mongering), Jewish Journal (7/915 at 3:43 pm).
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-23) Twitter (https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/30089090699366400) ^[a w]
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-24) https://twitter.com/JordanUhl/status/1086301380334272512
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-25) TruthRevolt (https://www.c-span.org/organization/?123730/TruthRevolt) on CSPAN
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-26) The Daily Wire (https://www.facebook.com/pg/DailyWire/about/) on Facebook
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-27) Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans (https://www.amazon.com/Bullies-Culture-Intimidation-Silences-Americans/dp/1476710007)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-28) Twitter (https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/554431350887829506) ^[a w]
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-29) Patton Oswalt gloriously smacks down Ben Shapiro’s absurd cries of anti-semitism (https://www.salon.com/2015/12/16/patton_oswalt_gloriously_smacks_down_ben_shapiros_absurd_cries_of_anti_semitism/)
↑ ^Jump ^up ^to:30.0 ^30.1 The PETA Nazis (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2003/03/05/the-peta-nazis-n1230364) ^[a w]
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-31) Obama's Philosophically Fascist State of the Union Address (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2010/02/03/obamas-philosophically-fascist-state-of-the-union-address-n1331445)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-32) Barack Obama Proves His Anti-Semitism (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2009/05/06/barack-obama-proves-his-anti-semitism-n785375)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-33) Watson, "Shattered Shapiro: Author of flimsy exposÃ© in league with Blair, Glass" (http://dailybruin.com/2004/05/11/shattered-shapiro-author-of-fl/), Daily Bruin (5/11/04 9:00 pm)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-34) Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Is Silencing America (http://books.google.com/books?id=TvfvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA192&lpg=PA192&dq=%22was+just+using+the+power+of+his+gavel+to+justify+his+sex+life%22&source=bl&ots=FsYhYpvfUf&sig=6U5ZdFts6zoLQAVCJgvTroZ8xdU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=25luVNWaGsutyATX2YGABg&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22was%20just%20using%20the%20power%20of%20his%20gavel%20to%20justify%20his%20sex%20life%22&f=false), p. 192.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-35) Jews in Name Only (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2011/05/25/jews-in-name-only-n783739)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-36) The meltdown of Ben Shapiro. What's in the Breitbart kid's 'closet'? (https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017106591)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-37) No, It Doesn’t Matter That Bernie Sanders Is Ethnically Jewish. He’s a Jew In Name Only. (https://www.dailywire.com/news/3345/no-it-doesnt-matter-bernie-sanders-ethnically-ben-shapiro)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-40) Ben Shapiro apologizes for Columbus Day video slammed as racist (http://thehill.com/homenews/media/354781-ben-shapiro-apologizes-for-racist-columbus-day-video)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-41) Twitter (https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/261440479063842816) ^[a w]
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-42) Obama's Race War (https://www.creators.com/read/ben-shapiro/07/10/obamas-race-war)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-43) Twitter (https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/25712847277) ^[a w]
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-44) Transfer is not a dirty word (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2003/08/27/transfer-is-not-a-dirty-word-n976781) ^[a w]
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-45) The forgotten story of when the Germans were the refugees (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/03/the-forgotten-story-of-when-the-germans-were-the-refugees/)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-47) What Can Israel Do? (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2013/03/13/what-can-israel-do-n1532133) ^[a w]
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-48) Goldberg, Jeffrey, "Prominent Hagel Detractor Endorses Fascistic Vision of Israel" (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/02/prominent-hagel-detractor-endorses-fascistic-vision-of-israel/273349/), The Atlantic 2.20.13.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-49) [1 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/18/quebec-city-mosque-shooter-scoured-twitter-for-trump-right-wing-figures-before-attack/)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-50) Twitter (https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/932504794328993797) ^[a w]
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-51) What’s in a (gender) pronoun? A response to Ben Shapiro (https://www.spectator.com.au/2018/01/whats-in-a-gender-pronoun-a-response-to-ben-shapiro/)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-52) 3 Facts About Transgenderism The Media Ignored To Push The Caitlyn Jenner Hero Story (https://www.dailywire.com/news/5683/3-facts-about-transgenderism-media-ignored-push-ben-shapiro)
↑ ^Jump ^up ^to:50.0 ^50.1 (https://youtu.be/YgQy70_LPS4)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-54) "Inside Edition's Zoe Tur Threatens To Send Breitbart's Ben Shapiro "Home In An Ambulance" Over Jenner Debate" (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/07/17/inside_editions_zoe_tur_threatens_to_send_breitbarts_ben_shapiro_home_in_an_ambulance_over_jenner_debate.html), RealClearPolitics 7.17.15.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-55) Warning: Breitbart.com Source (http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/07/20/ben-shapiro-files-police-report-against-transgender-reporter-zoey-tur/)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-56) Screenshot of Battery filing (http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-20-at-4.48.39-PM.png)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-57) http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/07/22/transgender-reporter-zoey-tur-triples-down-on-threats-against-ben-shapiro/ Zoey Tur Triples Down on Threats]
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-58) Why Mitt Romney Will Win (http://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2012/10/24/why_mitt_romney_will_win/page/full)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-59) Needham, Lisa, "Rush Limbaugh and Ben Shapiro Catch Bieber Fever" (http://wonkette.com/540194/rush-limbaugh-and-ben-shapiro-catch-bieber-fever), Wonkette (1/24/14, 1:30pm). Shapiro: "He’s driving drunk with, what, marijuana, cocaine or some such thing. I mean, it’s all over the news, Justin Bieber...Did Justin Bieber commit fraud to seize one-sixth of the US economy? Has the guy taken over the health care industry? (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Affordable_Care_Act)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-60) Hurst, Evan, "Verified Jew Person Sarah Silverman Is Biggest Hitler Since Barack Obama" (http://wonkette.com/592364/verified-jew-person-sarah-silverman-is-biggest-hitler-since-barack-obama), Wonkette (7/31/15, 2:14pm). Hurst: "Okay, let’s follow the bouncing syphilis logic, if we can. Taking tissue from first trimester fetuses, which are about the size of your choice of delicious legumes, is the same as using Jew brains for science, because Hitler didn’t ask the Jews’ permission to do that...therefore Sarah Silverman is the real Hitler.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-61) Tesfaye, Sophia, "Patton Oswalt gloriously smacks down Ben Shapiro’s absurd cries of anti-semitism" (http://www.salon.com/2015/12/16/patton_oswalt_gloriously_smacks_down_ben_shapiros_absurd_cries_of_anti_semitism/), Salon (12/1615 11:58 PM UTC).
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-62) Shapiro, "Why Do Jews Vote Leftist?" (http://www.truthrevolt.org/videos/ben-shapiro-why-jews-vote-leftist), Truth Revolt. Shapiro: "The answer is simple: the vast majority of Jews don’t care about Judaism or Israel. They care about secular leftism, which is their religion." What a hypocritical little swine.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-63) Luciano, Michael, "Discredited Wingnut Ben Shapiro Slams CNN On CNN For Being Too Pro-Hamas" (http://thedailybanter.com/2014/08/insufferably-smug-wrong-ben-shapiro-slams-cnn-cnn-pro-hamas/), Daily Banter 8.5.14.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-64) Rowels, Dustin, "Lena Dunham Might Sue The Conservative Website That Called Her A Child Molester " (http://uproxx.com/tv/lena-dunham-is-now-suing-the-conservative-website-that-called-her-a-child-molester-for-millions-of-dollars/), Uproxx 11.5.04.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-65) Schoenkopf, Rebecca, "Ben Shapiro Maximizes Efficiency By Greeting Newborn Daughter, Sneering At President In Just One Tweet" (http://wonkette.com/540682/ben-shapiro-maximizes-efficiency-by-greeting-newborn-daughter-sneering-at-president-in-just-one-tweet), Wonkette (1/29/14, 11:31am).
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-66) Politico Michelle Fields, Ben Shapiro resign from Breitbart (http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/03/michelle-fields-ben-shapiro-resign-from-breitbart-220709)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-67) The Blaze Breitbart Posts, Then Deletes This Strange Response to High-Profile Resignations of Ben Shapiro, Michelle Fields (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/03/14/breitbart-posts-seemingly-deletes-strange-response-to-high-profile-resignations-of-ben-shapiro-michelle-fields/)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-68) "Ben Shapiro Betrays Loyal Breitbart Readers in Pursuit of Fox News Contributorship" (http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2016/03/14/futures-markets-wrap-dow-continues-uncertain-climb/). Notice the original title Ben Shapiro Betrays Blah Blah Blah remains, despite the page now reading, "Statement from Breitbart News Editor-at-Large and In-House Counsel Joel B. Pollak", along with the incongruous URL.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-69) http://www.mediaite.com/online/ex-breitbart-editor-ben-shapiro-calls-site-a-feces-tornado-over-renegade-jew-headline/
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-70) Check out Daily Wire’s cute, boundlessly racist Columbus Day cartoon and scream silently (https://www.salon.com/2017/10/09/check-out-daily-wires-cute-boundlessly-racist-columbus-day-cartoon-and-scream-silently/). Salon. October 10, 2017.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-71) Archived tweet (https://archive.is/vn9b6): video in the original tweet (https://archive.org/details/archiveteam_videobot_twitter_com_917361118368034818).
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-72) Ben Shapiro, conservative columnist, apologizes for offensive ‘Columbus Day’ video (https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/oct/10/ben-shapiro-conservative-columnist-apologizes-offe/). Washington Times. October 10, 2017.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-73) (https://youtu.be/OiIN6wLoj0c). James Allsup. October 10, 2017.
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-74) https://www.dailywire.com/news/33362/so-heres-giant-list-all-dumb-stuff-ive-ever-done-ben-shapiro
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-75) https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/451774030039642112?lang=en
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-76) https://twitter.com/willmenaker/status/1031585883236036613
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-77) https://twitter.com/ZJemptv/status/1031626193072795655
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-78) https://mobile.twitter.com/andrewkirell/status/1031615387908096006?s=21
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-79) https://twitter.com/alexkotch/status/1041036369492156424
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-80) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHAkDTlv8fA
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-81) https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1038104127656484864
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-82) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dmgkx7jUUAETObo.jpg:large
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-83) https://twitter.com/cjane87/status/1038105456881872896
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-84) https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1038108316315017218
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-85) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmgkANKXcAAP8or.jpg:large
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-86) https://thinkprogress.org/ben-shapiro-paul-manafort-rick-gates-robert-mueller-special-counsel-plea-agreement-documents-d4fc04a51e60/
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-87) https://www.thedailybeast.com/manafort-docs-obama-jews-and-other-shocking-highlights-from-the-ex-trump-aides-downfall
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-88) https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=598&v=gFHQlRqXRp4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=598&v=gFHQlRqXRp4)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-89) (https://youtu.be/EDS0FUXTb_o)
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-90) https://twitter.com/nathanTbernard/status/1044623865991897088
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-91) https://bernardmedia.org/2018/09/25/ben-shapiros-fox-news-premiere-flies-off-rails-second-episode-highly-unlikely/
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-92) https://twitter.com/nathanTbernard/status/1044692020533579776
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-93) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc7VUoytoU4
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-94) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjMYCnI5kz0
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-95) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hok2PiRnDfw
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-96) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPub-SoDhaQ
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-97) https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2006/02/15/should-we-prosecute-sedition-n1214384
Jump up↑ (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro#cite_ref-98) https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2005/08/10/why-war-in-iraq-is-right-for-america-n1216871

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ref

https://static.currentaffairs.org/2017/12/the-cool-kids-philosopher

It's easy to laugh, as some of us do (https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/11/socialists-are-winning-the-battle-of-ideas), at the phrase “conservative intellectual.” When the most prominent public spokesmen for the right’s ideas include Milo Yiannopoulos (https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/02/what-well-tolerate-and-what-we-wont), Charles Murray (https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/07/why-is-charles-murray-odious), and Dinesh D’Souza (http://currentaffairs.org/2017/12/who-are-the-real-nazis/), one might conclude that the movement does not have anything serious to offer beyond “Feminism is cancer,” “Black people are dumb,” and “Democrats are Nazis.” (Those are, as I understand it, the central intellectual contributions of Yiannopoulos, Murray, and D’Souza, respectively.)

But according to the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/us/ben-shapiro-conservative.html?_r=0), it would be a mistake to write off Conservative Thought so hastily. For we would be overlooking one crucial figure: Ben Shapiro. Shapiro, we are told, is “the cool kid’s philosopher, dissecting arguments with a lawyer’s skill and references to Aristotle.” The Times quotes praise of Shapiro as a “brilliant polemicist” and “principled gladiator,” a quick-witted man who “reads books,” and “takes apart arguments in ways that make the conservative conclusion seem utterly logical.” Shapiro is the “destroyer of weak arguments,” he “has been called the voice of the conservative millennial movement.” He is a genuine intellectual, a man who “does not attack unfairly, stoke anger for the sake of it, or mischaracterize his opponents’ positions.” He is principled: he deplores Trump, and cares about Truth. Shapiro’s personal mantra, “Facts don’t care about your feelings,” captures his approach: he’s passionate, but he believes in following reason rather than emotion. Shapiro, then, represents the best in contemporary conservative thinking. And if the cool kids have a philosopher, it is worth examining his philosophy in some depth.

I will confess, I had not spent much time listening to or reading Ben Shapiro before reading about him in the New York Times. That might be a damning sign of my own closed-mindedness: here I am, a person who considers himself intellectually serious, and I have written off the other side without even engaging with its strongest arguments. So I decided to spend a few wearying days trawling through the Shapiro oeuvre, listening to the speeches and radio shows and reading the columns and books. If Shapiro had arguments that Destroyed and Decimated the left, I wanted to make sure I heard them. I consider myself a bit of a leftist, and I like to know when I’ve been decimated.

