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Right-wing media smear trans people and BLM supporters following Philadelphia shooting
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-06-0701/media-bias-right-wing-media-smear-trans-people-and-blm-supporters-following
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Media Bias
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lefts
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https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/right-wing-media-smear-trans-people-and-blm-supporters-following
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Right-wing media smear trans people and BLM supporters following Philadelphia shooting
Conservative pundits attempted to link the shooting to trans people and anti-racist activists, while ignoring the suspect's support for Donald Trump
Special PROGRAMS
LGBTQ
WRITTEN BY JOHN KNEFEL
RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM JACK WHEATLEY, MONICA RODRIGUEZ & EMMA MAE WEBER
PUBLISHED 07/05/23 3:47 PM EDT
Right-wing media outlets and pundits are responding to a shooting in Philadelphia on Monday by claiming, with little evidence, that the alleged shooter was transgender. The insinuation, sometimes stated outright, is the bigoted myth that trans people are threats to public life, now a common trope in right-wing media.
Conservatives are also attempting to link the shooting to the Black Lives Matter movement, based on social media posts tied to the suspect, while ignoring other posts that praised former President Donald Trump or adopted a right-wing interpretation of the Second Amendment.
“In May, he shared a post entitled: ‘Who supports Trump in 2024,’ which featured an American flag emblazoned with the words ‘God, Guns & Trump,’” Vice reported. The suspect also apparently posted a link to a pro-Trump T-shirt and another to a sweatshirt that reads: “I lubricate my AR-15 with liberal tears."
Vice additionally reported:
“This y’all president,” the suspect wrote under a video of Biden. “We said 2A defends our rights. Now its god save the queen while he attempts to take our arms,” referencing a recent gun safety speech the president gave which he ended by saying, “God save the queen.” In another post with a link to a video about Biden pushing gun control measures, he wrote: “I told you he wanted your rights. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN SAYS BIDEN.”
Police have yet to release the suspect’s name, but local news outlets identified the alleged shooter as Kimbrady Carriker, a 40-year-old local resident. Five people were killed in the attack and another two were injured.
Carriker allegedly posted two photos to social media in which he appeared to wear a bra, wore feminine jewelry, and sported long, braided hair. Right-wing media have used these photos to claim or insinuate, without any additional evidence, that Carriker is trans, while downplaying or ignoring the far-right aspects of his apparent social media presence.
This right-wing response follows a similar pattern of conservative outlets reacting to a mass shooting by either falsely claiming the suspect is trans or using the person’s trans identity as an opportunity to smear LGBTQ communities writ large. Fact-checkers and researchers have consistently found that right-wing claims of a “clear epidemic” of trans people committing violence are completely false, and that trans people are four times more likely than cisgender people to be the victims of violent crimes.
Right-wing media outlets suggested the alleged shooter was trans based on minimal evidence. Many also highlighted the suspect’s apparent support for Black Lives Matter but excluded or downplayed pro-Trump, pro-gun posts.
Right-wing tabloid the New York Post headlined its piece “Gunman arrested for Philadelphia mass shooting that left 5 dead is BLM activist who wore women’s clothes: sources.” The article didn’t mention the alleged perpetrator’s pro-Trump posts. [New York Post, 7/4/23]
The Daily Wire, a hotbed of anti-trans propaganda, relied on the Post’s reporting while making the headline even more provocative: “Philly Alleged Mass Shooter Identified As Cross-Dressing BLM Supporter: Report.” Like the Post, the Daily Wire also excluded any mention of Trump. [The Daily Wire, 7/5/23]
The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro argued that this shooting would likely be “disappeared by the media” because “the perpetrator is not a white dude who backed Donald Trump.” Shapiro added, “The shooter was a 40-year-old man who is trans, apparently. This person posted two pictures of himself wearing a bra, a women’s top, and earrings with his hair braided long in March.” Shapiro also mentioned the suspect’s support of BLM, adding of the shooting: “We're not allowed to talk about this anymore.” [The Ben Shapiro Show, 7/5/23]
Conservative tabloid the Daily Mail trumpeted an “exclusive” in its headline, writing: “Cross-dressing gunman behind July 4 Philly bloodbath that left five dead is BLM supporter who made chilling Facebook posts about 'black massacres' and 'evil spirits.'” The piece didn’t mention the alleged shooter’s posts in support of Trump until the 22nd paragraph. [The Daily Mail, 7/4/23]
La Verdad host Carines Moncada made similar comments, saying the Philadelphia shooter “has been unmasked as a Black Lives Matter supporter who was transgender” and “made chilling Facebook posts about evil spirits.” Moncada claimed that in March 2022, it was revealed through Facebook that the shooter “dressed as a woman with a bra, hoop earrings, [and] gold bracelets.” Moncada then criticized the Biden administration for supposedly ignoring the country's mental crisis and focusing solely on “attacking guns, as if guns go off on their own.” [Americano Media, La Verdad, 07/05/23]
Right-wing website Just The News wrote that the suspect “posted cross-dressing pics on Facebook” in its headline. The subheadline highlighted that Carriker is allegedly “fond” of the movie The Matrix, adding that the “co-director called it a transgender allegory.” The article didn’t mention the suspect’s praise of Trump. [Just The News, 7/4/23]
Junk conspiracy theory website The Gateway Pundit’s story was headlined: “Gunman Behind Philly Massacre is BLM Supporter…. and Transgender?” Like other conservative outlets, the Gateway Pundit didn’t include any mention of Trump or the Second Amendment in its article. [The Gateway Pundit, 7/4/23]
Conservative website The Post Millennial characterized Carriker in its headline as a “BLM Supporter.” Many conservatives on social media went on to share The Post Millennial’s coverage, which also failed to mention any of the alleged perpetrator’s pro-Trump commentary. [The Post Millennial, 7/4/23]
Conservative blog Hot Air’s headline read: “Philadelphia shooter was another transgender person.” [Hot Air, 7/5/23]
Right-wing commentators on social media quickly claimed or implied the alleged shooter was trans and a supporter of Black Lives Matter, also ignoring the suspect’s far-right posts
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a mainstay on conservative media, tweeted: “Another trans shooter.” [Twitter, 7/4/23]
Libs of Tik Tok creator Chaya Raichik tweeted: “The mass shooter in Philadelphia is trans,” quote-tweeting a post from an account called Philly Crime Update. [Twitter, 7/5/23]
Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec wrote: “BREAKING: BLM supporter Kimbrady Watson Carriker named as suspect in Philadelphia mass shooting that killed 5.” Posobiec shared The Post Millennial’s story about the incident. [Twitter, 7/4/23]
Pro-Trump troll account Catturd quote tweeted Posobiec, adding: “Imagine that.” [Twitter, 7/4/23]
Like Posobiec, conservative pundit James Lindsey shared The Post Millennial’s story, adding: “What a surprise!” [Twitter, 7/4/23]
Conservative commentator DC_Draino wrote: “Media won’t talk about this so we will. Transgender shooter was arrested on Monday after shooting & killing five people & injuring two children in Philadelphia. Time to start having a national dialogue on Trans mass shooters that target children. Enough!! [Twitter, 7/4/23]
Right-wing provocateur Andy Ngo tweeted: “The suspect in a deadly mass shooting in Philadelphia on Monday that killed 5 & injured 4, including children, is revealed to be a trans #BLM activist. Kimbrady Carriker was arrested without incident, contradicting claim that black suspects are killed.” Ngo also linked to coverage from The Post Millennial. [Twitter, 7/4/23]
Timcast employee Josie Tait, who tweets under the handle The Redheaded Libertarian, commented on The Daily Mail’s story: “If only there were signs.” [Twitter, 7/4/23]
Right-wing influencer Ian Miles Cheong tweeted a photo of the alleged shooter, adding: “This is a beautiful woman/suspected mass shooter and if you disagree you’re a transphobic bigot.” [Twitter, 7/4/23]
Right-wing Twitter influencer Travis_in_Flint referred to the alleged shooter as “a transgender BLM activist.” [Twitter, 7/4/23]
Conservative YouTube channel Legally Armed America titled its stream “BLM ‘trans’ nutbag is shooter in Philadelphia - who shot a 2 year old.” [YouTube, 7/4/23]
Right-wing media host Wayne Allen Root also shared The Post Millennial story, tweeting: “History may refer to this period in American history as ‘The Great TRANS War.’” [Twitter, 7/5/23]
Anti-trans activist Malcolm Clark posted a thread connecting several stories about trans or gender-nonconforming people, alleging they received disproportionately positive treatment from institutions. “1./ What connects these four trans news stories from the last 48 hours? When Kimbrady, a transgender shooter in Philadelphia, killed 5 people the mainstream media decided to call him a man though if *he'd* been shot he'd likely have been called ‘yet another’ trans victim.” [Twitter, 7/5/23]
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Missing White Woman Syndrome: The Media Bias Towards Missing People of Color
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-23-0632/media-bias-missing-white-woman-syndrome-media-bias-towards-missing-people-color
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Media Bias
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lefts
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https://www.npr.org/2023/06/06/1180499403/missing-white-woman-syndrome-the-media-bias-towards-missing-people-of-color
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CONSIDER THIS FROM NPR
LISTEN & FOLLOW
Missing White Woman Syndrome: The Media Bias Towards Missing People of Color
June 8, 20235:05 PM ET
16-Minute Listen
PLAYLIST
Enlarge this image
In 2022, about 34,000 people reported as actively missing were people of color.
Getty Images
Every year about 600,000 thousand people are reported missing in the United States per the National Missing and Unidentified Persons database.
In 2022, about 34,000 people reported as actively missing were people of color. But people of color who disappear seldom get the same amount of media attention devoted to white people who go missing - especially white women and children.
The late journalist Gwen Ifill coined the phrase "Missing White Woman Syndrome" to describe the media's fascination with, and detailed coverage of, the cases of missing or endangered white women - compared to the seeming disinterest in covering the disappearances of people of color.
NPR's Juana Summers speaks with David Robinson II. His son, Daniel Robinson, has been missing for nearly two years. And Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, who has been helping him find answers.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
Email us at [email protected].
This episode was produced by Brianna Scott with help from Jonathan Franklin. It was edited by Jeanette Woods. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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Fox hasn’t mentioned Georgia investigation debunking its election lies
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-06-23-0538/media-bias-fox-hasn-t-mentioned-georgia-investigation-debunking-its-election
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Media Bias
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lefts
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https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-hasnt-mentioned-georgia-investigation-debunking-its-election-lies
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Fox hasn’t mentioned Georgia investigation debunking its election lies
WRITTEN BY MATT GERTZ
PUBLISHED 06/22/23 12:22 PM EDT
Fox News has yet to mention an investigative report from Georgia’s secretary of state thoroughly debunking the conspiracy theory that the network pushed in the wake of the 2020 election about Georgia election workers counting fraudulent ballots to swing the result in that state.
In early December 2020, former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign had lost at the ballot box and pivoted to a multifaceted election subversion plan relying on fabricated claims of election fraud. On December 3, 2020, the campaign circulated a video compiling security footage from the State Farm Arena absentee ballot counting site in Fulton County, Georgia, which Trump’s allies alleged showed election workers removing observers from the room, bringing out fraudulent ballots concealed in suitcases, and then counting them in order to change the result in the swing state.
Election officials debunked this conspiracy theory within hours, saying that the video showed election workers following standard procedures; the ballots in question were legitimate and had been stored in proper containers; and the only ballots counted after observers left were ones that had been opened in their presence. But the false narrative spread throughout the right-wing fever swamps, generating a campaign of intimidation and threats of violence against Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, the election workers shown in the video.
Fox’s stars and executives were at that time desperately trying to repair the network’s standing with Trump’s base and stave off far-right competitors which had proven more willing to push Trump’s claims of a rigged election. One way Fox News tried to woo back viewers was knowingly promoting false conspiracy theories about the role Dominion Voting Systems machines had purportedly played in stealing the election, eventually leading to the record defamation settlement Fox agreed to pay that company earlier this year.
The same twisted urge to rebuild its faltering audience at all costs likely motivated Fox’s promotion of the Georgia election lie. The network’s propagandists rushed to air the Trump campaign’s video and adopted its false interpretation of what the footage showed. In prime time that night, Tucker Carlson declared the conduct he claimed was shown in the video “unbelievable,” Sean Hannity claimed it “shouldn’t happen as a matter of law,” and Laura Ingraham suggested it was “like a banana republic.”
Citation
Andrea Austria / Media Matters
Fox News propagandists rushed to air the Trump campaign’s video of Georgia election workers and adopted its false interpretation of what the footage showed.
Fox correspondent Griff Jenkins reported the next morning that “Georgia’s secretary of state’s office says they already investigated the claims and found nothing, adding that they had their own observers there the entire time.” But that did not keep the network from continuing to claim that what the video showed, in Carlson’s words, “looks like fraud.” Hannity was particularly wedded to the narrative, suggesting that the election officials were lying and arguing, “Nothing has been debunked by anybody.”
In fact, the claims that the likes of Hannity were making had already been debunked at the time. But 2020 election conspiracy theories are hard to kill, and so on Tuesday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, released the results of the State Election Board’s extensive investigation into the allegations about the State Farm Arena site, which found them to be “false and unsubstantiated.” According to the press release from Raffensperger’s office:
The investigation, which included Secretary of State Investigators, and Special Agents with both GBI and FBI revealed “there was no evidence of any type of fraud as alleged.” Through the course of the investigation, “three law enforcement agencies reviewed the entire unedited video footage of the events in question surrounding [the two election workers] at State Farm Arena,” and additionally, reviewed social media posts allegedly made by a Fulton County election worker stating they engaged in election fraud, which was found to created by a third party who “admitted he created a fake account and confirmed the content that was posted on the account was fake.” Ultimately, “all allegations made against [the two election workers] were unsubstantiated and found to have no merit.”
Numerous national news outlets reported on the investigation, including on-air coverage from CNN and MSNBC. But Fox, which had brought the Georgia conspiracy theory an audience of millions, has not mentioned the report on its airwaves, according to a Media Matters review. A search of its website also returns no coverage.
This is not the first time Fox has passed on opportunities to provide its viewers with the truth about the State Farm Arena allegations. The network all but ignored Moss, one of the Georgia election workers, when she testified publicly last year before the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection about how the 2020 misinformation campaign had “turned my life upside down.”
The factors that led Fox to the wildly irresponsible coverage that yielded Moss’ harassment and the Dominion lawsuit are once again in play. The network still employs a cadre of on-air talent who match incendiary rhetoric with knowing dishonesty, the executives who cracked down on employees that tried to tell viewers the truth remain in place, and its ratings are sagging amid a new wave of pressure from right-wing competitors seeking a piece of Fox’s market share. That means we should expect more lies and conspiracy theories as the network tries to claw its way back to preeminence on the right.
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Americans are divided on whether society overlooks racial discrimination or sees it where it doesn’t exist
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-25-0749/race-and-racism-americans-are-divided-whether-society-overlooks-racial
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Media Bias
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centers
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https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/25/americans-are-divided-on-whether-society-overlooks-racial-discrimination-or-sees-it-where-it-doesnt-exist/
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AUGUST 25, 2023
Americans are divided on whether society overlooks racial discrimination or sees it where it doesn’t exist
BY KILEY HURST
Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Black Americans’ civil rights, we asked U.S. adults what they think is the bigger problem when it comes to racial discrimination in the country today.
How we did this
53% say people not seeing racial discrimination where it really does exist is the bigger problem.
45% point to people seeing racial discrimination where it really doesn’t exist as the larger issue.
Views on this have changed in recent years, according to Pew Research Center surveys. In 2019, 57% said people overlooking racial discrimination was the bigger problem, while 42% pointed to people seeing it where it really didn’t exist. That gap has narrowed from 15 to 8 percentage points.
Americans’ current views on this question differ greatly by:
Race and ethnicity: 88% of Black adults say people overlooking discrimination is the bigger problem. Smaller majorities of Asian (66%) and Hispanic (58%) adults say the same, as do 45% of White adults.
Partisanship: 80% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say people not seeing racial discrimination where it does exist is the larger issue. About three-quarters (74%) of Republicans and Republican leaners give the opposite answer.
How views on racial discrimination differ within political parties
Majorities of Republicans across age groups say people seeing racial discrimination where it doesn’t exist is the larger issue. But Republicans ages 50 and older are more likely than those under 50 to say this (78% vs. 68%).
Among Democrats, age differences aren’t as large, but there are differences by race and ethnicity. Hispanic Democrats are the most likely to say people seeing discrimination where it doesn’t exist is the bigger problem. Some 29% say this, compared with 20% of Asian Democrats, 19% of White Democrats and 8% of Black Democrats.
Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and the survey methodology.
Topics Discrimination & PrejudiceRacial Bias & DiscriminationBlack AmericansPartisanship & Issues
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Kiley Hurst is a research analyst focusing on social and demographic research at Pew Research Center.
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Sage Steele: ‘Something in me changed’ after vaccine mandate
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-18-0858/polarization-sage-steele-something-me-changed-after-vaccine-mandate
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Media Bias
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centers
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https://www.newsnationnow.com/morninginamerica/sage-steele-espn/
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| 704
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Inside Latin America’s Fake News Problem
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-06-1523/world-inside-latin-america-s-fake-news-problem
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Media Bias
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centers
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https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/08/04/fake-news-disinformation-social-media-internet-journalism-brazil-election/
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LATIN AMERICA BRIEF
A one-stop weekly digest of politics, economics, technology, and culture in Latin America. Delivered Friday.
Inside Latin America’s Fake News Problem
Online trolls from both sides of the political spectrum are outfoxing social media platforms.
By Catherine Osborn, the writer of Foreign Policy’s weekly Latin America Brief.
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What Meta’s New Studies Do—and Don’t—Reveal About Social Media and Polarization
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-06-1520/technology-what-meta-s-new-studies-do-and-don-t-reveal-about-social-media-and
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Media Bias
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centers
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https://www.wired.com/story/meta-social-media-polarization/
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JONATHAN STRAY IDEASAUG 3, 2023 9:07 AM
What Meta’s New Studies Do—and Don’t—Reveal About Social Media and Polarization
The papers are neither proof that Facebook divides us nor a vindication of social media. They’re a starting point.
PHOTOGRAPH: GETTY IMAGES
SAVE
LAST WEEK, THE first papers from a collaboration between Meta's Facebook and a team of external researchers studying the 2020 election were finally published. Two of these studies asked: Are we trapped in filter bubbles, and are they tearing us apart? The results suggest that filter bubbles are at least somewhat real, but countering them algorithmically doesn’t seem to bring us any closer together.
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Some are interpreting these results as proof that Facebook divides us. Others are claiming these experiments are a vindication of social media. It’s neither.
The first study tried to figure out whether we’re really in informational echo chambers, and if so, why. Unsurprisingly, the segregation in our information diets starts with who we follow. This mirrors offline life, where most people’s in-person social networks are highly segregated.
But what we actually see in our Feed is more politically homogeneous than what is posted by those we follow, suggesting that the Feed algorithm really does amplify the ideological leanings of our social networks.
There are even larger partisan differences in what we engage with, and Facebook, like pretty much every platform, tries to give people more of what they click, like, comment on, or share. In this case, it looks like the algorithm is sort of meeting human behavior halfway. The difference in our information diets is partly due to what we’ve chosen, and partly the result of using computers to guess—often correctly—what buttons we’ll click.
This raises the question of how ideologically similar people’s news should be. You can read the computed values of the “isolation index” in the paper, but it’s not clear what numbers we should be aiming for. Also, this study is strictly concerned with “news and civic content.” This might be democratically important, but it makes up only a few percent of impressions on Facebook. It’s possible that positive interactions with people who are politically different change us the most, even if it’s just reading their posts on unrelated topics.
The second study directly tested whether increasing the political diversity of people and publishers in your feed has an effect on polarization. For about 20,000 consenting participants, researchers reduced the amount of content from like-minded sources by about a third. This increased consumption from both neutral and cross-cutting sources, because the amount of time spent on Facebook didn’t change.
Of the eight polarization variables measured—including affective polarization, extreme ideological views, and respect for election norms—none changed in a statistically significant way. This is pretty good evidence against the most straightforward version of the “algorithmic filter bubbles cause polarization” thesis.
But this is not the end of the story, because filter bubbles aren’t the only way of thinking about the relationship between media, algorithms, and democracy. A review of hundreds of studies has found a positive correlation between general “digital media” use and polarization, worldwide, as well as a positive correlation with political knowledge and participation. Social media use has many effects, both good and bad, and filter bubbles aren’t the only way of thinking about the relationship between media, algorithms, and democracy. For example, there’s evidence that engagement-based algorithms amplify divisive content, and tools to reach targeted audiences can also be used for propaganda or harassment.
We need to ask not just how to prevent harm, but what part platforms should play in helping to make societal conflicts healthier. It’s a deep question, and scholars have explored how different theories of democracy might call for different types of recommender algorithms. We don’t want to eliminate all political conflict or enforce conformity, but there’s no denying that the way Americans are fighting each other now, sometimes called pernicious polarization, is destructive, escalatory, and unhealthy.
Meta’s results notwithstanding, we know that content can have effects on polarization—because of the Strengthening Democracy Challenge, a series of experiments that tried to change how people approach political conflict. It’s also possible to algorithmically identify political content that garners agreement across societal divides, a strategy known as bridging-based ranking, and prioritizing such content is thought to reduce polarization. Such a ranking system is already in use to select Twitter’s community notes. There have even been experiments showing that a carefully designed AI chatbot can help mediate divisive conversations.
There is, in short, a lot to try.
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Many people will be looking to the current batch of experiments to either crucify or exonerate Facebook. That’s not what they do; this is bigger than Facebook, and these studies are early results in a new field. Meta should be commended for undertaking open research on these significant topics. Yet this is the culmination of work announced three years ago. In the face of layoffs and criticism, the appetite for open science on hard questions may be waning across the industry. I’m aware of at least one large research project Meta recently canceled, and the company said it “does not have plans to allow” another wave of election research in 2024. Many in the research community support a bill called PATA, which would give the National Science Foundation authority to vet and prioritize research projects which platforms would be obligated to support.
Simultaneously, the AI era is dawning, and our information ecosystem is about to get a lot weirder. We’re going to need a lot more open science on the frontiers of media, machines, and conflict.
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Why I decided to rate the news
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-03-0812/media-bias-why-i-decided-rate-news
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Media Bias
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centers
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https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2023/why-i-decided-to-rate-the-news/
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Commentary Ethics & Trust Reporting & Editing
Opinion | Why I decided to rate the news
To cut through the vitriol and have productive debate, we need to understand the political leanings of our information sources
The January 2023 Media Bias Chart created by Ad Fontes Media. (Courtesy of Ad Fontes Media)
By: Vanessa Otero
August 1, 2023
In 2016, during a contentious presidential campaign, I watched with dismay as my Facebook feed, once a lifeline for communication and information sharing, devolved into a partisan battleground as “friends” ideologically bashed each other with one-sided articles designed to turn emotion into clicks.
I’m in a same-sex marriage and the once reasoned, heartfelt Facebook exchanges I’d been having with a conservative friend turned dark. Initially, I explained how marriage-denying laws impacted me personally. He was engaged to a woman, so my personal story about not being able to get legally married actually impacted him. But in 2016, he started posting increasingly vitriolic articles, videos and memes, and he eventually unfriended many of our mutual friends. The possibility for conversation was gone.
At the same time, I started to take notice of my own one-sided media diet: I spent an hour reading the same three partisan websites each day that reinforced my worldview — all of which I had discovered via Facebook. My information diet had been curated by algorithm and reinforced by habit. However, I still engaged with enough people across the aisle to notice something: Sometimes I’d share a point I thought was common knowledge and end up shocked that the person I shared it with had never heard it before. Then it dawned on me that my political opposite was doing exactly the same thing and living in a completely different reality than me.
I wanted to talk to my friends and family more effectively about their news sources because it felt so futile to argue in social media comment threads when people didn’t even share a common understanding of what was true. So, I set out to rate the news. It probably helped that, as a patent attorney, I had no idea what a huge undertaking this would turn out to be. But I started by reading news sites I didn’t normally visit and diving into as many news shows as I could and rating them on political bias along with the balance of facts versus opinion.
The result was my first Media Bias Chart, and it quickly took on a life of its own. Within hours of posting it on Facebook, the chart had 20,000 shares and started bouncing around Twitter. People started sharing their opinions — This ranking is too far right or too left, the trust is too high or too low — and suggesting more sources for analysis. Whether they agreed or disagreed, it gave them a basis to discuss the bias they inherently knew existed in the news and to make more informed decisions. People reading, say, Vox, Slate, Jezebel, the Root and Daily Beast might have a completely different understanding of events or the facts than someone reading the Daily Caller, Daily Signal, Townhall, Gateway Pundit, or Red State, so why not measure it?
I developed a methodology based on analysis of the actual content, looking at how headlines, graphics, leads and sentences were rhetorically structured to present facts, analysis, opinion, and misleading or inaccurate information. I printed out articles and hand-coded individual sentences to identify how each of them contributed to measures of reliability, such as “expression,” how an article is expressed or meant to be taken as fact, analysis, or opinion; and “veracity,” the underlying truth of explicit and implicit claims within sentences and paragraphs. I Identified how vocabulary and rhetorical structures of the same pieces of content also give articles and episodes varying, measurable degrees of left, center, and right bias.
To rate the major cable networks, I watched every single unique cable news show on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC in one week. (Fun fact: I was still practicing as an attorney at the time, so to carve out the hours to watch all this TV, I went on a “vacation” to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico, watching the cable news shows in the hotel room, on my phone by the pool and on the treadmill while my family enjoyed the beach.)
People kept asking for the underlying data and methodology, and for me to add more and more news sources to the chart. They also pointed out that the chart was biased because I am biased, and they were right. So, I founded Ad Fontes Media (Latin for “to the source”) to track news bias as scientifically as possible. Given that every human has biases, the only way to measure it objectively was to recruit politically and demographically diverse people to measure it with me. I trained our first 20-analyst cohort in my content analysis methodology in 2019, and I was pleased to find that people from left, right, and center could consistently apply this rating rubric to articles across the media landscape and arrive at highly consistent reliability and bias scores. Since then, all our articles and episodes have been rated by three-person (left-right-center) panels of Ad Fontes-trained analysts. We currently have over 60 analysts on staff who have collectively manually rated over 60,000 pieces of news and informational content.
Today we give consumers, educators and advertisers a fuller picture of the bias in news so that they can decide what to trust. For consumers, it’s about knowing whether their media diet is giving them the full picture of the issues or siloing them off in a corner. For educators, it’s about providing the first comprehensive bias data for media analysis and literacy. And for marketers, it’s an invitation to bring advertising dollars back to news.
More than 80% of advertising has evaporated from the news business since 2005 as print has collapsed, and digital has failed to replace it. Part of this is due to a misguided focus on “brand safety.” As brands increasingly bought ads through tech middlemen, they naturally wanted assurances their ads would not appear next to distressing content, and that has led to increasingly aggressive keyword blocking that has functionally resulted in brands leaving news altogether.
What we’ve learned since is that news, even distressing or serious news, is not a danger to brands. Partisanship and bias are. For brand dollars to come back to news, advertisers need to know they’re funding real news and not websites devoted to stoking culture wars. When I started my bias analysis, I was shocked at the partisanship passed off as “news,” and how jarring it felt to read or watch something outside the ideological silo I’d been living in. Years later, I remember that feeling when I’m training the teams of analysts reviewing hundreds of web articles, TV shows, news videos and podcasts for Ad Fontes Media each day. I warn them: “You’re going to feel physically ill when you have to sit and listen to something that you hate for hours at a time. But you’ll get over it because you understand you’re doing this for analysis purposes and you’ll get used to it.”
By measuring bias and trust in degrees, you learn some interesting things. First off, as you veer off to the left or the right, quality and trust drop precipitously. Those long tails to the left and to the right are the rabbit holes, filed with partisan takes, shallow analysis, name-calling and misinformation. I watched friends go down them, and my experience is that the farther you go, the harder it is to bring people back. Likewise, if brands want to safely advertise alongside high-quality news and steer away from rage-baiting and partisanship, this is a way to determine that.
We also apply the analysis in near real-time to individual stories or news events, such as former president Donald Trump’s town hall on CNN. This single event shifted CNN to the right of its normal position and lower on the trust scale, mostly due to Trump’s unsupported statements and ad hominem attacks. The Messenger, a new news outlet with a stated mission to provide “impartial and objective news,” launched with a Trump interview. You can now find its rating on our chart.
The good news about the end of an era is it’s a chance to build something entirely new. We believe that building the next generation of news and restoring trust starts with understanding bias, measuring it and informing the public. We can recover from partisan bias, but first, we have to understand it, and we can have honest debate, but first, we have to be honest when that’s not happening.
Too many advertisers looked at the degraded news landscape and simply turned their backs and walked away. But advertisers can return to news and start taking part in civic life and democracy, and the news business can learn from its mistakes of the past decade and build something better.
Support high-integrity, independent journalism that serves democracy. Make a gift to Poynter today. The Poynter Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, and your gift helps us make good journalism better.
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Tags: Bias, Editing And Reporting, Politics
Vanessa Otero
Vanessa Otero is the creator of the Media Bias Chart and the Founder and CEO of Ad Fontes Media. A former patent attorney in the…
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Illegal Immigration Gets Less Attention When It Falls
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Illegal Immigration Gets Less Attention When It Falls
Stuart Anderson
Senior Contributor
I write about globalization, business, technology and immigration.
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Aug 1, 2023,08:06am EDT
A man embraces his wife and daughter after crossing the Rio Grande near the border between Mexico ... [+]AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Recent news coverage indicates illegal immigration gets less attention when it falls. Articles about the significant drop in illegal entry in recent months have been less noticeable than earlier stories, which often appeared on the front page when numbers on the border spiked. Some argue it’s not surprising editors may view “bad news” as more newsworthy. Still, media coverage can influence how the public perceives developments at the border.
Illegal Entry Has Declined Significantly
Border Patrol encounters at the Southwest border declined by 55% between December 2022 and June 2023. In January 2023, the Biden administration announced parole programs for up to 30,000 individuals a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the United States with a U.S. sponsor. The parole programs produced almost unprecedented effectiveness in reducing illegal entry as measured by encounters with Border Patrol agents. The policies were also more humane than alternative approaches.
After the Biden administration provided legal pathways via the new parole programs, Border Patrol encounters at the Southwest border declined by 95% for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela as a group between December 2022 and March 2023. Numbers remained low for three of the four countries through June 2023.
Border Patrol encounters for Venezuelans rose to 29,731 in April and 28,055 in May before dropping to 12,549 in June 2023. The temporary increase in Venezuelans, still lower than the 33,749 encounters in September 2022, may be due to the 30,000 monthly per country limit under the parole program and the relentless political and economic crises in Venezuela.
“More than 7.3 million Venezuelans have left their country, making them the biggest refugee group, ahead of Ukrainians and Syrians who fled their war-torn homelands,” reports the Wall Street Journal. In an interview last year, Venezuelan expert and Harvard University professor Ricardo Hausmann said, “The human rights situation in Venezuela is catastrophic, but it is catastrophic because the government has maintained itself in power despite having engineered the largest peacetime economic collapse in human history.”
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Experts on Latin America say it is a mistake to assume immigration enforcement policies can override the human instinct of individuals living in untenable circumstances to leave their countries and seek a better life.
Ending Title 42 And The Decline In Illegal Entry
Two National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) reports made recommendations and predicted illegal entry would decline if the Biden administration ended Title 42 and opened up more legal avenues. (See here and here.) “The best way to address illegal entry is to treat the current situation at the border as a historic refugee crisis and provide legal pathways for work and human rights protection,” according to a January 2023 report (which I authored). “Relying on Title 42 to expel migrants proved to be a costly mistake: It increased the number of encounters at the border by encouraging repeated crossings.”
On May 11, 2023, the Biden administration ended Title 42. Biden officials had continued the Trump administration’s Title 42 health restrictions that largely blocked people from applying for asylum at ports of entry. Title 42 drove up “encounter” numbers at the border because many people entered unlawfully and turned themselves in to Border Patrol agents to apply for asylum. Other individuals entered and were returned without consequences, encouraging them to try again.
In June 2023, the first full month after Title 42 ended, Border Patrol encounters for Mexicans dropped by 43%, from 59,666 in April to 33,967 in June. NFAP found the Title 42 restrictions inflated encounter numbers by approximately a half million in FY 2021 and FY 2022. Predictions that ending Title 42 would result in unprecedented waves of migrants crossing the border proved unfounded.
Some have credited the drop in illegal entry to the Biden administration’s asylum rule, which made individuals largely ineligible to apply for asylum if they crossed unlawfully or came to a port of entry and applied without an appointment via the CBP One app. However, other analysts say illegal entry declined because the Biden administration ended Title 42, allowed people to enter ports of entry to request asylum and instituted parole programs to allow lawful entry.
The asylum rule may soon be history. On July 25, 2023, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar granted the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment against the Biden administration’s asylum regulation. The rule changed the process by introducing a “rebuttable presumption of asylum ineligibility” for individuals who fail to apply for asylum at a port of entry with an appointment or enter the United States via normal immigration channels.
The decision was not surprising. As a March 22, 2023, Forbes article explained: “The proposed asylum rule must overcome a significant legal hurdle. . . . Attorneys say the proposed rule is unlawful because the law allows ‘any alien . . . whether or not at a designated port of arrival” to apply for asylum.’”
Judge Tigar ruled, “The Court concludes that the Rule is contrary to law because it presumes ineligible for asylum noncitizens who enter between ports of entry, using a manner of entry that Congress expressly intended should not affect access to asylum. The Rule is also contrary to law because it presumes ineligible for asylum noncitizens who fail to apply for protection in a transit country, despite Congress’s clear intent that such a factor should only limit access to asylum where the transit country actually presents a safe option.”
The Biden administration has appealed the ruling. While some predict the court decision on asylum will increase illegal entry, it is likely the case that will determine the legality of the administration’s parole programs represents a bigger policy threat. Eliminating such a substantial path to lawful entry would make controlling illegal entry much more difficult.
The administration will soon increase refugee processing in Latin America, a step recommended in NFAP reports. Refugee processing in Mexico could be another way to discourage illegal entry and would allow individuals to have a permanent status under U.S. law (i.e., a refugee) rather than as someone paroled into the country, which does not confer a long-term status.
The Biden administration recently boosted the daily number of asylum appointments at ports of entry and expanded the parole program. “The family reunification parole (FRP) processes are available by invitation only to a petitioner who filed an approved Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, on behalf of a principal beneficiary who is a national of Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras, and their immediate family members,” according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
News Coverage Of The Drop In Illegal Entry
Editors, not reporters, choose where a story is placed in a daily newspaper. Research has found that a “human bias toward negative news might be a large part of what drives negative news coverage,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
The day after U.S. Customs and Border Protection released the June 2023 border data showing a further significant drop in illegal entry into the United States, no stories appeared about this on the front page of the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal or USA Today. In part, this is because the reporters at the nation’s major newspapers had written stories about the border numbers declining during the prior weeks.
On July 4, 2023, the New York Times published an article on page A15 with the headline “Number of Migrants Crossing Southern Border Is Down.” The article explained many migrants came to the United States out of desperation. “Officials believe fewer migrants are crossing illegally because they are taking advantage of a more structured and safer option to ask for a chance to seek asylum, as well as new legal pathways that the Biden administration has created for certain nationalities to enter the country,” wrote Eileen Sullivan.
On July 15, 2023, the New York Times published an article quoting several economists and historians who noted a pattern in previous decades of controversy followed by immigrants making economic contributions. The story’s headline: “As Politicians Cry ‘Crisis,’ Migrants Get A Toehold.” The subhead was “Economists Say Arrivals May Result in a Boon.” The article appeared on page A11.
“Border Arrests Plunge Since End of Pandemic-Era Policy” was the headline in a Wall Street Journal article published in the print edition on June 7, 2023. “Arrests along the southern border have plummeted by approximately 70% after the expiration of Title 42 and the implementation of a new set of tougher rules for asylum seekers, the Biden administration said on Tuesday,” wrote Alicia Caldwell and Michelle Hackman. “The sudden drop in apprehensions at the border has so far defied predictions—made by Republican lawmakers and the Biden administration alike—that lifting the policy would result in an unprecedented surge of migration at the border.”
On July 12, 2023, a Washington Post article by Nick Miroff and Toluse Olorunnipa appeared online with a headline noting the “eerily quiet” U.S. border. The lengthy piece eventually appeared on the front page of the Washington Post three days later, on Saturday, July 15, 2023.
The article discussed several Biden administration’s policy changes. “The preliminary result is a nearly 70 percent drop in illegal entries since early May, according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection data,” wrote Miroff and Olorunnipa. “After two years of record crossings and crisis-level strains, the Biden administration appears to have better control over the southern border than at any point since early 2021.”
The focus on border numbers is likely to continue in the coming months. The historic refugee crisis that has driven so many people from their homes due to violence, political upheaval and economic dislocation means there is no guarantee the numbers will remain at their current levels. Therefore, more attention may be needed on why people leave their countries and how best to treat them humanely.
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Tech Giants Make ‘Voluntary’ Pledge To Develop Responsible AI—Including OpenAI And Google—White House Says
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3 Ways Unplugging On Vacation Improves Mental Health And Relationships
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According to a new survey, 25% of people have not taken a vacation because of too much email when ... [+]
Memorial Day unofficially marks the beginning of summer for Americans, which is also the most popular time of year to take vacations and long weekends. Unfortunately, endless work messages and overflowing email inboxes may be preventing many knowledge workers from feeling like they can relax and unplug while on vacation. It’s no secret that being “always connected” impacts work-life balance, mental health and relationships—and it may also influence how much vacation time you take.
According to a new survey, 25% of people have not taken a vacation because of too much email when they got back, while another 34% shortened a vacation because of email. The number one reason people check email while on vacation is fear of losing their job. A whopping 95% of those surveyed say they would like to have a policy like the one German automaker Daimler created, where employees’ emails automatically delete, letting the sender know the recipient is on vacation and that they can send an email to someone else or wait until the person gets back to work.
“When we've gotten to that stage where email is preventing people from taking time off, we know we have a problem,” says Joe Robinson, stress management speaker, employee trainer, and author. “Technology is as addictive as substances. It's an individual problem, a productivity problem, a work-life balance problem and a stress problem. Studies show the more email you do in the day, the less you feel like you’ve accomplished and the more stress you have. Email is now the most stressful feature of the workplace.”
If you are looking for motivation to keep you from logging on while you’re supposed to be logged off, here are three ways unplugging improves your mental health and performance.
Eighty-eight percent of survey respondents agree that permission to not check email on vacation should be written into the company vacation policy. While some may think staying connected is better for performance, getting unplugged can actually make you more productive in the long run.
“The big issue with email is there's too much of it in terms of volume, but the other part of it is the interruptions,” says Robinson. Meaning the more email you respond to, the more responses you get and the more compelled you are to keep checking email.
“You lose your ability to regulate your impulsivity—not only for checking email every second of the day, but also for any other habits that you might not want, like Jim Beam or Sarah Lee,” says Robinson. “This is crucial for companies who really want to get serious about taking a stand against email and messaging run amok; these constant interruptions blow up our working memory, making productivity drop as much as 40% from multitasking alone.”
According to the survey, 49% say too much email has resulted in reduced personal or family time, and 90% of respondents say email is causing moderate to high chronic stress.
“If you are highly stressed out, what happens? You don't attend to the people in your life, because stress and the negative emotions that come with it demand all of your attention, making your brain think you're in a survival moment,” says Robinson. “When we're in a bad frame of mind, we don't tend to want to get together with other people and so it robs us of that quality time outside the job.”
Vacations with family and friends can help increase social connections and bonds, counteracting the effects of stress. Remaining present and focusing on the ones you’re with rather than on devices and checking messages can safeguard your relationships from allowing work stress to creep in while you’re out of office.
Burnout is on the rise, and it not only impacts employees but also of course employers. Taking time off and being unplugged can help prevent burnout from happening in the first place.
“While it’s well-known that employee burnout is responsible for employees’ psychological and physical problems—at least $125 billion in healthcare spending to be exact—it’s also putting companies in severe debt,” says Veetahl Eliat-Raichel, CEO of Sorbet, a PTO compensation platform. “With hiring freezes and layoffs in some sectors, burnout is likely to get extraordinarily worse—and extraordinarily more expensive for employers. We need to encourage and legitimize employees to take time to take care of themselves. This not only benefits the employee, it creates a more productive workplace and results in less turnover for employers.”
Your body and mind has psychological limits and if you don’t allow yourself to rest and to unplug, you’ll deplete your reserves and your ability to handle stress in a healthy way. “All stress is caused not by some external event or something somebody said in a conversation you had; it's the story you tell yourself about the stressful incident,” says Robinson.
A concept called work recovery is key to help counteract burnout. “The basic idea behind it is that stress burns up all these energetic resources in your body over the course of the day and they have to be replaced. If we go home and we keep the pressure going after work, we have no ability to allow our body to recuperate. Taking vacations also helps us replenish our energy reserves.”
Patrice Ford Lyn, executive coach and CEO of Catapult Change, believes that if you take your rest and rejuvenation as seriously and intentionally as you take your work, you can come back to your job with a level of freshness and clarity that isn’t possible if you don’t take a time out. “We talk about deep work to get work done, but we also need vacation to do the deep work of rest,” she says. “There are benefits for our bodies as adrenaline and cortisol levels decrease when we relax, to our communities to show up for others in a way that is less hurried, and to our work in terms of increasing creativity.”
As the VP of Content at Consciously Unbiased, my mission is to fuel inclusion through... Read More
As the VP of Content at Consciously Unbiased, my mission is to fuel inclusion through
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Unconscious racial bias goes deep — regardless of views on equality: study
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Fox sends cease-and-desist letter to Media Matters over leaked Tucker Carlson footage
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Bing News Joins Google and Other News Aggregators in Fueling Polarization
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Media bias in Indonesia elections?
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Trump questions why he should participate in GOP primary debates
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Fox News and Dominion reach last-minute settlement
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Israel's Herzog sharply addresses criticism from House members after Squad member's remarks
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ISRAEL
Israel's Herzog sharply addresses criticism from House members after Squad member's remarks
Members of the far-left 'Squad' condemned Israel as a 'racist' state
By Anders Hagstrom Fox News
Published July 19, 2023 2:21pm EDT
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Israel's Herzog condemns 'antisemitism' after criticism from progressive 'Squad'
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned 'antisemitism' following statements from members of the progressive 'Squad.'
Israeli President Isaac Herzog gave a thinly veiled rebuke to members of the House of Representatives for their attacks on Israel during his speech Wednesday at a joint session of Congress.
Herzog did not name names, but he referenced criticism of Israel from House members. More than one progressive Democrat recently vilified the Jewish state in public statements.
"Mr. Speaker, I am not oblivious to criticism among friends, including some expressed by respected members of this House. I respect criticism, especially from friends, although one does not always have to accept it," Herzog said.
"But criticism of Israel must not cross the line into negation of the State of Israel’s right to exist," he added, with those in attendance responding with resounding applause.
TLAIB BODIED BY TWITTER OVER 'LIES' THAT TEENAGE BRAWL WAS ISRAELI SOLDIERS ATTACKING PALESTINIANS
Israeli President Isaac Herzog rebuked members of the "Squad" who condemned Israel as an apartheid state, saying criticism of Israel must never dip into antisemitism.
"Questioning the Jewish people’s right to self-determination is not legitimate diplomacy, it is antisemitism. Vilifying and attacking Jews, whether in Israel, in the United States, or anywhere in the world, is antisemitism. Antisemitism is a disgrace in every form, and I commend President Joe Biden for laying out the United States’ first ever National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism," he continued.
RASHIDA TLAIB, ‘SQUAD’-LINKED COMMITTEES PUSHED LARGE SUMS TO ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST’S CONSULTING FIRM
Herzog's remarks were a not-so-subtle reference to criticism by progressive Democrats. Most recently, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., called Israel a "racist state" during an appearance at an event. Jayapal later walked back the remarks, which were met with criticism, even from those in her own party.
In May, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., said in a tweet that Israel is an "apartheid state," that "was born out of violence and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians." She added that "75 years later, the Nakba continues to this day," using the Arabic word for "catastrophe" that Palestinians use to refer to Israel's establishment.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, left, condemned Israel as an "apartheid" state, and both she and Rep. Ilhan Omar, center, voted against a measure reaffirming U.S. ties with Israel. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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Jayapal's words led to the House passing a resolution to affirm that Israel is not a racist or apartheid state.
Nine Democrats were the only ones who voted against the measure. They were Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman of New York; Tlaib; Ilhan Omar of Minnesota; Summer Lee of Pennsylvania; Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts; Cori Bush of Missouri; Andre Carson of Indiana; and Delia Ramirez of Illinois. Another Democrat, Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., voted "present."
Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
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Benjamin Netanyahu hospitalized amid heat wave
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU
Benjamin Netanyahu hospitalized amid heat wave
by Eden Villalovas, Breaking News Reporter
July 15, 2023 12:56 PM
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was hospitalized on Saturday with initial tests indicating he was suffering from dehydration.
Netanyahu, 73, received a medical evaluation at Sheba Hospital, near the coastal city of Tel Aviv, after spending Friday at the Sea of Galilee, Israel's largest freshwater lake. His office said today that Netanyahu, who is Israel's longest-serving leader, is in “good condition,” and doctors had ordered further tests.
BIDEN TAKES ANOTHER STAB AT CANCELING STUDENT LOAN DEBT
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and former colleague of Netanyahu wished him a full “recovery and good health” on Twitter. "Feel better," Lapid said.
Netanyahu, the chair of the conservative Likud party, beat Lapid, who was serving as interim prime minister for four months, in last year's election, marking his third term as prime minister.
Israel is currently in the midst of a heat wave, which is expected to continue into the middle of next week, according to the Israel Meteorological Service.
Last month in Israel, around 160 wildfires erupted due to high temperatures and extremely dry weather conditions.
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At Beit Dagan in central Israel and Negba in the south, the highest-ever temperatures in June were recorded, according to the Israel Fire and Rescue Services.
"There is no doubt that this is one of the most extreme events we've experienced at this time of year in comparison to past years," Dr. Amit Savirof, the Israel Meteorological Service, said.
Benjamin Netanyahu Israel prime minister News Hospital Foreign Affairs
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Don't Blame Elon Musk for Turkey's Authoritarian Twitter Censorship
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-17-1537/world-dont-blame-elon-musk-turkeys-authoritarian-twitter-censorship
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https://reason.com/2023/05/17/elon-musk-turkey-twitter-censorship-free-speech/
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FREE SPEECH
Don't Blame Elon Musk for Turkey's Authoritarian Twitter Censorship
Anger about social media censorship should be directed at repressive governments, not the companies they threaten.
ROBBY SOAVE | 5.17.2023 5:59 PM
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Elon Musk (ELIOT BLONDET-POOL/SIPA/Newscom)
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Iran seizes second oil tanker in a week, US Navy says
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-05-03-0426/world-iran-seizes-second-oil-tanker-week-us-navy-says
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https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-seizes-second-oil-tanker-week-us-navy-says
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IRAN
Iran seizes second oil tanker in a week, US Navy says
Oil tanker Niovi, sailing under Panamanian flag, captured by Iran in Strait of Hormuz
By Timothy H.J. Nerozzi Fox News
Published May 3, 2023 6:53am EDT
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Iranian forces seize another oil tanker
Iranian forces seized a second oil tanker in less than a week, this time in the Strait of Hormuz. The Niovi was en route to the United Arab Emirates' Fujairah port. (U.S. Navy)
Iranian forces captured a foreign vessel on Wednesday, the second ship to be harassed and seized by the Middle Eastern country in a week, the U.S. Navy said.
The Niovi, a commercial oil tanker flying the Panama flag, was passing through the Strait of Hormuz between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman when it was overtaken by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN).
IRANIAN COMMANDOS SEEN LANDING ON US-BOUND TANKER IN NEW VIDEO
This still image from video released by the U.S. Navy shows the Panama-flagged oil tanker Niovi surrounded by Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels in the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Iran seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the second-such capture by Tehran in recent days, the U.S. Navy said. (U.S. Navy via AP)
Approximately 12 members of the IRGCN swarmed and bordered the Niovi via fast-attack craft. The IRGCN then forced the crew to turn the ship around and sail back into Iranian territorial waters.
The Panama oil tanker was transiting from Dubai to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates when it was captured.
AIR FORCE SQUADRON IN MIDDLE EAST ARMS UP WITH 'BUNKER BUSTING' BOMBS TO COUNTER IRAN
Video footage declassified and released by the U.S. Navy captured an aerial view of the Iranian operation.
This is Iran's second unlawful seizure of a foreign vessel in less than a week.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
In this frame grab from video footage released Friday, April 28, 2023, by the Iranian Navy, Iranian marines rappel onto the Advantage Sweet, a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker's deck in the Gulf of Oman. (Iranian Navy via AP)
The Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Advantage Sweet was taken last week by Iranian forces after leaving Kuwait en route to Houston, the U.S. Navy announced Sunday.
Video of the Advantage Sweet incident showed Iranian forces approaching the oil tanker via helicopter as it travels through the Gulf of Oman.
Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and can email him at [email protected]
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Recent Airstrikes Are Our Periodic Reminder That We're Fighting a War in Syria
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-03-25-0757/world-recent-airstrikes-are-our-periodic-reminder-were-fighting-war-syria
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https://reason.com/2023/03/24/yesterdays-airstrikes-are-our-periodic-reminder-that-were-fighting-a-war-in-syria/
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WAR
Recent Airstrikes Are Our Periodic Reminder That We're Fighting a War in Syria
Four years after IS was officially defeated, the U.S. continues to keep hundreds of troops in Syria to fight the vanquished terrorist group.
CHRISTIAN BRITSCHGI | 3.24.2023 2:20 PM
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| 721
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U.S. Base in Syria Attacked by Iranian Proxy Group after Retaliatory Airstrikes
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-03-24-1327/defense-and-security-us-base-syria-attacked-iranian-proxy-group-after
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https://www.nationalreview.com/news/u-s-base-in-syria-attacked-by-iranian-proxy-group-after-retaliatory-airstrikes/
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Iranian proxy forces launched a missile attack against a U.S. base in Syria on Friday, one day after the U.S. military conducted several airstrikes against Iran-aligned groups in retaliation for an Iranian drone attack killed a U.S. contractor and injured five service members.
The Iranian-aligned groups launched roughly seven rockets on Friday targeting an American base southeast of the Syrian province of Der el-Zour. No known U.S. casualties were recorded in initial assessments.
“We’re going to work to protect our people and our facilities as best we can. It’s a dangerous environment,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told CNN.
Army General Erik Kurilla, the head of Central Command, said after the first attack on Thursday that the U.S. is “postured for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks.”
President Biden directed the U.S. military to carry out retaliatory strikes against facilities affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Thursday after the first Iranian attack, which targeted a coalition base housing American personnel near Hasakah, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.
“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC,” he said Thursday.
The Pentagon said the U.S. “took proportionate and deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize casualties.”
“As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing,” Austin said. “No group will strike our troops with impunity.”
Three service members and a second U.S. contractor were evacuated to coalition medical facilities in Iraq, while two others were treated on site.
The U.S. strikes killed at least eight pro-Iranian fighters, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria.
Send a tip to the news team at NR.
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One Continuous War
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-03-24-0811/defense-and-security-one-continuous-war
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https://www.theamericanconservative.com/one-continuous-war/
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Twenty years after the Iraq invasion: The urge to democratize Russia comes from a familiar place.
I loathe Vladimir Putin. I used to think he offered one good thing, despite his domestic tyranny. I used to think he was a defender of the idea of national sovereignty, an opinion that became actually ludicrous the day he invaded Ukraine. I confess this error, because, when dozens of others are not confessing or regretting their role in cheering on the Iraq war, we conservatives have a duty to behave better.
In fact I am far less ebullient than I thought I would be, twenty years after the Iraq invasion. I thought the anniversary would give me the chance to jeer a bit at some foolish persons. But when I tried to gloat over the follies of the pro-war journalists who made such idiots of themselves in 2003, I could not do it. Yes, they were gullible simpletons. But they have since won the battle to get the West into a state of permanent war. And it is Putin above all who has helped them achieve this. How I hate him for it. Putin has murdered peace as Macbeth once murdered sleep. By his one action he has handed the warmongers the sword of righteousness. Yes, yes, I know he has also launched an indefensible, lawless, and murderous attack on his neighbor. But this makes it worse. He has committed not just a crime, but a mistake.
The neoconservative factions, who for the last twenty years have been looking for a way back to war, have been given it by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Who cares if their propaganda and their intelligence were wrong last time? Who cares if their other interventions in Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya all went badly wrong? The intelligence was right (for once) about the Russian invasion, and invasions of sovereign countries are always evil and wrong.
I can explain, and often do, that the initial violent aggression in Ukraine came in 2014 with the Western-backed lawless overthrow of Ukraine’s unlovely but legitimate President Viktor Yanukovych. Eight years of war followed in which many horrible things were done. I can point out that the eastward expansion of NATO was likewise an act of dangerous diplomatic aggression, warned against by many wise people in the West. I can even say (which is true) that hawks such as Robert Kagan accept that Russia was provoked. But this fact will always fail to grip about 97 percent of the people I want to reach.
As James Carville long ago observed about political campaigning, “While you’re explaining, you’re losing.” And so it is. The politics of war have become as crude and simple as a Punch-and-Judy show on a beach. Perhaps they always were, and the Vietnam era was a strange and dreamy interlude, mesmerizing to those who recall it but irrelevant to everyone else.
Traditional conservatives were useless over Iraq because they always respond to any call to the colors, however stupid. In this case, it isn’t stupid. They are delighted to be able to support a victim against an aggressor. The left, who marched by the hundreds of thousands against Iraq, are also in general pro-war, and why should they not be? They too are against aggression. Everyone is.
And as I haul myself up to the podium of yet another obscure debate on the Ukraine issue, to try to explain that it is not quite that simple, I know that most people don’t care. Putin’s tanks have ended all debate. Most people think this war is Gandalf versus the Orcs. They rejoice to see NATO (i.e., Gandalf) expanding still further. They regard calls for peace negotiations as “appeasement” and demand to know which parts of Ukraine I propose should be given up to the aggressor (and indeed which parts of my own country I would hand over in the same circumstances). You can feel them ceasing to listen within about 30 seconds of any attempt to counter these thrusts with tedious complexities.
The flag of Ukraine flies from government buildings in London as if we had merged our two countries. The same flag flies from people’s front gardens and from university colleges. Politicians wear the Ukrainian colors on their lapels. The media have become openly politicized in ways that make me start whenever I hear or see them. News reports state as fact the contentious assertion that the war was unprovoked. Attempts to question this are met with bafflement mixed with mistrust. If I say it was provoked, I am instantly deemed to be sympathizing with the aggression, even after I have made it clear that I think that the stupidest thing to do, when provoked, is to respond to that provocation. I have been accused of being a Kremlin shill, a “useful idiot,” and a Putin apologist so many times that I no longer really notice.
Yet this war was entirely avoidable, and will in my view do enormous harm to the peace and stability of Europe and the world. Many of the arguments used to sustain it are as questionable as WMD was in its time. It is even possible that if the Clinton administration had not begun NATO expansion thirty years ago, and if the Wolfowitz Doctrine had not been invented around the same time, that a reasonably free, peaceful, and prosperous Russia might now occupy the territory now ruled by Putin’s sinister tyranny. Look at the miracle wrought in countries such as Poland. I might add that if people are so concerned about Ukraine, they could have done a lot more good there in the past thirty years, by encouraging clean government and intelligent investment, than they have done with military and political meddling.
Why has a great nation so often chosen the path of war in its efforts to utopianize the world? Why does my own country so often trail behind when the USA embarks on these benevolent yet heavily armed adventures? These are fascinating subjects that could only really be discussed if we had proper oppositions and proper independent media. Yet these have shriveled and gone, with amazing speed, since 2003.
Is it war itself that these idealists want: Iraq then, Russia now, who knows where next? Is it war without end? If so, I suspect it means the disappearance of the freedom we have left, and indeed of debate and truth. “Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. Since the beginning of your life, since the beginning of the Party, since the beginning of history, the war has continued without a break, always the same war.”
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John Bolton Is Still Wrong About Iraq
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-03-21-1627/world-john-bolton-still-wrong-about-iraq
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https://reason.com/2023/03/20/john-bolton-is-still-wrong-about-iraq/
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WAR
John Bolton Is Still Wrong About Iraq
Bolton says the Bush administration's biggest error in Iraq was failing to invade Iran too. That's madness.
ERIC BOEHM | 3.20.2023 2:05 PM
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(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Newscom)
Twenty years after the disastrous American invasion of Iraq, one of the war's chief architects says the Bush administration's biggest error was not making the conflict an even bloodier, costlier catastrophe.
| 724
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China’s Middle East Power Play
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-03-16-1223/china-china-s-middle-east-power-play
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https://thedispatch.com/article/chinas-middle-east-power-play/
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China’s Middle East Power Play
A Beijing-brokered normalization deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia may lack staying power, but it signals China’s long-term strategy.
By Charlotte Lawson
Mar 16, 2023
March 15, 2023
14
Chinese President Xi Jinping is welcomed by Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in Riyadh on December 8, 2022. (Photo by Royal Court of Saudi Arabia/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Saudi Arabia’s theatrical reception during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s December visit garnered plenty of attention. What didn’t was the most consequential aspect: Xi’s offer to mediate restored diplomacy between Saudi Arabia and longtime regional foe Iran.
Xi’s proposal came to light Friday when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with top Iranian and Saudi Arabian officials in Beijing to unveil a normalization agreement between the adversaries. They now have two months to finalize the deal and reopen embassies in each other’s capitals, but the rapprochement’s full implementation—contingent on Iran’s good behavior—is far from assured.
بيان ثلاثي مشترك لكل من المملكة العربية السعودية والجمهورية الإسلامية
الإيرانية وجمهورية الصين الشعبيةhttps://t.co/eP9kUeaFh7 pic.twitter.com/4rCqKVi5Ut
— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) March 11, 2023
Saudi Arabia and Iran broke ties after Iranian protesters overran the Saudi embassy in response to Riyadh’s execution of a Shiite cleric in 2016, but sectarian differences, clashing allegiances, and Iranian proxy warfare have long marred their relationship.
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About Charlotte Lawson
Charlotte Lawson is a reporter at The Dispatch and currently based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Prior to joining the company in 2020, she studied history and global security at the University of Virginia. When Charlotte is not keeping up with foreign policy and world affairs, she is probably trying to hone her photography skills.
More from Charlotte Lawson
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The Worrisome Iran-Saudi Pact
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-03-13-0946/middle-east-worrisome-iran-saudi-pact
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https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/03/the-worrisome-iran-saudi-pact/
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L
ast week’s diplomatic breakthrough between Saudi Arabia and Iran doesn’t herald a new era of peace in the Middle East, but it does offer a glimpse of the region’s potential future as America fumbles and China makes continued inroads in its effort to reshape global diplomacy in favor of a web linking other techno-totalitarian regimes.
The deal, announced at a Beijing press event featuring the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran, with China’s top diplomat between them, was the result of two years of secret talks brokered by Oman, Iraq, and China. It gives a two-month probationary period of sorts during which Tehran and Riyadh will build toward fully reestablishing an official diplomatic relationship that ruptured in 2016, after protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Iran. The announcement was light on specifics, but each regional giant will soon reopen its embassy in the other’s capital.
While its success is hardly a given, a suite of significant developments might follow. The Iran-Saudi proxy war in Yemen, which has dropped off over the past year, could officially come to a close if the two powers really do advance their diplomatic relationship. Syrian butcher Bashar al-Assad, a key Iranian client, might be brought in from the cold and deemed a legitimate actor, twelve years into his run atop the largest charnel house in the world. Saudi’s potential addition to the Abraham Accords, which has remained elusive, will become an even less likely prospect as the Kingdom weighs its options and further explores the possibility of bypassing America’s diplomatic architecture in the region.
That’s a mixed bag, but some say that the stability that might follow this deal is worthwhile. There’s ample reason for skepticism about that outlook.
The deal gives the Iranian regime breathing room, as it stares down the existential threat at home of a savvy people that knows it can do a lot better than Islamist dictatorship. And it limits Israel’s military options, potentially taking a possible partner in a strike on illicit nuclear facilities out of the picture. Meanwhile, the threat of Iranian uranium enrichment increases — which undermines deterrence and makes a destabilizing breakthrough ever more likely.
Long term, though, China’s growing clout is the most worrying aspect. General Secretary Xi has clearly made his country’s overtures to the region a key priority, visiting Saudi Arabia last December and inviting the Iranian president to Beijing earlier this year. A newer player in the region, China can lean on its status as the two countries’ largest trade partner to play to each side, in a way that America just cannot. There are authoritarian affinities too. The Saudis, as the Iranians, are willing to engage a regime that comes bearing gifts, without complaints about human rights. And while the Kingdom and the Islamic Republic have waged a shadow conflict against each other, they have more things in common than the recent past suggests. Both have extradition agreements with China. Both purchase Chinese surveillance technology. Both have an interest in seeking external support to keep domestic political opponents down. Whether or not this agreement survives, it sets down an ominous marker.
Yet China has not replaced the U.S. as the region’s preeminent external security player. For all of this administration’s work to undermine the U.S.-Saudi alliance, and to pull back America’s military presence from the Middle East, the security architecture in place is too massive for any White House to dismantle in four years. This agreement was made possible in part by President Biden’s recent neglect of Washington’s longstanding work to keep Riyadh onside — an unedifying business, but one that has brought America strategic advantages. Beijing’s inroads with Saudi are tentative, and susceptible to some disruption, if only Washington were to get its act together and start mending fences.
| 726
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Biden Waives Sanctions on Iran's Chief Propaganda Arm
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-02-22-1934/joe-biden-biden-waives-sanctions-irans-chief-propaganda-arm
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https://freebeacon.com/national-security/biden-waives-sanctions-on-irans-chief-propaganda-arm/
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Iran may use Syria earthquake to smuggle arms under the guise of aid: report
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-02-10-1104/world-iran-may-use-syria-earthquake-smuggle-arms-under-guise-aid-report
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https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-may-use-syria-earthquake-smuggle-arms-the-guise-aid-report
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IRAN
Iran may use Syria earthquake to smuggle arms under the guise of aid: report
Video has emerged showing the head of the IRGC visiting Syria 'to monitor aid to earthquake victims'
By Caitlin McFall Fox News
Published February 10, 2023 11:00am EST
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Greg Palkot says aftermath of Turkey-Syria earthquake 'hell on earth'
Fox News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot reports on the latest in Turkey and Syria following a devastating earthquake, with the death toll nearing 20,000.