I’ll admit that I was not immediately dazzled by the force of Shapiro’s intellect. I started with his controversial recent Berkeley speech (http://www.dailywire.com/news/21144/complete-transcript-ben-takes-berkeley-daily-wire). Toward the beginning, he addressed Antifa protesters, whom he called “communist pieces of garbage”: “You guys are so stupid… you can all go to hell, you pathetic, lying, stupid jackasses.” According to the Times, there is a wide gulf between Trump/Yiannopoulos-style vulgar conservatism and Shapiro-style Logical conservatism, but I just am not sure that I see in “Go to hell, you communist piece of garbage” the kind of “polemical brilliance” that Shapiro is reputed to demonstrate. The rest of the speech, when it got beyond making Botox jokes about Nancy Pelosi, was strong on insults (“pusillanimous cowards,” “hard-Left morons,” “uncivilized barbarians”) and light on actual argumentation and substantive factual claims.Shapiro did say that the alt-right are full of “bullshit”and that the left overstates the threat posed by Shapiro’s speeches. (Both true.) The main thrust of the speech, though, is that America is the greatest country in the world, that there are no real injustices facing black people, women, and poor people, and that if you don’t do well economically here it’s entirely your fault. As he says:

This country is an amazing place full of opportunity. Nobody, by and large, cares enough about you to stop you from achieving your dreams. That includes you, people who are shouting out there in the audience. No one cares about you; get over yourselves. I don’t care about you; no one cares about you…That means, in a free country, if you fail, it’s probably your own fault.

Shapiro scoffs at all claims that racism is a serious problem facing black people. This is in part because “I wasn’t an adult when Jim Crow was in place… and I would bet you money that the people in this room haven’t acted in a racist manner, that they haven’t held slaves, or voted for Jim Crow.” He says the idea that black people’s disproportionate poverty has anything to do with racism is “just not true,” and tosses out a few points to prove that the importance of race is overstated: First, Asian Americans are wealthier than white people, which would be impossible if racism determined economic outcomes. (Shapiro doesn’t mention that the vast majority of Asian American adults are immigrants (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/06/19/chapter-1-portrait-of-asian-americans/), and they are disproportionately from the wealthier and more highly-educated segments of their own countries.) Second, he says, people of any race who work full time, are married, and have high school diplomas tend not to be poor, meaning that poverty is a function of one’s choice not to do these things. (In fact, this theory, widely cited by conservatives, turns out to be vacuous (http://mattbruenig.com/2017/07/31/the-success-sequence-is-about-cultural-beefs-not-poverty/): of course people who have full-time jobs usually aren’t in poverty, the problem is that black people disproportionately can’t get jobs (https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/08/daily-chart-1).)

Next, Shapiro says that because black married couples have a lower poverty rate than white single mothers, “life decisions” are what creates poverty. (Actually, even when two black people pool their wealth in a marriage, “the median white single parent has 2.2 times more wealth than the median black two-parent household (http://www.demos.org/publication/asset-value-whiteness-understanding-racial-wealth-gap).”) Finally, Shapiro says that the disproportionately black population in America’s prisons say nothing about racism, because black people simply commit more crimes, and “if you don’t commit a crime, you’re not going to be arrested for it” because “the police are not going around arresting black people for the fun of it.” (I have some black (https://newsone.com/3759980/louisiana-man-freed-after-46-years-in-prison/) men (https://www.innocenceproject.org/cases/rickie-johnson/) in (https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/03/12/289520498/man-exonerated-freed-after-3-decades-on-louisianas-death-row) Louisiana (https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/10/theres-never-a-way-to-make-it-right) I’d like Shapiro to meet so that he can explain his theory that people do not get arrested for crimes they haven’t committed. But I’d also like to hear him explain why black men receive 20% longer sentences for the same crime (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/16/black-men-sentenced-to-more-time-for-committing-the-exact-same-crime-as-a-white-person-study-finds/?utm_term=.b412de570cd6) as white men with similar backgrounds.)

What dispirited me about Shapiro’s approach is that he’s clearly not actually very interested in Facts at all. The role that race plays in American life is a serious sociological question, one that isn’t answered easily. But Shapiro plucks only the statistics that suggest race doesn’t matter, and pretends the statistics that suggest it does matter don’t exist. Nobody can trust him, because if he comes across a finding showing that incarceration rates more closely follow crime rates than racial demographics, you can bet it will appear in his next speech. But if someone shows that a white man with a criminal record is far more likely to receive a job callback than a black man without a criminal record (https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2015/04/03/race-criminal-background-and-employment/):{, you’ll never hear it mentioned. It would be perfectly reasonable for Shapiro to critique these findings; sociologists critique each other all the time. Instead, he selects only the parts of reality that please him. Just look at his reply when he was asked about the black-white wealth gap: “} :{It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with culture}: (https://youtu.be/jfGciFH7BuI):{.” }:

That’s a strange thing to say, because the wealth gap has existed continuously since the time of slavery: average black net worth has always been lower than white net worth, and there were massive structural obstacles to the black accumulation of wealth well into the 20th century, as we can see in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ writings on the lasting impact of housing policy (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/). Family wealth is passed down intergenerationally, and so it’s hard to conclude that the fact that the average white family has $13 of wealth for every $1 of wealth held by a black family (http://www.demos.org/publication/asset-value-whiteness-understanding-racial-wealth-gap) is the sole result of spontaneous contemporary black cultural choices, with no historical component whatsoever. The impact of human decisions on outcomes, and the factors that shape the available range of choices, are difficult topics in social science with no easy answers. But one thing we do know is that, since black people were enslaved for 246 years (and free for 152), and Jim Crow was in operation during the time of people who are still alive (thereby being a core determinant of both their life outcomes and the capital that they were able to pass onto their own children), anyone who says “culture is everything” and “race is irrelevant” is not actually seriously interested in trying to figure out how the world works.

In investigating Shapiro’s works, then, the first sign that he might not be a “philosopher” was that he didn’t seem especially interested in the central task of philosophy, namely the critical scrutiny of your own beliefs. Shapiro’s worldview is fixed and immovable. Watch the video (https://youtu.be/jfGciFH7BuI) of his answer on the racial wealth gap: when his black co-panelists laugh at his answer about culture, he does not think to himself “Hm, perhaps they know something I don’t know about what it is like to be black,” he thinks “They must be irrational and in need of my wisdom.” He doesn’t listen to anyone, he just confronts them.

My initial impressions were also soured by Shapiro’s casual bigotry. That may not be the wisest observation to lead with: I’m sure Shapiro would be very pleased with himself to hear me call him a racist. (Though Shapiro always (https://www.google.com/search?biw=1060&bih=590&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=kVgfWr3wE4TcmwGlxIS4Bg&q=ben+shapiro&oq=ben+shapiro&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i67k1j0l7j0i67k1j0.2808.2808.0.3167.1.1.0.0.0.0.233.233.2-1.1.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.1.233....0.pD9YK8HsSso) looks somewhat pleased with himself.) Nothing could better prove his point: the left has no arguments, so they resort to calling people they dislike “racists.” And since he explicitly says that he isn’t a racist, what am I doing if not using the classic left-wing “bullying (https://www.amazon.com/Bullies-Culture-Intimidation-Silences-Americans/dp/1476710007)” tactic of dismissing your opponent as a nasty, bigoted individual?

But, well, I don’t know what else to call a statement like this: “Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage (https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/25712847277).” (Shapiro followed it with the hashtag #SettlementsRock.) Arabs like to bomb crap and live in sewage. Perhaps I’m crazy. Perhaps there’s a definition of the word “racism” that wouldn’t include a statement like that. But since the statements “Black people are violent and want to live in sewage” or “Jews are violent and want to live in sewage” would both sound… somewhat racist, I don’t see how the conclusion can be avoided. What do you call a crass pejorative generalization about an entire ethnic group? I know one word, but I’m open to others. (By the way, it’s amusing that Shapiro can see Gazan children swimming in sewage (https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jul/31/children-swim-sewage-floods-gaza-beach) and think “Wow, Arabs must just really have a thing for sewage,” a train of reasoning roughly akin to “Wow, Haitians must really love dying in earthquakes, since a lot of them seem to have done it.” Though I am reliably informed that Shapiro is a master of logic, so I am sure there is more to this than mere simple-minded prejudice.)

Shapiro’s thoughts aboutArabs are all along similar lines. Usually conservatives are careful to draw a distinction: they are not condemning an ethnicity, but rather adherents to an ideology, namely Islamism. Not so with Shapiro (http://www.wnd.com/2008/06/66168/): for him, the problem is not Islamism or even Islam writ large. It’sArabs: “The Arab-Israeli conflict may be accurately described as a war between darkness and light. Those who argue against Israeli settlements—outposts of light in a dark territory—argue for the continued victory of night.” Arabs “value murder” while Israelis “value life,” and “where light fails, darkness engulfs.” Arabs are therefore, as an undifferentiated unit, a people of darkness.Palestinian Arabsare the worst of all (https://www.creators.com/read/ben-shapiro/06/07/the-radical-evil-of-the-palestinian-arab-population): they are a “population rotten to the core… Palestinian Arabs must be fought on their own terms: as a people dedicated to an evil cause.” The “Arab Palestinian populace… by and large constitutes the most evil population on the face of the planet.” Since they’re “rotten to the core,” there’s no such thing as a good Arab: your evil is defined by your ethnicity, by being a member of the People of Darkness and Murder rather than the People of Goodness and Light. Again, it may just be my failure to understand Facts and Logic, but I am having trouble understanding how population-level generalizations about the moral characteristics of particular ethnic groups can be anything other than bigotry.

Shapiro has been clear about the implications of his view of Arabs as a dark and murderous people. He has said that (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2003/05/21/gods-road-map-n808321) “Secular Zionism[, which] requires that Arab citizens of Israel be guaranteed equal rights,” “has always provided the seeds of [Israel’s] destruction.” Instead, “God’s road map requires the Jews to kill those who seek to kill them.” Since Arabs universally “value murder,” I can’t see how this is anything other than a philosophical justification of genocide. Shapiro has said that (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2003/08/27/transfer-is-not-a-dirty-word-n976781) Arab nefariousness could be stopped without resorting to genocide, and is offended by anyone who tries to invoke the g-word to describe his beliefs. But since he has said (1) that Arabs are inherently murderous and bent on destroying Israel and (2) God permits Jews to kill those who seek to kill them, it’s hard to see how he could disagree with anyone who did advocate genocide, except on pragmatic grounds.

Shapiro once explained his actual preferred solution to the problem of the dark Arab hordes: mass expulsion (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2003/08/27/transfer-is-not-a-dirty-word-n976781). As he said, bulldozing Palestinian houses and subjecting them to curfews are insufficient “half-measures”: the only solution is to drive every last one of them forcibly from their homes and take their land:

The Arab enmity for Jews and the state of Israel allows for no peace process. The time for half measures has passed. Bulldozing houses of homicide bombers is useless. Instituting ongoing curfews in Arab-populated cities is useless… Some have rightly suggested that Israel be allowed to decapitate the terrorist leadership of the Palestinian Authority. But this too is only a half measure. The ideology of the Palestinian population is indistinguishable from that of the terrorist leadership. Half measures merely postpone our realization that the Arabs dream of Israel’s destruction. Without drastic measures, the Arab dream will come true… If you believe that the Jewish state has a right to exist, then you must allow Israel to transfer the Palestinians and the Israeli-Arabs from Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Israel proper. It’s an ugly solution, but it is the only solution… It’s time to stop being squeamish. (Odd that the NYT didn’t choose to quote this passage in its profile.)

Every last Arab—even those who are Israeli citizens—must be deported, Shapiro said, because their ethnicity means that they harbor a murderous “Arab dream.” But to anyone who thinks this sounds like the textbook definition of “ethnic cleansing,” he has a firm response: “It’s not genocide; it’s transfer. It’s not Hitler, it’s Churchill.” Shapiro is referring to the Allied expulsion of German-speakers from Polish territory immediately after World War II, in which “Anywhere from 3.5 million to 9 million Germans were forcibly expelled from the new Polish territory and relocated in Germany.” Shapiro favorably quotes Churchill’s desire that “There will be no mixture of populations to cause endless trouble … a clean sweep will be made.”

There is only one problem with the precedent cited by Shapiro: it is actually a forgotten historic atrocity, which was characterized by mass rape, torture, and murder, and left at least 400,000 people dead (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/03/the-forgotten-story-of-when-the-germans-were-the-refugees/?utm_term=.98215d132f58). Germans were interned in concentration camps and endured horrific journeys in which pregnant women froze to death. As Tara Zahra explains (https://www.thenation.com/article/brutal-peace-postwar-expulsions-germans/) in a review of R.M. Douglas’s Orderly and Humane: The Expulsion of the Germans After the Second World War (https://www.amazon.com/Orderly-Humane-Expulsion-Germans-Second/dp/0300198205):

After the Nazi defeat, the Volksdeutsche fled or were expelled to the West, and were stripped of their citizenship, homes and property in… “the largest forced population transfer—and perhaps the greatest single movement of peoples—in human history.” Douglas amply demonstrates that these population transfers,which were to be carried out in an “orderly and humane” manner according to the language of the Allies’ 1945 Potsdam Agreement, counted as neither. Instead…. they were nothing less than a “massive state-sponsored carnival of violence, resulting in a death toll that on the most conservative of estimates must have reached six figures.” …Ironically, then, the postwar population transfers completed a process of segregation and ethnic cleansing that Hitler himself had begun….Interned women throughout Czechoslovakia and Poland were subject to rampant sexual abuse, rape and torture. Germans were also forced to wear armbands or patches marked with the letter “N” for Nemec (German)—collective payback for the humiliation that the Nazis had inflicted on populations in the East. When they were finally transported west, the expellees traveled by cattle car, sometimes going with barely any food or water for up to two weeks. One victim recalled that each morning, “one or more dead bodies greeted us…they just had to be abandoned on the embankments.”… Douglas concludes by calling the expulsions a “tragic, unnecessary, and, we must resolve, never to be repeated episode in Europe’s and the world’s recent history.”