Israel has reportedly taken a preemptive tone this week and warned Iran that it will strike any arms shipment traveling to Syria under the guise of international aid after a catastrophic earthquake hit Turkey and Syria this week.
Rescue workers are still pulling people trapped under rubble as international aid continues to pour in. An estimate 22,000 people have been killed since the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region four days ago, according to reports Friday.
However, the crisis has Israeli security officials concerned that Iran will use the devastating event to funnel arms to the terrorist group Hezbollah, which it has backed since its inception in the early 1980s.
A devastating earthquake hit Syria on Feb. 6. (AP Photo)
IRAN SHOWS OFF NEW DEADLY MISSILE WITH 'DEATH TO ISRAEL' WRITTEN ON IT
"There is information indicating that Iran will take advantage of the tragic situation in Syria and, under the cover of humanitarian aid, will send weapons and equipment to Hezbollah," one anonymous Israeli military official told the Saudi newspaper Elaph Wednesday.
The unnamed official reportedly told the publication that Israel stands "ready to strike any equipment or weapons anywhere inside Syrian territory."
Fox News Digital could not independently verify whether Iran has taken steps to funnel arms into Syria under the guise of aid, though one reporter for the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation took to Twitter to post a video Thursday of "pro-Iranian militias in Iraq" traveling in a convoy to deliver "aid…to the victims of the earthquake in Syria."
In a separate video Friday, the reporter posted footage of a commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani, who was allegedly spotted in the western Syrian city of Latakia "to monitor aid to earthquake victims."
Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani speaks in a ceremony for commemorating death anniversary of a Quds Force commander in Tehran, Dec. 20, 2022. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
TENSIONS RISE AS IRAN THREATENS ISRAEL, REVEALS NEW UNDERGROUND AIRBASE
He also reportedly met with the local governor.
Israeli intelligence and security expert, Brig. Gen. (Res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, now a senior researcher at the Israel Defense Security Forum told Fox News Digital that "Iran has in the past used humanitarian disasters to transport weapons clandestinely and illegally and may well try to use this humanitarian disaster in Syria as a decoy for transporting additional advanced weapons systems to Syria."
Kuperwasser said Tehran would most likely look to send advanced air defense batteries, loitering munitions like "kamikaze drones" and long-range missile components.
Iran and Israel have long engaged in a proxy war in Syria since the civil war broke out in 2011, and clandestine operations across the Middle East have been commonplace.
Syrian men walk at a street between destroyed buildings where triple bombs rocked at the Saadallah al-Jabri square, in Aleppo, Syria, Oct. 3, 2012. Entire blocks of apartment buildings have been shattered during the deadly civil war in Syria. (AP Photo/SANA)
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However, the regional devastation from the earthquake could allow Iran to expand its support for forces in Syria and beyond.
"Iran continues to exploit the Syrian weakness and dependence on external assistance to promote the Iranian strategy of regional dominance and deployment of weapons near Israel," Kuperwasser said. "It should be clear to the world that Iran is a global disruptor and menace which doesn't only concern Israel or the Middle East."
Caitlin McFall is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news.
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Examining America's War in Iraq After 20 Years
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-02-05-1156/middle-east-examining-americas-war-iraq-after-20-years
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https://reason.com/2023/02/05/examining-americas-war-in-iraq-after-20-years/
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ENDLESS WAR
BRIAN DOHERTY | FROM THE MARCH 2023 ISSUE
| 729
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Jerusalem synagogue shooting: At least 5 dead after gunman opens fire, Israel police say
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-01-27-1230/world-jerusalem-synagogue-shooting-least-5-dead-after-gunman-opens-fire-israel
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https://www.foxnews.com/world/jerusalem-synagogue-shooting-least-5-dead-gunman-opens-fire-israel-police-say
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ISRAEL
Jerusalem synagogue shooting: At least 7 dead after gunman opens fire, Israeli police say
Two others are in critical condition
By Yonat Friling , Brie Stimson Fox News
Published January 27, 2023 2:50pm EST
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Terror attack in Jerusalem
Terrorist opens fire in Jerusalem neighborhood killing at least 5 people. (Credit: Shalev Shalom/TPS)
A shooting near a synagogue in Jerusalem Friday evening has left at least seven people dead and several wounded, including at least one child.
The suspect started shooting when he entered the synagogue and was killed by police, according to Israeli authorities.
The shooter, reportedly a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, tried to escape in his car but was chased by police as he tried to escape on foot and was shot. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was updated on the attack and visited the scene shortly afterwards. He is expected to convene a special security situation assessment this evening.
PALESTINIANS IN UPROAR AFTER ISRAELI ARMY KILL MILITANTS, ELDERLY WOMAN IN WEST BANK
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during Friday's briefing that the White House recognized "the very real security challenges facing Israel and the Palestinian Authority. That is something that we recognize and condemn terrorist groups planning and carrying out attacks against innocent civilians. And that is something that you will continue to hear from us, and we will be consistent on that.
Scene of the synagogue shooting in Jerusalem (Shalev Shalom/TPS)
"We also regret the loss of innocent lives and … and injuries to civilians and are deeply concerned by the escalating cycle of violence in the West Bank over the past few days. Our administration has been closely engaged with the Israeli and Palestinian Authority on the recent violence and to urge de-escalation."
Israel's emergency medical services (MDA) said a 70-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man are in critical condition, a 20-year-old man is in serious condition, a 14-year-old boy is in moderate to severe condition and a 60-year-old woman is in moderate condition.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides condemned the attack in a tweet, calling the terror attack an "horrific act of violence."
On Thursday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza fired rockets into Israel that were intercepted by its Iron Dome system, and no injuries were reported. In retaliation, Israeli jets struck Gaza on Friday.
The rockets came following an Israeli military operation in Jenin that killed six militants and three other people Thursday, allegedly including an elderly woman.
Israeli police released a picture of the gun allegedly used in Friday evening's terror attack in Jerusalem. At least seven people are dead. (Israel Police)
ISRAELI, PALESTINIAN FORCES TRADE AIRSTRIKES, ROCKET FIRE, PUTTING WEST BANK ON EDGE
Israeli forces confirmed they had killed "at least" six militants in the West Bank operation, but Palestinian authorities put the death toll at nine. Israeli troops entered the city of Jenin for a counter-terrorism operation and soon came under fire from militants. The troops killed three of the attackers before surrounding the building they fled to and killing three more, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Israel's military says it is investigating reports of other deaths.
Israeli police say this car was used by the terrorist who allegedly killed at least seven people in an attack in Jerusalem Friday night. (Israel Police)
The Palestinian Authority announced it was ending security cooperation with Israel following the deadly anti-terror operation in Jenin.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel and the Palestinian Authority for talks with leaders there next week.
Fox News Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
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Netanyahu Suggests Deporting 'Asylum'-seeking Migrants Who Rioted
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https://breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/09/04/netanyahu-suggests-deporting-asylum-seeking-migrants-who-rioted
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Netanyahu Suggests Deporting ‘Asylum’-seeking Migrants Who Rioted
Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty
JOEL B. POLLAK4 Sep 2023307
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested deporting migrants from Eritrea who rioted last week in Tel Aviv in a sectarian dispute over the African country’s own internal conflicts.
Though some of the migrants claim they are seeking “asylum” in Israel, many Israelis believe they are in the country illegally without legitimate claims of asylum.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Nentanyahu has announced plans to immediately deport African migrants after hundreds were involved in brawling & rioting in Tel Aviv over the weekend. He says a “red line” had been crossed by the “infiltrators.” pic.twitter.com/cR4W3DDiQl
— Andy Ngô ️ (@MrAndyNgo) September 4, 2023
The Times of Israel reported:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Saturday night that he and a team of ministers would look into the possibility of deporting Eritrean migrants who behaved violently during the day’s intense rioting in Tel Aviv.
The violent afternoon clashes in southern Tel Aviv between Eritrean migrants supporting and opposing the government in Asmara saw over 150 injured, including some 15 in serious condition. Around 30 policemen were hurt.
The Jerusalem Post noted that violent protests involving Eritreans are not just a problem in Israel, but around the world, as migrants oppose the government of dictator President Issays Afwerki from abroad.
Israel has struggled in recent decades with illegal immigration, leading it to build secure fences along its border with Egypt and along and within the territory commonly referred to as the West Bank.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
ImmigrationIsrael / Middle EastPoliticsBenjamin NetanyahuEritreaEritrean migrantsillegal immigration
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The Biden administration wants to know if Saudi Arabia used American weapons to kill 'hundreds' of migrants
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US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One before departing from King Abdulaziz International Airport in the Saudi city of Jeddah on July 16, 2022. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
The United States is investigating a report that Saudi Arabia killed "hundreds" of migrants.
Human Rights Watch said border guards in Saudi Arabia killed scores of migrants in Yemen.
The Biden administration is investigating whether US weapons were used in the reported attacks.
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The Biden administration is demanding answers following a report that Saudi authorities may have killed hundreds of migrants in Yemen, possibly with arms provided by the United States, according to The Washington Post.
Last month, Human Rights Watch issued a report alleging that, between March 2022 and June 2023, Saudi border guards killed "at least hundreds" of Ethiopian migrants who were trying to cross into the country from neighboring Yemen. The attacks included the use of explosive weapons and execution-style killings of people who had just been released from detention in Saudi Arabia itself, the group charged.
Bill Frelick, director of HRW's refugee and migrant rights division, said he was "shocked and horrified" by the allegations, which he described as among the worst he's seen in more than 30 years.
"For months, if not longer, Saudi border guards have been systematically shooting and shelling Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers trying to cross from Yemen along the remote, inaccessible border that divides the two countries," Frelick wrote in a piece published Friday by The Hill. "These migrants include large numbers of women and children. They are unarmed. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, have been killed."
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In the report, HRW cited eyewitnesses who reported migrants being struck by mortar fire as they approached the Saudi border. One person said that an attack on a group of 170 migrants left more than half of them dead, according to HRW, appearing to reflect a conscious decision to discourage migration through targeted killings — and raising the prospect that there is a "state policy of deliberate murder of a civilian population."
Saudi Arabia has denied the allegation. But according to The Washington Post, rumors of the killings had been circulating among diplomats "for more than a year" prior to the HRW report. Michal Ratney, US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, discussed the allegations last month — ahead of the report's release — and US officials are now trying to determine whether the units accused received training or weapons from Washington.
Ethiopia has also said it is investigating the allegations, "in tandem with the Saudi authorities," per the Associated Press.
Have a news tip? Email this reporter: [email protected]
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In a Report From a Distant Border, I Glimpsed Our Brutal Future
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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/opinion/saudi-arabia-ethiopians-border-politics.html
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OPINION
LYDIA POLGREEN
In a Report From a Distant Border, I Glimpsed Our Brutal Future
Aug. 24, 2023
Saudi Arabian Army soldiers in a post on the Yemeni border in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Credit...
Tomas Munita for The New York Times
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By Lydia Polgreen
Opinion Columnist and host of “Matter of Opinion”
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Once in a while, some single thing manages to encapsulate all that feels terrible about our world today. For me, this week, it was a bone-chilling report from Human Rights Watch documenting how Saudi border guards had killed hundreds — perhaps thousands — of Ethiopians seeking to cross from Yemen into Saudi Arabia.
It landed in my inbox on Monday with concussive force. The accounts were so brutal that I struggled to read the 73 pages in one sitting: A 14-year-old girl named Hamdiya described waking up after an attack: “I could feel people sleeping around me. I realized what I thought were people sleeping around me were actually dead bodies.” There were bloodied corpses all around her. Another survivor, a 17-year-old boy, described being forced by Saudi guards to rape two girls after another man who had been asked to do the same was executed for refusing. These are defenseless children, unarmed people fleeing a savage conflict and relentless poverty, hoping for some chance at a life free of violence and want in one of the richest countries in the world.
In these reports from a remote corner of a distant desert, I saw a glimpse of the unrelenting cruelty that is our future.
First, let’s talk about Saudi Arabia. In 2018, its security forces, allegedly at the direction of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known far and wide by his initials, M.B.S., dismembered a Washington Post journalist and American permanent resident in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. That was merely the most shocking and public example of Saudi human rights abuses: Courts routinely sentence citizens to decades in prison and even death for the crime of speaking their minds or living their lives as they wish.
Of course, none of this chilled the blossoming friendship between then-President Donald Trump and M.B.S., not to mention the Saudi prince’s warm bromance with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who would later get a $2 billion investment from a Saudi fund M.B.S. controls.
This administration was supposed to be different. During the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden rightly referred to Saudi Arabia as a pariah. In an awkward moment on a swing through the Middle East last summer, he avoided shaking hands with M.B.S. by bumping fists with him instead.
Fast forward a year. Biden is now seeking to broker a historic pact between the Saudis and Israel. The contours of any such deal will be highly contested, and it faces a steep climb in Congress. But such a deal, far from making Saudi Arabia a pariah, would draw it even closer to the United States through defense guarantees.
Our messy, multipolar moment in global politics means that some countries are simply too important to face any kind of lasting opprobrium for their brutality. And so, M.B.S. swans across the global stage like a prima ballerina in a career-making role. He was welcomed with warmth in Paris by Emmanuel Macron in June. He convened dozens of nations to discuss prospects for peace in Ukraine this month. Britain’s government said this month that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is eager to meet him “at the earliest opportunity” to discuss deepening ties between the two countries.
Meanwhile, the Saudis are making efforts to improve their country’s name recognition and reputation around the world. They have plowed some of their ample profits — buoyed by the high oil prices that Saudi Arabia helped guarantee — into culture and, especially, sports: Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on buying up some of the world’s top soccer stars for a nascent Saudi league. And the Saudis have plotted the merger of the vaunted PGA Tour with the much smaller Saudi-backed upstart LIV Golf, effectively taking control of the commanding heights of the favored pastime of the masters of the universe. Human rights organizations refer to these kinds of moves as “sportswashing.”
If taking a bone saw to a famous dissident resulted in just a few months of cold shoulders, only to be replaced with state dinners, diplomatic talks and a booming sports industry, how much do we really expect the world to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for killing hundreds of nameless war refugees in the sandy reaches along its southern border?
It is tempting to argue that given Saudi Arabia’s track record on human rights, mowing down defenseless women and children as they desperately try to reach some semblance of safety is par for the course. It may be unusually brazen, but how different is it, really, from how Greek officials handled a sinking ship filled with migrants in the Mediterranean?
This brings me to the other grim truth the Human Rights Watch report underscores. There appears to be no limit to the cruelty that will be tolerated in the name of keeping out people whom rich countries deem undesirable. Despite the many international agreements and norms around the movement of people, everything from wanton disregard for the lives of migrants right up to deliberate, maximum deadly force seems to be on the table.
“We are at a level where state officials are directly firing explosive weapons and shooting people at a border and doing such insidious things like forcing a boy to rape a girl survivor,” Nadia Hardman, the author of the Human Rights Watch report, told me. “Where do we go from here?”
Indeed, the moral standard in how we treat those seeking safety and freedom across borders has unquestionably been set by the West. It was the European Union that decided to open its coffers to the murderous Libyan Coast Guard to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean. Europe has paid Turkey’s government billions of euros in exchange for keeping millions of Syrian refugees out of Europe. Britain’s Conservative government is trying to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, of all places, rather than accept its obligation under international law to admit refugees.
Europe is hardly alone. The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has placed barbarous devices in the Rio Grande. If the current doesn’t drown migrants, the razor wire and giant saw blades could. And it’s not just Republicans who engage in this cruelty. The Biden administration has continued many of Trump’s border policies, or even pursued some that are arguably harsher.
We are living through a brutal new era of realpolitik, where might equals right amid a frenzy of global jockeying. This world has been very good to Saudi Arabia, a very rich and very important country by dint of its geography and natural resources. China brokered a deal between Saudi Arabia and its archenemy, Iran; and now the Biden administration seeks a grand bargain between the Saudis and the government of Israel. For the West, the dictates of our current moment are clear: Counter China. Contain Russia. Keep unwanted migrants out.
The Biden administration came to power with many promises and good intentions. Two years ago, speaking after the chaos of the necessary and long overdue withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, Biden declared: “I have been clear that human rights must be the center of our foreign policy, not the periphery.”
Biden made similar commitments about migrants. “If I’m elected president, we’re going to immediately end Trump’s assault on the dignity of immigrant communities,” he said in his acceptance speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. “We’re going to restore our moral standing in the world and our historic role as a safe haven for refugees and asylum seekers.”
I am certain that President Biden believed these words when he said them and believes them still. His administration is playing the hand it has been dealt. But as the events in the Saudi desert illustrate, this century is going to be nasty, brutish and long.
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: [email protected].
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.
Lydia Polgreen has been a New York Times Opinion columnist since 2022. She spent a decade as a correspondent for The Times in Africa and Asia, winning Polk and Livingston Awards for her coverage of ethnic cleansing in Darfur and resource conflicts in West Africa. She also served as editor in chief of HuffPost. @lpolgreen
A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 25, 2023, Section A, Page 22 of the New York edition with the headline: In a Report From Afar, I Glimpsed Our Brutal Future. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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Suicide bomber at political rally in northwest Pakistan kills at least 44 people, wounds nearly 200
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A powerful bomb ripped through a political rally by supporters of a hardline cleric and political leader on Sunday in Pakistan’s northwestern Bajur district, police and health officials said. (July 30)
KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a political rally in a former stronghold of militants in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan on Sunday, killing at least 44 people and wounding nearly 200 in an attack that a senior leader said was meant to weaken Pakistani Islamists.
The Bajur district near the Afghan border was a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban — a close ally of Afghanistan’s Taliban government — before the Pakistani army drove the militants out of the area. Supporters of hard-line Pakistani cleric and political party leader Fazlur Rehman, whose Jamiat Ulema Islam generally supports regional Islamists, were meeting in Bajur in a hall close to a market outside the district capital. Party officials said Rehman was not at the rally but organizers added tents because so many supporters showed up, and party volunteers with batons were helping control the crowd.
Officials were announcing the arrival of Abdul Rasheed, a leader of the Jamiat Ulema Islam party, when the bomb went off in one of Pakistan’s bloodiest attacks in recent years.
Provincial police said in a statement that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives vest close to the stage where several senior leaders of the party were sitting. It said initial investigations suggested the Islamic State group — which operates in Afghanistan and is an enemy of the Afghan Taliban — could be behind the attack, and officers were still investigating.
“There was dust and smoke around, and I was under some injured people from where I could hardly stand up, only to see chaos and some scattered limbs,” said Adam Khan, 45, who was knocked to the ground by the blast around 4 p.m. and hit by splinters in his leg and both hands.
The Pakistan Taliban, or TTP, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press that the bombing was aimed at setting Islamists against each other. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that “such crimes cannot be justified in any way.”
The Afghan Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021 emboldened the TTP. They unilaterally ended a cease-fire agreement with the Pakistani government in November, and have stepped up attacks across the country.
The bombing came hours before the arrival of Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Islamabad, where he was to participate in an event to mark a decade of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, a sprawling package under which Beijing has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan.
In recent months, China has helped Pakistan avoid a default on sovereign payments. However, some Chinese nationals have also been targeted by militants in northwestern Pakistan and elsewhere.
Feroz Jamal, the provincial information minister, told The Associated Press that so far 44 people had been “martyred” and nearly 200 wounded in the bombing.
The bombing was one of the four worst attacks in the northwest since 2014, when 147 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed in a Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. In January, 74 people were killed in a bombing at a mosque in Peshawar. n February, more than 100 people, mostly policemen, died in a bombing at a mosque inside a high-security compound housing Peshawar police headquarters.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi condemned the attack and asked officials to provide all possible assistance to the wounded and the bereaved families. Sharif later, in a phone call to Rehman, the head of the JUI, conveyed his condolences to him and assured him that those who orchestrated the attack would be punished.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad also condemned the attack. In a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, it expressed its condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims killed in the attack..
Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of Rehman’s party, was among the dead. JUI leaders Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin were also on the stage but escaped unhurt.
Rasheed, the regional chief of the party, said the attack was an attempt to remove JUI from the field before parliamentary elections in November, but he said such tactics would not work. The bombing drew nationwide condemnation, with the ruling and opposition parties extending condolences to the families of those who died in the attack.
Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the upcoming elections.
“Many of our fellows lost their lives and many more wounded in this incident. I will ask the federal and provincial administrations to fully investigate this incident and provide due compensation and medical facilities to the affected ones,” Rasheed said.
Mohammad Wali, another attendant at the rally, said he was listening to a speaker address the crowd when the huge explosion temporarily deafened him.
“I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded, throwing me to the ground,” he said. “We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying, wounded people and sobbing relatives taking the bodies of their loved ones.”
Riaz Khan reported from Peshawar. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmad contributed from Islamabad.
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Biden Is Weighing a Big Middle East Deal
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Iranian president welcomed in Zimbabwe with anti-West songs on the last stop on his Africa trip
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https://apnews.com/article/iran-president-zimbabwe-visit-583ac8d372815d963001d0ccd8db19a8
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Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, center, inspects the guard of honour upon his arrival at Robert Mugabe airport in Harare, Zimbabwe, Thursday, July 13, 2023. Iran’s president is on a rare visit to Africa as the country, which is under heavy U.S. economic sanctions, seeks to deepen partnerships around the world. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi was welcomed in Zimbabwe on Thursday by people singing songs criticizing the West as he made his last stop on a three-nation Africa trip aimed at finding new trade alliances to soften the impact of U.S. sanctions on his nation.
Raisi was greeted at Harare’s international airport by Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and dozens of supporters waving Zimbabwe and Iran flags and holding placards with Raisi’s image.
Both countries are under U.S. sanctions and Raisi’s trip to Africa, which has already included stops in Kenya and Uganda, highlights Iran’s efforts to counter those heavy economic punishments.
Iran and Zimbabwe already have a joint permanent commission on political and trade relations and officials on Thursday signed 12 new memorandums of understanding, including agreements on agriculture, pharmaceuticals, telecoms, gas, energy and education.
Iran also signed agreements with Kenya and Uganda on Wednesday.
“Our cooperation with Zimbabwe and our cooperation with the African continent, which is a continent full of potential, could help us for mutual advances,” Raisi said in translated comments in Zimbabwe.
Raisi has recently reached out to other nations struggling under U.S. sanctions, including on his first visit to Latin America last month, when he went to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
“It is critically important that we, the victims of Western sanctions, are talking to each other,” Mnangagwa said. “The authors of these sanctions would not want us to talk to each other. But because we are both victims it is equally important that we show them that we are united.”
Iran has been subjected to a new bout of sanctions by the United States for allegedly supplying Russia with drones that have been used to devastating effect in the war in Ukraine.
The U.S. and European Union sanctions on Zimbabwe go back 20 years and are largely due to allegations of human rights abuses under former president Robert Mugabe. Some of those EU sanctions are being eased.
Iran and Zimbabwe also share historical ties and Mnangagwa thanked Raisi for Iran’s help in a liberation war in the 1970s that eventually led to the southern African nation breaking free of white minority rule.
“When we went to war, Iran was our friend. I am happy you have come to show solidarity,” Mnangagwa said earlier in brief remarks on the tarmac at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport named after the late Zimbabwean leader Mnangagwa helped oust in a coup in 2017.
At the airport, supporters sang songs criticizing the West as “white masters” intent on interfering in Zimbabwe and Raisi inspected an honor guard by Zimbabwe’s military.
On his visit to Uganda on Wednesday, Raisi sharply criticized Western nations’ support for homosexuality and LGBTQ+ rights, calling it “one of the dirtiest things.” He said Uganda’s recently-passed anti-gay legislation and Western criticism of it was “another area of cooperation for Iran and Uganda.”
Zimbabwe also has anti-gay laws, and homosexuality and same-sex marriages are illegal.
However, Mnangagwa has not attacked homosexuality, unlike his predecessor, the late Mugabe, who described gays as “worse than dogs and pigs.”
The last visit by an Iranian leader to Zimbabwe was in 2010 by then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
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Israeli raid on West Bank refugee camp cut water access for thousands, left 173 homeless, U.N. says
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Israeli raid on West Bank refugee camp cut water access for thousands, left 173 homeless, U.N. says
BY EMMET LYONS
JULY 12, 2023 / 12:05 PM / CBS NEWS
The U.N.'s humanitarian agency says thousands of people living in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank still have no reliable access to fresh water a week after Israel's military carried out a deadly, two-day raid on the camp. Israel has defended the raid, arguing that it was necessary to target Palestinian militant groups that operate out of the refugee camp.
"Jenin Refugee Camp, home to about 23,600 people, including 7,150 children, still lacks access to water, a week after the destruction of the local water network in a two-day operation carried out by Israeli forces," a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Tuesday. It estimated that access to water for 40% of the Jenin camp's residents was still cut.
A boy looks at damage inside a house in the occupied West Bank Jenin refugee camp, July 6, 2023, following a large-scale Israeli military operation.
ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP/GETTY
Last week's operation, which left at least 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead, also drove many Palestinians from their homes in Jenin and left a trail of damage and destruction in its wake, according to the report.
The U.N. agency said at least 173 people, or about 40 families, were still displaced from their homes a week after the military operation.
The report says thousands of others have returned to homes left "uninhabitable" by the Israeli assault, which included strikes by armed drones.
An estimated $5.2 million will be needed to address immediate humanitarian needs in Jenin, according to the OCHA report.
The operation was Israel's biggest in the West Bank in almost two decades. The Israel Defense Forces struck the camp in an operation it said was aimed at destroying and confiscating weapons from terrorists.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visited Jenin Wednesday to survey the damage. His visit came just days after three of his senior officials were forced to flee a funeral by heckling crowds furious at the PA's response to the Israeli assault, the Reuters news agency reported.
Palestinian authorities have launched a ministerial committee to provide reconstruction assistance in the Jenin camp, and the U.N. has said it is in contact with local officials to coordinate those efforts.
Violence between Israel and Palestinians has escalated this year, with the West Bank on track to see its deadliest year since 2005, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Tension has risen steadily since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power last year, bringing with him Israel's most far-right government ever.
Netanyahu's cabinet includes members of ultra-nationalist political parties that had long been relegated to the sidelines of Israel politics, including his new domestic security minister, who once chanted "death to Arabs" and was convicted of inciting racism.
Aside from the mounting tension with Palestinians, the new Israeli government has also faced a major backlash from Israelis who believe Netanyahu and his political allies are eroding democratic checks and balances in the country.
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In: Palestine Human rights Israel United Nations Refugee Palestinians Jenin Benjamin Netanyahu West Bank
First published on July 12, 2023 / 12:05 PM
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US Navy says it repelled Iranian effort to seize oil tankers
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US says Iran fired on one ship, but there were no casualties, and fled both times when a US ship arrived at the scene in the Gulf of Oman.
The United States Navy has said that it prevented Iranian forces from seizing two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, the latest in a series of such incidents in one of the world’s most vital energy passageways.
US Naval Forces Central Command said Wednesday that a guided missile destroyer, the USS McFaul had driven off Iranian vessels attempting to intercept two oil tankers off the coast of Oman, including one incident in which Iranian forces reportedly fired on one of the tankers.
“On July 5, US forces prevented two attempted commercial tanker seizures by the Iranian Navy after the Iranians had opened fire in one of the incidents near the coast of Oman,” a news release from the US Navy read. “Both of these incidents occurred in international waters.”
The encounters came at a time of high tensions between the US and Iran, which have struggled to revive a nuclear agreement that the Trump administration unilaterally broke off in 2015. The US has long accused Iran of harassing and seizing commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has stepped up those activities in recent months, seizing two oil tankers in one week during the months of April and May.
In these latest attempts, the first incident took place at about 1am local time on Wednesday, (21:00 GMT on Tuesday) when Iranian forces approached the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker TRF Moss. The Iranian vessel left when the USS McFaul, arrived on the scene.
About three hours later, the US Navy said that it had received a distress call from a Bahamian-flagged oil tanker, the Richmond Voyager, which had been told by an Iranian naval vessel to stop.
As the US ship made its way to the scene, Iranian forces fired on the Voyager with “long bursts from both small arms and crew-served weapons”, but that no serious damage or loss of life occurred the statement from the US Navy said. The Iranian forces left when the USS McFaul arrived.
The US Navy said that it has increased its presence in the Strait of Hormuz since May, citing an uptick in Iranian efforts to seize commercial vessels. The US says that Iran has “attacked or seized” nearly 20 such vessels since 2021.
“We remain vigilant and ready to protect navigational rights in these critical waters,” US Vice Admiral Brad Cooper said in the release.
Iran, which the US placed under heavy sanctions after the Trump administration unilaterally abandoned the nuclear deal, has not commented on the incident.
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Israel ends deadly raid in West Bank Palestinian refugee camp, but warns it won't be "a one-off"
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Israel ends deadly raid in West Bank Palestinian refugee camp, but warns it won't be "a one-off"
UPDATED ON: JULY 5, 2023 / 4:42 AM / CBS/AP
Jenin, West Bank — The Israeli military withdrew its troops from a militant stronghold in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, ending an intense two-day operation that killed at least 13 Palestinians, drove thousands of people from their homes and left a wide swath of damage in its wake. One Israeli soldier was also killed.
The army claimed to have inflicted heavy damage on militant groups in the Jenin refugee camp in an operation that included a series of airstrikes and hundreds of ground troops.
It was the Israeli military's largest-scale operation in the occupied Palestinian territory in almost 20 years, but it remained unclear whether there would be any long-lasting effect after nearly a year and a half of heavy fighting in the West Bank.
People carry bags with goods given by a local organization as they walk among debris in the aftermath of a two-day Israeli military operation in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on July 5, 2023.
RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Ahead of the withdrawal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to carry out more operations if needed.
"At these moments we are completing the mission, and I can say that our extensive operation in Jenin is not a one-off," he said during a visit to a military post on the outskirts of Jenin. "We will eradicate terrorism wherever we see it and we will strike at it."
The Jenin raid was one of the most intense Israeli military operations in the West Bank since an armed Palestinian uprising against Israel's open-ended occupation ended two decades ago, but Israel has been carrying out near daily raids in the West Bank since early 2022 in response to a series of deadly Palestinian attacks. It says the raids are meant to crack down on Palestinian militants and are necessary because the Palestinian Authority is too weak to control the armed groups.
Palestinians say such violence is the inevitable result of 56 years of occupation and the absence of any political process with Israel. They also point to increased West Bank settlement construction and violence by extremist settlers.
People walk past rubble in an alleyway in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on July 5, 2023, after the Israeli army declared the end of a two-day military operation in the area.
JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Israel struck the camp, known as a long-time bastion of Palestinian militants, early Monday in an operation it said was aimed at destroying and confiscating weapons.
Big military bulldozers tore through alleyways, leaving heavy damage to roads and buildings, and thousands of residents fled the camp to seek safety with relatives or in shelters. People said electricity and water were knocked out. The army said the bulldozers were necessary because roads were booby-trapped with explosives.
After troops left Wednesday morning, residents began emerging from their homes. They found streets lined by scorched and flattened cars and piles of rubble.
The military said it had confiscated thousands of weapons, bomb-making materials and caches of money. Weapons were found in militant hideouts and civilian areas alike, in one case beneath a mosque, the military said.
The withdrawal came hours after a Hamas militant rammed his car into a crowded Tel Aviv bus stop and began stabbing people, wounding eight, including a pregnant woman who reportedly lost her baby. The attacker was killed by an armed bystander. Hamas said the attack was revenge for the Israeli offensive.
A destroyed building is pictured in the aftermath of a two-day Israeli military operation in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on July 5, 2023.
RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Early Wednesday, militants from Hamas-ruled Gaza also fired five rockets toward Israel, which Israel said were intercepted. Israeli jets struck several sites in Gaza.
In Jenin, fighting continued until shortly before the withdrawal Wednesday morning.
The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike late Tuesday targeting a group of militants in a Jenin cemetery. It said the gunmen threatened forces moving out of the camp. Israeli and Palestinian officials also reported fighting near a hospital in Jenin late Tuesday. An Associated Press reporter on the ground could hear explosions and the sound of gunfire.
Palestinian health officials said 13 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli raid and dozens were wounded. The Israeli military has claimed it killed only militants, but has not provided details.
The large-scale raid came amid a more than yearlong spike in violence that has created a challenge for Netanyahu's far-right government, which is dominated by ultranationalists who have called for tougher action against Palestinian militants only to see the fighting worsen.
Over 140 Palestinians have been killed this year in the West Bank, and Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis have killed at least 25 people, including a shooting last month that killed four settlers.
The sustained operation has raised warnings from humanitarian groups of a deteriorating situation.
Doctors Without Borders accused the army of firing tear gas into a hospital, filling the emergency room with smoke and forcing emergency patients to be treated in a main hall.
The U.N.'s human rights chief said the scale of the operation "raises a host of serious issues with respect to international human rights norms and standards, including protecting and respecting the right to life."
Kefah Ja'ayyasah, a camp resident, said soldiers forcibly entered her home and locked the family inside.
"They took the young men of my family to the upper floor, and they left the women and children trapped in the apartment at the first floor," she said.
She claimed soldiers would not let her take food to the children and blocked an ambulance crew from entering the home when she yelled for help, before eventually allowing the family passage to a hospital.
Across the West Bank, Palestinians observed a general strike to protest the Israeli raid.
With airstrikes and a large presence of ground troops, the raid bore hallmarks of Israeli military tactics during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s. But there are also differences, including its limited scope.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state.
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In: Palestine Israel Palestinians Jenin Middle East Benjamin Netanyahu West Bank
First published on July 5, 2023 / 2:42 AM
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‘Criminal’: Israel’s Jenin attack sparks condemnation, alarm
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A number of nations, as well as the Arab League, have strongly criticised Israel’s attacks on Jenin.
Israel’s air raids and ground attacks on the Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank on Monday drew condemnation from Iran, Egypt, Jordan and the Arab League and concern from the United Nations, as the death toll from the large-scale military operation continued to mount.
Here are some of the international reactions:
The Arab League’s Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit condemned the “brutal military operation” in occupied Jenin in a tweet. He wrote: “The bombing of cities and camps by planes and the bulldozing of houses and roads is a collective punishment and revenge” that will lead to further escalations.
He also appealed to “advocates of peace” around the world to intervene and stop the “criminal operation”.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the Israeli attack on the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, calling for the intervention of international bodies to put an end to such violations.
In a statement, the ministry affirmed Egypt’s “complete rejection of the repeated Israeli attacks and incursions against Palestinian cities, resulting in innocent civilian casualties due to the use of excessive and indiscriminate force, and a flagrant violation of the provisions of international law and international legitimacy, especially the International humanitarian law that imposes clear and concise commitments.”
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani condemned the attack on Jenin, describing it as a “reckless crime and a prominent measure of state terrorism”, stressing that “the Zionist entity will be defeated this time as well”.
Kanani said in a press conference: “The continuing crimes of the Zionist entity have proven once again that normalisation with the Zionist entity will not stop the Zionist killing machine, nor will it deter it or affect it.”
Israel: No plan to expand operation to entire West Bank
Foreign minister Eli Cohen on Monday signalled Israel did not intend to expand its operation in Jenin to the entire occupied West Bank.
“Our goal is to focus on Jenin, and our goal is to focus only on the terrorists and their cells,” Cohen told reporters in Jerusalem
In a statement, Jordanian foreign ministry spokesperson Sinan al-Majali strongly condemned the Israeli offensive, saying the escalation “constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law and obligations of the [Israeli] occupation”.
The spokesperson called for immediate and effective action by the international community to stop the Israeli assault and provide protection for Palestinians in all occupied territories.
Oman has also criticised the recurrent Israeli attacks on Jenin and Palestinian territories.
Oman expressed its strong backing to the rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders in accordance with the two-state solution, relevant Security Council resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.
The United Nations resident humanitarian coordinator in Palestine, Lynn Hastings, expressed alarm in a tweet as she called for access to the injured.
Alarmed by scale of Israeli forces operation in #Jenin, occupied #WestBank. Airstrikes were used in the densely populated refugee camp. Several dead and critically wounded. Access to all injured must be ensured. @ochaopt is mobilising #humanitarian partners to provide assistance
— Lynn Hastings (@LynnHastings) July 3, 2023
Ankara has strongly condemned the incursion carried out by the Israeli forces through a statement by the Turkish foreign ministry.
“We are deeply concerned that the current tension in the region could trigger a new spiral of violence following these attacks, and we reiterate our call on the Israeli authorities to act with common sense and put an end to such actions,” it said.
“We wish Allah’s mercy upon our Palestinian brothers who lost their lives in the incident, a speedy recovery to the injured and extend our condolences to the State of Palestine and its people.”
The United Arab Emirates has called for immediate cessation of all repeated and escalated campaigns carried out against the Palestinian people.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed in a press statement the need for concentrated international efforts to achieve ceasefire in order to revive the peace process in the Middles East.
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Israel to announce plans for thousands of new settlement units in West Bank
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Turkey votes again, with Erdoğan poised to extend his rule
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https://www.politico.eu/article/turkey-vote-again-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan-poised-extend-rule-kemal-kilicdaroglu/
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Counting is under way in Sunday’s election second round. After 20 years in power, Turkey’s president is favorite to win again.
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Erdogan’s fate in the balance as Turkish voters head to the polls
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A woman votes at a polling station in Istanbul on Sunday. (Hannah Mckay/Reuters)
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ISTANBUL — A pivotal election between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu was thrown into chaos late Sunday after Kilicdaroglu accused his opponents of obstructing the vote and Erdogan expressed confidence that he would ultimately prevail.
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“They are blocking the system with repeated objections,” Kilicdaroglu said in a televised speech from his party’s headquarters after midnight. “There are ballot boxes that have been contested six times. There are ballot boxes that have been contested 11 times.
“We will not allow this to be a fait accompli. Stop messing around with perception management.”
Vote tallies carried by two news agencies Sunday — one state-run, the other aligned with the opposition — suggested that the race remained tight, with a few percentage points separating the candidates and Erdogan in the lead. Neither had passed the 50 percent threshold required to claim victory outright, according to the tallies, results that, if confirmed by the country’s election board, would trigger a runoff between the two men on May 28.
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The bitter arguments over the election underscored opposition fears that Erdogan, who wields control over Turkey’s state institutions and most of its media outlets, would deploy every tool at his disposal to stay in power.
Erdogan, in a speech to supporters in Ankara in the early hours Monday, said that results from the election were not final but that he was in the lead and expected to win in the first round. Whatever the result, he added, “We are going to respect the national will.”
The election between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu moved to a runoff on May 15 after a close race. (Video: Reuters)
The election was the toughest test to date for Erdogan, Turkey’s most successful politician in generations and its leader for two decades. He has been blamed for an economic crisis that has battered Turkish households. And Turks are still recovering from catastrophic earthquakes in February that killed more than 50,000 people and that exposed government lapses — in the enforcement of building codes and in rescue efforts that the president has conceded were tardy, with fatal consequences.
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The race was being closely watched around the world. Kilicdaroglu has promised to usher Turkey, a NATO member, into a new era by revitalizing democracy after years of government repression and refreshing ties with Turkey’s estranged allies in the West.
Facing toughest election in years, Turkey’s Erdogan lashes out
Erdogan’s campaign focused on strides he said Turkey made under his rule, as a country modernized by megaprojects such as bridges and airports and an independent global power that produced its own military weapons. He also savagely attacked the opposition, claiming they were backed by “terrorist” groups, in what analysts said was a sign of desperation as he flirted with defeat for the first time in years.
As of late Sunday, neither campaign had confirmed that the race was headed to a runoff, with votes yet to count. Ahmet Yener, chairman of Turkey’s Supreme Election Board, suggested many votes had not been tallied, telling journalists Sunday evening that “currently, 69.12 percent of the ballot boxes have been opened.”
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Mansur Yavas, the mayor of Ankara and a surrogate for Kilicdaroglu, said that while there was a “high probability” Kilicdaroglu had won the first round, there was also a “high probability” of a runoff. Both campaigns urged their supporters to zealously guard the ballot boxes and ensure the integrity of the vote.
A third presidential candidate, Sinan Ogan, an ultranationalist, claimed at least 5 percent of the vote, according to the preliminary tallies — a result that provided him with leverage over the remaining candidates should there be a runoff. Ogan, the leader of the Ata (Ancestor) Alliance, a group of four small right-wing groups, has campaigned in large part on an anti-immigrant platform and has advocated sending millions of Syrian refugees back to their country, potentially by force.
Long lines were seen at polling stations in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, where Erdogan voted Sunday morning. Kilicdaroglu cast his ballot in Ankara. High turnout was reported around the country.
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Outside a polling station in the Istanbul neighborhood of Kurtulus early Sunday, Garip Cicek, a 48-year-old security guard, said he was waiting “impatiently” for the evening’s results. “It’s important for my nation,” he said. He was voting for Erdogan, he said, because he supported the president’s development of the defense industry.
“This is a matter of pride,” he said. During Erdogan’s 20 years in power, he added, “many things” had been accomplished, including the recent unveiling of the first domestically produced electric car.
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“The result is clear,” he said, predicting an Erdogan win. “With God’s will, we can stay where we are.”
Another voter in the neighborhood was just as convinced that Kilicdaroglu would prevail and that Turkey could not remain as it was. “I haven’t felt this excited or happy in such a long time,” said Ayse Kolikpinar, 33.
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Sunday’s vote was like a “referendum” for Turkey, she said: “Either we choose the Republic or a one-man regime.”
The trauma of the earthquakes in Turkey and neighboring Syria ensured a subdued run-up to the election, as Erdogan toured a string of devastated cities, asking for forgiveness and pledging to rebuild. Then his tone shifted, as polls showed the race was too close to call or that he was trailing.
On Saturday, Erdogan accused the United States of trying to interfere in the election. “Biden instructed, ‘We need to bring down Erdogan,’” he said during a speech in Istanbul. “Tomorrow, the ballot boxes will give Biden an answer, as well.”
Erdogan, who rose to power as an Islamist politician, commands a loyal base of supporters, including Muslim conservatives whose rights and place in public life he has championed. Several years ago, Erdogan struck an alliance with a far-right party, ensuring his political survival.
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Erdogan ended his campaign Saturday night with prayers at the Hagia Sophia, the Istanbul landmark that Erdogan converted in 2020 from a museum into a mosque, to the delight of his pious supporters.
During the campaign, Kilicdaroglu, a soft-spoken former bureaucrat who lacks Erdogan’s charisma, delivered his messages of change to Turkey’s public through videos posted on Twitter and other social media platforms to evade the government’s stranglehold on the news media. On Thursday, a third-party candidate, Muharrem Ince, withdrew from the election, potentially providing a further boost to Kilicdaroglu.
Turkey elections: Erdogan’s challenger vows to end ‘authoritarian rule’
Days before the election, Erdogan addressed fears over whether he would accept the results.
“This is a very silly question,” the president said in a nationally televised interview with journalists Friday. “We came to power in Turkey through a democratic way. We came to power with the trust of our people. Just as we came to power with the favor of our people, that is, if our nation makes a different decision, we will do exactly that, whatever the necessity of democracy. There is nothing else to do.”
The string of cities in southern Turkey crushed by the earthquakes were being closely watched Sunday for indications of voter turnout, in a region where hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. In Antakya, one of Turkey’s most devastated cities, a 62-year-old contractor returned with his family to vote Sunday, driving from the coastal Mediterranean city of Mersin, about three hours away, where they had found temporary shelter.
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In Antakya’s Elektrik neighborhood, the contractor, Mehmet, stopped at the site of his former apartment building and began searching what remained of the rubble. He said he had reinforced the foundation of the building himself. It had withstood the earthquakes but was left uninhabitable after neighboring buildings fell onto it.
Immediately after the earthquakes, the family applied to stay in a tent or container nearby, but Mehmet — who declined to give his last name for fear of the current political climate — said nothing came of it. “For the past three months, we’ve been ruined, and nobody has reached out to us,” he said.
He and his family members — including his 87-year-old diabetic mother and his wife, who has a debilitating hormonal disorder called Addison’s disease — eventually found shelter in the home of a friend in Mersin. But Mehmet described the arrangement as temporary and doesn’t know what comes after. It’s hard, he said, to “see a future for myself.”
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Mehmet called the earthquake relief effort in Antakya a missed opportunity for Erdogan. “If he really reached out to us, he could have won the people’s hearts here, but he didn’t,” Mehmet said. “If you try to heal people’s wounds, if you reach out to them in their time of need, people will embrace you. But if you treat people like they’re from the ‘other’ side, they’ll see you the same way, too.”
The family voted for Kilicdaroglu.
Oztaskin reported from Antakya, Turkey.
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A massive new US embassy in a tiny Middle East nation is raising eyebrows
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An aerial view of the new US embassy complex in Beirut under construction. (Credit: US embassy in Beirut via Twitter)
US Embassy in Beirut/Twitter
Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.
CNN
—
A massive new US embassy complex in Lebanon is causing controversy for its sheer size and opulence in a country where nearly 80% of the population is under the poverty line.
Located some 13 kilometers (about 8 miles) from the center of Beirut and built on the site of the current embassy, the US’ new compound in Lebanon looks like a city of its own.
Sprawling over a 43-acre site, the complex in the Beirut suburb of Awkar is almost two-and-a-half times the size of the land the White House sits on and more than 21 soccer fields.
Many Lebanese on Twitter questioned why the US needs such a large embassy in their capital. Lebanon is smaller than Connecticut and has a population of just six million. Few American tourists go to the country as the State Department has placed it on the third highest travel advisory level, but it does have a sizeable population of Lebanese American residents.
“Did the US move to Lebanon??” tweeted Sandy, a social media activist.
“Maybe you’ll have enough room to work on all those pending visa applications,” tweeted Abed A. Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, responding to the grandiosity of the new complex.
Lebanon's soul has been eviscerated by its financial crisis. Not even the children want to play
Computer-generated images published by the embassy show an ultra-modern compound, hosting multi-story buildings with high glass windows, recreational areas, and a swimming pool surrounded by greenery and views of the Lebanese capital. The compound includes a chancery, representational and staff housing, facilities for the community and associated support facilities, according to the project’s website.
From the pandemic to the 2020 Beirut blast, Lebanon has been assailed by a number of crises that have left its economy in ruins. Many Lebanese are unable to afford basic commodities, including food, medicine and electricity.
“Let them eat concrete,” another user tweeted.
Plans for the embassy complex were announced in 2015 and it is reported to have cost $1 billion.
Its construction is overseen by the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), which supervised the building of a number of other US embassies around the world.
The US embassy in Lebanon did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
The US has had a turbulent history with Lebanon. It is the home of Iran-backed Hezbollah, the most powerful group in the country, but has nonetheless enjoyed friendly relations with the US.
Last month marked 40 years since the 1983 bombing of the American embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people, including 52 Lebanese and embassy employees. In October that year, a bomb struck barracks in Beirut housing American and French peacekeepers, killing 299 people.
This story has been updated to clarify that the existing embassy is being extended
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Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan released on bail
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'This is the way of Pakistan': Explaining the arrest of Imran Khan
13:35 - Source: CNN
Islamabad, Pakistan
CNN
—
Pakistan’s former prime minister, Imran Khan, has been granted bail by the Islamabad High Court, days after his dramatic arrest over corruption charges set off a deadly outpouring of anger against the country’s military.
Khan left the court on Friday under police protection to return to Lahore. Before leaving, he predicted he could be arrested again, despite a court order barring authorities from arresting him on any charges until Monday.
“I will again be illegally arrested, this time outside the High Court, I know I will be arrested. My simple message is, how I am I supposed to control what will happen afterwards?” Khan told reporters.
He said that his message to followers is to remain peaceful – adding that he won’t be responsible for the reaction of the protesters if he is arrested again.
“For 27 years I’ve been in politics… Show me one message which has been different to this…every time I have told my followers, stay within the constitution. When you do protest, be peaceful….We have never broken the law, even now when I tell them to protest, I say they should be peaceful protests. I have always said that,” Khan said.
Jubilant supporters gathered outside Khan’s house as he returned home to Lahore early Saturday. Video showed people cheering and throwing flower petals onto Khan’s car as it drove through the crowd, and supporters setting off fireworks.
The ex-leader was granted the two-week temporary release on bail on Friday, one day after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled Khan’s arrest last week by Pakistan’s anti-graft agency, the National Accountability Bureau, was unlawful.
Khan’s party had filed a petition to challenge the illegal land acquisition charges against him.
Soon after his arrest, Khan accused the country’s powerful army chief: “There is only one man taking action against me and that is the army chief,” Khan told reporters in court on Friday, referring to army chief General Syed Asim Munir.
CNN has approached Pakistan’s military for comment.
Khan also said that arrest warrants had been issued for his wife. “I am 100% sure I will be arrested again. I was allowed by the NAB to talk to my wife, arrest warrants are issued against her too,” Khan told CNN outside the courtroom ahead of his hearing.
Gunshots could be heard outside near the court early Saturday. Police say they have made two arrests and are investigating what happened.
Policemen escort Pakistan's former prime minister, Imran Khan, as he arrives at the High Court in Islamabad, Pakistan on May 12, 2023.
Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images
Khan's dramatic arrest prompted a wave of unrest across major cities in Pakistan this past week.
AP
Khan was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote last year and has since led a popular campaign against the current government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accusing it of colluding with senior military leaders to remove him from office and keep him locked out of politics.
He has also made allegations the government worked with the United States in a conspiracy to remove him from office, claims both parties rejected.
The army has previously rejected Khan’s claims it had anything to do with past purported attempts on his life.
Protesters are turning on Pakistan's military after Imran Khan's arrest. Here's what you need to know
Unprecedented scenes emerged following Khan’s arrest of defiant crowds breaking into military properties and setting the homes of army personnel ablaze, directly challenging a usually untouchable force that has long sat at the apex of power in Pakistan.
The government has blocked mobile internet services in a bid to quell the chaos, disrupting access to social media like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as well as key delivery apps and even digital payment platforms.
At least eight people have died and hundreds have been arrested nationwide, according to officials.
Police have also arrested several senior leaders of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party for “inciting arson and violent protests.”
The crisis comes as the nation of 220 million people grapples with an acute economic crisis, as soaring inflation leaves people unable to afford food and fuel, heightening fears about the country’s stability in what is an election year for Pakistan.
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Biden advisers brief Israel's Netanyahu on Saudi talks
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U.S. Sending More Warships, Marines to Middle East Amid Rising Tensions With Iran
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Updated July 21, 2023 12:22 pm ET
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US CENTCOM Deploys F-35s, Navy Destroyer To Safeguard Vital Waterways Amid Rising Tensions
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-20-1245/defense-and-security-us-centcom-deploys-f-35s-navy-destroyer-safeguard-vital
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https://www.ibtimes.com/us-centcom-deploys-f-35s-navy-destroyer-safeguard-vital-waterways-amid-rising-tensions-3705931
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By Suman Varandani
@suman09
07/20/23 AT 11:58 AM EDT
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An F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter takes off on a training sortie at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida in this March 6, 2012 file photo. REUTERS/U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO/RANDY GON/HANDOUT
KEY POINTS
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh made an announcement regarding the deployment
The USS Thomas Hudner destroyer, along with F-35 fighters and F-16 fighters, will be dispatched to the region
This deployment aims to enhance the security and surveillance capabilities in the CENTCOM area
In response to Iran's recent seizure and harassment of commercial shipping vessels, the US Central Command in the Middle East is taking action by deploying a range of military assets. This includes dispatching F-35 stealth fighter aircraft, a Navy destroyer, and F-16s to monitor and safeguard crucial waterways in the region. The deployment aims to ensure the safety and security of commercial shipping in the area.
Following the arrival of stealth F-22s in Jordan from Europe, as part of a temporary rotation to deter Russian pilots' maneuvers in the region, the deployment of F-35s has been initiated. These advanced fighter aircraft are being sent as an additional measure to bolster the deterrence efforts in response to the perceived threat posed by Russian activities.
On July 17, during a Pentagon briefing, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh made an announcement regarding the deployment of military assets to the US Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. As per the direction of the secretary of defense, the USS Thomas Hudner destroyer, along with F-35 and F-16 fighters, will be dispatched to the region. This deployment aims to enhance the security and surveillance capabilities in the CENTCOM area, indicating the US government's commitment to safeguarding the region's stability and interests.
US Defense Secretary has ordered F-35 and F-16 fighter jets deployed to Mideast as well as the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner "in response to a number of recent alarming events in Strait of Hormuz", after Iran's Navy attempted to seize merchant vessels twice earlier this month. pic.twitter.com/kMbunolDAs
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) July 18, 2023
The recent decision to deploy the USS Thomas Hudner destroyer, along with F-35 and F-16 fighters, to the CENTCOM area of responsibility is a direct response to concerning events that have unfolded in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Strait of Hormuz holds immense strategic importance as a vital narrow passage that connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Its significance lies in facilitating the transit of around 20 percent of the world's total oil supply. This crucial waterway serves as a major artery for the global energy trade, enabling the transportation of oil from the oil-rich countries in the Persian Gulf to various international markets. The stability and openness of the Strait are critical factors that influence the global energy landscape and have substantial implications for both regional and global economies.
The Defense Department adopts a fluid and adaptable approach to its posture, regularly making necessary adjustments to address both present and future operational demands, as reported by Eurasian Times.
During the briefing, Singh provided an explanation for the decision to deploy additional assets to the region. Citing the continuous incidents of vessel harassment by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, the Secretary of Defense and CENTCOM commander have jointly decided to enhance the capabilities in the area. By increasing their presence and readiness, the authorities aim to safeguard maritime security and stability in the vital Strait of Hormuz.
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Although the deployment of F-35s and a Navy destroyer marks a recent development, plans to reinforce the military's presence in the region were disclosed earlier on July 14. A senior US defense official revealed the intention to deploy additional F-16s as part of these augmentation efforts. By increasing the deployment of F-16 fighter aircraft, the US aims to further strengthen its capabilities in the region, responding to the evolving security situation and maintaining a robust posture to address potential threats and challenges effectively.
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Jenin: Palestinians fear escalation after destructive West Bank assault
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Jenin: Palestinians fear escalation after destructive West Bank assault
Published
5 July
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Media caption,
See inside Jenin refugee camp after Israeli assault
By Tom Bateman
BBC Middle East correspondent, Jenin
The atmosphere in Jenin refugee camp feels like one I have witnessed elsewhere - in Gaza, after wars with Israel.
But this is the occupied West Bank; where the dynamics are very different. Now it seems like a fast descent into something far more dangerous is already happening.
The destruction in the camp following the Israeli army's biggest assault there in 20 years is massive.
As hundreds of troops entered the camp on Monday morning, the army fired missiles from drones - air strikes have not been used in the West Bank for two decades - and tore up roads to clear them of what it said were militants' roadside bombs.
Fierce gun battles broke out between the troops and Palestinian militants and continued until Israeli troops withdrew on Tuesday night.
Now for the first time in safety since Sunday, thousands of residents pour into the streets to see the destruction themselves.
They clamber over rubble, take photos on their phones of the wreckage and compare experiences, pointing out which homes were raided, whose sons have been detained, and where the dead fell. One man walks up to me saying it reminds him of pictures from Turkey and Syria earlier this year - after the earthquake.
Image caption,
The UN said there was significant damage to water and power networks inside the camp
Cars lie crushed and tossed aside where they were hewn out of the path of Israel's D9 armoured bulldozers. The tarmac is torn up, lying everywhere in huge chunks. We walk along what was underneath the streets: rubble, sand and dust.
Many homes have no water or power. Aid volunteers bring crates of bottled water. They join the recovery workers - some driving the few diggers available. One is removing a downed tree from the top of a residential building. It shears away part of the facade of a shop on the ground floor, falling perilously close to us.
The Israeli armoured convoys pulled out overnight amid intense gunfights with militants. Despite today's calm, everyone fears more is coming. Israel says it will keep doing these kinds of operations "as long as necessary to uproot terrorism" while Palestinian militant groups are claiming "victory" and vowing revenge.
We continue our way through the camp and the funeral processions begin. Thousands of mourners chant as they carry stretchers holding the bodies of some of the 12 Palestinians killed since Monday. Four of them were aged under 18. Israel said it was targeting militants.
Image caption,
Thousands attended the funerals of the 12 Palestinians killed during the Israeli operation
Columns of people join. As they march, some men are masked and carrying guns; others wear Islamic Jihad headbands and Hamas flags flutter over a nearby building. Anger grips the crowd as it makes its way towards the homes of the dead, where their mothers and wives await.
But the displays of firepower - in public at least - feel less intense than previous funerals.
I have been coming to Jenin repeatedly over the last year and a half, as a new generation of armed militants has formed, rejecting the ageing Palestinian leadership and shooting at the Israeli army during its growing raids into the city.
This is a generation that believes the official Palestinian Authority (PA) sold out on their future and became little more than a security company for Israel's military occupation, which secures the expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, built on the land Palestinians want for a future state and illegal under international law.
Image caption,
Jenin is a city that had already slipped well out of the control of the Palestinian Authority
Less gunfire today, but the frustration only intensifies. Overnight young Palestinian men also clashed with the formal security forces of the PA. Jenin is a city that had already slipped well out of its limited control.
Now the institutional remnants of a three-decades old peace process in the occupied West Bank are being tested to destruction.
Israel says it will continue to root out what it calls "a city of refuge for terrorism" in Jenin, but the Palestinian militant factions say they will intensify their activities. A car-ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that wounded seven Israelis was described by Islamic Jihad as the "first response" to what was happening in Jenin.
The growing violence is a further sign of the collapse of any political horizons. Some fear that Palestinian cities in the West Bank will see more intensive military attacks and security crackdowns - more akin to the plight of people in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas and blockaded by Israel.
More Palestinians reject their own internationally recognised leadership and back armed resistance, while Israel remains in the grip of the most extreme government it has ever known, which has vowed to extend what it calls exclusive Jewish rights to all the land.
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Russian jets said to step up strikes on Syrian rebel enclave
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Russian jets said to step up strikes on Syrian rebel enclave
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi
June 25, 20234:59 PM GMT+2Updated 3 months ago
[1/3]A general view of the aftermath of a Russian air strike at Jisr al-Shughour, Syria June 25, 2023 in this screen grab taken from a handout video. White Helmets/Handout via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights
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Pakistan Ex-PM Imran Khan Says Defying U.S. Policy Led to His Downfall
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01:13
Exclusive: Pakistan Ex-PM Imran Khan Says Defying U.S. Policy Led to His Downfall
WORLD
PAKISTAN
IMRAN KHAN
DONALD TRUMP
RUSSIA
In an exclusive interview, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks with Tom O'Connor, Newsweek's Senior Foreign Policy Writer and Deputy Editor of National Security and Foreign Policy, about the ominous road the country he once led is going down, his deepening legal troubles and what he believes was the role of the United States in his ousting from power over a year ago.
With the nuclear-armed nation of nearly 250 million people mired in economic and political turmoil, the conflicting narratives over Khan's saga has threatened to push Pakistan over the edge.
It's the second time in less than two years that Newsweek has interviewed the cricket star-turned-politician who leads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, having spoken with him in September 2021 during his premiership. The following April, he faced a no-confidence vote that pushed him out of power, which was followed by a slew of charges lodged against him under the incoming administration of current Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, whom Newsweek interviewed last August.
Today, Khan is largely confined to his residence in Lahore while on bail from successive court appearances on allegations ranging from corruption to terrorism and even murder. In all cases, he has maintained his innocence and accused the Sharif administration along with the influential armed forces of pursuing a concerted campaign to silence him as elections loom in October.
Khan asserts that the conspiracy began while he was in office, as he claims political forces within Pakistan swayed Washington to portray Khan as an enemy of the U.S. Though he rejects this characterization of his views, he does accuse the West of double standards and defends his own non-aligned policy in international affairs, even if he believes it ultimately helped lead to his removal from office and the beginning of a long, growing list of problems.
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The following transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chair and former Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks to Newsweek from his residence in Lahore on June 9.
PAKISTAN TEHREEK-E-INSAF
Newsweek: It's been less than two years since the last time I interviewed you, when you were on the cover of Newsweek magazine. Then, of course, you were the prime minister. And since then, you've been ousted, you've been shot, you've been arrested, and you're still in the midst of this arduous legal process. Can you tell us what's happened, and where are you right now in this process?
Khan: Well, the people who conspired to pull down my government, which was the ex-Army Chief [Qamar Javed Bajwa], and afterwards, he quite clearly stated [as such]. Because within his own circles, within the army circles, they kept asking, "Why did they remove me?" So, he actually then justified it that I was dangerous. He claimed I was dangerous for Pakistan. And they gave some other reasons, too.
So, what happened subsequently was unique in Pakistan, because on April 9 last year, my government was removed. And on April 10, which has never happened in this country, hundreds and thousands of people came out on the streets to protest. So that took the military establishment, which means the army chief—by the way, military establishment means one man. There's no democratic process there. It's just one man that makes decisions, and he's very powerful. Over the years, the army chief has gathered powers which probably no other army chief has in the world, I guess [except for] places like Myanmar and Sudan, but in democracies, it's unheard of.
But when the people came out, it was a shock to everyone, including myself. By the way, I'd never expected people because we never planned it. It was a spontaneous reaction. And then I went to the public, had a series of rallies, and all were massive rallies, bigger than any rallies in Pakistan. And then there were by-elections. So, my party swept. Out of 37 by-elections, my party won 30, with the army siding with the government. Normally, it is said that the establishment makes you win, but the establishment was on the other side with all the 22 parties or 12 parties. And despite that, we swept 30 elections.
Clearly what happened was, having realized that they made a mistake, the army chief, and whatever his advisers do, they decided that, whatever happens, I should not be allowed to come back.
So, what you're seeing right now is that same process going on, the assassination attempt was part of it. There were two, by the way, there was another assassination attempt on me on March 18. They were part of that, whatever happens, I can't come back. Then, this false flag operation, which happened on May 9, they could easily have come and pick me up, the police could have come and said, "Here's your warrant, and we're taking you to jail." That could have happened, but instead, while I'm sitting in the High Court [of Islamabad], I have this commando operation where they come and smash everything...They beat up everyone. I was hit over my head.
And then they took me away like I was some sort of the biggest terrorist in this country, not someone who was having the biggest party in the country. But the moment I was in the jeep, suddenly they were completely polite, very courteous and polite.
So, when I look back, it was a planned thing because they want a reaction. And as a result of the reaction, this arson took place. Now, my party has been [around] 27 years [since] I started [it]. Never have we indulged in arson or violence, even when I was shot. There were demonstrations, but there was no arson. This time, when I'm inside, three days or four days later, the Supreme Court calls me up and then releases me. It was unlawful, clearly what they did was unlawful. They call it abduction. It wasn't an arrest.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chair and former Prime Minister Imran Khan (left) leaves from the High Court in Islamabad on June 8, a day before his interview with Newsweek. Khan says he is facing up to 150 charges, having received bail for 19 so far.
FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Meanwhile, I come out and find that this corps commander's house had been burned and a television radio station had been burned, so I was quite surprised. And I thought maybe the mob had gone mad. Then we discovered that it was a planned thing. I mean, everywhere the word started coming that there were these people planted who did this. And amazingly, the corps commander's house is the most heavily guarded house. And yet, while the crowd took two hours to get to his house, the police knew where they were going, there was no protection. And yet the head of our Punjab party is sitting there, this woman [Yasmin Rashid], and she's telling everyone on the loudspeaker not to go inside the house.
Yet, not only are we blamed, but in in the next 48 hours, or maybe slightly more, my entire leadership is in jail. But worse, 10,000 of our workers are put in jail. Now this couldn't have been unless it was a planned operation, pre-planned. How can you immediately know where the workers were? So immediately, 10,000 workers are put in like a military operation. The rest of the workers are in hiding. The senior leadership can only come out if they go on the media and say, "I'm quitting the party." So, that's how the senior leaders have come out. Most of my people are in hiding now who are not in jail.
So, I'm quite isolated right now, and I have to face cases. I've got over 150 cases. Yesterday, I was in court, I had 19 cases. It's unheard of—19 bail cases, and ranging from murder—I mean, the latest case that they blamed me for murder. Out of the 150 cases, one of the cases was that some lawyer had done a treason case on me, which was a frivolous case, it would have been thrown out, irrelevant case really, and the lawyer gets shot in Quetta, which is a remote province. And they put a murder case on me.
So, this is the situation now. I have these cases against me, my leadership is in jail, unless they renounce, and a lot of them have renounced being in the party, and the other office bearers are either in hiding or in jail, the few of the 10,000 people, and it's ongoing, the arrests are happening.
But it's not just that. The entire media, which has asserted its independence over a period of time, the last 20 years, from a controlled media we went to a completely, in fact, overboard media...but very vibrant, they have been [told] that my name cannot be mentioned on television today—there are about 30, 40 channels. Everyone has been instructed. First, they stopped my interviews and speeches, and now I'm completely blacked out.
But the worst thing is our judiciary. There too was a movement. Sixteen years ago, I was put in jail when I joined the movement for an independent judiciary. Our chief justice had been removed by the then-dictator General [Pervez] Musharraf. So, we all stood for an independent judiciary. And actually, that movement worked. The chief justice was reinstated. And from then onwards, the judiciary became fairly independent—in other words, they would be protecting us from the excesses of the executive. And so, we were moving more towards democracy with an independent judiciary, vibrant media. And the only issue was the Election Commission, which was still a bit controlled. Now everything is rolled back.
The judiciary is now controlled; they [government officials] don't listen to the verdicts of the judiciary. One of our office bearers, five times he got bail in the cases he's been in. Five times they slapped another case and put him back in prison...He can only get out if he renounces being part of PTI.
So, this is the situation right now. The party is being systematically dismantled. But bear in mind, this party has ratings today over 70 percent. It is by far the most popular party in our history, and it's a federal party. Normally, the parties are confined to the four provinces. So, the rating is unprecedented in our history. I mean, in what Pakistan is now, no party is as popular, but they're trying to dismantle it. But in trying to dismantle it, they're actually dismantling the democracy.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif sits below a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who first led Pakistan after independence from the United Kingdom and partition with India in 1947, on February 2 in his office in Islamabad. Sharif heads the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party, named after his brother, Nawaz Sharif, who served three non-consecutive terms as premier, but, like every other leader in Pakistan's 75-year history, did not complete any of them.
OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN
What you're outlining and what you're saying, is this planned operation, a false flag, a conspiracy. And you've named the military establishment, you've named the Sharif administration, and you've named the United States before. Who's behind this, and how are they coordinating? Where are they trying to achieve here in Pakistan? What's their goal?
Let me just give you exactly what happened. March 6, 2022, there's a meeting between the Pakistani ambassador Asad Majeed [Khan] and the U.S. Under Secretary of State for South Asia Donald Lu. A cipher is the secret, coded message that you get from your ambassadors...So, I get this message. Donald Lu is telling the ambassador that unless I, Imran Khan, am removed as the prime minister in the no-confidence motion, there'll be consequences for Pakistan. I mean, there were other things, but this was the main thing.
Next day, there's the no-confidence motion tabled in the National Assembly. And before that, we see that the American Embassy is meeting our parliamentarians, our backbenchers...[We know] they were meeting because we had the report of meeting... Some of the guys who were going into the American Embassy beforehand were first to jump ship. So, I was puzzled, because I didn't quite understand why would the U.S. object to a deal.
One thing was, I had gone to Russia. Unfortunately, when I arrived, that's the day [Russian President Vladimir] Putin moved into Ukraine. I mean, he certainly didn't consult me. Otherwise, had I known, obviously, I wouldn't have gone. But at the time, our foreign office had said we didn't have a good relationship with the Russians for a long time. And the whole sort of stakeholders, including the army leadership, they all wanted me to go because there was military hardware they wanted from Russia, and then we wanted cheap oil from Russia, plus get a pipeline, plus wheat—we have 2 million tons of wheat we import from them.
So, that's why the trip was planned. When I got there, of course, the same day, Putin walked into Ukraine. So, I think I was criticized for that. But what could I do?
When we got back, there was one issue, they [the U.S.] wanted us, through the United Nations, to condemn Russia. But I kept telling them that, look, if we condemned them, we had done a deal with them for cheaper oil, just like India, same deal as India, and also wheat—we were, as I said, 2 million tons short of wheat—so I said, if we condemn them right now, what about the impact it's going to have on our population?
Because the biggest reason for inflation in our country is always oil. Thirty-six percent of our imports are petroleum, and the oil prices already were going up. Now, they're about $70 to $80 a barrel—then it had reached $110. Anyway, my point was, let's stay neutral like India. I think maybe that was it.
Maybe it was the Taliban. [For] 20 years I kept saying there would be no military solution in Afghanistan, because I know the history. We already [have a] bordering province to Afghanistan, which is also Pashtun. Taliban are Pashtun, they're also Pashtun...So anyway, I'd been saying this throughout, that there was no [military] solution. So, I think that was maybe taken as anti-American, because I didn't believe in that military solution.
But later on, we discovered that it was the army chief. We found out six months after my government went, that the army chief actually had appointed a lobbyist, an ex-Pakistani ambassador called Husain Haqqani, and he had paid him $30,000, when my government was in power, and we didn't know this. He was lobbying for the army chief who wanted an extension, and he wanted clearance from the U.S. And so, this guy was actually working [for the army chief]. He actually did a tweet that General Bajwa is pro-American, Imran Khan is anti-American.
So later on, we discovered that this was actually my own army chief [who] was feeding this thing. So, it wasn't really initiated from the U.S. It was him who had sort of made me into some anti-American...So, it was a conspiracy. It was the army chief, it was the guy who's the prime minister right now, and the U.S. came into it thinking as I'm someone anti-American.
I would like to talk a little about the situation in Pakistan right now, where we have a severe economic crisis, the effects of climate change and, on top of that, some real security concerns with the rise of militant activity. Are you concerned about the future of Pakistan's stability and the worst-case scenarios in terms of, perhaps, a return to military control, or even a total state collapse of a nuclear-armed nation?
When I discovered that General Bajwa was in the last two, three weeks actually trying to undermine my government, I had a meeting with him, and I tried to explain to him that, look, this is a commodity super cycle going on, where the energy prices have hit the roof. We are very delicately balancing our economy. If this government goes at this period, it will create political instability. And once there's political instability, the economy will go into a tailspin. And these guys who you're going to bring because they're the alternative, they have already been three times in government and twice they've left the economy bankrupt.
So, I said they won't be able to control it. Then I sent my finance minister the next day to Bajwa, who explained to him how delicately the economy was balanced. But once there's instability, there will be a lot of problems, especially on our currency, and then we won't be able to control it. So, he was warned. And this is exactly what happened.
The economy from then onwards started going down, our currency started going down. And then it started hitting our industry. The measures they took then to cut the current account deficit, that had an impact on our industry, which was growing. This is all recorded in the economic survey of Pakistan. We actually were growing in the last two years on an average of 6 percent. We were one of the highest growth rates in Pakistan.
And our industry was all around, the agriculture, production sector, agriculture and industry were really after 17 years growing. So, the moment the measures they took once the current currency started falling, inflation started going up, because the moment your currency falls, all imports, especially the inflexible imports like oil and food, palm oil, all of them go up. So, the inflation started going up.
And since then, it has just kept going down. Now we are in probably the worst economic situation in our history. We have the worst inflation. A year ago, when we were there, it was 12.2 percent. Today it is 38 percent inflation, highest in our history. Our exports are falling. So, the dollar income is going down, our exports have gone down by 13 percent, remittances from overseas have gone down by 13 percent. We have record debt. Right now, we've increased the amount of debt. Our entire revenue collection goes into servicing the debt, the debt is still there, but just paying the interest on the debt, the whole revenue goes in there.
So, it is the worst economic situation right now. And the worry is that what this establishment is trying to do right now to crush us is only creating more economic instability.
The only thing that can bring stability are free and fair elections. What you would want in Pakistan in this situation are free and fair elections, a government coming with public mandate, backing of the public, which then can take the very difficult decisions of restructuring the whole economy, bringing in reforms, the whole governance reforms needed and so on. For instance, our government corporations are making huge losses, but unless you have public backing, public mandate, you cannot really restructure them.
So, therefore, we are stuck in this situation. The measures they are taking are creating more economic instability and political instability, which then is feeding into the economic instability. Our currency is now even worse than Sri Lanka, our inflation is even higher than Sri Lanka right now. And this is unsustainable, because sooner or later something will give, because...in just one year buying power has fallen by about 35-40 percent.
Laborers sit under the shade of a wall along a street in Rawalpindi on June 9. Pakistan failed to meet any economic growth targets for the fiscal year 2022-23, according to a key government report released on June 8, a day before the new budget is to be presented to the National Assembly.
FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Last time we spoke beyond Pakistan itself, we spoke about China, we spoke about Afghanistan, we spoke about the situation in the region and in the world, and there have been these great geopolitical shifts, both while you were in office and after you've been in office, the current battle for influence between the U.S. and China, Russia's war in Ukraine. Where is Imran Khan in all of this, and where is Pakistan, where should Pakistan be in your vision?
Look, what Pakistan needs desperately is stability. For stability, Pakistan should stay out of any conflict. Because that war on terror that Pakistan joined—which by the way I did oppose—it was a ridiculous thing for us to join the U.S. war on terror, simply because we had trained the mujahideen in the '80s to fight the Soviets. Fighting them was considered jihad, and jihad was glorified, and we have trained people in jihad to do guerrilla warfare against the Soviets.
So, the whole war against the Soviets was conducted from the Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan and, again, 70 percent of Pashtuns on our side of the border, 30 percent on the other side, and Taliban are Pashtun. Most of the mujahideen commanders were Pashtun, except for Ahmad Shah Massoud. So, I kept telling them, "Look, if you now join the U.S. war, how are you going to convince these people that fighting the Soviets was jihad, but fighting the U.S. is terrorism? They are going to turn against us. How can you suddenly convince them that jihad is no longer glorious?"
And that's exactly what happened. 80,000 Pakistanis died in that [war on terror]. And over $100 billion was lost to the economy, because there were suicide attacks, bomb attacks going on all over the country. So, I opposed that at the time. And I think that also might have been considered being anti-American. Because, for some reason, if you don't agree with the U.S. foreign policy, you turn anti-American.
But all I'm saying is that Pakistan, the lesson we learned from that was that we need peace and stability. We have a population now of almost 250 million people. Now 250 million people with over 100 million people vulnerable, 50 million people below the poverty line. What Pakistan needs is stability, to have trade with its neighbors, to have peace in Afghanistan, so you can trade with the Central Asian countries who can go through Pakistan to the Indian Ocean.
So that was my idea, that look, we should stay neutral in conflicts. We need to worry about our population, which is the fastest-growing population. We have a huge amount of illiterate, out-of-school children, our health issues are terrible, we have very high child-mortality rates.
So, my concentration always was, "first worry about your own people rather than getting involved in conflicts." And I basically agree with the Indian foreign policy, because India throughout stayed non-aligned. India's foreign policy, look at them, now—they're trading with China, they're trading with Russia, and yet they're part of the strategic alliance with the United States. And that's how it should be, because your foreign policy must reflect what is in the interest of your own population. And that somehow, in the terms of I guess the U.S., is considered anti-American.
And if Pakistan does not achieve this stability, where is the nation headed?
You know, we are at a genuine crossroads in our history of 75 years. Now we are facing either you have free and fair elections, and you go towards democracy and rule of law and strong democratic institutions, or where we are headed right now [which] is basically a totalitarian state. We are now headed towards those dark ages of martial law where there are no fundamental rights.
I mean, our people picked up—10,000 people being picked up. The maximum people involved in the arson could not have been more than 200. There were only four places that got burned. So, 200, okay, 300? How do you justify 10,000 people for one month have been put in jail in inhuman conditions?
I take pride in the fact that the first time women started participating in politics, taking part in peaceful protests was PTI. It's the first time it's happened. And if you see the footage of our protests, whether it is on the 25th [of March] last year, or our rallies, [there is] a huge amount of participation of women and families. And what they did, the sort of brutality against women is just in our part of the world inconceivable. Women have a certain respect in this society. It's never happened that the women get beaten up and jailed and living in these terrible conditions. It's never happened before.
So, I think this brutality is to spread fear, terror. It is actually to spread terror. That is to stop people supporting my party. Anyone associated with my party is jailed, anyone. I mean, even TikTokers, social media people are picked up. Two or three of our best investigative journalists, one was killed last year, because he was very supportive of my point of view, and anti-this regime change. Arshad Sharif was one of our best journalists. First, they had sufficient cases against him. He then left the country, went to Dubai. From Dubai, the Pakistani government pressured to have him ousted. He left Dubai, went to Kenya, where he was murdered.
Now this other guy, who again, is very anti-the regime change and pro-my point of view, and he has the highest viewership on YouTube, because they didn't allow him on our main TV channel, so he went on YouTube. He's disappeared for 20 days. The court asked him to be produced there. The police said, "We don't know where he is." So, he's disappeared for 20 days and he's one of our top journalists. We fear the worst. We think he's been tortured so much—there's a lot of custodial torture going on. So, we feel that if he arrives in court in that condition he's in, that will create a lot of uproar in the society. And that's why he's disappeared.
So, this is what we are facing right now, them trying to crush this party is actually dismantling the democracy, the whole democratic structures, and basically the future of our country.
Black smokes billows from a building allegedly set ablaze by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party activists in support of PTI leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan during a protest against his arrest on corruption charges, in Peshawar on May 10. Though the Islamabad High Court initially approved his detention, the Supreme Court of Pakistan later overruled the move and he was released after two days of massive demonstrations that at times turned violent.
ABDUL MAJEED/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
For the readers from around the world who say, "that's happening in Pakistan and that's not my problem," what would you say? Why should people around the world be invested in the fate of Pakistan and your fate, specifically? Why does it matter to them? And what are the concerns if things do not turn out well?
You know, I'm not really that worried about my own fate, because that's secondary. The main thing is the future of Pakistan, which is what I'm worried about. Because I really fear now that this path which we are being taken on, there is nothing but darkness ahead.
Because, apart from anything else, our whole democracy is being dismantled. And remember, our journey to democracy has had many hiccups, because half the time we were ruled by military dictators, each time around a decade, and once the dictator left, then we had to start all over again. And so, then the whole process will start again.
And unfortunately, we had these two families who would intermittently rule this country, they also have three times in power. And so, from that, the progress started with our media. Twenty years, as I said, our media started asserting its independence, until then it was controlled. The government controls the media. The government controls the judiciary.
So, this 20-year period by the Musharraf martial law was liberal compared to what is going on right now. Because I was in the opposition, I went to jail for a few days in Musharraf's time, but it was liberal compared to what is happening now. So then started this movement called the Lawyers' Movement, which went for independence of the justice system. And secondly, the media asserted itself. Some of the media, some of the journalists actually suffered in this time. But we progressed. So, we had moved to a point when we are actually moving towards a genuine democracy.
What has now happened is that this is basically rolled back everything. And unless there's a course correction, by which I mean, free and fair elections, it means basically, that the country has no future, because the economy without rule of law is not going to pick up. Our biggest problem is that, because out of 140 countries, Pakistan on the rule of law index is 129. And this is before this crackdown happened. Now God knows where we are, we'll be closer to Myanmar and all these countries' model because we must have slipped much further back, because then at least there was a judiciary that was protecting us. Now the judiciary is completely subdued.
I dissolved my two provincial governments because we couldn't perform, so we dissolved the assemblies, and the Constitution clearly states that the elections had to be held in 90 days. The federal government refused. After I dissolved my governments, I then went to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court ordered the elections to be on May 14. The government refused. So, if the government doesn't listen to the Supreme Court, what confidence would investors have in investing in this country?
So, the opposite has happened. Rather than any investment coming into Pakistan, there's a flight of capital. People are taking their money out of the country. In the past eight, nine months, 900 professionals have left Pakistan. I run the only specialized cancer hospital in Pakistan, a charity hospital, and it's very difficult to attract cancer specialists because they are in great demand all over the world. And any specialist can get three to four times the salary which he gets here. So, 10 percent of our consultants from our hospital are leaving. Such is this situation right now.
And this would be happening everywhere. People who can get jobs abroad, who are professionals, they are the ones you don't want to lose. So, in this hopelessness, where we are headed right now, with a bunch of guys who have failed consistently, 60 percent of the cabinet was on bail on corruption cases, the sitting prime minister was under trial for one of the biggest scandals, and General Bajwa stopped his cases because he could, and the guy [Sharif] is now the prime minister.
So, in the way we are headed right now, there is hopelessness. And the hope will come with free and fair elections.
As to your point, "Why should the world worry about us?" The world should not worry about what is happening to me. It should be worried about—and I'm talking about the Western world—the professed values of rule of law, of human rights, fundamental rights, custodial torture, democracy. All those professed values are completely being violated in Pakistan.
You can't just use these things when you want to beat up China on Hong Kong or on Uyghurs, or Russia. You have to be consistent. When they see these violations going on, they should speak out. But, having said that, countries always fix their problems from within. I don't expect any interference from outside, like they did in Afghanistan or Iraq to bring in democracy.
But condemnation of values that are professed, they should be a bit consistent in that. There's a complete silence from the U.S. government and the British government, and they're saying it's an internal matter. Since when were human rights violations and custodial torture and democracy being wound up—how can that be purely an internal matter? Because they comment about everywhere else.
An activist of ruling party Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) stomps a wall poster denouncing former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party members, in Rawalpindi on May 27. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his administration have accused Khan of weaponizing his massive support base to undermine legal processes.
FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
And I have to ask if you see any parallel between what's happening to you and what's happening in the U.S. right now, given yet another indictment against our former president, the first time in history, and concerns here regarding rule of law and electoral integrity?
There's a lot of difference in what's happening in the U.S. For instance, when [former President Donald Trump] challenged his election, and he thought that there was electoral fraud, very quickly, it was proved to be wrong. It was found to be wrong immediately, because you have very good systems there. And secondly, the attack on Capitol Hill, I mean, if it happened in Pakistan, we would be the first to condemn it.
But if you are trying to say about me and Donald Trump, our worldviews and our ideologies are completely different. I am opposite to his neoliberal economics. And he thinks greed is a great thing because the more you make, the more you grow.
I'm not really against that because our country, we have a bad experience. Basically, there's a ruling elite that has captured our country. So, when I talk about real democracy and rule of law, I was inspired when, as a teenager, I went to England to study and then I played professional sport. It was the first time I discovered what is rule of law, because we had at that time martial law, you actually have rules there, you're not independent, you're not a free country. So, it's the first time I understood what rule of law meant.
And I used to compare my own society all the time, because half the time I was playing for a long time professional sport in England, and half the time I was in my own country. So, when I gave up cricket and started my politics, the main reason was rule of law. I called it Movement for Justice [the English name for Tehreek-e-Insaf], justice and rule of law. Because this elite was sucking the blood of our country. They were above law.
Either we were military, which was above law, or we had these politicians who would indulge in corruption, but they were above the law. They would not be challenged by our judiciary or institutions. And even when they were caught, they would then be given immunity from the corruption cases, which was given by what was called the NRO [National Reconciliation Ordinance] by Musharraf.
My whole movement was to bring the powerful under the law, which is the only difference between prosperous societies and poor societies. This is, as a 17-year-old, my experience of the world, the difference between prosperous countries and poor countries is just one: rule of law. If you have rule of law, you have prosperity. Because all the things, you attract investment, people feel safe.
In Pakistan's case, I mean, our people from here are investing in Dubai. Just in the last few years, $10.4 billion of property was bought by Pakistanis in Dubai, because they feel there's rule of law there. So not having rule of law means we are deprived of investment from the 10 million overseas Pakistanis. Ten million Pakistani's GDP is more than 250 million Pakistanis here. And if you could have attracted their investment, we would not have been in this problem right now. But the problem is they cannot invest in this country, because they do not trust our justice system.
And when you're 129 of 140 countries before this crackdown you can understand that they would go and invest in Dubai and Malaysia, in other countries, but they don't invest in this country. So, if we could only track their investment, Pakistan would be able to stand on its own feet. India and China when they opened up, the first investment started coming from overseas Chinese and overseas Indians.
READ MORE
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Exclusive: Pakistan FM says Taliban must be part of Asia anti-terror fight
Newsweek has reached out to Hussain Haqqani and the Pakistani Embassy to the United States for comment on allegations made throughout the interview.
Reached for comment, a U.S. State Department spokesperson referred Newsweek to deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel's remarks during a press conference Tuesday in response to Khan's allegations that Washington was manipulated into backing efforts to oust him.
"These allegations are categorically false; you have heard me say this before. Pakistani politics are a matter for the Pakistani people to decide and for them to pursue within the auspices of their own constitution and laws," Patel said at the time. "The U.S. values our longstanding cooperation with Pakistan, and we've always viewed a prosperous and democratic Pakistan as critical to U.S. interests. And that remains unchanged."
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How Ukraine Followed the ISIS Playbook
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Erdogan seen ‘balancing’ between China and the West in third term as Turkish president
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters in Ankara early on Monday after he secured another five years in power. Photo: AFP
ChinaDiplomacy
Erdogan seen ‘balancing’ between China and the West in third term as Turkish president
Chinese leader Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message saying the two nations had ‘broad common interests’
Beijing’s treatment of the Uygur minority in Xinjiang is expected to remain a challenge for ties, observers say
Turkey
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Published: 9:13pm, 30 May, 2023
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to continue a balancing act between China and the West in his third five-year term, but observers say Beijing’s treatment of the Uygur minority in Xinjiang will remain a challenge for ties.
Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Erdogan after he beat opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu – who had promised a West-leaning foreign policy – in a run-off election on Sunday.
Xi said China and Turkey had “broad common interests” in his message to Erdogan on Monday.
“In recent years, the development of the China-Turkey strategic cooperative relationship has maintained momentum, and practical cooperation in various fields has made positive headway,” Xi said in the message, according to state news agency Xinhua.
“I prize the development of China-Turkey relations and stand ready to work with Erdogan to promote mutual understanding and mutual support on issues concerning each other’s core interests and major concerns so as to boost the sustained, sound and stable development of the two countries’ strategic cooperative relationship,” he said.
03:49
Turkey’s Erdogan wins presidential election, extending rule into third decade
Turkey’s Erdogan wins presidential election, extending rule into third decade
Nilgün Yildirim, an associate professor with Atilim University in Ankara, said the election result could bring some relief to policymakers in Beijing.
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“Erdogan’s turning the Uygur issue into a bargaining tool, at least behind the curtains, seems preferable for China in the face of the risk of Turkish opponents publicly denouncing its human rights violations both at home and abroad,” Yildirim said.
Erdogan has been re-elected at a time when Turkey is grappling with runaway inflation – as high as 44 per cent in April – and a collapsing currency. These crises will be the top priority for the 69-year-old, along with his vision for the country to be a global power.
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It also comes as the relationship between China and the United States continues to deteriorate over issues ranging from trade to military supremacy and human rights.
Turkey is an important US security partner and a key Nato ally, but there have been tensions with Washington in recent years, including over Ankara’s purchase of Russian missile defence systems and its military operations in Syria.
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Turkey also sought to buy US$20 billion worth of F-16s and nearly 80 modernisation kits from the US. However, the sale has been stalled due to objections from the US Congress over Ankara’s refusal to give a green light to Nato’s enlargement, its human rights record and Syria policy.
Nato declared that China was a security challenge last year for the first time. But international relations expert Ma Xiaolin said Turkey was unlikely to follow Nato’s path on China.
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“Erdogan’s foreign policy is very stable and the core is about balancing between the major powers – regardless of how Nato as a whole is positioned against China,” said Ma, from the Zhejiang International Studies University in Hangzhou.
Nato, Uygur issue stand in the way as Turkey seeks closer ties with China
Kadir Temiz, an associate professor with Istanbul Medeniyet University, said the economic relationship between China and Turkey would continue to be the focus of their bilateral ties during Erdogan’s second term since Turkey badly needs foreign investment.
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Temiz also noted that Ankara was promoting its Middle Corridor strategy to connect with Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. Officially known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, the trade route aims to link East Asia and Europe via Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
But he said challenges remained in bilateral ties, including over human rights in Xinjiang because of the Uygur diaspora in Turkey.
“In regional security issues such as the Syrian civil war, the Ukraine war, and the Nagorno Karabakh crisis [between Armenia and Azerbaijan], Turkey’s position [in the next five years] will be much stronger than in previous years since Turkey needs stability in its closest regions as much as possible,” he added.
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Iranian guards clash with Taliban along Afghanistan border
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May 27 (UPI) -- Iranian border guards exchanged gunfire with Taliban soldiers Saturday along a common border between Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan provinces and Afghanistan's Nimruz province, official media reported.
Two Iranian border guards were killed as well as at least one Taliban fighter, while two civilians were injured in the skirmishes, according to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency.
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Iranian officials accused Taliban militants of initiating the attacks in contravention of "international law and principles of good neighborliness," adding they were met with "a decisive and courageous counteraction from the border guards.:
The semi-official Tasmin news agency reported the two sides used "light and semi-light weapons and artillery," but said the reason behind the clashes was unknown.
Iran International, a Persian-language news service based in Washington, posted a video purporting to show some of the fighting. The outlet also cited escalating tensions between the two sides over water rights as the reason for fighting.
The outlet quoted Ahmadreza Radan, Iran's law enforcement chief, as saying the ruling Taliban "must be held accountable for their reckless action which was contrary to international principles."
Iran has accused the Taliban in recent months of failing to adhere to a 1973 water-sharing agreement between the two countries.
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Tasnim reported leaders on both sides have already "convened a meeting to investigate the causes of the tension."
Earlier in the week, Iran's foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said his country does not recognize the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan.
Read More
Iran test fires new ballistic missile capable of reaching Israel
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U.S. military sent female soldiers on covert combat missions to Afghanistan
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War Clouds Gather over Israel as Iran Makes Peace with Arab Rivals
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Is Nato really an LGBT ally?
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‘Not the same Bibi’: Why Israel’s public has turned on Netanyahu
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‘Not the same Bibi’: Why Israel’s public has turned on Netanyahu
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Corinna Kern/Reuters
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QUICK READ DEEP READ ( 6 MIN. )
By Neri Zilber Contributor
April 19, 2023
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TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
Amid cratering poll numbers, ongoing mass protests in the streets, and a recent military escalation on multiple fronts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought the comfort of a friendly chat on Israel’s Channel 14, considered a safe space for the long-serving premier’s messaging.
Yet even on the slavishly adoring TV outlet, the gravity of Mr. Netanyahu’s – and Israel’s – current reality broke through.
“Listen, the feeling after three months [back in power] is not great. Not great,” Yinon Magal, host of the channel’s “The Patriots” panel show and a well-known Netanyahu supporter, began last Thursday. “There was euphoria that we won an amazing victory after five elections [in less than four years], that we beat them, that we did it. … But it seems that something here isn’t working out.
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| 757
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New Israeli Law Protects Prime Minister from Ouster
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Israeli protesters: ‘Traitors’ and ‘anarchists’ or best and brightest?
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Israeli protesters: ‘Traitors’ and ‘anarchists’ or best and brightest?
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Amir Cohen/Reuters
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QUICK READ DEEP READ ( 6 MIN. )
By Neri Zilber Contributor
March 10, 2023
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TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
In years past, Israel’s long-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, publicly took great pride in his country’s growing global stature, ascribing it to two main pillars: military power, as embodied in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and the technological innovation that gave the country a cherished nickname, “Startup Nation.”
Yet just over two months into his sixth term in office, Mr. Netanyahu faces a widespread revolt from precisely those segments of Israeli society.
Elite combat veterans and high-tech workers have become pivotal, and highly visible, members of the pro-democracy movement protesting against his government’s controversial plan to “reform” the country’s judicial system and undermine any check on executive power.
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| 759
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Twenty years later, US Senate may finally end authorization for war on Iraq
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United States
Twenty years later, US Senate may finally end authorization for war on Iraq
By Patricia Zengerle
March 8, 202310:18 PM GMT+1Updated 6 months ago
[1/2]U.S. soldiers stand guard during the hand over of Qayyarah Airfield West to Iraqi Security Forces, in the south of Mosul, Iraq March 26, 2020. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani Acquire Licensing Rights
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Iran protests: Rare cheetah cub Pirouz's death mourned
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Iran protests: Rare cheetah cub Pirouz's death mourned
Published
3 March
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2022 Iran protests
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By Ali Hamedani
BBC World Service
Iranians are mourning the death of an Asiatic cheetah cub - one of the last in the world - which became a symbol of hope for anti-government protesters.
Pirouz, or Victory in English, had become a social media sensation after surviving against the odds.
It died from kidney failure in a clinic in Tehran last month, sparking an outpouring of tributes online.
The cub had been lauded by protesters, who saw its perseverance as mirroring their own determination.
The country has been swept by anti-government protests since September following the death in custody of a woman held by Iran's morality police.
From the very beginning, millions of Iranians began following Pirouz's journey online and in the media.
Despite the fact only 12 wild Asiatic Cheetahs are thought to live in Iran, the country remains one of the last strongholds for this critically endangered species of wild cat, according to Iranian officials.
Cheetahs are a symbol of national pride in Iran. They appear in Persian poetry and paintings, and even on the national football team's jersey to symbolise speed and power.
But the little cheetah cub Pirouz, has become an icon in its own right.
In 2022, the cubs' mother, called Iran, was transferred to Touran, a wildlife refuge centre in the north-west of the country, where she was matched with a male called Firouz.
IMAGE SOURCE,
ALIREZA SHAHRDARI SOCIAL MEDIA
Image caption,
Alireza Shahrdari, Pirouz’s main caretaker, sometimes even slept next to him.
Iran bore the three cubs in May, all delivered by a caesarean section. But rejected by their mother, the cubs' survival hung in the balance.
"Iran [mother] didn't instinctively recognise her cubs and pushed them away," says Dr Payam Mohebi, President of Iranian Veterinarian Association.
The nation watched on as two of the cubs died within days due to malnutrition and organ failure.
Many voiced their anger at the authorities, blaming them for the death of the cubs and a general apathy towards environmental issues.
But there was still a chance to save Pirouz.
That was when Alireza Shahrdari, an Iranian environmental activist, was assigned to take care of him.
Every night, Mr Shahrdari would sleep next to the little cub.