This is the model that Shapiro believed should be applied to the murderous Arabs. (Perhaps Israel could even have them wear patches with little “A”s on them. But that might seem a little racist, and Shapiro is firmly against racism (https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/09/16/ben_shapiro_teaching_minorities_they_are_perpetual_victims_is_false_backward_and_hurts_them.html).) Shapiro has since suggested (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2013/03/13/what-can-israel-do-n1532133) that his position on ethnic cleansing has evolved (without admitting that he ever endorsed it), in part because large-scale population transfer is simply impractical. His position on the inherent evil of Palestinians, however, does not appear to have softened.

As I say, I realize I am playing right into Shapiro’s hands by invoking the r-word to describe his belief that Arabs are bomb-throwing sewage-dwellers who deserve to be ethnically cleansed. But I happen to think Shapiro is a bit inconsistent on this. His standard of evidence for what constitutes ethnic prejudice seems to vary based on who the target is. When it came to George Zimmerman, Shapiro concluded that “there’s no evidence of Zimmerman’s racism (http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2016/02/05/media-pay-homage-to-trayvon-on-21st-birthday-heres-the-real-story/).” Bear in mind that Zimmerman: approached a stranger because they had a Confederate flag tattoo so he could brag about killing Trayvon Martin (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-george-zimmerman-punched-face-20160804-story.html), got thrown out of a bar for calling someone a “nigger-lover (http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/11/11/george_zimmerman_kicked_out_of_bar_n_word_used.html),” ranted about his girlfriend sleeping with a “dirty Muslim (https://www.aol.com/article/2015/12/03/george-zimmerman-just-committed-a-blatant-racist-sex-crime-on-tw/21277969/),” tweeted that the lives of “black slime (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/george-zimmerman-tweets_us_5661ef01e4b079b2818e8fbd)” don’t matter, labeled Barack Obama an “ignorant baboon (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3252790/George-Zimmerman-shows-beach-view-smokes-cigar-shares-disgusting-meme-Obama-killer-shot-dead-coworkers-live-TV-uproar-dead-Trayvon-Martin-photo.html),” posted memes comparing Michelle Obama to Chewbacca (https://www.watchtheyard.com/opinon/george-zimmerman-twitter-account/), and literally had a Confederate flag profile picture and sold paintings he did of said flag (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/08/18/muslim-free-gun-store-george-zimmerman-confederate-flag-prints-florida/31914299/). (Oh, and he also murdered an unarmed black teenager and proudly posted a photo of the boy’s corpse on Twitter, but Shapiro has made it clear that he believes Trayvon Martin deserved to die (https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/695622179874967552?lang=en).)

From that, we might conclude that Shapiro has an extremely high threshold for evidence he will consider sufficient to deem someone a bigot. But it doesn’t apply universally: Shapiro seems rather quick to accuse his opponents of anti-Semitic prejudice. That could be because they have described him as a “neoconservative,” which Shapiro considers (https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/554431350887829506) an anti-Semitic slur (https://www.salon.com/2015/12/16/patton_oswalt_gloriously_smacks_down_ben_shapiros_absurd_cries_of_anti_semitism/). Or they could, like the “Nazis” at PETA (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2003/03/05/the-peta-nazis-n1230364), have diminished the relative value of Jewish lives by elevating the importance of animal lives. But nobody is quite as bad as Barack Obama, who Shapiro believes harbors a deep hatred of Jews. As president, Obama was a “philosophical fascist (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2010/02/03/obamas-philosophically-fascist-state-of-the-union-address-n1331445)” whose anti-Semitism was “clear-cut.” (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2009/05/06/barack-obama-proves-his-anti-semitism-n785375) To support the “fascism” charge Shapiro cites evidence like Obama’s “dictatorial demands (‘I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay’),” the “scornful looks and high-handed put-downs directed at his political opponents,” and the “arrogant chin-up head tilt he uses when waiting for applause.” Shapiro says that Obama’s vision for America is totalitarian, citing Obama’s hope that “the American people [should have] a government that matches their decency; that embodies their strength.”

Alright, well, we may disagree over whether pressuring Congress to pass a jobs bill makes you literally Mussolini. But Shapiro says the anti-Semitism part is clear-cut. Why? Well, the first piece of evidence is that when the Israeli military stormed an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, killing nine activists (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_flotilla_raid), the Obama administration soon released a statement saying that “The United States deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2010/06/02/the-presidential-anti-semite-strikes-again-n1162177).” “How else are we to interpret [this] lightning-fast, knee-jerk anti-Israel response?” except as evidence of anti-Semitism, Shapiro asks. But perhaps you’re not convinced. Well, Shapiro has more (https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/ben-shapiro/barack-obama-proves-his-anti-semitism). In 2009, Rahm Emanuel went to speak at AIPAC and told the audience that U.S. efforts to thwart Iran’s nuclear program would be conditional on successful resolution of the Israel/Palestine conflict. This, Shapiro says, showed that Obama harbored a deep animus against Jews, because he holds Israel to a higher standard than he holds anyone else. And while it may have turned out that Rahm Emanuel never actually said anything like this (http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/05/what_rahm_emanuel_really_said.php), leading at least one other columnist to issue a correction (https://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2009/5/5/middle-east-negotiations-this-isnt-hollywood-rahm/), Shapiro stood firm. Not only did he not amend the story, but he later called Emanuel (who held Israeli citizenship for nearly two decades, whose middle name is literally Israel (http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/13/us/rahm-emanuel-fast-facts/index.html), and who even Jeffrey Goldberg (https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Atlantics-New-Editor-Was-IDF-Prison-Guard-Beat-Palestinians-20161012-0018.html) thought made the idea of Obama being anti-Israel seem “a bit ridiculous (https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2008/11/rahm-emanuel-and-israel/9059/)”) a “kapo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapo_%28concentration_camp%29),” i.e. a Jew who does the Nazis’ bidding. Shapiro said that any Jewish person who voted for Obama was not really a Jew at all, but a “Jew In Name Only (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2011/05/25/jews-in-name-only-n783739)” serving an “enemy of the Jewish people.” They may “eat bagels and lox,” but by supporting (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2010/04/28/an-open-letter-to-american-jews-n1311760) an “openly” anti-Semitic administration they are “disgusting” and a “disgrace,” and the “twisted and evil” “self-hating Jews” (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2006/07/26/self-hating-jews-and-the-jewish-state-n733376) who “enjoy matzo ball soup” and “emerged from a Jewish uterus” but nevertheless choose to “undermine the Israeli government” “don’t care a whit about Judaism” and in fact hold “anti-Semitic views.” (Those may be snippet-length quotes but go and read the columns if you suspect me of excising context or nuance.)

You must forgive me, then, for being somewhat confused by Shapiro’s conception of prejudice, which includes people who say “these deaths are regrettable” but excludes those who use the n-word and shoot black children in the face. But I realize I am missing the meat of the Shapiro philosophy. Nevermind Shapiro The Ethnic Cleanser, what about Shapiro The Destroyer Of Weak Arguments? Shapiro has built his reputation on his formidable ability to dismantle liberal orthodoxies, his dazzling use of logic to expose leftists as vacuous bullies who must stifle conservative speech because they cannot actually refute or debunk it.

I’d like, then, to closely examine how Shapirodestroysa liberal argument,in order to see his famous method at work. Let’s look at how Shapiro “debunks transgenderism. (http://www.dailywire.com/news/13354/ben-shapiro-debunks-transgenderism-and-pro-hank-berrien)” When a student questioner confronted Shapiro about his belief that transgender women should not be considered women, here’s the argument he gave in defense of the position:

You’re not a man if you think you’re a man…. As far as the actual psychological issues at play, it used to be called gender identity disorder; now they call it gender dysphoria. The idea that sex or gender is malleable is not true. I’m not denying your humanity if you are a transgender person; I am saying that you are not the sex which you claim to be. [I]f you’re going to dictate to me that I’m supposed to pretend, I’m supposed to pretend that men are women and women are men, no. My answer is no. I’m not going to modify basic biology because it threatens your subjective sense of what you are.

When the questioner replied to suggest that transgender people just wanted to fit in, Shapiro hit her with a burst of Stone Cold Logic. After asking her how old she was, he asked her why she wasn’t a different age. Answer: because age is a fact not a choice.Then he asked her why she didn’t just change her species:

SHAPIRO: If I call you a moose, are you suddenly a moose? If I redefine our terms…

YOUNG WOMAN: That’s a completely different thing.

SHAPIRO: Yes, that’s right. Men and women are a completely different thing. This is true. Have you ever met a man or a woman? They are completely different.

Shapiro’s position on transgender people is very simple then. He rejects “the pseudo-scientific nonsense that a man can magically turn into a woman,” because it is no different than thinking an undergraduate can turn into a moose. Shapiro says that “individuals who believe they are a different sex than that of their biology are psychologically ill—self-evidently so” and has compared the idea of being transgender to his schizophrenic grandfather who thought the curtains were speaking to him.

But for a man who loves Logical Argumentation and would never “mischaracterize his opponents’ positions,” Shapiro doesn’t actually seem to grasp what the left argument about gender actually is, or what it is he’s actually supposed to be disproving.

Here is the actual argument that is made: the traditional conception held by people like Shapiro has treated “sex” and “gender” as synonymous. You’re either a man or a woman. Which one you are is defined by your chromosomes. And because chromosomes are part of biology, and can’t be altered, you can—as Shapiro says—no more change your sex/gender through your state of mind than you could change your age. There are men and there are women:

[pix]

The argument made by the left is that this simple story doesn’t account for something important: in the real world, we don’t form our understanding of whether someone is a man or a woman by their chromosomes. Instead, we form it by how they look and act. What people mean when they say that “gender is a social construct” is not that “chromosomes are a social construct” but that in practice, gender isn’t reducible to chromosomes. In the two pictures above, the person on the left is actually a transgender man and the person on the right is actually a transgender woman. It would seem strange to call the person on the left a “woman” and the person on the right a “man,” because the fact that we associate gender with “masculinity” and “femininity” rather than just “chromosomes” means those words don’t seem to fit those people very well.

This is the reason why people started to draw a distinction between “sex” and “gender,” with sex referring to the biological component and gender referring to those qualities that seem much more fluid. Transgender people do not “think they are a different sex.” Instead, they realize that their “gender” doesn’t match their sex. As a transgender person explained in response to Shapiro (https://redgoner.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/read-dea-debunks-ben-shapiro-debunks-transgenderism/), “most of the trans people I know, including myself, are under no delusion about what we were born as or what biological sex we are, we just feel uncomfortable with the features of our biological sex and seek treatment, usually, to alter those features and minimize our dysphoria.”

The dysphoria is not the “delusional belief that you don’t have a penis when you in fact do.” It’s the distress that comes from feeling like a member of the “female” gender despite having the “male” sex, or vice versa. The argument being made is that the existing way we classify sex/gender is not adequately describing the actual fact, which is that because gender captures more than just chromosomes, the traditional terminology causes confusion and needs revising. Scott Alexander has a poignant and funny essay (http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/21/the-categories-were-made-for-man-not-man-for-the-categories/) explaining why categories like “male” and “female” are malleable and why we should adjust them depending on the goals we’re trying to accomplish:

In no case can an agreed-upon set of borders or a category boundary be factually incorrect. An alternative categorization system is not an error… Just as we can come up with criteria for a definition of “planet”, we can come up with a definition of “man”. Absolutely typical men have Y chromosomes, have male genitalia, appreciate manly things like sports and lumberjackery, are romantically attracted to women, personally identify as male, wear male clothing like blue jeans, sing baritone in the opera, et cetera. Some people satisfy some criteria of manhood and not others, in much the same way that Pluto satisfies only some criteria of planethood… For example, gay men might date other men and behave in effeminate ways. People with congenital androgen insensitivity syndrome might have female bodies, female external genitalia, and have been raised female their entire life, but when you look into their cells they have Y chromosomes. Most people seem to assume that the ultimate tiebreaker in man vs. woman questions is presence of a Y chromosome. I’m not sure this is a very principled decision, because I expect most people would classify congenital androgen insensitivity patients (XY people whose bodies are insensitive to the hormone that makes them look male, and so end up looking 100% female their entire lives and often not even knowing they have the condition) as women. The project of the transgender movement is to propose a switch from using chromosomes as a tiebreaker to using self-identification as a tiebreaker.

Shapiro thinks being transgender is a mental illness, just as he believes homosexuality should still be considered a mental illness (and was only taken off the list thanks to “pressure group influence (https://patriotpost.us/opinion/5023)”). But mental illness is another situation where the classifications we choose are choices: homosexuality does not “inherently” fit in the category of mental illness; a society decides what it wants to call “illness.” And since there seemed to be very little good to come from calling some perfectly ordinary human trait an “illness,” all this did was create unnecessary stigma. Likewise, it was decided that there was no reason to see “believing your gender identity to be different than your biological sex” an illness, so the DSM was revised accordingly, to focus on what did actually seem a problem, namely the distress this can lead to.

:{Gender and sex are complicated topics. There are a lot of unanswered questions (e.g. What is identity? Should gender be entirely subjective? What are the differences between racial and gender identity?) All of these, though, are attempts to work out how we should revise our categories in the way that best reflects the human reality and allows us to talk coherently. The traditional categories were just too simple to capture the more complicated facts of how gender actually works. (Actually, Shapiro himself inadvertently proved this. In discussing why he would never recognize Laverne Cox as a woman, Shapiro } :{accidentally referred to Cox as “she”}: (https://youtu.be/xzjmwHvVsQM&t=5m27s):{ before quickly correcting himself. Why did he slip? Because Laverne Cox }::{does }::{seem like a woman, based on how the category “woman” is applied socially, and it feels }::{weird }::{to call her a man. Even Shapiro’s subconscious is telling him that transgender people should be referred to by the gender they present as rather than by their biological sex.)}:

Shapiro isn’t interested in discussing any of this seriously. Just look at how he distorted his questioner’s response about moose: he says “Why aren’t you a moose?” and when she replies “That’s different,” he interjects “That’s right, men and women are different.” She clearly said that species and gender are different (which they are, in that there’s a good argument for revising one of the categories but not for revising the other). But he tried to convince his audience that she had essentially conceded his point, by seizing on and spinning the word “difference.” (We call this “sophistry” rather than “logic.”)