When videos of Pirouz sleeping next to his "human dad" emerged on social media, they became a viral sensation, capturing the hearts and minds of millions of Iranians.
Pirouz was five months old when the protests erupted across Iran.
Still suffering from multiple health conditions, photos of Pirouz were hailed on social media as "Iran's triumphal son" for surviving so many complications.
By his name and nature Pirouz became a symbol of solidarity for many of the anti-regime protesters.
Pirouz's battle to survive was even portrayed in Iranian musician Shervin Hajipour's Grammy award winning song, Baraye, which means "for the sake of" in Persian.
The song's lyrics are composed of a collection of tweets by Iranians lamenting the situation in their country: "for the sake of dancing in the streets"; "for the fear of kissing; "for the sake of Pirouz and the risk of him looming extinction"; "for the sake of women, life, freedom".
Pirouz reportedly died from kidney failure, in the arms of Mr Shahrdari on 26 February.
Social media erupted with epitaphs to the tiny cub.
"His life was short but his name and memory will be in our hearts forever," said Dr Mohebi.
"In the shadow of the Islamic Republic, neither animals nor humans are safe" tweeted Ali Karimi, Iranian football coach and former national player.
Asked for comment by the BBC, the Iranian Department for the Environment did not reply.
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Iran
2022 Iran protests
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2 November 2022
Police battle protesters in Tehran as unrest grows
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Two-Thirds of College Students Think Shouting Down A Public Speaker Can Be Acceptable
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CAMPUS FREE SPEECH
Two-Thirds of College Students Think Shouting Down A Public Speaker Can Be Acceptable
Even at schools with solid speech policies, many students show little tolerance for opposing political beliefs.
EMMA CAMP | 9.6.2023 4:44 PM
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Democracy a top concern for U.S. voters
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Tennessee special session ends in altercation between lawmakers
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The Tennessee state Capitol saw excitement after lawmakers appeared to engage in a short physical dispute as the special session on public safety closed on Tuesday without passing significant gun control reforms Democrats have pushed for.
As a response to the Covenant School shooting in March, which left three children and three staff members dead, Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) called for a special legislative session to pass gun safety bills.
TREASURY PUSHES FOR HUGE TAX CREDITS FOR CLEAN ENERGY COMPANIES
Chaos at the end of the Tennessee House special session, where Republicans adjourned without passing meaningful gun reform.
Rep. Justin Pearson (D) then approaches Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) with a sign, and Sexton and his security/staff physically push past him. pic.twitter.com/YJSiv7RJTV
— The Recount (@therecount) August 29, 2023
Gun control advocate and Democratic state Rep. Justin Pearson and Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton appeared to have had a brief physical interaction. Pearson, who was carrying a pink sign advocating gun safety, approached Sexton, who walked past him, and surrounding people blocked out Pearson, pushing him away, footage captured by reporters showed. Protesters in the gallery were chanting, “Vote them out,” as the interaction occurred.
Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones can be seen trailing behind Pearson. Tennessee's House Republicans voted on Monday to silence Jones temporarily again after GOP members booted him and Pearson earlier this year before they were reinstated.
The pair was joined by state Rep. Gloria Johnson, also a Democrat, in a demonstration on the House floor advocating gun control legislation following the Christian elementary school shooting.
“As you all have seen and witnessed, it's been a complete waste of time,” Democratic Rep. Karen Camper said in a press conference after the session adjourned. “It's been a waste of money on the taxpayers. It's been disrespectful to the Covenant families. It's been disrespectful to the public at large and in fact to our members.”
Camper said at the end of the special session lawmakers had the chance to do something about gun violence but instead “wasted time” and “disrespected people.”
The Senate passed four bills with a limited number relating to gun control during the special session, and Democrats said the bills fell short. In the largest move, the Senate voted to send millions of dollars to provide safety upgrades for higher education institutions and granted funding for community mental health agencies in Tennessee.
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The Senate moved to pass a handgun safety bill that adds additional safety protocols to storing handguns and removes the sales taxes on firearm safes and safety devices.
“Lastly, even if you look at bills we passed, is it making us any safer?” Camper said. “The people expected us to do something to make the public more safer. We did nothing except waste time, disrespect people, and spend taxpayers' dollars.”
Tennessee Republicans Gun Violence Gun Control News
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Selective Outrage Is a Real Outrage
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-29-0624/polarization-selective-outrage-real-outrage
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Polarization
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https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2023/08/29/selective-outrage-is-a-real-outrage-n2627640
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OPINION
Selective Outrage Is a Real Outrage
Derek Hunter
Aug 29, 2023
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
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When some monster goes out and kills people it’s a horrible tragedy, no doubt about it. Sadly, it happens all the time and has happened throughout all of human history, starting when Cain killed Abel. In other words, evil exists, always has, and there’s really nothing people can do to squash it. The best we can do is react to it while working to prevent more of its creation. But how we react to it is key, and very telling about some of our species and our politics.
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The evil monster who I won’t name in Jacksonville, Florida, killed three people, quite probably because their skin color was black. The motive doesn’t really matter to the people who lost a loved one, though that’s all the story has been about and why you’ve even heard of it.
Democrats and the media, but I repeat myself, are pigs in mud with this story. They love anything that empowers them to belch out one of their favorite phrases – The United States is fundamentally racist.
Honestly, that’s the only reason those murders have gotten any national media attention, otherwise it’s a local crime story.
The first three words in the Reuters story were, “A white man.” Leftists love to stoke outrage…when the victims line up in a way they find appealing.
There is a food pyramid of victimhood Democrats care about. At the top sits attractive white women. Whether they’re victims or perps doesn’t much matter, teams of reporters will be dispatched to cover the search or manhunt or trial, whatever you got, as long as she’s good enough looking and have some bathing suit shots on her Instagram account.
If you think I’m being too cynical, you haven’t been paying attention. Remember the horrible murder of Gabby Petito by her dirtbag boyfriend? The disgusting Joy Reid gave a lecture on how the media only covered it because she was white, then proceeded to cover it. She also did a segment on how the media, which is leftist, didn’t cover missing black and native women. Then never talked about it again. She has a TV show, albeit an awful one, but if she wants to address something the only thing stopping her is herself.
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It's almost like all these media people are full of it.
After the “cute white woman” on the outrage pyramid sits the black victim and white perp. There’s a caveat that if the perp is a police officer, even if the cop is also black, they become white the way George Zimmerman became a “white Hispanic” when the media needed him to be. After that, there is nothing. No other crime matters to the left because they can’t be used. Black on black slaughter in major Democrat-controlled cities doesn’t matter and isn’t worth reporting on. MS-13 is more likely to be discussed as a “boogeyman of the right” than a group terrorizing people because Democrats don’t care.
To further prove this point, and I ask this rhetorically: have you ever heard of Andre Longmore? Probably not, I never had. But thanks to social media, his despicable acts, and those of many others (I can only highlight one, but they’re out there for you to find), circulated in reaction to the media hype of the Jacksonville murders.
Longmore was a man who, for reasons that remain a mystery to this day, murdered 4 seemingly random people in Georgia on a killing spree because they happened to live near each other. Longmore was black, all his victims were white. You’d be hard-pressed to find a story out of Georgia (the only place it was reported when it happened last month) that mention the race of the victims or the perp. It’s like the very concept doesn’t exist.
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One local TV report declared a motive may never be known, but there was zero speculation in the coverage. The police chief, in a moment that should have caused genuine outrage, declared the victim’s mother a victim too because “She has lost her son.” If ANYONE said this about the monster in Florida, the pitchforks and torches from the media would light the night sky. When the skin color configuration is not helpful to Democrats, even though it was said publicly and on video, it’s a yawn.
The idea that Democrats care about any of these tragedies is a joke. They dance on graves every chance they get, then cheer people who let criminals off with a slap on the wrist. They demand accountability only from the innocent; people who’ve not broken the law must have their rights curtailed while their crusade against “mass incarceration” frees up criminals to graduate from non-violent to violent crimes without so much as a bump in the road.
The takeaway here should be tragedy is tragedy, and the configuration of the people involved is irrelevant. (If you are a Democrats who cares deeply about such things, and believes the liberal media, don’t look up the data on victims and perps by race or your mind will be blown.) And anyone who tells you differently is trying to manipulate you.
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Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.
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San Francisco mayor slams 'homeless coalition' after court blocks ability to clear homeless encampments
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-25-0628/housing-and-homelessness-san-francisco-mayor-slams-homeless-coalition-after
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/san-francisco-mayor-homeless-coalition
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San Francisco Mayor London Breed slammed the "homeless coalition" after a court blocked the city's ability to clear homeless encampments.
Breed made the remarks outside the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals as a large crowd urged it to cancel a court order to bar the clearing of homeless encampments in the city, Fox News reported . The mayor of the city, which suffers from a significant homelessness crisis, extolled the city's efforts to assist the homeless, but she said that the "homeless coalition" is holding the city "hostage."
UP FOR DEBATE: WHERE TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND REST OF REPUBLICAN 2024 FIELD STAND ON KEY ISSUES
San Francisco Mayor London Breed waves after speaking at a rare outdoor meeting of the Board of Supervisors at UN Plaza in San Francisco, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Mayor Breed attempted to answer questions from supervisors demanding her administration do more to shut down open-air drug dealing, but the meeting had to be moved indoors to City Hall because of disruptions. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Eric Risberg/AP
"The homeless coalition has held San Francisco hostage for decades. It is time for their reign to end," Breed declared.
She has also argued that it is inhumane to allow the camps to remain with unsanitary conditions. Used needles, rotting food, and human waste are scattered throughout the encampments.
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However, homeless advocates argue that it would be inhumane to remove the encampments while the number of homeless people outnumbers the total number of beds in homeless shelters.
"There are 3,000 shelter beds in the city for 7,000 or more unhoused people who are sleeping outside every night because they have no choice in the matter," Zal Shroff, interim legal director at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, said Wednesday.
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How America Got Mean
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-21-1216/polarization-how-america-got-mean
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https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/09/us-culture-moral-education-formation/674765/
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IDEAS
HOW AMERICA GOT MEAN
In a culture devoid of moral education, generations are growing up in a morally inarticulate, self-referential world.
By David Brooks
Illustrations by Ricardo Tomás
AUGUST 14, 2023
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Over the past eight years or so, I’ve been obsessed with two questions. The first is: Why have Americans become so sad? The rising rates of depression have been well publicized, as have the rising deaths of despair from drugs, alcohol, and suicide. But other statistics are similarly troubling. The percentage of people who say they don’t have close friends has increased fourfold since 1990. The share of Americans ages 25 to 54 who weren’t married or living with a romantic partner went up to 38 percent in 2019, from 29 percent in 1990. A record-high 25 percent of 40-year-old Americans have never married. More than half of all Americans say that no one knows them well. The percentage of high-school students who report “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” shot up from 26 percent in 2009 to 44 percent in 2021.
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My second, related question is: Why have Americans become so mean? I was recently talking with a restaurant owner who said that he has to eject a customer from his restaurant for rude or cruel behavior once a week—something that never used to happen. A head nurse at a hospital told me that many on her staff are leaving the profession because patients have become so abusive. At the far extreme of meanness, hate crimes rose in 2020 to their highest level in 12 years. Murder rates have been surging, at least until recently. Same with gun sales. Social trust is plummeting. In 2000, two-thirds of American households gave to charity; in 2018, fewer than half did. The words that define our age reek of menace: conspiracy, polarization, mass shootings, trauma, safe spaces.
We’re enmeshed in some sort of emotional, relational, and spiritual crisis, and it undergirds our political dysfunction and the general crisis of our democracy. What is going on?
Over the past few years, different social observers have offered different stories to explain the rise of hatred, anxiety, and despair.
The technology story: Social media is driving us all crazy.
The sociology story: We’ve stopped participating in community organizations and are more isolated.
The demography story: America, long a white-dominated nation, is becoming a much more diverse country, a change that has millions of white Americans in a panic.
The economy story: High levels of economic inequality and insecurity have left people afraid, alienated, and pessimistic.
I agree, to an extent, with all of these stories, but I don’t think any of them is the deepest one. Sure, social media has bad effects, but it is everywhere around the globe—and the mental-health crisis is not. Also, the rise of despair and hatred has engulfed a lot of people who are not on social media. Economic inequality is real, but it doesn’t fully explain this level of social and emotional breakdown. The sociologists are right that we’re more isolated, but why? What values lead us to choose lifestyles that make us lonely and miserable?
The most important story about why Americans have become sad and alienated and rude, I believe, is also the simplest: We inhabit a society in which people are no longer trained in how to treat others with kindness and consideration. Our society has become one in which people feel licensed to give their selfishness free rein. The story I’m going to tell is about morals. In a healthy society, a web of institutions—families, schools, religious groups, community organizations, and workplaces—helps form people into kind and responsible citizens, the sort of people who show up for one another. We live in a society that’s terrible at moral formation.
Read: American shoppers are a nightmare
Moral formation, as I will use that stuffy-sounding term here, comprises three things. First, helping people learn to restrain their selfishness. How do we keep our evolutionarily conferred egotism under control? Second, teaching basic social and ethical skills. How do you welcome a neighbor into your community? How do you disagree with someone constructively? And third, helping people find a purpose in life. Morally formative institutions hold up a set of ideals. They provide practical pathways toward a meaningful existence: Here’s how you can dedicate your life to serving the poor, or protecting the nation, or loving your neighbor.
For a large part of its history, America was awash in morally formative institutions. Its Founding Fathers had a low view of human nature, and designed the Constitution to mitigate it (even while validating that low view of human nature by producing a document rife with racism and sexism). “Men I find to be a Sort of Beings very badly constructed,” Benjamin Franklin wrote, “as they are generally more easily provok’d than reconcil’d, more dispos’d to do Mischief to each other than to make Reparation, and much more easily deceiv’d than undeceiv’d.”
If such flawed, self-centered creatures were going to govern themselves and be decent neighbors to one another, they were going to need some training. For roughly 150 years after the founding, Americans were obsessed with moral education. In 1788, Noah Webster wrote, “The virtues of men are of more consequence to society than their abilities ; and for this reason, the heart should be cultivated with more assiduity than the head.” The progressive philosopher John Dewey wrote in 1909 that schools teach morality “every moment of the day, five days a week.” Hollis Frissell, the president of the Hampton Institute, an early school for African Americans, declared, “Character is the main object of education.” As late as 1951, a commission organized by the National Education Association, one of the main teachers’ unions, stated that “an unremitting concern for moral and spiritual values continues to be a top priority for education.”
The moral-education programs that stippled the cultural landscape during this long stretch of history came from all points on the political and religious spectrums. School textbooks such as McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers not only taught students how to read and write; they taught etiquette, and featured stories designed to illustrate right and wrong behavior. In the 1920s, W. E. B. Du Bois’s magazine for Black children, The Brownies’ Book, had a regular column called “The Judge,” which provided guidance to young readers on morals and manners. There were thriving school organizations with morally earnest names that sound quaint today—the Courtesy Club, the Thrift Club, the Knighthood of Youth.
Beyond the classroom lay a host of other groups: the YMCA; the Sunday-school movement; the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts; the settlement-house movement, which brought rich and poor together to serve the marginalized; Aldo Leopold’s land ethic, which extended our moral concerns to include proper care for the natural world; professional organizations, which enforced ethical codes; unions and workplace associations, which, in addition to enhancing worker protections and paychecks, held up certain standards of working-class respectability. And of course, by the late 19th century, many Americans were members of churches or other religious communities. Mere religious faith doesn’t always make people morally good, but living in a community, orienting your heart toward some transcendent love, basing your value system on concern for the underserved—those things tend to.
Arthur C. Brooks: Make yourself happy—be kind
An educational approach with German roots that was adopted by Scandinavian societies in the mid-to-late 19th century had a wide influence on America. It was called Bildung, roughly meaning “spiritual formation.” As conceived by Wilhelm von Humboldt, the Bildung approach gave professors complete freedom to put moral development at the center of a university’s mission. In schools across Scandinavia, students studied literature and folk cultures to identify their own emotions, wounds, and weaknesses, in order to become the complex human beings that modern society required. Schools in the Bildung tradition also aimed to clarify the individual’s responsibilities to the wider world—family, friends, nation, humanity. Start with the soul and move outward.
The Bildung movement helped inspire the Great Books programs that popped up at places like Columbia and the University of Chicago. They were based on the conviction that reading the major works of world literature and thinking about them deeply would provide the keys to living a richer life. Meanwhile, discipline in the small proprieties of daily existence—dressing formally, even just to go shopping or to a ball game—was considered evidence of uprightness: proof that you were a person who could be counted on when the large challenges came.
Much of American moral education drew on an ethos expressed by the headmaster of the Stowe School, in England, who wrote in 1930 that the purpose of his institution was to turn out young men who were “acceptable at a dance and invaluable in a shipwreck.” America’s National Institute for Moral Instruction was founded in 1911 and published a “Children’s Morality Code,” with 10 rules for right living. At the turn of the 20th century, Mount Holyoke College, an all-women’s institution, was an example of an intentionally thick moral community. When a young Frances Perkins was a student there, her Latin teacher detected a certain laziness in her. She forced Perkins to spend hours conjugating Latin verbs, to cultivate self-discipline. Perkins grew to appreciate this: “For the first time I became conscious of character.” The school also called upon women to follow morally ambitious paths. “Do what nobody else wants to do; go where nobody else wants to go,” the school’s founder implored. Holyoke launched women into lives of service in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. Perkins, who would become the first woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet (Franklin D. Roosevelt’s), was galvanized there.
Read: Students’ broken moral compasses
These various approaches to moral formation shared two premises. The first was that training the heart and body is more important than training the reasoning brain. Some moral skills can be taught the way academic subjects are imparted, through books and lectures. But we learn most virtues the way we learn crafts, through the repetition of many small habits and practices, all within a coherent moral culture—a community of common values, whose members aspire to earn one another’s respect.
Ricardo Tomás
The other guiding premise was that concepts like justice and right and wrong are not matters of personal taste: An objective moral order exists, and human beings are creatures who habitually sin against that order. This recognition was central, for example, to the way the civil-rights movement in the 1950s and early 1960s thought about character formation. “Instead of assured progress in wisdom and decency man faces the ever present possibility of swift relapse not merely to animalism but into such calculated cruelty as no other animal can practice,” Martin Luther King Jr. believed. Elsewhere, he wrote, “The force of sinfulness is so stubborn a characteristic of human nature that it can only be restrained when the social unit is armed with both moral and physical might.”
At their best, the civil-rights marchers in this prophetic tradition understood that they could become corrupted even while serving a noble cause. They could become self-righteous because their cause was just, hardened by hatred of their opponents, prideful as they asserted power. King’s strategy of nonviolence was an effort simultaneously to expose the sins of their oppressors and to restrain the sinful tendencies inherent in themselves. “What gave such widely compelling force to King’s leadership and oratory,” the historian George Marsden argues, “was his bedrock conviction that moral law was built into the universe.”
A couple of obvious things need to be said about this ethos of moral formation that dominated American life for so long. It prevailed alongside all sorts of hierarchies that we now rightly find abhorrent: whites superior to Blacks, men to women, Christians to Jews, straight people to gay people. And the emphasis on morality didn’t produce perfect people. Moral formation doesn’t succeed in making people angels—it tries to make them better than they otherwise might be.
Furthermore, we would never want to go back to the training methods that prevailed for so long, rooted in so many thou shall nots and so much shaming, and riddled with so much racism and sexism. Yet a wise accounting should acknowledge that emphasizing moral formation meant focusing on an important question—what is life for?—and teaching people how to bear up under inevitable difficulties. A culture invested in shaping character helped make people resilient by giving them ideals to cling to when times got hard. In some ways, the old approach to moral formation was, at least theoretically, egalitarian: If your status in the community was based on character and reputation, then a farmer could earn dignity as readily as a banker. This ethos came down hard on self-centeredness and narcissistic display. It offered practical guidance on how to be a good neighbor, a good friend.
and then it mostly went away.
The crucial pivot happened just after World War II, as people wrestled with the horrors of the 20th century. One group, personified by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, argued that recent events had exposed the prevalence of human depravity and the dangers, in particular, of tribalism, nationalism, and collective pride. This group wanted to double down on moral formation, with a greater emphasis on humility.
Another group, personified by Carl Rogers, a founder of humanistic psychology, focused on the problem of authority. The trouble with the 20th century, the members of this group argued, was that the existence of rigid power hierarchies led to oppression in many spheres of life. We need to liberate individuals from these authority structures, many contended. People are naturally good and can be trusted to do their own self-actualization.
After decades without much in the way of moral formation, America became a place where 74 million people looked at Donald Trump’s morality and saw presidential timber.
A cluster of phenomenally successful books appeared in the decade after World War II, making the case that, as Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman wrote in Peace of Mind (1946), “thou shalt not be afraid of thy hidden impulses.” People can trust the goodness inside. His book topped the New York Times best-seller list for 58 weeks. Dr. Spock’s first child-rearing manual was published the same year. That was followed by books like The Power of Positive Thinking (1952). According to this ethos, morality is not something that we develop in communities. It’s nurtured by connecting with our authentic self and finding our true inner voice. If people are naturally good, we don’t need moral formation; we just need to let people get in touch with themselves. Organization after organization got out of the moral-formation business and into the self-awareness business. By the mid‑1970s, for example, the Girl Scouts’ founding ethos of service to others had shifted: “How can you get more in touch with you? What are you thinking? What are you feeling?” one Girl Scout handbook asked.
Schools began to abandon moral formation in the 1940s and ’50s, as the education historian B. Edward McClellan chronicles in Moral Education in America : “By the 1960s deliberate moral education was in full-scale retreat” as educators “paid more attention to the SAT scores of their students, and middle-class parents scrambled to find schools that would give their children the best chances to qualify for elite colleges and universities.” The postwar period saw similar change at the college level, Anthony Kronman, a former dean of Yale Law School, has noted. The “research ideal” supplanted the earlier humanistic ideal of cultivating the whole student. As academics grew more specialized, Kronman has argued, the big questions—What is the meaning of life? How do you live a good life?—lost all purchase. Such questions became unprofessional for an academic to even ask.
Read: The benefits of character education
In sphere after sphere, people decided that moral reasoning was not really relevant. Psychology’s purview grew, especially in family and educational matters, its vocabulary framing “virtually all public discussion” of the moral life of children, James Davison Hunter, a prominent American scholar on character education, noted in 2000. “For decades now, contributions from philosophers and theologians have been muted or nonexistent.” Psychology is a wonderful profession, but its goal is mental health, not moral growth.
From the start, some worried about this privatizing of morality. “If what is good, what is right, what is true is only what the individual ‘chooses’ to ‘invent,’ ” Walter Lippmann wrote in his 1955 collection, Essays in the Public Philosophy, “then we are outside the traditions of civility.” His book was hooted down by establishment figures such as the historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.; the de-moralization of American culture was under way.
Over the course of the 20th century, words relating to morality appeared less and less frequently in the nation’s books: According to a 2012 paper, usage of a cluster of words related to being virtuous also declined significantly. Among them were bravery (which dropped by 65 percent), gratitude (58 percent), and humbleness (55 percent). For decades, researchers have asked incoming college students about their goals in life. In 1967, about 85 percent said they were strongly motivated to develop “a meaningful philosophy of life”; by 2000, only 42 percent said that. Being financially well off became the leading life goal; by 2015, 82 percent of students said wealth was their aim.
In a culture devoid of moral education, generations grow up in a morally inarticulate, self-referential world. The Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith and a team of researchers asked young adults across the country in 2008 about their moral lives. One of their findings was that the interviewees had not given the subject of morality much thought. “I’ve never had to make a decision about what’s right and what’s wrong,” one young adult told the researchers. “My teachers avoid controversies like that like the plague,” many teenagers said.
The moral instincts that Smith observed in his sample fell into the pattern that the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre called “emotivism”: Whatever feels good to me is moral. “I would probably do what would make me happy” in any given situation, one of the interviewees declared. “Because it’s me in the long run.” As another put it, “If you’re okay with it morally, as long as you’re not getting caught, then it’s not really against your morals, is it?” Smith and his colleagues emphasized that the interviewees were not bad people but, because they were living “in morally very thin or spotty worlds,” they had never been given a moral vocabulary or learned moral skills.
most of us who noticed the process of de-moralization as it was occurring thought a bland moral relativism and empty consumerism would be the result: You do you and I’ll do me. That’s not what happened.
“Moral communities are fragile things, hard to build and easy to destroy,” the psychologist Jonathan Haidt writes in The Righteous Mind. When you are raised in a culture without ethical structure, you become internally fragile. You have no moral compass to give you direction, no permanent ideals to which you can swear ultimate allegiance. “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how,” the psychiatrist (and Holocaust survivor) Viktor Frankl wrote, interpreting a famous Nietzsche saying. Those without a why fall apart when the storms hit. They begin to suffer from that feeling of moral emptiness that Émile Durkheim called “anomie.”
Expecting people to build a satisfying moral and spiritual life on their own by looking within themselves is asking too much. A culture that leaves people morally naked and alone leaves them without the skills to be decent to one another. Social trust falls partly because more people are untrustworthy. That creates crowds of what psychologists call “vulnerable narcissists.” We all know grandiose narcissists—people who revere themselves as the center of the universe. Vulnerable narcissists are the more common figures in our day—people who are also addicted to thinking about themselves, but who often feel anxious, insecure, avoidant. Intensely sensitive to rejection, they scan for hints of disrespect. Their self-esteem is wildly in flux. Their uncertainty about their inner worth triggers cycles of distrust, shame, and hostility.
“The breakdown of an enduring moral framework will always produce disconnection, alienation, and an estrangement from those around you,” Luke Bretherton, a theologian at Duke Divinity School, told me. The result is the kind of sadness I see in the people around me. Young adults I know are spiraling, leaving school, moving from one mental-health facility to another. After a talk I gave in Oklahoma, a woman asked me, “What do you do when you no longer want to be alive?” The very next night I had dinner with a woman who told me that her brother had died by suicide three months before. I mentioned these events to a group of friends on a Zoom call, and nearly half of them said they’d had a brush with suicide in their family. Statistics paint the broader picture: Suicide rates have increased by more than 30 percent since 2000, according to the CDC.
Sadness, loneliness, and self-harm turn into bitterness. Social pain is ultimately a response to a sense of rejection—of being invisible, unheard, disrespected, victimized. When people feel that their identity is unrecognized, the experience registers as an injustice—because it is. People who have been treated unjustly often lash out and seek ways to humiliate those who they believe have humiliated them.
Even as our public life has grown morally bare, people yearn to feel respected and worthy of respect, need to feel that their life has some moral purpose and meaning.
Lonely eras are not just sad eras; they are violent ones. In 19th-century America, when a lot of lonely young men were crossing the western frontier, one of the things they tended to do was shoot one another. As the saying goes, pain that is not transformed gets transmitted. People grow more callous, defensive, distrustful, and hostile. The pandemic made it worse, but antisocial behavior is still high even though the lockdowns are over. And now we are caught in a cycle, ill treatment leading to humiliation and humiliation leading to more meanness. Social life becomes more barbaric, online and off.
If you put people in a moral vacuum, they will seek to fill it with the closest thing at hand. Over the past several years, people have sought to fill the moral vacuum with politics and tribalism. American society has become hyper-politicized.
David Brooks: America is having a moral convulsion
According to research by Ryan Streeter, the director of domestic-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, lonely young people are seven times more likely to say they are active in politics than young people who aren’t lonely. For people who feel disrespected, unseen, and alone, politics is a seductive form of social therapy. It offers them a comprehensible moral landscape: The line between good and evil runs not down the middle of every human heart, but between groups. Life is a struggle between us, the forces of good, and them, the forces of evil.
The Manichaean tribalism of politics appears to give people a sense of belonging. For many years, America seemed to be awash in a culture of hyper-individualism. But these days, people are quick to identify themselves by their group: Republican, Democrat, evangelical, person of color, LGBTQ, southerner, patriot, progressive, conservative. People who feel isolated and under threat flee to totalizing identities.
Politics appears to give people a sense of righteousness: A person’s moral stature is based not on their conduct, but on their location on the political spectrum. You don’t have to be good; you just have to be liberal—or you just have to be conservative. The stronger a group’s claim to victim status, the more virtuous it is assumed to be, and the more secure its members can feel about their own innocence.
Politics also provides an easy way to feel a sense of purpose. You don’t have to feed the hungry or sit with the widow to be moral; you just have to experience the right emotion. You delude yourself that you are participating in civic life by feeling properly enraged at the other side. That righteous fury rising in your gut lets you know that you are engaged in caring about this country. The culture war is a struggle that gives life meaning.
Politics overwhelms everything. Churches, universities, sports, pop culture, health care are swept up in a succession of battles that are really just one big war—red versus blue. Evangelicalism used to be a faith; today it’s primarily a political identity. College humanities departments used to study literature and history to plumb the human heart and mind; now they sometimes seem exclusively preoccupied with politics, and with the oppressive systems built around race, class, and gender. Late-night comedy shows have become political pep rallies. Hundreds of thousands of Americans died unnecessarily during the pandemic because people saw a virus through the lens of a political struggle.
This is not politics as it is normally understood. In psychically healthy societies, people fight over the politics of distribution: How high should taxes be? How much money should go to social programs for the poor and the elderly? We’ve shifted focus from the politics of redistribution to the politics of recognition. Political movements are fueled by resentment, by feelings that society does not respect or recognize me. Political and media personalities gin up dramas in which our side is emotionally validated and the other side is emotionally shamed. The person practicing the politics of recognition is not trying to get resources for himself or his constituency; he is trying to admire himself. He’s trying to use politics to fill the hole in his soul. It doesn’t work.
The politics of recognition doesn’t give you community and connection, certainly not in a system like our current one, mired in structural dysfunction. People join partisan tribes in search of belonging—but they end up in a lonely mob of isolated belligerents who merely obey the same orthodoxy.
If you are asking politics to be the reigning source of meaning in your life, you are asking more of politics than it can bear. Seeking to escape sadness, loneliness, and anomie through politics serves only to drop you into a world marked by fear and rage, by a sadistic striving for domination. Sure, you’ve left the moral vacuum—but you’ve landed in the pulverizing destructiveness of moral war. The politics of recognition has not produced a happy society. When asked by the General Social Survey to rate their happiness level, 20 percent of Americans in 2022 rated it at the lowest level—only 8 percent did the same in 1990.
Read: What the longest study on human happiness found is the key to a good life
America’s Founding Fathers studied the history of democracies going back to ancient Greece. They drew the lesson that democracies can be quite fragile. When private virtue fails, the constitutional order crumbles. After decades without much in the way of moral formation, America became a place where more than 74 million people looked at Donald Trump’s morality and saw presidential timber.
even in dark times, sparks of renewal appear. In 2018, a documentary about Mister Rogers called Won’t You Be My Neighbor? was released. The film showed Fred Rogers in all his simple goodness—his small acts of generosity; his displays of vulnerability; his respect, even reverence, for each child he encountered. People cried openly while watching it in theaters. In an age of conflict and threat, the sight of radical goodness was so moving.
In the summer of 2020, the series Ted Lasso premiered. When Lasso describes his goals as a soccer coach, he could mention the championships he hopes to win or some other conventional metric of success, but he says, “For me, success is not about the wins and losses. It’s about helping these young fellas be the best versions of themselves on and off the field.”
That is a two-sentence description of moral formation. Ted Lasso is about an earnest, cheerful, and transparently kind man who enters a world that has grown cynical, amoral, and manipulative, and, episode after episode, even through his own troubles, he offers the people around him opportunities to grow more gracious, to confront their vulnerabilities and fears, and to treat one another more gently and wisely. Amid lockdowns and political rancor, it became a cultural touchstone, and the most watched show on Apple TV+.
Even as our public life has grown morally bare, people, as part of their elemental nature, yearn to feel respected and worthy of respect, need to feel that their life has some moral purpose and meaning. People still want to build a society in which it is easier to be good. So the questions before us are pretty simple: How can we build morally formative institutions that are right for the 21st century? What do we need to do to build a culture that helps people become the best versions of themselves?
Healthy moral ecologies don’t just happen. They have to be seeded and tended.
A few necessities come immediately to mind.
A modern vision of how to build character. The old-fashioned models of character-building were hopelessly gendered. Men were supposed to display iron willpower that would help them achieve self-mastery over their unruly passions. Women were to sequester themselves in a world of ladylike gentility in order to not be corrupted by bad influences and base desires. Those formulas are obsolete today.
The best modern approach to building character is described in Iris Murdoch’s book The Sovereignty of Good. Murdoch writes that “nothing in life is of any value except the attempt to be virtuous.” For her, moral life is not defined merely by great deeds of courage or sacrifice in epic moments. Instead, moral life is something that goes on continually—treating people considerately in the complex situations of daily existence. For her, the essential moral act is casting a “just and loving” attention on other people.
Normally, she argues, we go about our days with self-centered, self-serving eyes. We see and judge people in ways that satisfy our own ego. We diminish and stereotype and ignore, reducing other people to bit players in our own all-consuming personal drama. But we become morally better, she continues, as we learn to see others deeply, as we learn to envelop others in the kind of patient, caring regard that makes them feel seen, heard, and understood. This is the kind of attention that implicitly asks, “What are you going through?” and cares about the answer.
I become a better person as I become more curious about those around me, as I become more skilled in seeing from their point of view. As I learn to perceive you with a patient and loving regard, I will tend to treat you well. We can, Murdoch concluded, “grow by looking.”
Mandatory social-skills courses. Murdoch’s character-building formula roots us in the simple act of paying attention: Do I attend to you well? It also emphasizes that character is formed and displayed as we treat others considerately. This requires not just a good heart, but good social skills: how to listen well. How to disagree with respect. How to ask for and offer forgiveness. How to patiently cultivate a friendship. How to sit with someone who is grieving or depressed. How to be a good conversationalist.
These are some of the most important skills a person can have. And yet somehow, we don’t teach them. Our schools spend years prepping students with professional skills—but offer little guidance on how to be an upstanding person in everyday life. If we’re going to build a decent society, elementary schools and high schools should require students to take courses that teach these specific social skills, and thus prepare them for life with one another. We could have courses in how to be a good listener or how to build a friendship. The late feminist philosopher Nel Noddings developed a whole pedagogy around how to effectively care for others.
A new core curriculum. More and more colleges and universities are offering courses in what you might call “How to Live.” Yale has one called “Life Worth Living.” Notre Dame has one called “God and the Good Life.” A first-year honors program in this vein at Valparaiso University, in Indiana, involves not just conducting formal debates on ideas gleaned from the Great Books, but putting on a musical production based on their themes. Many of these courses don’t give students a ready-made formula, but they introduce students to some of the venerated moral traditions—Buddhism, Judeo-Christianity, and Enlightenment rationalism, among others. They introduce students to those thinkers who have thought hard on moral problems, from Aristotle to Desmond Tutu to Martha Nussbaum. They hold up diverse exemplars to serve as models of how to live well. They put the big questions of life firmly on the table: What is the ruling passion of your soul? Whom are you responsible to? What are my moral obligations? What will it take for my life to be meaningful? What does it mean to be a good human in today’s world? What are the central issues we need to engage with concerning new technology and human life?
These questions clash with the ethos of the modern university, which is built around specialization and passing on professional or technical knowledge. But they are the most important courses a college can offer. They shouldn’t be on the margins of academic life. They should be part of the required core curriculum.
Intergenerational service. We spend most of our lives living by the logic of the meritocracy: Life is an individual climb upward toward success. It’s about pursuing self-interest.
There should be at least two periods of life when people have a chance to take a sabbatical from the meritocracy and live by an alternative logic—the logic of service: You have to give to receive. You have to lose yourself in a common cause to find yourself. The deepest human relationships are gift relationships, based on mutual care. (An obvious model for at least some aspects of this is the culture of the U.S. military, which similarly emphasizes honor, service, selflessness, and character in support of a purpose greater than oneself, throwing together Americans of different ages and backgrounds who forge strong social bonds.)
Those sabbaticals could happen at the end of the school years and at the end of the working years. National service programs could bring younger and older people together to work to address community needs.
These programs would allow people to experience other-centered ways of being and develop practical moral habits: how to cooperate with people unlike you. How to show up day after day when progress is slow. How to do work that is generous and hard.
Moral organizations. Most organizations serve two sets of goals—moral goals and instrumental goals. Hospitals heal the sick and also seek to make money. Newspapers and magazines inform the public and also try to generate clicks. Law firms defend clients and also try to maximize billable hours. Nonprofits aim to serve the public good and also raise money.
In our society, the commercial or utilitarian goals tend to eclipse the moral goals. Doctors are pressured by hospital administrators to rush through patients so they can charge more fees. Journalists are incentivized to write stories that confirm reader prejudices in order to climb the most-read lists. Whole companies slip into an optimization mindset, in which everything is done to increase output and efficiency.
Moral renewal won’t come until we have leaders who are explicit, loud, and credible about both sets of goals. Here’s how we’re growing financially, but also Here’s how we’re learning to treat one another with consideration and respect; here’s how we’re going to forgo some financial returns in order to better serve our higher mission.
Early in my career, as a TV pundit at PBS NewsHour, I worked with its host, Jim Lehrer. Every day, with a series of small gestures, he signaled what kind of behavior was valued there and what kind of behavior was unacceptable. In this subtle way, he established a set of norms and practices that still lives on. He and others built a thick and coherent moral ecology, and its way of being was internalized by most of the people who have worked there.
Politics as a moral enterprise. An ancient brand of amoralism now haunts the world. Authoritarian-style leaders like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping embody a kind of amoral realism. They evince a mindset that assumes that the world is a vicious, dog-eat-dog sort of place. Life is a competition to grab what you can. Force is what matters. Morality is a luxury we cannot afford, or merely a sham that elites use to mask their own lust for power. It’s fine to elect people who lie, who are corrupt, as long as they are ruthless bastards for our side. The ends justify the means.
Those of us who oppose these authoritarians stand, by contrast, for a philosophy of moral realism. Yes, of course people are selfish and life can be harsh. But over the centuries, civilizations have established rules and codes to nurture cooperation, to build trust and sweeten our condition. These include personal moral codes so we know how to treat one another well, ethical codes to help prevent corruption on the job and in public life, and the rules of the liberal world order so that nations can live in peace, secure within their borders.
Moral realists are fighting to defend and modernize these rules and standards—these sinews of civilization. Moral realism is built on certain core principles. Character is destiny. We can either elect people who try to embody the highest standards of honesty, kindness, and integrity, or elect people who shred those standards. Statecraft is soulcraft. The laws we pass shape the kinds of people we become. We can structure our tax code to encourage people to be enterprising and to save more, or we can structure the code to encourage people to be conniving and profligate. Democracy is the system that best enhances human dignity. Democratic regimes entrust power to the people, and try to form people so they will be responsible with that trust. Authoritarian regimes seek to create a world in which the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
Look, I understand why people don’t want to get all moralistic in public. Many of those who do are self-righteous prigs, or rank hypocrites. And all of this is only a start. But healthy moral ecologies don’t just happen. They have to be seeded and tended by people who think and talk in moral terms, who try to model and inculcate moral behavior, who understand that we have to build moral communities because on our own, we are all selfish and flawed. Moral formation is best when it’s humble. It means giving people the skills and habits that will help them be considerate to others in the complex situations of life. It means helping people behave in ways that make other people feel included, seen, and respected. That’s very different from how we treat people now—in ways that make them feel sad and lonely, and that make them grow unkind.
This article appears in the September 2023 print edition with the headline “How America Got Mean.” When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.
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OPINION
DAVID BROOKS
What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?
Aug. 2, 2023
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By David Brooks
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Donald Trump seems to get indicted on a weekly basis. Yet he is utterly dominating his Republican rivals in the polls, and he is tied with Joe Biden in the general election surveys. Trump’s poll numbers are stronger against Biden now than at any time in 2020.
What’s going on here? Why is this guy still politically viable, after all he’s done?
We anti-Trumpers often tell a story to explain that. It was encapsulated in a quote the University of North Carolina political scientist Marc Hetherington gave to my colleague Thomas B. Edsall recently: “Republicans see a world changing around them uncomfortably fast, and they want it to slow down, maybe even take a step backward. But if you are a person of color, a woman who values gender equality or an L.G.B.T. person, would you want to go back to 1963? I doubt it.”
In this story, we anti-Trumpers are the good guys, the forces of progress and enlightenment. The Trumpers are reactionary bigots and authoritarians. Many Republicans support Trump no matter what, according to this story, because at the end of the day, he’s still the bigot in chief, the embodiment of their resentments and that’s what matters to them most.
I partly agree with this story, but it’s also a monument to elite self-satisfaction.
So let me try another story on you. I ask you to try on a vantage point in which we anti-Trumpers are not the eternal good guys. In fact, we’re the bad guys.
This story begins in the 1960s, when high school grads had to go off to fight in Vietnam but the children of the educated class got college deferments. It continues in the 1970s, when the authorities imposed busing on working-class areas in Boston but not on the upscale communities like Wellesley where they themselves lived.
The ideal that we’re all in this together was replaced with the reality that the educated class lives in a world up here and everybody else is forced into a world down there. Members of our class are always publicly speaking out for the marginalized, but somehow we always end up building systems that serve ourselves.
The most important of those systems is the modern meritocracy. We built an entire social order that sorts and excludes people on the basis of the quality that we possess most: academic achievement. Highly educated parents go to elite schools, marry each other, work at high-paying professional jobs and pour enormous resources into our children, who get into the same elite schools, marry each other and pass their exclusive class privileges down from generation to generation.
Daniel Markovits summarized years of research in his book “The Meritocracy Trap”: “Today, middle-class children lose out to the rich children at school, and middle-class adults lose out to elite graduates at work. Meritocracy blocks the middle class from opportunity. Then it blames those who lose a competition for income and status that, even when everyone plays by the rules, only the rich can win.”
The meritocracy isn’t only a system of exclusion; it’s an ethos. During his presidency, Barack Obama used the word “smart” in the context of his policies over 900 times. The implication was that anybody who disagreed with his policies (and perhaps didn’t go to Harvard Law) must be stupid.
Over the last decades, we’ve taken over whole professions and locked everybody else out. When I began my journalism career in Chicago in the 1980s, there were still some old crusty working-class guys around the newsroom. Now we’re not only a college-dominated profession; we’re an elite-college-dominated profession. Only 0.8 percent of college students graduate from the super-elite 12 schools (the Ivy League colleges, plus Stanford, M.I.T., Duke and the University of Chicago). A 2018 study found that more than 50 percent of the staff writers at the beloved New York Times and The Wall Street Journal attended one of the 29 most elite universities in the nation.
Writing in Compact magazine, Michael Lind observes that the upper-middle-class job market looks like a candelabrum: “Those who manage to squeeze through the stem of a few prestigious colleges and universities in their youth can then branch out to fill leadership positions in almost every vocation.”
Or, as Markovits puts it, “elite graduates monopolize the best jobs and at the same time invent new technologies that privilege superskilled workers, making the best jobs better and all other jobs worse.”
Members of our class also segregate ourselves into a few booming metro areas: San Francisco, D.C., Austin and so on. In 2020, Biden won only 500 or so counties, but together they are responsible for 71 percent of the American economy. Trump won over 2,500 counties, responsible for only 29 percent. Once we find our cliques, we don’t get out much. In the book “Social Class in the 21st Century,” the sociologist Mike Savage and his co-researchers found that the members of the highly educated class tend to be the most insular, measured by how often we have contact with those who have jobs unlike our own.
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Armed with all kinds of economic, cultural and political power, we support policies that help ourselves. Free trade makes the products we buy cheaper, and our jobs are unlikely to be moved to China. Open immigration makes our service staff cheaper, but new, less-educated immigrants aren’t likely to put downward pressure on our wages.
Like all elites, we use language and mores as tools to recognize one another and exclude others. Using words like “problematic,” “cisgender,” “Latinx” and “intersectional” is a sure sign that you’ve got cultural capital coming out of your ears. Meanwhile, members of the less-educated classes have to walk on eggshells because they never know when we’ve changed the usage rules so that something that was sayable five years ago now gets you fired.
We also change the moral norms in ways that suit ourselves, never mind the cost to others. For example, there used to be a norm that discouraged people from having children outside marriage, but that got washed away during our period of cultural dominance, as we eroded norms that seemed judgmental or that might inhibit individual freedom.
After this social norm was eroded, a funny thing happened. Members of our class still overwhelmingly married and had children within wedlock. People without our resources, unsupported by social norms, were less able to do that. As Adrian Wooldridge points out in his magisterial 2021 book, “The Aristocracy of Talent,” “Sixty percent of births to women with only a high school certificate occur out of wedlock, compared with only 10 percent to women with a university degree.” That matters, he continues, because “the rate of single parenting is the most significant predictor of social immobility in the country.”
Does this mean that I think the people in my class are vicious and evil? No. Most of us are earnest, kind and public-spirited. But we take for granted and benefit from systems that have become oppressive. Elite institutions have become so politically progressive in part because the people in them want to feel good about themselves as they take part in systems that exclude and reject.
It’s easy to understand why people in less-educated classes would conclude that they are under economic, political, cultural and moral assault — and why they’ve rallied around Trump as their best warrior against the educated class. He understood that it’s not the entrepreneurs who seem most threatening to workers; it’s the professional class. Trump understood that there was great demand for a leader who would stick his thumb in our eyes on a daily basis and reject the whole epistemic regime that we rode in on.
If distrustful populism is your basic worldview, the Trump indictments seem like just another skirmish in the class war between the professionals and the workers, another assault by a bunch of coastal lawyers who want to take down the man who most aggressively stands up to them. Of course, the indictments don’t cause Trump supporters to abandon him. They cause them to become more fiercely loyal. That’s the polling story of the last six months.
Are Trump supporters right that the indictments are just a political witch hunt? Of course not. As a card-carrying member of my class, I still basically trust the legal system and the neutral arbiters of justice. Trump is a monster in the way we’ve all been saying for years and deserves to go to prison.
But there’s a larger context here. As the sociologist E. Digby Baltzell wrote decades ago, “History is a graveyard of classes which have preferred caste privileges to leadership.” That is the destiny our class is now flirting with. We can condemn the Trumpian populists until the cows come home, but the real question is: When will we stop behaving in ways that make Trumpism inevitable?
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: [email protected].
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.
David Brooks has been a columnist with The Times since 2003. He is the author of “The Road to Character” and, most recently, “The Second Mountain.” @nytdavidbrooks
A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 4, 2023, Section A, Page 18 of the New York edition with the headline: What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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Anheuser-Busch admits to continued plunge in Bud Light sales, insists US still has 'favorable' view of brand
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FOOD AND DRINKS Updated on August 3, 2023 2:20pm EDT
Bud Light sales continue to plunge, as Anheuser-Busch insists US still has 'favorable' view of brand
Anheuser-Busch says 80% of Americans have a favorable or neutral view of Bud Light
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Bud Light should've fired 'their CEO,' not hundreds of workers: Anson Frericks
Former Anheuser-Busch executive Anson Frericks says he's 'shocked' the brewery hasn't learned from its mistakes yet.
Anheuser-Busch InBev on Thursday reported a steep drop in profits amid the ongoing boycott against Bud Light, but the company insists U.S. consumers still have a generally favorable view of the beer brand.
The company announced that its U.S. revenue dropped 10.5% in the second quarter, while its earnings before taxes, interest and depreciation fell 28.2%. The second quarter covered April through the end of June and offers the first look at the damage caused by the Bud Light boycott, which began in April.
Anheuser-Busch accompanied the grim numbers with a survey of some 170,000 consumers across the U.S., saying it found a majority remain favorable toward the Bud Light brand, while 80% are favorable or neutral.
"Regardless of favorability, our consumers across all sentiment groups have three points of feedback in common," Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris said on an earnings call. "One, they want to enjoy their beer without a debate. Two, they want Bud Light to focus on beer. Three, they want Bud Light to concentrate on the platforms that all consumers love, such as NFL, (veteran charity) Folds of Honor and music."
HEINEKEN CEO SAYS BRANDS MUST 'BE BALANCED,' 'STAND UP FOR YOUR VALUES'
Anheuser-Busch announced a steep drop in profits due to the ongoing boycott against Bud Light, but the company insists U.S. consumers still have a generally favorable view of the beer. (Rob Carr/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Despite the drop in Bud Light sales, Anheuser-Busch reported an 18.4% increase in combined revenues of its global brands including Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona.
Other beers, including Coors Light and Miller Lite, have rapidly consumed Bud Light's market presence since the brand enlisted transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney for a marketing campaign, sparking criticism and the boycott push.
BUD LIGHT LAYS OFF HUNDREDS OF WORKERS AFTER DYLAN MULVANEY CONTROVERSY, LOSING TOP SPOT TO MODELO
On Tuesday, rival Molson Coors reported an 11.8% surge in net sales over the second quarter and a 5% jump in financial volumes, with U.S. increases reflecting a shift in consumer purchasing behavior.
Alternative beers like Coors Light and Miller Lite have rapidly consumed Bud Light's market presence since the brand enlisted transgender influence Dylan Mulvaney for a marketing campaign. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images / Getty Images)
CORONA LIGHT, COORS LIGHT GAIN TRACTION OVER BUD LIGHT
"We are seeing share and market improvement everywhere, and more consumers are reaching for our beers than our competitors’ beers," Molson Coors CEO Gavin Hattersley said on an earnings call Tuesday.
"Coors Light and Miller Lite are now 50% bigger than Bud Light by total industry dollars," he continued. "Last year, Bud Light was bigger than both. Retailers are making space for our brands as demand increases."
Bud Light has faced intense backlash from longtime customers over recent campaign with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney. (Instagram/Fox News / Fox News)
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Meanwhile, Bud Light has sought to recoup its top spot by leaning into football, country music and other quintessential American favorites in its new advertising.
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GOP Congressman Makes Case For Why ‘We Should Not Fear A Government Shutdown’
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— NEWS —
GOP Congressman Makes Case For Why ‘We Should Not Fear A Government Shutdown’
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Jul 25, 2023 DailyWire.com
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A Republican lawmaker argued on Tuesday in favor of making a play for spending cuts without “fear” of a government shutdown as the appropriations process ramps up.
Appearing with colleagues in the conservative House Freedom Caucus outside the U.S. Capitol Building, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) made a hardline case for demanding fiscal restraint ahead of the new fiscal year, which starts in the fall.
“We should not fear a government shutdown. Most of what we do up here is bad anyway,” Good said.
Rep. Bob Good: "We should not fear a government shutdown. Most of what we do up here is bad anyway." pic.twitter.com/Y5p1YhqIIf
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 25, 2023
Reciting a figure given by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Good said 85% of “essential operations” would continue. He also contended that most Americans “won’t even miss if the government is shut down temporarily.”
On social media, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) shot back at Good with a short list of services he said federal agencies would be unable to provide during a government shutdown.
“The [Federal Housing Administration] can’t process loans and mortgage approvals. The [Food and Drug Administration] can’t conduct food safety inspections. The [Small Business Administration] can’t process loans to help start small businesses. The [Environmental Protection Agency] can’t inspect drinking water systems and chemical facilities,” the Democrat said in a post.
Members of the Freedom Caucus have been putting pressure on House leadership to bend to their demands on appropriations or risk losing critical votes following this spring’s bipartisan deal to avoid a default on the U.S. debt.
Good was responding to a two-part question from a reporter, who asked if there were concerns about a government shutdown in October — the start of the new fiscal year — and whether Freedom Caucus-approved spending legislation could get through the Democrat-controlled Senate.
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Biggs, the first to answer the question, said he was not worried about a government shutdown at this point, predicting that some spending measures will be combined and pass as a “minibus” while a continuous resolution would keep the rest of the government running through the end of the year as talks progress.
WATCH LIVE: House Freedom Caucus holds news briefing on 2024 Congressional budget https://t.co/YkyzEdzVpE
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) July 25, 2023
In rounding out his response, Good argued that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) “has an opportunity to be a transformational, historical speaker that stared down the Democrats, that stared down the free-spenders, that stared down the president, and said, ‘No, we’re going to do what the American people elected us to do.'”
“We’re going to pass a good Republican bill out of the House and force the Senate and the White House to accept it, or we’re not going to move forward,” Good added. “What would happen if Republicans for once stared down the Democrats and were the ones who refused to cave and to betray the American people and the trust they put in us when they gave us the majority? So we don’t fear a government shutdown.”
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FBI Told Twitter Hunter Biden Laptop Was Real on Day It Was Censored
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FBI Official Told Twitter Hunter Biden Laptop Was Real on Day New York Post Story Was Censored
Hunter Biden disembarks from Air Force One at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, N.Y., February 4, 2023. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)
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By JEFF ZYMERI
July 20, 2023 3:12 PM
House Judiciary Committee Republicans said Thursday that an FBI official told Twitter that Hunter Biden’s laptop was real and not Russian disinformation on the day the social-media company censored a New York Post story relying on emails from that laptop.
According to a letter from chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) to FBI director Christopher Wray, Laura Dehmlow, the section chief of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), said in a transcribed interview earlier this month that when Twitter asked whether the laptop was real, an FBI official said: “Yes, it was.” An FBI lawyer on the call then jumped in and said: “No further comment.” Dehmlow could not recall if this information had been relayed to her or whether she actually overheard it.
Internal deliberations were held after that call in which the decision was made that FITF would say “no comment” going forward, according to Dehmlow. The section chief declined to say which FBI official made the decision that FITF would say “no comment” except to state that it “was not [her] decision.” Later on the same day, there was a call between the FBI and social-media company Facebook in which the agency declined comment when asked a similar question about Hunter Biden’s laptop, Jordan’s letter explains.
According to a separate part of the transcribed interview, Dehmlow said that she “would assume” then-FITF section chief Brad Benavides was aware of the laptop’s authenticity. She added that she was “pretty certain” the chief of the Russia unit was also aware.
The Post’s story alleging an influence-peddling scheme involving the president and his family ran early in the morning on October 14, 2020, weeks before the general election. The president has denied the allegations.
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The calls the FBI had with Twitter and Facebook occurred later that day.
In the hours following the publication of the story, Twitter blocked the story from being shared and Facebook, which is now called Meta, suppressed the story. According to Jordan, the FBI had constant information-sharing up to that point with social-media companies. It then made the institutional decision to refuse to answer direct questions about the laptop’s authenticity. “Put simply, after the FBI conditioned social media companies to believe that the laptop was the product of a hack-and-dump operation, the Bureau stopped its information sharing, allowing social media companies to conclude that the New York Post story was Russian disinformation,” reads the letter to Wray.
According to New York magazine, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told podcaster Joe Rogan that the FBI came to the company and said it should be on high alert as it expected there would be Russian disinformation during the 2020 election similar to the previous presidential cycle. Zuckerberg told Rogan he could not recall whether the FBI mentioned Hunter Biden or his personal data in the warning issued to the company, but said the Post story “fit the pattern” of what they had described.
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According to Jordan, had the Hunter Biden story been a product of a Russian disinformation campaign, FITF would have been fully authorized to warn the companies of such a campaign. Dehmlow explained: “If there is a foreign malign influence operation and we’ve got specific details about how those actors are propagating information operations, influence operations on platforms, that’s something we could share the specific details of.”
Jordan added during a Thursday hearing that even the account of Judiciary Committee Republicans was prevented from sharing the Post’s story.
During the hearing, Judiciary Committee Democrats cited another part of Dehmlow’s testimony to rebut the parts of the deposition made public by their Republican colleagues.
According to ranking member Stacey Plaskett (D., Virgin Islands), Dehmlow was asked: “If someone…were to leave this interview and were to suggest or imply or state that when you said the laptop was real — that it meant that the FBI had affirmatively determined in October 2020 that the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden, that the contents belonged to Hunter Biden, and that the contents had not been manipulated in some way, they would be misrepresenting what you said, correct?”
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Dehmlow responded: “They would be misrepresenting what I said because I don’t have much knowledge of that.”
Plaskett said she was introducing this into the record because the “committee likes to misrepresent or leave off complete sentences of what individuals said.” She added that an answer of no comment is typically “what they say when there’s an ongoing investigation.”
The FBI took possession of the laptop from a Delaware computer-repair shop in December 2019, according to the date on a copy of the grand-jury subpoena, as explained by New York magazine. John Paul Mac Isaac kept a copy of the laptop’s hard drive for himself as insurance and the contents would later make their way to the New York Post.
Representative Dan Goldman (D., N.Y.) tried to draw a distinction between the laptop and the hard drive during his questioning Thursday. However, the Washington Post has verified the authenticity of thousands of emails from the hard drive provided to the paper by a Republican strategist. While the paper noted its forensic analysts thought the data was sloppily handled and could not verify all of it, they also could not find clear evidence of tampering in their examinations. The Washington Post has gone on to report on Hunter Biden’s Chinese business dealings relying on some of these emails.
The Thursday Judiciary hearing comes after a federal judge banned officials from coordinating with social-media companies for the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content. The injunction from Judge Terry Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana applied to officials from the DOJ and FBI as well as other agencies, but was lifted by the Fifth Circuit as it reviews the case.
Doughty mentioned the FBI’s behavior during the 2020 election in his preliminary injunction in Missouri v. Biden.
“The FBI’s failure to alert social-media companies that the Hunter Biden laptop story was real, and not mere Russian disinformation, is particularly troubling. The FBI had the laptop in their possession since December 2019 and had warned social-media companies to look out for a ‘hack and dump’ operation by the Russians prior to the 2020 election,” Doughty wrote.
“Even after Facebook specifically asked whether the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation, Dehmlow of the FBI refused to comment, resulting in the social-media companies’ suppression of the story. As a result, millions of U.S. citizens did not hear the story prior to the November 3, 2020 election,” Doughty continued.
Jordan argued in his letter that the refusal of FBI officials to verify the authenticity of the laptop allowed “widespread censorship.” The Judiciary Committee chairman demanded Wray send further information and documents relating to these meetings and the FITF’s work by August 3, 2023.
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Florida does not teach students that slavery was good
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Florida does not teach students that slavery was good
by Hudson Crozier
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has done a lot to scale back the Left’s outsize influence over education. To rile up resistance, activists, politicians, and the media have spread almost every falsehood imaginable about what his anti-woke education policies actually do.
Those same forces have mobilized against Florida’s new standards for history courses, which they accuse of “whitewashing” the truth about slavery and racism. It’s hard to keep up with the deluge of flat-out lies they are relying on.
NO PLACE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
Critics claim the curriculum portrays slavery as “beneficial” to black people. The word “beneficial,” however, does not appear anywhere in the document in relation to slavery. Their issue is with one sentence that reads, “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
The guidelines do not, by any stretch of the imagination, describe slavery as a positive thing. They emphasize the brutal “conditions” of slaves, how “an enslaved person” was treated as “property with no rights,” and how slavery was at odds with “founding principles of liberty, justice and equality.” Including facts about what slaves did to help themselves in these circumstances does not change that. It’s simply a relevant part of the history of slaves.
Another controversial passage reads, “Instruction includes acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans but is not limited to 1906 Atlanta Race Riot, 1919 Washington, D.C. Race Riot, 1920 Ocoee Massacre, 1921 Tulsa Massacre and the 1923 Rosewood Massacre.”
This “suggests that the [Ocoee] massacre was sparked by violence from African Americans,” said Florida Democratic state Sen. Geraldine Thompson. “That’s blaming the victim.” Journalists have explained what white people did to ignite the deadly race riot as if to debunk the guidelines.
But the sentence is not assessing the blame in any of the particular Jim Crow-era events listed. When discussing incidents of racial violence, such as the four mentioned, the state wants teachers to include any known details about violence committed by both groups. Are we supposed to believe that whites were never among the casualties? Again, these are just relevant, neutral pieces of information.
The local newspaper Florida Phoenix was so caught up in the narrative that it misquoted the standards as saying “violence perpetrated by African Americans,” leaving out the “against.” At publishing time, it has not bothered to correct the error in its incredibly misleading article.
Liberal activist Genesis Robinson even claimed that Florida’s secession from the Union during the Civil War is not mentioned in the curriculum. Once again, the easiest way to defend it is to quote its exact words: “Describe Florida’s involvement (secession, blockades of ports, the battles of Ft. Pickens, Olustee, Ft. Brooke, Natural Bridge, food supply) in the Civil War” (emphasis mine).
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And what fake racial controversy would be complete without melodrama from the NAACP?
"Today's actions by the Florida state government are an attempt to bring our country back to a 19th century America where Black life was not valued, nor our rights protected,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson wailed.
I appreciate Johnson for articulating the pure paranoia driving this entire "whitewashing" hoax. Many on the Left are desperate to prove that conservatives want to erase history, desensitize the next generation to the evils of racism, and ultimately reintroduce discriminatory systems and the subjugation of blacks. It's one of the most difficult conspiracy theories to defend, so when they cannot find evidence for it, they make things up.
Hudson Crozier is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner fellow.
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Left’s miseducation on the Jewish state rooted in falsehoods and blatant bigotry
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Left’s miseducation on the Jewish state rooted in falsehoods and blatant bigotry
By Liel Leibovitz
Published July 2, 2023, 10:13 p.m. ET
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School’s out for summer, but when it comes to Israel, New York’s students still have a lot of learning to do.
Last month, CUNY Law School made headlines for a commencement speech that, even by the scurrilous standards of the rabid anti-Israel left, sounded shockingly like a blood libel, accusing the Jewish state of crimes against humanity.
In the wake of criticism, the speaker, Fatima Mousa Mohammed, has doubled down on her statements. “I would say it louder,” she said, even as the CUNY Board of Regents labeled it “hate speech.”
Elsewhere in the city’s vaunted university system, CUNY’s faculty have been waltzing with Israel hatred for years, passing resolution after resolution condemning the Jewish state.
From the city’s public schools to its private institutions, the woke progressives are busy telling a maliciously distorted story that portrays Israel as a singular benighted villain.
Fatima Mousa Mohammed spoke at CUNY Law School’s commencement, with some calling it a “hate speech.”
Mohammed during her commencement speech at CUNY Law.
Twitter/@SAFECUNY
So, while no one enjoys summer school, no one should suffer bigoted propaganda dressed up as education either.
Here, then, is a brief crash course in what actually goes on in the world’s most promised land:
•Israel is the indigenous homeland of the Jewish people
From archaeological findings to scientific analyses of artifacts, from biblical tales to historical accounts, from DNA tests to census records, every imaginable bit of evidence tells precisely the same story, that of Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel, being the native homeland of the Jews.
King Solomon built his ancient Temple for the Jews in Jerusalem in 957 B.C., roughly a millennium before Jesus was born and 1,500 years before the birth of Islam.
A small nation contending with a parade of empires eager to vanquish and replace it, the Jews were eventually forced into exile after the Romans burned the Second Temple in 70 A.D.
King Solomon built his ancient Temple for the Jews in Jerusalem in 957 B.C.
Bettmann Archive
A picture depicting King Solomon of Israel.