At every turn, Shapiro shows that he simply wants to make his questioners look foolish, rather than present the facts fairly. Just look at his discussion of suicide and bullying:

The idea behind the transgender civil rights movement is that all of their problems would go away if I would pretend that they were the sex to which they claim membership. That’s nonsense. The transgender suicide rate is 40%. And according to the Anderson School at UCLA ….it makes virtually no difference statistically as to whether people recognize you as a transgender person or not… It has nothing to do with how society treats you… The normal suicide rate across the US is 4%. The suicide rate in the transgender community is 40%. The idea that 36% more transgender people are committing suicide is ridiculous. [Note: Shapiro has misconstrued a statistic on suicide attempts as a statistic on successful suicide] It’s not true and it’s not backed by any science that anyone can cite. It’s pure conjecture. It’s not even true that bullying causes suicide… There’s no evidence whatsoever that the suicide rate in the transgender community would go down in any marked way if people just started pretending that men were women and women were men.

I can’t find a study from the Anderson School about transgender suicide. The one UCLA study (https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/AFSP-Williams-Suicide-Report-Final.pdf) I can find on the subject, the one I think he must be referring to, directly contradicts Shapiro’s contention, concluding that “a higher than average prevalence of lifetime suicide attempts was consistently found among NTDS respondents who reported that they had been harassed, bullied, or assaulted in school by other students and/ or teachers due to anti-transgender bias” and “the prevalence of suicide attempts was elevated among respondents who reported experiencing rejection, disruption, or abuse by family members or close friends because of antitransgender bias.” (Another study found (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4450977/) that “social support, reduced transphobia, and having any personal identification documents changed to an appropriate sex designation were associated with large relative and absolute reductions in suicide risk.”) So when Shapiro says that there’s “no evidence whatsoever” and it’s “not backed by any science,” it’s actually backed by the exact study he has just cited. (That study also demonstrates why another Shapiro talking point, that transgender suicides can’t be caused by prejudice because black people have low suicide rates, is false: a crucial determinant of suicide likelihood is people’s level of family support, and if black people have strong support networks, similar levels of discrimination could lead to differing levels of suicide.)

For a man who cares about Facts rather than Feelings, Shapiro doesn’t seem to care very much about facts. There are plenty of minor mistakes that cast doubt on the Times quote that Shapiro “reads books.” Some are just the little slip-ups that come from careless writing, e.g. the U.S. abolished slavery in “1862 (http://www.dailywire.com/news/23850/watch-shapiro-deconstructs-myth-america-was-daily-wire),” “atheistic philosopher Gilbert Pyle (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2008/12/18/why-atheism-is-morally-bankrupt-n734917)” [sic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Ryle)]. Others are suspicious unsourced generalizations, e.g.“Walk into virtually any emergency room in California and illegal immigrants are the bulk of the population (http://www.wnd.com/2009/06/101993/).” But there are also major embarrassing bloomers, like Shapiro promoting the false rumor (http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/02/14/_friends_of_hamas_the_scary_sounding_pro_hagel_group_that_doesn_t_actually.html) that Chuck Hagel received a donation from a group called “Friends of Hamas.” A New York Daily News reporter had made up the group’s name (https://www.npr.org/2013/02/21/172631896/friends-of-hamas-how-a-joke-went-wrong), as something so ludicrously over-the-top that nobody could possibly believe it, but Shapiro credulous enough to think the organization could exist, and published an article demanding answers. When it was pointed out that there was no such group, Shapiro did not retract the story. Instead, he doubled down (https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2013/02/21/friends-of-hamas-mess-not-a-crisis-of-conservative-media/?utm_term=.e8ede7448965), insisting that because he reported that sources said there was a Friends of Hamas, and the sources did say that, his reporting was sound (http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2013/02/20/daily-news-reporter-admits-breitbart-friends-of-hamas-story-accurate/). (Note: this is not how journalism works.)

There are plenty of other points at which Shapiro has showed that his command of Logic may not be terribly strong. He loves Facts, but will make statements like (http://www.wnd.com/2006/06/36508/) “monitoring mosques is the simplest and most effective way of preventing terrorist attacks” and cite “simple common sense” as his source. He will look back fondly (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2005/06/22/fighting-the-michael-jackson-culture-n932984) on the era of the Hays Code, in which movies that did not portray correct moral messages were censored, and state that it is “no coincidence” that many great films were made during this time. (Someone ought to introduce Shapiro to the idea that just because two things occur at the same time does not mean that one of them was responsible for the other (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation).)

The ACLU’s attempt to bring Abu Ghraib photos to light was “designed as a direct attack on American soldiers abroad (http://www.wnd.com/2005/07/31513/).” (Again, there’s no argument here, he just says it.) Hip hop is “not music (http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2009/03/29/rap-is-crap/),” people only say it is because of “cultural sensitivity,” and it is the product of a “disgusting” culture; again, one presumes these are just Facts, not Feelings. (No, he didn’t like Hamilton :{either, and } :{spent part of a radio show playing }::{:{Hamilton }:}::{and }::{:{West Side Story }:}::{side by side}: (https://youtu.be/pkM_8lAnbvU&t=48m30s):{, like a cool kid, in order to show that }::{Hamilton }::{has “forced rhymes that aren’t actually rhymes” and has “no harmony, no melody, just rhythm, and this is my problem with rap generally.”) The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act was literally worse than (https://www.creators.com/read/ben-shapiro/07/13/the-worst-ruling-since-dred-scott-77bc6)}::{ Plessy v. Ferguson }::{and the case that allowed mentally ill people to be sterilized. (Shapiro believes the decision “}::{said that the federal government can force you to do anything” because it can “tax nonbehavior,” though since there is zero practical difference between providing “a tax penalty for not doing something” and “a tax credit for doing something,” this framework means every tax credit is a form of totalitarianism.) }:

Some of his arguments just make no damn sense at all: witness his contention (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2011/09/07/theres-no-such-thing-as-crony-capitalism-n1175043) that capitalism doesn’t mean the greedy pursuit of self-interest, corporatism does, while capitalism just means… I’m not sure. (Try to reconcile his statement that capitalism isn’t about economic self-interest with his statement that capitalism values people by their economic usefulness.) Or his case that socialism is racism (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2010/10/27/why-socialism-breeds-racism-n736439) because in capitalism people are valued entirely in accordance with their market worth, irrespective of race. (Shapiro has argued that shop owners who discriminate among customers would go out of business, which might be true if there wasn’t a huge racial wealth gap (http://www.epi.org/blog/the-racial-wealth-gap-how-african-americans-have-been-shortchanged-out-of-the-materials-to-build-wealth/) and no consumers ever preferred to patronize racially segregated establishments.)

Shapiro mocked T.I. (http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2009/03/29/rap-is-crap/) for naming his children “Zonnique and Deyjah.” (It’s not clear what the Rational basis for disliking black names is.) When Barack Obama said that“we need to keep changing the attitude that punishes women for their sexuality and rewards men for theirs,” Shapiro wondered (https://www.creators.com/read/ben-shapiro/08/16/no-barack-obama-isnt-a-feminist-hes-a-self-aggrandizing-tool) why Obama thought anyone should “be rewarded for their sexuality.” (I am curious how Shapiro did on the Logical Reasoning section of his LSAT if he believes “Don’t punish X or reward Y” means “reward X and/or Y.”) He thinks (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2005/08/17/why-the-chickenhawk-argument-is-un-american-part-i-n737031) that criticisms of those who seem to love wars but decline to fight in them are “explicitly reject[ing] the Constitution itself, [which] provides that civilians control the military.” (Go ahead and try to figure out the reasoning on that one.)

He was strongly against (https://patriotpost.us/opinion/7763) a federal ban on using cellphones while driving, because it would take away drivers’ freedom of choice, yet he believes it is “morally tragic (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2005/09/21/the-case-for-policing-pornography-n925351)” that we no longer use the police to stop people from making and watching pornography, because it follows the “silly” philosophy that “as long as what I do doesn’t harm you personally, I have a right to do it.” (Shapiro said that if pornography is legal, there would be no logical reason not to legalize the murder of homeless people, without addressing the potential meaningful distinctions between “having sex” and “killing a person in cold blood.”) Shapiro may be The Cool Kid’s Philosopher, but on the rare occasions when he actually dips his toe into metaphysics, the results are catastrophic (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2008/12/18/why-atheism-is-morally-bankrupt-n734917): he argues that atheism is incompatible with the idea of free will because religious people believe that free will is granted by God. (“My beliefs say that your beliefs can’t be true therefore they can’t be true” is known as “assuming the conclusion.”)

But separate from Shapiro’s shaky ability to tell the truth and understand simple reasoning, I find his actual moral values somewhat horrifying.These can’t be “debunked” or “disproven,” of course: they’re matters of differing instinct. But I don’t share Shapiro’s religiously-derived conviction (http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2003-04-26/news/0304260156_1_bigamy-polygamy-incest) that “any moral system condoning homosexuality” will lead to a “fluid, careless amalgam of values” that will cause America to “suffer the fate of ancient Rome.” (Nor do I see any Facts to support this hypothesis.) I’m especially troubled by Shapiro’s stance on war. In defending the invasion of Iraq, Shapiro specifically praised imperialism, saying that for the United States, “empire isn’t a choice, it’s a duty.” Nevermind “weapons of mass destruction”: maintaining U.S. global power is an end in itself, even if 500,000 Iraqis had to lose their lives a result. Shapiro even endorsed invading countries that do not pose any immediate threat (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2005/08/10/why-war-in-iraq-is-right-for-america-n1216871), suggesting that almost any Muslim nation could legitimately be attacked if doing so served the interests of our “global empire”:

Did Iraq pose an immediate threat to our nation? Perhaps not. But toppling Saddam Hussein and democratizing Iraq prevent his future ascendance and end his material support for future threats globally. The same principle holds true for Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and others: Pre-emption is the chief weapon of a global empire. No one said empire was easy, but it is right and good, both for Americans and for the world.

(We could call this the “Better Kill Everyone Just In Case” doctrine.)

What’s more, Shapiro doesn’t believe that criticizing the American government during a time of war ought to be legal at all. The champion of Free Speech has literally called for reinstating sedition laws. When Al Gore told a Muslim audience that he believed the United States’ indiscriminate rounding-up and detention practices after 9/11 were “terrible” and abusive, Shapiro called the statements “treasonable,” “seditious,” and “outrageous” and demanded that the law respond (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2006/02/15/should-we-prosecute-sedition-n1214384):

At some point, opposition must be considered disloyal. At some point, the American people must say “enough.” At some point, Republicans in Congress must stop delicately tiptoeing with regard to sedition and must pass legislation to prosecute such sedition…Under the Espionage Act of 1917, opponents of World War I were routinely prosecuted, and the Supreme Court routinely upheld their convictions…. During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the internment of hundreds of thousands of Japanese-Americans, as well as allowing the prosecution and/or deportation of those who opposed the war…. This is not to argue that every measure taken by the government to prosecute opponents of American wars is just or right or Constitutional. Some restrictions, however, are just and right and Constitutional—and necessary. No war can be won when members of a disloyal opposition are given free reign [sic] to undermine it.

The Wilson administration’s crackdown on critics of the war, and the imprisoning of dissidents, were actually a low point in the history of American liberty, and the legal decisions upholding these acts are now discredited. But Shapiro sees this, along with the even more disturbing mass internment of Japanese Americans, as a model for eliminating critics of America’s wars. (Although elsewhere Shapiro has called the Supreme Court’s decision upholding Japanese detention “evil and disgusting (https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/ben-shapiro/worst-ruling-dred-scott).” Consistency, as I have indicated before, is not his forte.)

Having surveyed Shapiro’s work, and pointed out the various ways in which he is not terribly logical, not terribly consistent, and not terribly well-informed (in addition to being not terribly humane), it is worth asking why so many people think of him as a “principled” and “brilliant” dismantler of arguments. The answer, it seems to me, is largely that Shapiro is a very confident person who speaks quickly. If he weren’t either of these things, he wouldn’t seem nearly as intelligent. Because he doesn’t care about whether he’s right, but about whether he destroys you, he uses a few effective lawyerly tricks: insist that there’s “no evidence whatsoever” something is true, demand the other side produce such evidence, and when they stammer “Buh-buh-buh” for two seconds, quickly interrupt with “See? What did I tell you? No evidence.” Or, just pluck some random numbers from a study, even if they’re totally false or misleading, e.g. “40% of transgender people commit suicide and the risk doesn’t go down if they are treated better,” which was nonsense but sounded good.

Cross-examine people with aggressive questions that confuse them: Are you a moose? I said: are you a moose?No? I didn’t think so. I rest my case. Use shifting burdens of proof: demand a wealth of statistical evidence before you will admit that black people face any unique hardships, but respond to every criticism of the Israeli government by calling the speaker a “proven” and “undeniable” anti-Semite.

Disregard all facts that contradict your case, but insist constantly that the other side despises facts and can’t handle the truth. Call your opponents “nasty,” “evil,” “brainless” “jackasses.” All of these techniques work very well, and with them, you, too, can soon be Owning and Destroying your political opponents on camera. (I would probably lose a debate with Ben Shapiro quite badly, as my instinct in public conversations is to try to listen to people.)

Let me tell you why Ben Shapiro actually aggravates me. It is not his voice or demeanor, though I understand why others find these characteristics grating. Nor is it the way he inserts (https://images.currentaffairs.org/2017/12/Screen-Shot-2017-11-29-at-5.48.40-PM.png) references (https://images.currentaffairs.org/2017/12/Screen-Shot-2017-11-29-at-5.48.50-PM.png) to first-year law school doctrines even when they aren’t actually relevant. It is, rather, that Ben Shapiro is lying to his audience, by telling them that he is just a person concerned with the Truth, when the only thing he actually cares about is destroying the left. “Facts don’t care about your feelings” is a fine mantra, albeit kind of a dickish one. But it’s worthless if you’re going to interpret every last fact in the way most favorable to your own preconceptions, if you’re going to ignore evidence contrary to your position, and refuse to try to understand what your opponents actually believe. The New York Times actually quoted a sensible-sounding ex-Shapiro fan, who said he realized over time that Shapiro was just concerned with convincing other people he was right, rather than actually being right. Shapiro is annoying because he claims to love speech and discourse, to believe you should “get to know people… get to know their views…discuss (http://www.dailywire.com/news/21144/complete-transcript-ben-takes-berkeley-daily-wire),” but if you’re an Arab he’s already convinced you’re a secret anti-Semite, and if you’re a poor black person he doesn’t need to know you to know that you’re culturally dysfunctional.

The encouraging news is that if Ben Shapiro is the sharpest thinker among millennial conservatives, millennial leftists don’t have too much to worry about. You may feel as if Shapiro is a Vaporizer of Poor Logic, the Aristotle of our time. You may feel as if he has brutally torn apart every person who has crossed him in public, through his tried and tested technique of speaking extremely quickly until they give up. You may feel that he is brilliant and thoughtful and sincere.

But before you treat these feelings as real, remember that annoying little fact about facts: They don’t really care how you feel.

ref Bb BS no lnx

Daily News Reporter Admits: Breitbart 'Friends of Hamas' Story 'Accurate'

20 Feb 2013813

The mainstream media have ignored the fact that at least one prominent supporter of Hamas has donated money to an organization associated with former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)–namely, the Atlantic Council, which receives support from the Hariri family of Lebanon, whose most prominent member, former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, publicly backs Hamas.

Instead, they have attacked a story by Ben Shapiro citing Senate sources who said they had been told Hagel had received funds from a group “purportedly” calling itself “Friends of Hamas.” Shapiro reported that he had attempted to obtain confirmation or comment from a White House spokesperson, who hung up on him.

Dan Friedman, the New York Daily News reporter who claimed today to be the original source for the accusation, has now admitted that the Feb. 7 story by Breitbart News’ Ben Shapiro, which merely reported the allegation, was accurate as written.

Breitbart TV

Play Video

Friedman was speaking to Ahmed Shihab-Eldin of Huffington Post Live when the following exchange occurred:

Shihab-Eldin: You say that your source admitted he may have mentioned your question to others…But now, Ben Shapiro, who wrote the Breitbart.com article, is claiming his story is, as reported, correct. Do you agree?

Friedman: I spoke to Ben–and I’m trying to avoid getting into a sort of personal argument, I’m trying to tell what I thought was a funny and newsworthy story, without setting myself as some kind of media critic or something like that–I talked to him, and what he said is that if you read his lead as caveated, that he didn’t directly say this group exists. He said this person told him that they were asked if this group exists. So you can say that that, if you look at it, and read it that way, yes, it’s accurate.

Shihab-Eldin also attempted to pressure Friedman to reveal the name of his source, which Friedman declined to do.

Shapiro had earlier told Friedman that “my source tells me that you were not the source of the information.” The source indicated that “three separate sources,” none of whom was Friedman, had provided the information.

A story by Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Joel B. Pollak documenting Saad Hariri’s ties to Hamas ran on the same day that Shapiro’s story ran on Breitbart.com, further developing the story to its factual core.

The media, including the Huffington Post, ignored those facts and have shown little interest in exploringHagel’s financial ties or in demanding the full disclosure that has been requested by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

MediaBen ShapiroMainstream MediaSenate

Ben Shapiro | Truth Revolt (https://www.truthrevolt.org/author/ben-shapiro)

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In this first video in the new FIREWALL series, host Bill Whittle shows what four, five, six, seven or more decades of Death by Democrats has done to our nation's cities.

Ben Shapiro: The Truth About Thanksgiving | Truth Revolt (https://www.truthrevolt.org/videos/ben-shapiro-truth-about-thanksgiving)

https://www.truthrevolt.org/videos/ben-shapiro-truth-about-thanksgiving (https://www.truthrevolt.org/videos/ben-shapiro-truth-about-thanksgiving)

Ben Shapiro takes a look at the true story of Thanksgiving - not the multiculturalism and socialism pushed by leftists every November. Thanksgiving is almost upon us, and once again we'll be treated to the usual dumbed down version of the Thanksgiving story: white Europeans landed in America ...

Ben Shapiro out, TruthRevolt in turmoil as Horowitz denies ... (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ben-shapiro-out-truthrevolt-in-turmoil-as-horowitz-denies-shutdown-reports)

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ben-shapiro-out-truthrevolt-in-turmoil-as-horowitz-denies-shutdown-reports (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ben-shapiro-out-truthrevolt-in-turmoil-as-horowitz-denies-shutdown-reports)

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has resigned as editor-in-chief of TruthRevolt, a non-profit news website site that he co-founded just two years ago. Shapiro's departure from the young media ...

Ben Shapiro Out At TruthRevolt | The Daily Caller (https://dailycaller.com/2015/05/01/ben-shapiro-out-at-truthrevolt/)

https://dailycaller.com/2015/05/01/ben-shapiro-out-at-truthrevolt/ (https://dailycaller.com/2015/05/01/ben-shapiro-out-at-truthrevolt/)

Shapiro's Twitter bio still lists him as an editor-at-large at Breitbart News, a radio host and a bestselling author.. From the desk of TruthRevolt's David Horowitz:. See the internal announcement on Tapson's new role at Truth Revolt below.

Ben Shapiro Launches TruthRevolt Website - 'Nox & Friends (http://hardnoxandfriends.com/2013/10/07/ben-shapiro-launches-truthrevolt-website/)

hardnoxandfriends.com/2013/10/07/ben-shapiro-launches-truthrevolt-website/ (http://hardnoxandfriends.com/2013/10/07/ben-shapiro-launches-truthrevolt-website/)

On Sunday, Breitbart News Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro discussed the launch of a new website that will seek to "change the nature of media" by exposing the donors and advertisers that enable the mainstream media to distort the truth and push their agendas with no accountability, especially when it comes to their bottom lines.

Ben Shapiro should run for president in 2020 — The Daily Campus (http://dailycampus.com/stories/2018/1/9/ben-shapiro-should-run-for-president-in-2020)

dailycampus.com/stories/2018/1/9/ben-shapiro-should-run-for-president-in-2020 (http://dailycampus.com/stories/2018/1/9/ben-shapiro-should-run-for-president-in-2020)

He's also currently a columnist for Creators Syndicate and is the cofounder of a media watchdog group known as Truth Revolt. Any man would want the well-known lawyer BenShapiro by their side in a trial. Shapiro's words are spoken fluidly, and it's a pleasure to watch him defend his views and his facts.

## :{Ben:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"):}: :{Shapiro}:: The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority ... (https://youtu.be/g7TAAw3oQvg)

:{} :{https://www.youtube.com}::{/watch?v=g7TAAw3oQvg}: (https://youtu.be/g7TAAw3oQvg)

In the debut of Reality Check, Ben Shapiro takes on Ben Affleck and the myth that only a tiny minority of Muslims worldwide are radical. http://TruthRevolt.org.

Ben Shapiro - RationalWiki (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro)

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro)

Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (1984-) is a conservative talker, UCLA- and Harvard-educated lawyer, founder of Truth Revolt (2013-2018) and The Daily Wire (ongoing), catcaller, and dogwhistler.

David Horowitz Freedom Center - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TruthRevolt)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TruthRevolt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TruthRevolt)

TruthRevolt - a news website edited by Mark Tapson whose mission is "to expose the leftist news media and to hold them accountable for their hypocrisy and bias." [13] Discover the Networks [14] - a database of alleged left-wing agendas, activists and groups.

turn pt women conf

mma

Ben Shapiro

The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro frequently misinforms his audiences about the obstacles women face, demeans and attacks transgender women, and serves as a reliable source of misogynistic commentary on multiple issues.

Shapiro has repeatedly denied the existence of a gender wage gap (once again, it's real). When actor Jennifer Lawrence discussed her experience with pay inequality, Shapiro claimed she was just “whining about a bad contract.”

He has dismissed the impact that having children has on women’s earnings potential.

Shapiro is against women serving in combat positions, tweeting: “Women SHOULD NOT register for the draft. National service is one thing. Combat? Come the hell on.”

He has claimed that “fewer women are interested in getting into tech because of all of the demands of work-life balance.”

He has repeatedly attacked and misgendered transgender women, tweeting that transgender people have “mental illness[es]” and claiming that Chelsea Manning only “think[s]” she’s a woman.

In response to the 2015 edition of MTV’s Video Music Awards, Shapiro tweeted: “Feminism is apparently the proposition that women are empowered by showing their breasts, but men are sexists for looking at them. #VMAs”

He accused “leftist women” of “redefin[ing]” rape and cautioned his followers not to believe “the lies” about “rape culture.”

He mocked Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke for her activism on contraceptive access and labeledher a “fascist” for wanting contraception to be more accessible to workers.

Shapiro has launched numerous attacks against planned Parenthood, claimed that women who seek abortions are “kill[ing] their own children,” and denied that medical care received by pregnant women is part of “women’s health.”

many consertv stories, this is LA weekly:

Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro, a Cal State Los Angeles student, and a pair of right-leaning organizations are suing the university and some of its professors over the matter of free speech.

Despite protests and an attempt by Cal State L.A. president William Covino to postpone the presentation, Shapiro gave a speech, titled "When Diversity Becomes a Problem," at the largely Latino school on Feb. 25. The conservative students group Young Americans for Freedom, a plaintiff in the case, sponsored the appearance.

The suit, filed today in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, claims that, in effect, the university muzzled Shapiro to some extent because organizers were unsuccessfully asked to pay more than $600 for extra security, professors enticed students to block access to the speech as a way of protesting Shapiro, and he was "forced to speak to a half-empty theater."[vid]

It also alleges that plaintiff Mark Kahanding, a finance major at the university and the chair

of its Young Americans for Freedom chapter, was falsely imprisoned because protesters

blocked exits during the speech.

Thus the school denied Shapiro's "fundamental rights to free speech, due process and equal protection of the law," the filing states argues

The suit seeks compensatory and nominal damages, civil penalties, attorneys' fees and costs, and a judgment that Cal State Los Angeles violated the civil rights of the defendants as well as its own policies.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs say Shapiro, who has said that the "public school system has been teaching students that they are each members of victimized groups," is in favor of intellectual diversity.

At the speech Shapiro reportedly said "f—- you" to demonstrators and complained that "an actual conversation" about diversity could not take place under those conditions.

Students unhappy that the speech went on later called unsuccessfully for the ouster of university president Covino.

"The cornerstone of higher education is the ability of students to participate in the 'marketplace of ideas' on campus,” said Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel for a group called Alliance Defending Freedom and an attorney for the plaintiffs. "Instead, student groups and Mr. Shapiro encountered systematic and violent opposition to a free-speech event promoting diversity of opinion. When public universities discriminate against points of view they don't like, they violate both the First Amendment and a core purpose behind their own existence. This type of viewpoint discrimination cannot and will not stand."

Shapiro said on his website that some Cal State Los Angeles students had scheduled a "debrief" this week to address the "hurt and trauma" caused by his speech. A link to the event is no longer active.

A spokesman for the university said it had no comment.

Ethnic and racial diversity is crucial in California, where Latinos now compose the largest demographic. Brown taxpayers should be able to see their kids enjoy public universities, get jobs in a very white Hollywood, and continue to have hope that the American Dream isn't over now that white folks are no longer the majority.

But that doesn't mean we should hit the pause button on free speech.

Should the taxpayers of California have rolled out the red carpet and kept protesters at bay as if he were president of the United States? Is the school responsible for ensuring a full theater for every speaker?The question for this case seems to be this: Are Cal State Los Angeles officials and the professors named in the suit, including local Black Lives Matter organizer Melina Abdullah, responsible for ensuring not only that Shapiro had a platform but that it was free of disruption?

We're going to go out on a limb and predict this suit will be about as popular with its U.S. District Court judge and jury as Shapiro is with Latino students in L.A.

Shapiro is a pendejo, and it's our right to say that.

Tyson Langhofer - Alliance Defending Freedom

https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/biography-details/tyson-langhofer

Tyson C. Langhofer serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he plays a key role with the Center for Academic Freedom. ... Before joining ADF, Langhofer was a partner with Stinson Leonard Street LLP, where he worked as a commercial litigation attorney for 15 years and earned ...

Missing: called ?plaintiffs

Attorneys - Alliance Defending Freedom

https://www.adflegal.org/about-us/attorneys

The solid winning record of Alliance Defending Freedom is a reflection of the quality, commitment, and perseverance of our attorneys. Their talents and faith are an ... Senior Counsel, Vice President of Grants & Funding. Learn more about. Caleb Dalton ... Tyson Langhofer. Senior Counsel. Learn more about. Zack Pruitt ...

Missing: group ?called ?plaintiffs

free speech on campus - Alliance Defending Freedom

https://www.adflegal.org/.../adf-offers-to-help-colorado-colleges-universities-comply-...

May 9, 2017 - DENVER – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys announced that they will offer no-fee legal assistance to Colorado's public colleges and universities to ... for democracy and the free expression of ideas for all speakers, not just those favored by school officials,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer.

Missing: plaintiffs

Suit accuses Cal State San Marcos of liberal bias - The San Diego ...

www.sandiegouniontribune.com/.../north.../sd-no-csusm-lawsuit-20170518-story.htm...

May 18, 2017 - The goal of the lawsuit is to gain equal access to the fees for all student groups, saidattorney Tyson Langhofer, senior council for Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative advocacy law firm focused on religious freedom. His firm filed the case on behalf of Students for Life. “It's really outrageous for any ...

LAWSUIT: Colorado State refused to fund pro-life student event ...

https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/30787/

Jan 18, 2017 - The Alliance Defending Freedom filed a First Amendment federal lawsuit against CSU and several administrators Tuesday on behalf of the campus chapter of ... courts have repeatedly rejected this discriminatory treatment as unconstitutional,” alliance Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofersaid in the release.

College group sues after being denied grant for pro-life speaker ...

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/.../college-group-sues-after-being-denied-grant-...

Jan 19, 2017 - 17 on behalf of CSU Students for Life by lawyers from Alliance Defending Freedom(ADF). ... “Universities should encourage all students to participate in the free exchange of ideas, not play favorites with some while shutting out others,” ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer said in a statement. “Colorado ...

Calif. University Sued for Violating Conservatives' Freedom of Speech ...

https://www.mediaite.com/.../calif-university-sued-for-violating-conservatives-freedo...

May 19, 2016 - The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative Christian advocacy group, has filed suit in federal court against California State University-Los Angeles. ... This type of viewpoint discrimination cannot and will not stand,” ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer said in a statement. Reached by phone ...

Ben Shapiro Sues Cal State Los Angeles | L.A. Weekly

www.laweekly.com/.../conservative-pundit-sues-cal-state-la-over-free-speech-694760...

May 19, 2016 - "The cornerstone of higher education is the ability of students to participate in the 'marketplace of ideas' on campus,” said Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel for a group called Alliance Defending Freedom and an attorney for the plaintiffs. "Instead, student groups and Mr. Shapiro encountered systematic and ...

Freedom Matters - SoundCloud

feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:191688364/sounds.rss

Tyson Langhofer, Senior Counsel for ADF joins the discussion on the state of speech on college campuses. He just filed suit against California State ... Commission v. Hands On Originals. Jim Campbell, Senior Counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom and attorney for Blaine Adamson joins Freedom Matters this week.

[PDF]

The Alliance Defense Fund - Electronic Privacy Information Center

https://epic.org/privacy/reed/09-559_PetitionerAmCuADF.pdf

Mar 4, 2010 - Counsel of Record. ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND. 801 G St. NW. Washington, DC 20001. (202) 393-8690 cmattox@telladf.org. Counsel for Amicus Curiae ...... Tyson C. Langhofer. Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP. 1625 North Waterfront Pkwy, Suite 300. Wichita, Kansas 67206. (316) 265-8800.Attorneys for ...

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/435511/cal-state-university-students-safe-space-ben-shapiro-speech

KATHERINE TIMPF May 17, 2016 6:00 PM @KATTIMPF

Students at California State University–Los Angeles have set up a “healing” space to deal with pain they were caused by having Ben Shapiro speak on campus — even though that speech was three months ago and most of them didn’t even go. “On February 25th, our campus experienced immense hurt and trauma,” states the description for the event, which will take place on Tuesday night. “Almost two months later, students are still feeling the emotional, mental, and physical effects that this event posed, and nothing has been done to facilitate our healing,” it continues. “How can we help each other heal and move forward? How were you affected emotionally, physically, psychologically?”

Here’s the real kicker: According to Young Americans for Freedom program officer Amy Lutz, who attended the event, most — maybe even all — of the kids involved in this event didn’t even go to the damn speech. I mean, really, kids? You’re suffering “immense hurt and trauma” and dealing with “emotional, mental, and physical effects” from a speech that happened sort of near you three months ago that you didn’t even attend? You need “healing” from that? Oh boy. I’ve got to say, good luck.

If you are suffering from “trauma” from that, then there is no way you are going to handle the real world. MORE P.C. CULTURE

BLACK LIVES MATTER BLAMES ORLANDO SHOOTING ON CAPITALISM

MIZZOU: TELLING DISABLED PEOPLE THEY’RE ‘INSPIRING’ IS A MICROAGGRESSION

FEMINIST INTERNET INSTRUCTED ‘WHITE, HETERO, CIS PEOPLE’ NOT TO WRITE ABOUT ORLANDO THE DAY OF THE ATTACK

Now, the event description also claims that students were “shoved” and “abused” because of the speech. But according to Lutz, there’s a real kicker on that one, too: The students who were doing the shoving were the protesters to the Shapiro event, not the people who came to hear him speak. She also said that the group’s claim that people were bussed in from Orange County is a flat-out lie. Come on. The event, titled “Debrief on Anti-Blackness; Threats of Violence,” is being organized by the school’s Black Student Union. — Katherine Timpf is a reporter for National Review Online.

YAF Wins Free Speech Victory at CSULA - Young America's Foundation

www.yaf.org/news/yaf-wins-free-speech-victory-csula/

Mar 1, 2017 - The administrators responsible for imposing unconstitutional speaker fees and inciting near-riots against the CSULA Young Americans for Freedom chapter and Ben Shapiro have agreed to suspend their anti-free speech practices and activities in respect to the Young Americans for Freedom students and ...

Cal State L.A. agrees to drop discriminatory speech policies, settles ...

https://adflegal.org/.../cal-state-l.a.-agrees-to-drop-discriminatory-speech-policies-settl...

Feb 28, 2017 - ADF attorneys representing Young Americans for Freedom secure settlement to clear way for campus visit by Ben Shapiro, other speakers. ... LOS ANGELES – In the wake of a student group's lawsuit, California State University–Los Angeles has dropped several of its discriminatory speech policies and ...

Young America's Foundation and Ben Shapiro

https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/.../young-america-s-foundation-and-ben-shapir...

Young America's Foundation and Ben Shapiro. Ironic, isn't it, that a university committed to “understanding of and respect for diversity” would attempt to shut down an event on . . . diversity. Well, that is exactly what happened at California State University-Los Angeles (CSULA). Young America's Foundation (YAF) and ...

YAF Lawsuit Against CSULA Proceeds on Narrow Grounds - FIRE

https://www.thefire.org/yaf-lawsuit-against-csula-proceeds-on-narrow-grounds/

Dec 15, 2016 - Ten months ago, conservative author and political commentator Ben Shapiro spoke atCalifornia State University, Los Angeles (CSULA). Shapiro's speech was not without obstacles: CSULAattempted to charge the event's sponsor, the Young America's Foundation (YAF), more than $600 in security fees ...

Ben Shapiro escorted by police from CSULA due to angry protesters ...

abc7.com/news/ben-shapiro-escorted-from-csula-due-to-angry.../1219358/

Feb 25, 2016 - A controversial conservative commentator was escorted by police from California State University, Los Angeles as angry demonstrators protested his presence on campus Thursday afternoon.

YAF Dropped Lawsuit Against University Employees – University Times

https://csulauniversitytimes.com/.../yaf-dropped-lawsuit-against-university-employee/

Mar 13, 2017 - “As a public university, California State University, Los Angeles, is deeply committed to freedom of speech. At the invitation of a student organization, Ben Shapiro spoke to a large audience on the campus in February 2016. Individuals with different viewpoints protested outside the auditorium,” said Robert ...

CSULA Young Americans for Freedom - Home | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/CSULAYAFchapter/

CSULA Young Americans for Freedom. 431 likes. Our Club is dedicated in bringing the conservative voice to the student body at CSULA.

Shapiro, YAF File Suit Against CSULA To Protect Free Speech | Daily ...

https://www.dailywire.com/.../shapiro-yaf-file-suit-against-csula-protect-free-hank-ber...

May 19, 2016 - On Thursday, May 19, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro joined Young America's Foundation and a CSULA student to file a lawsuit against California State University Los Angeles(CSULA) for censoring CSULA Young Americans Foundation's (YAF) February 25 lecture featuring Shapiro and violating t.

After Lawsuit From Shapiro And YAF, CSULA Now Will Let ... - Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/.../after-lawsuit-shapiro-and-yaf-csula-now-will-let-hank-b...

Feb 28, 2017 - California State University - Los Angeles has revised its policies and practices that were intended to block Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro's speech last year as a result of a lawsuit filed by Young Americans for Freedom, Shapiro and others.

Ben Shapiro Protest at Cal State LA - YouTube

Video for California State University–Los Angeles Ben Shapiro YAF? 2:44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRVe6UCmq2I

Feb 25, 2016 - Uploaded by Cal State LA University Times

http://csulauniversitytimes.com/5925/news/ben-shapiro-appearance-prompts-student-protest/

Right-wing hosts like Sean Hannity get paid to pitch guns as a way to “survive a mass shooting”

Blog ››› October 6, 2017 11:40 AM EDT ››› ERIC HANANOKI

[vid]

Right-wing radio hosts such as Sean Hannity and Mark Levin have been acting as paid pitch people for a company that promises to help train members on how to use guns to “survive a mass shooting.” Hannity has been especially vocal about the company and used the recent Las Vegas mass shooting to shill for it on his radio program.

The U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) is a pro-gun company that sells membership plans featuring“education, training, and self-defense insurance” for gun owners. It also criticizes attempts to enact gun control laws and publishes Concealed Carry Magazine. The group claims to have over 250,000 members and has attempted to grow its membership over the years through numerous advertising buys with conservative media.

Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Ben Shapiro are all part of the association’s latest advertising campaign for a “100% FREE Complete Concealed Carry & Family Defense Guide,” which includes tips on “how to survive a mass shooting” and “the safest AND most dangerous places to sit in a restaurant” (the sign-up takes people to a page that urges them to pay for a membership).

The USCCA created dedicated landing pages for each individual host participating in the advertising campaign, including the following identical quote which was cut and pasted for each person:

Prior to the Las Vegas shooting, these media personalities did advertisements for the campaign that aired in late September. Here are those ads, along with their dedicated website URL: ?Beck (ProtectAndDefend.com), ?Hannity (DefendFamily.com), ?Levin (DefendThem.com), and ?Shapiro (DefendMyFamilyNow.com) .

Hannity has continued to tout USCCA as a solution to surviving a mass shooting following the Las Vegas tragedy. During his October 5 radio program, Hannity segued from talking about the mass shooting to introducing “our friends at the United States Concealed Carry Association,” saying, “I’m proud to be associated with them. They have offered a family defense guide. You’re going to learn -- and this is 164 pages -- how to survive a mass shooting. How to detect attackers before they see you.”

Previously, Hannity used the shooting at a congressional baseball practice in June to push USCCA membership.

The association, which did not respond to requests for comment, features a Hannity testimonial on its websiteunder the headline: “Why Sean Hannity Joined The USCCA… Hear Why One Of The Most Trusted Conservative Voices In America Is A Proud Card-Carrying Member.”

[audio]

Hannity used his October 4 Fox News program to advocate for concealed carry while discussing the Las Vegas shooting. He praised right-to-carry laws and said that “having more citizens that are armed leads to a decrease in violent crime.” He did not mention he’s being paid by a pro-right-to-carry group during the program.

Despite Hannity’s claim, as The Atlantic noted in June, “academic studies have strongly suggested” that right-to-carry laws “lead to higher rates of violent crime. The latest -- and, at least according to one of its authors, most comprehensive -- was released earlier this month by the non-partisan National Bureau of Economic Research.” The study concluded, “There is not even the slightest hint in the data that [these] laws reduce violent crime.”

Media Matters previously documented that Hannity repeatedly used his Fox New program to push his radio sponsor’s concealed carry agenda without any disclosure about his financial relationship. He similarly used his Fox News program in 2014 to promote the fundraising efforts of the Tea Party Patriots, which sponsored his radio program.

no link vid

Fox's Chris Wallace ignores Ben Shapiro's history of bigotry and misinformation

Blog ››› December 10, 2017 2:20 PM EST ››› GRACE BENNETT

mma

In his weekly “power player of the week” segment, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace presented a glowing profile of former Breitbart writer Ben Shapiro without acknowledging Shapiro’s history of bigotry, extremism, and misinformation.

On the December 10 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.’s Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace lauded Shapiro’s “special brand of combative conservatism,” and noted that his “militant conservative views” sometimes “spur protests.” What Wallace failed to tell his viewers is that Shapiro has a long track record of promoting racism, sexism, and extremism. In addition to Shapiro’s bigotry, he also has a penchant for misinformation,.

Shapiro frequently expresses anti-Muslim and racist views, once tweeting that “Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage.” He is quick to downplay police brutality, arguing that, “if you don’t commit a crime, you’re not going to be arrested for it,” and has claimed that income inequality between races in the United States “has nothing to do with race and everything to do with culture.”

It is not the first time that Wallace has ignored the obvious failings of his weekly “power players,” nor is it the first time that media outlets have failed to hold Shapiro accountable for his hateful and dangerous views. Just last month, The New York Times published a flattering portrait of Shapiro, referring to him as “the cool kid’s philosopher.” From the December 10 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.’s Fox News Sunday:

CHRIS WALLACE (HOST): If you've ever wondered who will eventually succeed Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity as the voice of conservative opinion, it may just be Ben Shapiro. Who's that? Here's our power player of the week.

BEN SHAPIRO: In a free country, it is up to you to succeed or fail on your own merits. So, get off your ass and do it.

WALLACE: Yes, Ben Shapiro talks fast. But then for most of his 33 years, he’s been a man in a hurry.

[BEGIN VIDEO]

SHAPIRO: I’m Ben Shapiro. This is The Ben Shapiro Show.

[END VIDEO]

WALLACE: He’s the host of the most listened to conservative podcast in the country.

[BEGIN VIDEO]

SHAPIRO: I do like that that Trump does have a rotating series of about 10 insults that just keeps going around and around.

[END VIDEO]

WALLACE: He’s the editor of The Daily Wire, which gets 100 million pageviews a month. And he’s a big presence on college campuses, where his militant conservative views spur protests.

[BEGIN VIDEO]

SHAPIRO: You’re not a man if you think you’re a man.

WALLACE: This exchange with a 22-year-old college student over transgender identity has attracted 47 million views on Facebook.

SHAPIRO: Why can’t you identify as 60? What is the problem with you identifying as 60?

[INAUDIBLE]

SHAPIRO: You’re right. Age is significantly less important than gender. You can’t magically change your gender. You can’t magically change your sex. You can’t magically change your age.

[END VIDEO]

WALLACE: At the University of Utah, he listed what he calls the hierarchy of victimhood in America.

[BEGIN VIDEO]

SHAPIRO: So, there’s LGBTQ, and then black folks. Then there’s Hispanic folks. And then women. And then Jews. And then Asians. And then way down at the bottom, white, straight males. Right? Those are the people who are at the very bottom. And then their opinions do not matter at all.

[END VIDEO]

WALLACE: Shapiro has been called the voice of conservative millennials. How are conservative millennials different from conservative baby boomers?

SHAPIRO: By the time a lot of conservatives hit baby boomer age, there's a mentality that’s set in that they're always losing and that every choice, every political choice particularly, is a lesser of two evils choice. If you’re conservative millennial, I think that you tend to be a little bit more idealistic, just as younger people are generally.

WALLACE: While he applauds some of President Trump’s policies, he says the tweets are needlessly divisive and turn off his generation.

SHAPIRO: Young people in the United States dramatically dislike this administration and they dramatically dislike the Republican Party. And it is President Trump’s responsibility, for conservatives anyway, to fix that. And sitting there on Twitter and retweeting Britain First is not going to do that.

WALLACE: Shapiro worked for Breitbart in the campaign, but quit when he said it was turning into a Trump propaganda arm. As for Steve Bannon:

SHAPIRO: I think that Steve is very interested in being perceived as powerful, as being perceived as a mover and shaker. But I don’t think he’s nearly as much of a mover and shaker as he wants to be seen as.

WALLACE: As we said, Shapiro has always moved fast. At age five, he dressed for Halloween as John Adams. By age 17, he wrote a nationally syndicated political column.

SHAPIRO: I skipped a couple of grades. I was a virtuosic violinist. I actually, when I went to college, thought that I was going to double major in genetic science and music. So, I was always pretty driven.

[BEGIN VIDEO]

SHAPIRO: Things that I hate.

[END VIDEO]

WALLACE: And his only plan now is to keep pushing his special brand of combative conservatism.

SHAPIRO: Sometimes the best way to get a message across is to just speak bluntly. And so, I'm not going there to deliberately offend people. I'm saying things that I think are true with precisely the amount of verve I think necessary to convey the message.

mma:

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Ben Shapiro At Berkeley: Say No To Campus Thuggery | Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/.../watch-live-7-pm-pt-hurricane-ben-hits-berkeley-daily-...

Sep 14, 2017 - Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro appeared last night at University of California atBerkeley. The build-up was been national news, as Antifa's history of violent activity against non-leftists required extraordinarily heavy security measures from Berkeley and its police department.

5 Things I Learned At Berkeley Last Night | Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/.../5-things-i-learned-berkeley-last-night-ben-shapiro

@benshapiro. September 15, 2017. So, I visited Berkeley last night. And it was terrific. The students were engaged; the police were finally allowed to do their jobs. Antifa stayed away. Sure, there were protesters — lots of them. That's great! It's a free country, and they're free to say whatever stupid nonsense they want to.

LIVE FROM BERKELEY: All The Updates As Shapiro Hits ... - Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/.../live-berkeley-all-updates-shapiro-hits-campus-daily-wir...

Sep 14, 2017 - With the chaos expected on Thursday as Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro arrives inBerkeley, California to give his much-anticipated speech, here's a live blog of events as they transpire:

The Complete Transcript: Ben Takes Berkeley | Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/.../complete-transcript-ben-takes-berkeley-daily-wire

Sep 15, 2017 - On Thursday night, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro gave his long-awaited speech at the University of California, Berkeley. It was a frontal assault on both political extremes, the hard-Left, as exemplified by Antifa, and the alt-right. The speech titled, "Say No To Campus Thuggery," was also a call for ...

Berkeley Announces EXTREME Security Measures For ... - Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/.../berkeley-announces-extreme-security-measures-james-b...

Sep 8, 2017 - In what is a truly stunning response to the appearance of a single speaker who simply espouses mainstream conservative views, the University of California Berkeley announced on Thursday the security measures it is putting in place for Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro's speech on Se.

Rush Limbaugh: Shapiro's Speech At Berkeley Showed - Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/.../rush-limbaugh-shapiros-speech-berkeley-showed-how-j...

Sep 15, 2017 - On his top-rated radio talk show Friday, "the Big Voice on the Right" Rush Limbaugh weighed in on Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro bringing the conservative message into "the belly of the beast" in Berkeley on Thursday night. Shapiro's experiences there, said Limbaugh, revealed how to handle the ...

SEE IT: Antifa, SJWs Chalk Up Berkeley To Protest Ben ... - Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/.../antifa-activists-chalk-berkeley-protest-ben-james-barrett

Sep 14, 2017 - The hysteria surrounding Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro's "Say No To Campus Thuggery" event at University of California Berkeley this evening is reaching fever pitch.

SHAPIRO AT BERKELEY: A Series of Unfortunate, Illegal ... - Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/.../shapiro-berkeley-series-unfortunate-illegal-events-bradl...

Sep 5, 2017 - And since the announcement of YAF and BCR's plans to host Ben Shapiro, UC Berkeley'swell-documented attempts to stifle free speech have only increased. BCR and YAF's lawsuit against UCBerkeley cites repeatedly the university's efforts to thwart the presentation of conservative viewpoints through ...

UC Berkeley Professor Cancels Class After Students ... - Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/21034/uc-berkeley-now-canceling-classes-daily-wire

Sep 13, 2017 - If you're a college student and a slacker, then attending the University of California,Berkeley is the right college for you when Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro comes to town. At least one class has been canceled as a result of the expected protests on Thursday, when Shapiro is speaking. One UC ...

San Francisco Chronicle CRUSHES Berkeley, Leftists ... - Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/.../san-francisco-chronicle-crushes-berkeley-leftists-james-...

Sep 14, 2017 - In response to the outright hysteria seizing activists, faculty and administrators alike at the University of California Berkeley over the appearance of Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro, The San Francisco Chronicle asks a poignant question: "How left must a speaker be to avoid causing a riot inBerkeley?".

apr 2015 wa Ex (hmmn)

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has resigned as editor-in-chief of TruthRevolt, a non-profit news website site that he co-founded just two years ago.

Shapiro's departure from the young media group, which he launched in 2013 along with David Horowitz of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, comes amid the group's decision to let go of many of its writers — and as Horowitz is hitting back against widespread rumors that the site is sinking.... Although Shapiro's name is prominently displayed on the website's homepage, it is nevertheless a "project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center." Horowitz himself owns the site.

"I am no longer associated with [TruthRevolt] and it's a project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, fully owned and operated by them," Shapiro told the Washington Examiner's media desk when asked about the future of the website. "What David Horowitz chooses to do with the site after my resignation is out of my purview."

Shapiro told the Examiner that he formally resigned last week, but held off announcing it until he and others involved had time to work out his exit.

He said that he's focused right now on an upcoming project for the 2016 presidential election, adding that his exit from TruthRevolt has freed him from the restrictions of the group's non-profit status.

"There's only so much that you can do with a 501(c)(3)," he said.

Since January, at least 10 writers have been cut loose, Shapiro told the Examiner.

Soon-to-be-former TruthRevolt writers, some of whom found out just last week that they would no longer be writing for the site, told the Examinerthat they were shocked when they were told via emails written by former executive editor Jeremy Boreing that they had been let go.

"One day, I was just sitting around and I opened up my email," one outgoing writer said. "I have no idea if they're just getting rid of me because I'm disagreeable or because they actually are funding something. Beats the heck out of me. I haven't got a guess. I have zero idea."

There also appears to be confusion over the website's future.

Boreing seemingly suggested in several notes to his staff that the website would be shuttered on May 1, according to emails obtained by the Examiner.

"Writing with bad news. Effective May 1, TruthRevolt will no longer be a project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. They've decided to pull the plug," read one such email written by Boreing.

The note to staff continued, explaining that "[Ben Shapiro] and I are trying to buy the site, and if we do we may circle back with you and try to sign you back on, but for now, please consider this official notice that May 1 will be the last day."

A separate email written by the former executive editor read, "May 1 is the official end of business."

Boreing told the Examiner Thursday that he is no longer associated with TruthRevolt or the David Horowitz Freedom Center

Horowitz maintained in a conversation with the Examiner that there are no plans to "pull the plug" on the site, that TruthRevolt will continue to produce new content and that all claims to the contrary are simply false.

"We certainly have no plans to close the site down. None. And we haven't pulled any plugs," he said. "Some people have been let go. But we're not letting the site go."

He added, "We're keeping some people on and I expect it to be a really, really good continuation at TruthRevolt."

Asked whether the site would continue to run even after losing its editor-in-chief and many of its writers, Shapiro repeated that he no longer has anything to do with the website and that it's all up to Horowitz.

Launched in 2013, TruthRevolt was intended to act as a conservative counterargument to David Brock's left-wing, pro-Clinton Media Matters for America.

The site's stated goal is to "unmask leftists in the media for who they are, destroy their credibility with the American public, and devastate their funding bases."

MMA 2013

Conservatives have launched TruthRevolt, a website which aims to "unmask leftists in the media for who they are, destroy their credibility with the American public, and devastate their funding bases." The history of two main TruthRevolt figures, Ben Shapiro and David Horowitz, suggests the site won't prioritize accuracy or refrain from smears.

David Horowitz Launches TruthRevolt As The "Anti-Media Matters"

TruthRevolt Wants To "Unmask Leftists In The Media For Who They Are, Destroy Their Credibility With The American Public, And Devastate Their Funding Bases." From the mission statement posted on its website:

The media win elections for the left. It's not the left's competence in office; leftists have demonstrated none. It's not the left's ideas; leftist ideas have failed everywhere they have been tried. The left wins for one simple reason: leftists control the information distribution system in the United States. And they use that system to pillory conservatives heartless bigots intent on harming the poor and targeting minorities.

The media must be destroyed where they stand. That is our mission at Truth Revolt. The goal of TruthRevolt is simple: unmask leftists in the media for who they are, destroy their credibility with the American public, and devastate their funding bases.

TruthRevolt focuses on high-profile media members, and holding them accountable. But TruthRevolt does not stop there. TruthRevolt understands that all politics is local, and therefore looks to fight leftist propaganda at the local level, monitoring local newspapers, television and radio. TruthRevolt also seeks to stop the left dead in its tracks when it comes to training the next generation, our college campuses.

TruthRevolt works to make advertisers and funders aware of the leftist propaganda they sponsor - and bringing social consequences to bear to create pressure on such advertisers and funders. [TruthRevolt.org, accessed

10/7/13]

TruthRevolt Bills Itself As The "Anti-Media Matters." From an article about an interview with TruthRevolt editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro:

Appearing on Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125 with Breitbart News Executive Chairman and host Stephen K. Bannon, Shapiro said those who "bankroll" and enable the mainstream media to lie and "push their agenda" must "be made aware that the American public is not going to stand for this bullshit."

He simply said there has to be a "price to pay for that."

Shapiro said TruthRevolt will be billed as the "anti-Media Matters." He emphasized that Media Matters has tried to destroy the careers of conservatives who are truth-tellers and TruthRevolt will "turn that around and go after the liars of the left-wing" and the mainstream media. [Breitbart.com, 10/7/13]

TruthRevolt Is A Project Of The David Horowitz Freedom Center. From a post on the David Horowitz Freedom Center website:

Today, the David Horowitz Freedom Center is launching TruthRevolt, a much-needed campaign to expose the hypocrisies and mendacities of the leftwing media. A brainchild of Ben Shapiro, TruthRevolt is a groundbreaking initiative to engage in investigative journalism about the leftwing media figures who produce radical ideology masquerading as "news" and feed it to the American public as objective journalism.

TruthRevolt differs from other organizations in its action orientation. It is determined not only to confront the leftwing media, but also to impact their profits. By enlisting thousands of conservatives to aggressively call on these media sponsors of leftwing propaganda to cease their sponsorship of destructive views and radicalized demagogues, TruthRevolt will put pressure on the advertisers who support such programming to pull their sponsorship.

"The far left site Media Matters, run by self-confessed liar David Brock, has achieved enormous success by using the power of astroturfed boycotts and campaigns against conservative media figures, targeting their funders and advertisers," commented Freedom Center Chairman David Horowitz. "TruthRevolt will fight fire with fire, working to make advertisers and funders aware of the malicious propaganda they sponsor and create." [HorowitzFreedomCenter.org, accessed 10/7/13]

Ben Shapiro, TruthRevolt's Editor-in-Chief

Shapiro Credulously Reported That Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Received Money From Non-Existent "Friends Of Hamas." Citing "Senate sources," Shapiro claimed that then-nominee for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel may have received money from a group called "Friends of Hamas." It was later revealed that "Friends of Hamas" does not exist. [Media Matters, 3/3/13; Daily Beast, 10/7/13]

Shapiro: "Of Course Hitler Was A Left-Winger." [Premiere Radio, The Sean Hannity Show, 3/7/13, via Media Matters]

Shapiro: "Arabs Like To Bomb Crap And Live In Open Sewage." Shapiro tweeted about the Israeli and Palestinian conflict: "Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage. This is not a difficult issue. #settlementsrock." [Twitter, 9/27/10, via Media Matters]

Shapiro: Obama Administration Is "Openly Anti-Semitic" And Rahm Emanuel "Is A Kapo." Shapiro claimed in a syndicated column that the Obama administration was "openly anti-Semitic" and called Rahm Emanuel, then-White House chief of staff, a "kapo," a term that refers to Nazi concentration camp prisoners who aided the Nazis. [Media Matters, 4/28/10]

Shapiro: Obama Was "An Ideological Muslim" And Hillary Clinton Was "An Ideological Lesbian." In a post on Breitbart.com, Shapiro claimed that Obama was not an actual Muslim but "an ideological Muslim in the same way Hillary Clinton was an ideological lesbian in her college days." [Breitbart.com, 9/21/11, via Media Matters]

David Horowitz, Freedom Center Chairman

Horowitz Claimed There Was A Muslim Brotherhood "Infiltrat[or]" At CPAC. At the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference, Horowitz attacked conservative activists Suhail Khan and Grover Norquist, claiming that Khan, with Norquist's aid, "infiltrat[ed]" CPAC, the Bush White House and the conservative movement on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood. [David Horowitz's CPAC speech, 2/12/11, via Media Matters]

Horowitz: It's A "Fact" That Clinton Aide Huma Abedin Is Connected To "Nazi Organization" Muslim Brotherhood. The allegation that Abedin is connected to the Muslim Brotherhood has been disproven and also condemned by both Republican and Democratic leaders. [Fox News, America Live, 9/19/12, via Media Matters; Media Matters, 7/31/12]

Horowitz Claims He's Proven "That There Are Only A Couple Of Degrees Of Separation Between Anybody On The Left And The Terrorists." [The Washington Times, 3/24/05, via Media Matters]

Horowitz: "Blacks Are The Human Shields Of The Democratic Party." Horowitz called former President Jimmy Carter an "anti-Semite" and said "blacks are the human shields of the Democratic Party." [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 9/16/09, via Media Matters]

Horowitz: Professors "Are Recruiting For Radical Parties, Terrorist Supporting Parties, No Question." Horowitz claimed that university professors are "recruiting for radical parties, terrorist supporting parties, no question." [Fox News, Hannity, 9/03/10, via Media Matters]

Horowitz's Book The New Leviathan Was Filled With Numerous Errors, Distortions, And Falsehoods. [Media Matters, 6/11/12]

Horowitz's Book The Shadow Party Featured Doctored Quotes And Factual Errors. [Media Matters, 8/2/06]

https://www.truthrevolt.org/author/ben-shapiro

horo attacks ben on yoputube, not trustworthy

more bleeding libtard on wapo:

The Volokh Conspiracy Opinion

Ben Shapiro discovers right-wing anti-Semitism

By David Bernstein May 19, 2016

Ben Shapiro:

I’ve spent most of my career arguing that anti-Semitism in the United States is almost entirely a product of the political Left. I’ve traveled across the country from Iowa to Texas; I’ve rarely seen an iota of true anti-Semitism. I’ve sensed far more anti-Jewish animus from leftist college students at the University of California, Los Angeles, than from churches in Valencia. As an observer of President Obama’s thoroughgoing anti-Israel administration, I could easily link the anti-Semitism of the Left to its disdain for both Biblical morality and Israeli success over its primary Islamist adversaries. The anti-Semitism I’d heard about from my grandparents — the country-club anti-Semitism, the alleged white-supremacist leanings of rednecks from the backwoods — was a figment of the imagination, I figured. I figured wrong. Donald Trump’s nomination has drawn anti-Semites from the woodwork.

Unlike Shapiro, I’ve never doubted the persistence of right-wing anti-Semitism. Way back when (but not that long ago), I volunteered for the Jack Kemp presidential campaign. As a lowly intern, I got to open a good bit of mail from donors and potential donors, many identified from rented mailing lists belonging to right-wing direct-mail gurus. The volume of overtly anti-Semitic mail was quite remarkable, especially since Kemp was not Jewish, nor did any “Jewish” issue play a significant role in his campaign.

Nevertheless, when I’ve blogged about anti-Semitism at the VC, I have focused on left-wing anti-Semitism, for two reasons. First, American Jews and their “defense” organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League tend to be exquisitely attuned to real or potential anti-Semitism emanating from the right, much less so from the left. For example, in January, before the Iowa caucuses, Ted Cruz attacked Trump for having “New York values”; Hillary Clinton suddenly opened up about her Christian religious beliefs while fending off a challenge from a Jewish candidate; and Bernie Sanders was busily attacking “a handful of people on Wall Street [who] have extraordinary power over the economic and political life of our country.” Only Cruz’s comment received attention as an alleged anti-Semitic dog whistle, even though Clinton’s and Sanders’s statements were objectively at least as open to that charge. (For the record, I don’t think any of these incidents involved anti-Semitism, though they all might have pleased anti-Semites.) Meanwhile, surveys show that Jews significantly overestimate the level of anti-Semitism among Republican-leaning constituencies such as conservative evangelicals and underestimate it among Democratic-leaning constituencies, such as Hispanics.

Second, as a public political matter, at least until the Trump campaign, anti-Semitism was largely and increasingly marginalized on the mainstream conservative right. This was in significant part due to the efforts of the late William F. Buckley, who throughout his career made an effort to rid conservatism of its anti-Semitic fringe, including such former allies as Patrick Buchanan and Joseph Sobran, and more recently due to the efforts of evangelical Christian leaders, including a theological emphasis on God’s statement in Genesis, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse,” as requiring being nice to the Jews. Not only has anti-Semitism on the right diminished significantly, but Jews, especially orthodox Jews, have of late become a significant presence in “mainstream” conservative organizations. I attended the Conservative Political Action Committee conference briefly this year and was surprised to see advertised prominently on the agenda the Fifth Annual CPAC Shabbat dinner, and there were quite a few kippot among the attendees.

Meanwhile, the left has gone in the other direction, increasingly tolerating anti-Semitism so long as its dressed up as criticism of Israel or “Zionists.” As good an example as any involves an essay written by Steven Salaita for the Nation in November. Rabbi Jill Jacobs, a prominent left-wing rabbi and strong critic of Israeli policy, took exception in a letter to the editor, arguing that “Salaita resurrects some of the most vicious anti-Semitic tropes, protecting himself by assigning these slurs to Zionism and Zionists, clear stand-ins for Judaism and Jews.” She then elaborated, quoting statements “which do not even pretend to be about criticism of Israeli policy, [but] summon the well-known bogeyman of a Jewish conspiracy that controls banks, governments, and other seats of authority.” The editors’ response failed to address her specific charges, amounting instead to, “it can’t be be anti-Semitism if you purport to be attacking Zionism.” And speaking of Shabbat dinners, recently a large group of activists at the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change conference shut down a Shabbat dinner and discussion hosted by left-wing American Jewish and Israeli groups, via a demonstration that was described by eyewitnesses as as both anti-Semitic and physically threatening.

Unfortunately — and somewhat surprisingly, given that Trump has many Jewish friends, a Jewish daughter (via conversion), and claims to be a proud supporter of Israel — Trump’s campaign has brought the anti-Semitic “alt-right” out of the woodwork, lately attacking “Never Trump” as a Jewish conspiracy. David Horowitz recently fanned the flames, arguing that Bill Kristol’s opposition to Trump made him a “renegade Jew.” Horowitz’s point was stupid but not anti-Semitic — he apparently believes the Jewish apocalypse is at hand if Hillary Clinton isn’t defeated — but his Breitbart.com commenters seem to have missed the subtlety. Trump himself seems indifferent to this, as he has been to many other manifestations of bigotry emanating from his supporters.

May 19, 2016 - Ben Shapiro: I've spent most of my career arguing that anti-Semitism in the United States is almost entirely a product of the political Left. I've traveled across the country from Iowa to Texas ... David Horowitz recently fanned the flames, arguing that Bill Kristol's opposition to Trump made him a “renegade Jew.

Breitbart, 'Renegade Jews,' And The Anti-Semitic Wing Of The Trump ...

https://www.dailywire.com/.../breitbart-renegade-jews-and-anti-semitic-wing-ben-shap...

ByBen Shapiro · @benshapiro. May 16, 2016. On Sunday, Breitbart News posted an article by conservative thinker David Horowitz. The headline: “Bill Kristol: Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew Prepares Third Party Effort To Block Trump's Path To White House.” This is surprising coming fromHorowitz. It's unsurprising ...

See How University Students React When Asked To Donate To ...

https://www.dailywire.com/.../see-how-university-students-react-when-asked-robert-kr...

May 23, 2016 - Asking students at Portland State University to donate money to fund Hamas, AmiHorowitz was able to secure several pledges for future donations.

WATCH: Liberals LOVE The Republican Tax Plan — If They Believe ...

https://www.dailywire.com/.../watch-liberals-love-republican-tax-plan-if-they-james-b...

Dec 22, 2017 - Conservative commentator Ami Horowitz recently took to the streets of the "liberal Mecca" East Village to see how die-hard progressives felt about the Republican tax reform bill that Democrats have literally declared "

Ben Shapiro - RationalWiki

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro

He hosts his own podcast, the Ben Shapiro Show, which can be viewed on the YouTube channel of his website the Daily Wire. ... While not the most polite rejoinder, it's an understandable reflex action when sitting within 10 feet of Ben Shapiro. .... David Horowitz: Befriended Shapiro in his quest to reveal leftist plots.

TruthRevolt - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TruthRevolt

TruthRevolt is a conservative U.S. news and activism website. Founded in 2013 by Ben Shapiro and David Horowitz as a counterpoint to the politically progressive Media Matters for America, it is a project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. The site's stated mission is "to expose the leftist news media and to hold them ...

Editor?: ?Mark Tapson

SHAPIRO: The Newfound 'Islamophobia' of the Left | Truth Revolt

Search domain www.truthrevolt.org/commentary/shapiro-newfound-islamophobia-lefthttps://www.truthrevolt.org/commentary/shapiro-newfound-islamophobia-left

Ben Shapiro It seems that after years of calling the right "Islamophobic" for opposing sharia law and terrorism by radical Muslims, the left is finally on board. In the aftermath of the news that the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram has kidnapped over 270 schoolgirls and is threatening to sell them into sexual slavery, the left is calling for blood in the best way they know how: with hashtags.

Ben Shapiro: The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority ...

Search domain www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7TAAw3oQvghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7TAAw3oQvg

In the debut of Reality Check, Ben Shapiro takes on Ben Affleck and the myth that only a tiny minority of Muslims worldwide are radical. http://TruthRevolt.org.

Ben Shapiro says a majority of Muslims are radicals | PunditFact

Search domain www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/nov/05/ben-shapiro/shapiro-says-majority-muslims-are-radicals/https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/nov/05/ben-shapiro/shapiro-says-majority-muslims-are-radicals/

Ben Shapiro says a majority of Muslims are radicals. "It's got almost 205 million Muslims," Shapiro said. "According to one 2009 poll, it showed almost 50 percent of Indonesians support strict Sharia law, not just in Indonesia but in a lot of countries. And 70 percent blame the United States, Israel or somebody else for 9/11.

WATCH: Ben Shapiro Exposes the TRUTH About Islam In Just 1 ...

Search domain www.angrypatriotmovement.com/ben-shapiro-exposes-the-truth/www.angrypatriotmovement.com/ben-shapiro-exposes-the-truth/

However, Shapiro remains steadfastly right about one thing — the problem is not "Islamic extremism," but Islam itself. In a video entitled "The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority," Shapiro expertly breaks down the numbers.

SHAPIRO: Politifact Thinks There's No Such ... - Truth Revolt

Search domain www.truthrevolt.org/commentary/shapiro-politifact-thinks-theres-no-such-thing-radical-muslimhttps://www.truthrevolt.org/commentary/shapiro-politifact-thinks-theres-no-such-thing-radical-muslim

Ben Shapiro Politifact has long been an outlet for the left. Masquerading as a news-only, "just the facts, ma'am" truthtelling outlet, Politifact has burnished its reputation for veracity by labeling President Obama's "if you like your plan, you can keep your plan" lie half-true - only to reverse course and label the very same statement its lie of the year just a year later.

Ben Shapiro: The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority ...

Search domain thejewishlink.com/ben-shapiro-myth-tiny-radical-muslim-minority/thejewishlink.com/ben-shapiro-myth-tiny-radical-muslim-minority/

Ben Shapiro: The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority. "Almost 50 percent of Indonesians actually support strict sharia law, not just in Indonesia but in a lot of countries," he said of the predominantly Muslim nation, "and 70 percent blame the United States, Israel, or somebody else for 9/11." Using those statistics,...

5 Facts Proving Christian 'Extremists' Aren't As ... - Daily Wire

Search domain www.dailywire.com/news/13808/5-facts-proving-christian-extremists-arent-michael-qazvinihttps://www.dailywire.com/news/13808/5-facts-proving-christian-extremists-arent-michael-qazvini

5 Facts Proving Christian 'Extremists' Aren't As Dangerous As Islamic Extremists. When the data is actually broken out by, for example, Neo-Nazis, white nationalists, land claimants, militia members, etc. the data shows that Islamist extremists are vastly more likely to engage in violence.

WATCH: Ben Shapiro Exposes the TRUTH About Islam ... - Tea Party

Search domain www.teaparty.org/watch-ben-shapiro-exposes-truth-islam-just-1-short-video-241995/https://www.teaparty.org/watch-ben-shapiro-exposes-truth-islam-just-1-short-video-241995/

The primary reason was Shapiro's disingenuous attacks on Donald Trump, all the while he was taking money from major Ted Cruz donors. However, Shapiro remains steadfastly right about one thing — the problem is not "Islamic extremism," but Islam itself.

Ben Shapiro: The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority ...

Search domain www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/243220/ben-shapiro-myth-tiny-radical-muslim-minority-truthrevoltorghttps://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/243220/ben-shapiro-myth-tiny-radical-muslim-minority-truthrevoltorg

A Truth Revolt video. In the debut of Reality Check, Ben Shapiro takes on Ben Affleck and the myth that only a tiny minority of Muslims worldwide are radical.

Ben Shapiro Debates Muslim Student: "That's a WILD accusation ...

Search domain www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjSqlZe1P9ghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjSqlZe1P9g

Household sharing included. Live TV from 60+ channels. No cable box required. Cancel anytime.

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