Universal Images Group via Getty Images
But there has always been ongoing Jewish life in Israel, even under a foreign yoke, and those forced to live elsewhere continued to pray thrice daily for centuries in the direction of Jerusalem, yearning for their return home.
None of this, of course, negates the Arabs’ claim that they, too, are the land’s native sons, but it is absurd to call the Jews foreign usurpers or colonizers.
•Zionism is a Jewish Liberation movement:
Despite all of the above, when a Viennese-born journalist named Theodor Herzl finally started the movement, Zionism, that would eventually achieve the great miracle of making the Jews the only indigenous people in recent memory to successfully reclaim their land, the enemies of the Jews were quick to condemn it as a colonialist enterprise.
This was back in the 19th century. Sadly, little has changed.
Today’s progressives don’t talk about Zionism’s deep historic roots or about the Zionist leaders’ insistence on paying a fair price for every inch of land purchased from Arab landlords, or their repeated efforts to make peace with their Arab neighbors and share the land.
In 1964, Egyptian Yasser Arafat started the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), intending on liberating what he argued was the Palestinian homeland from its Jewish occupiers.
Getty Images
In fact, when the United Nations voted in 1947 on a partition plan that would carve out one nation for Jews and one for Arabs, the Jews adopted it right away; the Arabs rejected it and waged war.
Similarly, Israel has approached its Arab neighbors with peace offerings over the years, only to be largely spurned.
•Israel is struggling with monomaniacal, homicidal Palestinian neighbors:
In 1964, an Egyptian swindler named Yasser Arafat started the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) with the express purpose of liberating what he argued was the Palestinian homeland from its Jewish occupiers.
This, mind you, was three years before Israel won the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after being attacked yet again by its Arab neighbors in 1967.
A man was seen looking at the damages caused by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on April 7, 2023.
Xinhua/Sipa USA
This simple math tells the whole story: The Palestinians never really wanted coexistence or peace; they just wanted all Israelis to be gone.
Despite that, Israel took a huge risk and made peace with Arafat’s PLO in 1993.
The old leopard, however, couldn’t turn his spots and remained committed to launching wave after wave of deadly terror attacks, even as he was allegedly negotiating peace.
His successor, Mahmoud Abbas, currently in year 18 of his four-year term, continues to champion his Palestinian Authority’s Pay for Slay program, rewarding any Palestinian who murders Israeli Jews with a handsome lifetime salary.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, things are even worse: After Israel freely withdrew from the Strip in 2005, the homicidal Islamist group Hamas took power and went on to devote all of its resources, including billions of dollars in international aid, not to hospitals, schools and other staples of civic society, but to digging terror tunnels into Israel, amassing weapons, and launching periodic and unprovoked attacks on citizens in southern Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attended an observation of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba in the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations on May 15, 2023, in New York City.
Getty Images
Despite all that, eight consecutive Israeli prime ministers have spent the last two decades making peaceful overtures to the Palestinians, again and again signing agreements, providing funds, and making goodwill gestures only to be met with uniform violence.
•Even when fighting in self-defense, Israel holds itself to higher moral standards:
On April 7 of this year, Palestinian terrorists shot an Israeli car, incapacitating it; they then calmly approached the vehicle and executed in cold blood the three defenseless women inside: Lucy Dee and her daughters Maia, 20, and Rina, 15.
Heinous attacks like these are tragically commonplace in Israel.
On April 7, 2023, Palestinian terrorists shot an Israeli car, killing three women inside: Lucy Dee and her daughters Maia, 20, and Rina, 15.
AFP via Getty Images
Yet while Israel continues to fight terrorism and defend its citizens, it also goes to extraordinary lengths to make sure no innocent Palestinians suffer needlessly.
After a Palestinian terrorist smashed the skull of a young Israeli, murdering him, the Israeli Army sought to demolish the terrorist’s home as a means of deterring such attacks. The terrorist’s family, however, appealed to Israel’s Supreme Court, arguing that the killer’s wife and children should not be punished for his deeds. The court accepted their appeal.
Similarly, the court routinely hears the appeals of Israelis and Palestinians alike whose property rights are challenged by decades of war and areas changing hands in its aftermath.
Even more radically, when responding to unprovoked attacks by Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces take the unparalleled measure of informing Palestinian civilians of upcoming operations against terrorist targets in order to give them adequate time to find safe shelter.
•Israel’s Arab citizens are moving on up:
Walk around the Quad and you might hear chants about Israel being an apartheid state. In reality, however, Israeli Arabs, who make up roughly 20% of the nation’s population, not only enjoy equal rights but are benefiting from more opportunities and growth than Arabs in any of Israel’s neighboring countries.
Syria remains plunged in a deadly civil war that has killed more than 306,000 civilians in a decade — more than 20 times the number of Israelis and Palestinians combined killed by the conflict since 1987.
Lebanon is governed by Iranian-backed, murderous mullahs.
Israel, meanwhile, continues to invest considerable resources in making sure its Arab minority thrives.
Some have claimed that the Druze flag (seen above) carries designs from the days of King Solomon.
Bettmann Archive
Since 2012, the Israeli Council for Higher Education invested roughly $300 million in a program to encourage Israeli Arabs to attend Israeli institutions of higher education, leading to a 60% spike in enrollment.
And the program’s impact was felt far beyond the ivory tower; walk into any Israeli hospital today and it’s very likely that the doctor or nurse treating you will be an Israeli Arab; 35% of the nation’s pharmacists, for example, are Israeli Arabs, and Arab citizens enjoy a growing representation in the media, arts and culture, civil service, business and every other corridor of life.
Add to that the fact that Israeli Arabs’ votes count just the same as those of their Jewish neighbors or the fact that Israeli Arabs have numerous political parties represented in the Israeli parliament, and you see why allegations of apartheid are laughable.
Yasser Arafat (center) and a few of his aides were pictured looking over a map of Beirut.
Getty Images
These facts and others like them may boggle the mind of any student held captive by so-called progressive professors talking about Israel.
But while we should continue to debate the many intricate points about the long and complicated Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we must never succumb to a simplistic and hateful narrative that accuses Israelis, and them alone among all the world’s nations, of ludicrous crimes.
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What do you think? Post a comment.
Now that we’re out of school, Let’s take a moment to get something our woke institutions increasingly deny us: an education.
Liel Leibovitz is editor-at-large of Tablet and co-host of its podcast, Unorthodox.
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Do We Realize What the Violence of Abortion Has Done to Us?
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Do We Realize What the Violence of Abortion Has Done to Us?
A woman uses a megaphone as pro-life demonstrators take part in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., January 20, 2023. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
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By KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ
June 26, 2023 6:30 AM
We need to heed the peacemakers, even as we work to end abortion.
Grand Rapids — “We need healing when we use violence,” says Kevin Vallier at the Acton Institute’s “University,” an annual international gathering of nonprofit, faith-based, and civil leaders. The Acton Institute is named after the 19th-century Englishman Lord Acton, known best for the quote “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Here, the attendees are also motivated by his admonition that “liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.”
Vallier is talking about the so-called culture wars and politics more generally. He’s reflecting on the obvious: our polarized times. One side thinks that if the other side wins, it will be the end of life in the United States as it should be.
It’s been a year since the Supreme Court, in the Dobbs decision, ended Roe v. Wade. Clearly pro-life, Vallier says that he’s grateful for the ruling. But he also warns Republicans against overreaching. He makes a potentially controversial point in pro-life circles: As an act of peace, let states decide how to regulate abortion. For someone who believes that abortion is a human-rights travesty, this is a compromise. But the alternative, he argues, is that Democrats will go to an extreme to defend the “right” to kill babies in the womb.
An experienced Washington politico friend frequently reminded me of his conviction that Dobbs was too much, too soon. That’s essentially what Chief Justice John Roberts said in his concurring opinion in Dobbs. I am grateful for Dobbs because Roe was truly terrible in terms of law and science and history and the pressure that Roe applied on women to “choose” abortion. But I also see my friend’s point. We were not ready for Dobbs. None of us. After 50 years, America has grown used to abortion. It has changed us.
“I think violence always damages us, even if we use it justifiably,” Vallier says.
I think that is not just true for soldiers who bear the wounds of the violence they have been forced to use, I think it’s true of politicians. What is the use of violence in politics going to do to us? Even if we win? Especially if we win. What will we become? Who will we be? Who will be more like Christ in the end?
Acton’s summer gathering has drawn more than 900 people from across the globe — Africa and Brazil both had notable showings. The attendees come to hear lectures on fundamentals and reflections on the world as it is and how it could be. Some core lectures consider the human person, civil society, and political ordering. The leaders in the audience are practitioners of first principles; they are on the front lines. They are going on a retreat to remember why they started on their paths in the first place, to reflect on how they can do better and encourage one another.
As I listen to Vallier talk about how violence always damages us, I think about more than the obvious political violence we’ve seen. Black Lives Matter riots throughout 2020 and Donald Trump’s apparent inciting of violence at the Capitol on January 6 are probably the most familiar. But I also think of the violence of abortion and the suffering it causes — including to our politics.
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Not everyone sees it that way. But they are wrong! But you’re wrong! Whatever side you are on, you feel you have to take a side in what is often talked about as a war. Vallier challenges us: What if we tried agreeing to disagree? Does it really have to be a war?
Shortly after listening to Vallier’s talk, I tuned in to MSNBC host Joy Reid, who was interviewing Kamala Harris about the Dobbs anniversary. I could feel my blood pressure rise, and I went to Twitter for a good rant. But I stopped myself. Abortion will never be ended over Twitter. And the Twitter conflict will only contribute to making people the worst versions of themselves.
Vallier is the author of Trust in a Polarized Age and the upcoming All the Kingdoms of the World: On Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism. He clearly feels called to the thankless task of reminding people that there is more to life than politics. When you say such things, someone always counters that there is a war in America for freedom. If you’re of a conservative persuasion, you might talk about the trans movement. If you are on the left, you might argue that the Right is trying to take away women’s rights. “Every ideological tradition distorts things about others,” Vallier emphasizes, noting that we all have biases and that most of us don’t fully understand — or grasp at all — the mindset of people with whom we disagree about fundamental things.
Speaking directly to Christians, Vallier preaches about the priority of Jesus for Christians. Faith must come before politics and inform our political participation. And there’s a certain freedom that comes from the fact that
the Gospel does not fit any ideological traditions. . . . Christ defies our ideologies. . . . He disrupts them. We can stand on Christ our solid rock to depolarize. That is a critical power that sincere Christians have.
Vallier is speaking to an audience that is probably conservative. But I couldn’t help but think about the rosary in my purse and the chance that the president of the United States may have one in his pocket right now. I hope we both pray it. Can it draw us together? Maybe Joe Biden is the wrong example. Or is he? Years ago, Charles J. Chaput, when he was the Catholic archbishop in Philadelphia, made the point that Democrats should never have become the proponents of abortion because there were so many Catholics in the party. Obviously, Biden and others do not accept Church teaching on abortion. Others want to see Biden denied Communion over the issue of abortion. The latter is above my pay grade. But Christians who disagree on abortion could lead in helping women, while agreeing to disagree on whether abortion needs to end in America.
Don’t get me wrong, I want abortion to end in America — and yesterday. Or 50 years ago. But I also realize that the country isn’t there yet. I want lives to babe saved, but many people are languishing — including children in the foster-care system. Can we meet in less charged places — such as the heart of little ones in need of a home? It could be healing. It certainly wouldn’t be the road to more violence.
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KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ is a senior fellow at the National Review Institute and an editor-at-large of National Review. Sign up for her weekly NRI newsletter HERE. She is the author of A YEAR WITH THE MYSTICS: VISIONARY WISDOM FOR DAILY LIVING. @kathrynlopez
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Post claiming IOC banned transgender swimmer Lia Thomas for life is satire
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-05-0800/sports-post-claiming-ioc-banned-transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-life-satire
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/09/01/claim-that-olympic-committee-banned-lia-thomas-is-satire-fact-check/70727437007/
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Post claiming IOC banned transgender swimmer Lia Thomas for life is satire | Fact check
JOEDY MCCREARY USA TODAY
Show Caption
The claim: The IOC banned transgender swimmer Lia Thomas for life
An Aug. 28 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a cutout photo of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
“International Olympic Committee Issues Lifetime Ban For Lia Thomas,” reads text in the photo.
Many commenters took the post seriously.
“Finally a win for real girls competing!!!!” wrote one Facebook user.
“It should be this way across all women's category sports!!!” wrote another.
The Facebook post was shared more than 7,000 times in three days.
Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks
Our rating: Satire
The post was published and shared by a satirical website. A footnote to the story linked in the post states, "Nothing on this page is real."
Post came from website labeled as fiction
Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win a national championship at the NCAA’s highest level in March 2022, when she won the Division I title in the women’s 500-yard freestyle.
The accomplishment made her a central figure in the ongoing national discussion about transgender women in sports – and a subject of satire.
Fact check: Twitter suspension of fake Réka György account unrelated to Lia Thomas
The post was shared by an account for America’s Last Line of Defense, a network of satirical websites. It contains a link to a longer story with the same title posted on The Dunning-Kruger Times, one of the satirical network's websites.
The story includes a disclaimer at the bottom that reads, "Nothing on this page is real.” The site’s “About Us” section says “Everything on this website is fiction.”
A previous satirical story on the site claimed the U.S. national women’s volleyball team threatened to quit if Thomas had been allowed to try out.
“The answer to the satire question is always going to be yes,” Christopher Blair, who operates the website, previously told USA TODAY. “I don't publish the truth on any of the websites you'll find on ALLOD.”
When the International Olympic Committee sanctions an athlete, the organization makes an announcement on its website, as it did in 2017 when four Russian athletes who compete in the skeleton event were barred as part of a doping investigation. The organization has made no such announcement about Thomas, and there have been no credible media reports of her supposed ban.
The story also identifies the IOC chairman as Joe Barron – a name that frequently appears in Dunning-Kruger Times stories. It has been used to refer to the supposed CEO of Publix, the CEO of Levi's and the chairman of Disney. The IOC does not have a chairman, and Thomas Bach has been its president since 2013.
Our fact-check sources:
Christopher Blair, Aug. 3, Email exchange with USA TODAY
IOC, Nov. 22, 2017, IOC sanctions four Russian athletes as part of Oswald Commission findings
IOC, accessed Aug. 31, Press releases
IOC, accessed Aug. 31, Mr. Thomas Bach
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.
Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.
View |61 Photos
Simone Biles: The Olympic gold medalist's gymnastics career in photos
Simone Biles, who won four Olympic gold medals in 2016, then suffered the 'twisties' in 2021 in Tokyo, may have her eyes on Paris in 2024.
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German Tennis Ace Has U.S. Open Fan Kicked Out Over ‘Hitler Phrase’
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-05-0711/sports-german-tennis-ace-has-us-open-fan-kicked-out-over-hitler-phrase
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/alexander-zverev-has-us-open-fan-kicked-out-over-hitler-phrase
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CHEAT SHEET
TOP 10 RIGHT NOW
1
German Tennis Ace Has U.S. Open Fan Kicked Out Over ‘Hitler Phrase’
FOUL
Dan Ladden-Hall
News Correspondent
Published Sep. 05, 2023 4:58AM EDT
Danielle Parhizkaran/USA TODAY Sports
A tennis fan was thrown out of a U.S. Open match early Tuesday after German player Alexander Zverev complained the man used “the most famous Hitler phrase there is in this world.” Zverev was serving in the fourth set of his match against Jannik Sinner when he walked over to chair umpire James Keothavong and pointed at the spectator in the crowd. Zverev accused the man of saying “the most famous Hitler phrase” and said it was “not acceptable.” The man was escorted out of the stadium shortly after. “He started singing the anthem of Hitler that was back in the day,” Zverev explained after the match. “It was ‘Deutschland über alles’ and it was a bit too much.” He added that he loves “when fans are emotional” during matches, but “I think me being German and not really proud of that history, it’s not really a great thing to do and I think him sitting in one of the front rows, I think a lot of people heard it.”
Video of Zverev telling the umpire that a fan just yelled “the most famous Hitler phrase” in his match against Jannik Sinner.
The last thing you’d think to hear in the middle of a tennis match.
pic.twitter.com/2acam1qNZX
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 5, 2023
Read it at The Associated Press
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Public freakouts, burnout, and bullying: Bad behavior is here to stay
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-09-01-1520/culture-public-freakouts-burnout-and-bullying-bad-behavior-here-stay
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https://www.axios.com/2023/09/01/covid-pandemic-mental-heallth-crisis-public-freakouts
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Tucker Carlson: ‘Obviously’ We’re ‘Speeding Toward Assassination’ of Trump
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-30-1542/polarization-tucker-carlson-obviously-we-re-speeding-toward-assassination-trump
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/tucker-carlson-obviously-were-speeding-toward-assassination-of-trump?ref=home
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FOX NEWS
Tucker Carlson: ‘Obviously’ We’re ‘Speeding Toward Assassination’ of Trump
‘NO ONE WILL SAY THAT!’
According to Carlson, “both parties have decided that there’s something about Trump that’s so threatening to them, they just can’t have it.”
Justin Baragona
Senior Media Reporter
Published Aug. 30, 2023 3:20PM EDT
YouTube
Twitter podcaster Tucker Carlson is pounding home the theory that Democrats and the D.C. establishment are plotting to kill Donald Trump, this time claiming that we’re “speeding toward assassination” because “permanent Washington” has decided they “just can’t have” Trump as president again.
Appearing on anti-woke comedian Adam Carolla’s YouTube show this week, Carlson weighed in on his sitdown with Trump that aired on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, last week. That interview was planned by both Carlson and Trump—both of whom have their own grievances with Fox News—as counter-programming to the right-wing network’s GOP presidential primary debate that Trump skipped.
At one point, Carolla asked the former Fox News star what “the future holds” and whether “they are going to let Trump be president,” prompting Carlson to begin raging about the impeachments and criminal indictments the ex-president has faced. And, of course, Carlson also tossed in some Jan. 6 trutherism for good measure.
“They protested him, they called him names. He won anyway. They impeached him twice on ridiculous pretenses,” the far-right nationalist pundit exclaimed. “They fabricated a lot about what happened on January 6 in order to impeach him again. It didn’t work. He came back. Then they indicted him. It didn’t work. He became more popular. Then they indicted him three more times. And every single time his popularity rose.”
According to Carlson, the only thing left for the so-called ruling class to do is kill Trump.
“If you begin with criticism, then you go to protest. Then you go to impeachment. Now you go to indictment and none of them work. What’s next?” Carlson said, purely just asking questions. “I mean, you know, graph it out, man! We’re speeding toward assassination, obviously, and no one will say that!”
He added: “I don’t know how you can’t reach that conclusion. You know what it’s been like. They have decided—permanent Washington. Both parties have decided that there’s something about Trump that’s so threatening to them, they just can’t have it.” Carlson’s assertion that Washington elites are conspiring to murder the current GOP presidential frontrunner comes after he posed that very same question to Trump during their friendly Twitter chat.
“They started with protests against you, massive protests, organized protests by the left, and then it moved to impeachment twice,” Carlson proclaimed to Trump. “And now indictment. I mean, the next stage is violence. Are you worried that they’re going to try and kill you? Why wouldn’t they try and kill you? Honestly.”
Since his abrupt ouster from Fox News, the one-time most-watched host on cable news has at times struggled to retain his cultural relevancy as he’s been shunted off to the hinterlands of Elon Musk’s social media platform. For instance, a gushing biography of him barely made a whimper on the best-seller charts, selling a mere 3,000 copies in its first week.
At the same time, though, Carlson has already pulled in investors to his new media venture, and nabbed seven-figure ad deals. And besides his chummy interview with Trump, Carlson has leaned further into controversy while posting obsequious sitdowns with Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán and accused human trafficker Andrew Tate.
Justin Baragona
Senior Media Reporter
@justinbaragona
[email protected]
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.
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Texas Says a Fetus Is a Child, Except When a Parent Sues a Negligent Doctor or State Official
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-25-0835/abortion-texas-says-fetus-child-except-when-parent-sues-negligent-doctor-or
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https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/08/texas-fetus-abortion-malpractice-ken-paxton.html
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JURISPRUDENCE
Texas Says a Fetus Is a Child, Except When a Parent Sues a Negligent Doctor or State Official
BY DOV FOX AND JILL WIEBER LENS
AUG 24, 20231:28 PM
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks to reporters in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on April 26, 2022. Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Prison guard Salia Issa was seven months pregnant when she reported to work on a warm mid-November evening in 2021 at the Middleton Transfer Facility in Abilene, Texas. Issa had just started her night shift when she felt intense, contraction-like pains. She needed to get to a hospital right away. But, consistent with prison policy, supervising officers wouldn’t let her leave her post for hours, until someone came to replace her.
By the time Issa was allowed to drive herself to the emergency room, her baby had died. Doctors believe that had she made it sooner, the child would have been born alive. Issa and her husband sued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and three senior officers there for violating their federal civil rights.
The Texas prison agency is represented by the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, who disputes one critical fact. As Paxton tells it, Issa may have suffered an injury, but it was to her body—to her pregnancy. Apparently, Issa’s injury is limited to her uterus. Never mind the death of the child whose arrival she and her husband had been eagerly awaiting. Or that Issa gave birth to her baby no differently than if her child were alive. Standard medical care encourages parents who deliver a dead baby to spend time with and hold the baby, take pictures, and make footprints and other memories. We don’t know whether Issa and her husband were able to spend time with their baby. But we do know that standard of care doesn’t include bonding like this for the loss of a colon, kidney, appendix, or even a uterus.
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Texas Takes Attacks on Austin to New Level With “Death Star” Law
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This isn’t the only context in which Texas has devalued the unborn child. If a doctor’s misconduct is to blame for fetal death, Texas malpractice law specifically defines the fetus as far less: as just part of the woman’s body and explicitly not as an individual. Ironically, in the current abortion pill litigation, plaintiff Shaun Jester, a Texas OB-GYN, claims that abortion denies him the joy of getting to “bring about a successful delivery of new life.” But if Dr. Jester were to negligently prevent that “successful delivery,” the legal injury is limited to the woman’s uterus—thereby capping any damages to a maximum $250,000. Dr. Jester specifically benefits from the devaluation.
Texas’ framing of the harm of pregnancy loss in terms of a body part is especially perplexing in light of its abortion ban that declares an “unborn child” exists as of fertilization. But Texas isn’t alone in treating the very same unborn life in strikingly inconsistent ways across different contexts; the contradictions actually pervade the legal landscape. For example, Florida bans abortion at six weeks to protect the unborn. But Florida law denies parents any basis to sue for the death of their unborn child. Wrongfully causing a pregnancy loss in Florida is merely a legal injury to “living tissue of the body.”
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Indiana, Kentucky, Arizona, and Idaho criminalize abortion from the moment of conception to protect prenatal life. But these states deny grieving parents any cause of action for the wrongful death of their unborn child until the point of fetal viability at around 24 weeks. Mississippi, too, makes abortion a crime from conception, while also denying a legal claim for pregnancy loss until “quickening,” as early as 16 weeks. Ohio bans abortion at six weeks, but denies grieving parents a claim for the death of their unborn child until viability.
Things get even stranger when the embryos people created using in vitro fertilization are contaminated or destroyed. When fertility freezers failed at two clinics in the summer of 2018, some victims sued for the wrongful death of their unborn child, leaving courts to decide between malfunction and murder. The laws in Arkansas illustrate the tension. Its abortion ban says there’s an “unborn child” at “the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum,” which would also seem to include frozen embryos in a lab. Yet the state law denies relief for lost embryos as life if the death is before the embryo is transferred to the woman’s body. Similarly, ever since the first-ever IVF suit in Rhode Island, courts have treated people’s lost embryos as “irreplaceable property.”
An embryo or fetus is specifically an “unborn child” under public law that criminalizes abortion based on the state’s interest in the unborn. But they’re reduced to body parts or property under the private law of civil wrongs, or torts, when it comes to the interests of parents who grieve their mismanaged pregnancies or mishandled embryos. How can the state’s abstract interest in that life start so much earlier, and be so much stronger, than the interest that aspiring parents have in their very own unborn child?
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For decades, the abortion debate has crowded out real talk about injuries like Salia Issa’s in Texas. For decades, the abortion rights movement has avoided this talk for fear that admitting that pregnancy loss matters risks ceding ground on abortion rights. It doesn’t. Recognizing the grief of reproductive loss is a function of how each person relates to their unborn, which can and often does vary across people and circumstances. That individualized assessment is exactly how tort law considers other personal injuries. This way of thinking about the value of the unborn poses no threat of collapsing into personhood-at-conception for those who seek abortions.
Issa felt her baby kick. She and her husband made all kinds of plans for the child in their life together. The state of Texas did not. Yet its interest is treated as mattering more than theirs. Had Issa ended her pregnancy, Paxton would prosecute the doctor who provided that service to her into prison for killing a baby. But because it wasn’t an abortion, according to Texas, it wasn’t a child, even if that’s how Issa valued him.
The state’s interest in nascent life shouldn’t count for more than that of an expectant parent. Taking reproductive loss seriously points to ways of protecting the unborn that don’t involve forcing pregnancy or childbirth: Support those who want to have their child. Expand access to prenatal care. Accommodate pregnant people at work. At the very least, if they have a miscarriage or their baby is stillborn, don’t devalue their loss; it can’t be a “baby” for the state but a “body part” for the parent.
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There is growing political violence in America
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-23-0858/violence-america-there-growing-political-violence-america
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lefts
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https://www.semafor.com/article/08/18/2023/political-violence-on-the-rise-in-america
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Threats and instances of political violence are on the rise in America. A woman in Chicago was arrested after allegedly threatening to kill former U.S. president Donald Trump and his 17-year-old son Barron Trump. Recently, a Texas woman was charged for making death threats against the federal judge overseeing Trump’s Jan. 6 criminal case, and authorities in Georgia are investigating threats against the grand jurors who indicted Trump for election interference. Earlier this month, the FBI killed a Utah man who was being investigated for making “credible” threats against President Joe Biden.
The indictments and investigations into Trump are leading to an increase in the number of people who think force is justified to return him to the White House, a recent University of Chicago found. But a radicalized public won't necessarily lead to actual violence, unless leaders like Trump incite or inspire people to act, researchers said. • 1 On the left, the study noted increased support for violence to restore federal abortion rights, but there's little indication that groups would act on that view.
The Guardian, ‘Anger and radicalization’: rising number of Americans say political violence is justified
Another mass gathering like the Jan. 6 Capitol riot isn't the top concern for researchers, said Robert Pape, the University of Chicago professor who led the research. Instead, "the biggest thing we have to worry about is lone wolf violence that is going to be extremely difficult to predict," Pape said. That's harder to guard against because "we cannot protect every possible target that the extremists could go for."• 2
CBS News, Political violence risk reignited as Trump faces indictments
Reuters tallied 213 cases of political violence since Jan. 6, 39 of which were fatal, finding that the country is "grappling with the biggest and most sustained increase in political violence since the 1970s." Attacks are now aimed more at people than property, with explanations for the violence ranging from financial anxiety to disdain over the country's changing demographics to the "coarsening of political rhetoric in the Trump era."• 3
Reuters, Political violence in polarized U.S. at its worst since 1970s
The racketeering indictment against Trump and 18 others in Georgia largely focused on the threats made to election worker Ruby Freeman, who was falsely accused of election fraud. The inclusion of those charges, Jennifer Rubin argues, is a just way to hold Trump and his allies accountable "for infusing our politics with violence and the threat of violence."• 4
The Washington Post, Fani Willis puts violence front and center
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To limit fentanyl supply, Tim Scott wants Title 42-like restrictions. Experts say they won’t help
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-21-0819/public-health-limit-fentanyl-supply-tim-scott-wants-title-42-restrictions
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Polarization
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https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/aug/17/to-limit-fentanyl-supply-tim-scott-wants-title-42/
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Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
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Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks at the Republican Party of Iowa's 2023 Lincoln Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, July 28, 2023. (AP)
Title 42, a public health policy that lets border officials quickly expel migrants from the U.S., can be used only to prevent a communicable disease from spreading. Fentanyl does not fall under this category.
Congress would need to pass a law to change the public health policy’s requirements or to codify similar restrictions in immigration law, but it would need at least 60 votes in the Senate.
Experts say Title 42 or Title 42-like restrictions would have little effect on fentanyl supply and overdose deaths because the drug is smuggled in mainly by U.S. citizens at official ports of entry. While Title 42 was in use, fentanyl seizures and overdose deaths continued to rise.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott has floated a plan he says will reduce the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.: reinstating the COVID-19 era public health policy known as Title 42.
Title 42, enacted by the Trump administration in March 2020 and lifted May 11, was used to curb the spread of COVID-19. It gave border officials the power to quickly expel people arriving at the southern border, essentially blocking their ability to apply for asylum.
"The current healthcare emergency we all know ain’t COVID, but it is fentanyl," Scott, of South Carolina, said Aug. 15 at the Iowa State Fair during a "fair-side chat" with Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds. "We can reinstate something like Title 42 to stem the tide of 6 million illegal immigrants crossing our border. We can do that on Day 1 of my administration."
In his immigration plan released Aug. 6, Scott said that in his first 100 days as president, he would "make Congress pass the bill" he wrote codifying asylum restrictions similar to those in Title 42. The bill said that "in response to the fentanyl public health crisis," it would suspend people who are not legally allowed to enter the U.S. from entering the country via Mexico or Canada. Instead, they would be immediately expelled. Under immigration law, people must physically be in the U.S. to seek asylum, whether they entered legally or not. Scott introduced the bill, S. 1532, in May, but no actions have been taken since.
Scott has mentioned his plan in interviews and campaign events, proposing it as a means to solve the "current health care crisis" involving fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
But policy experts say Scott can’t use the fentanyl crisis to restore Title 42. And even if he did seek to enact Title 42-style immigration restrictions, such measures would be unlikely to lower the amount of fentanyl coming into the country or the number of overdose deaths. That’s because although most illegally sourced fentanyl in the U.S. comes from Mexico, the drug is smuggled in mainly by U.S. citizens at official ports of entry.
A homeless person holds pieces of fentanyl in Los Angeles, Aug. 18, 2022. Use of the powerful synthetic opioid that is cheap to produce and is often sold as is or laced in other drugs, has exploded. (AP)
Title 42 gives the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s director the power to stop foreign people or property from entering the U.S. to prevent the spread of a communicable disease. The U.S. code specifies examples of communicable diseases including cholera, smallpox and SARS — which COVID-19 falls under.
But fentanyl does not fall under this category as it is not a disease and cannot be transferred person to person, said David Bier, immigration studies director at the libertarian Cato Institute.
"Fentanyl does not meet those criteria, even if it is a public health crisis. It is not transmissible through contact, said Tony Payan, director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. "It is something that is sold and consumed by the will of the individuals who do so."
This means that Scott would not be able to use the fentanyl crisis as the public health concern that would lead his administration to reinstate Title 42. If he did, "it would be challenged immediately," said Jeremy Slack, a University of Texas at El Paso professor and an expert in drug trafficking and the border.
Congress, however, could change the public health policy’s requirements or pass a law, like Scott’s proposed bill, giving the Department of Homeland Security powers similar to those under Title 42.
But passing such a law "would require hurdles that are not easy to pass," said Adam Isacson, defense oversight director at the Washington Office on Latin America, a research and human rights advocacy group. Those hurdles include getting past a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
Even if Congress did pass a law replicating Title 42 restrictions as Scott described, it likely would not reduce the amount of fentanyl entering the U.S. or lower the number of overdose deaths, experts said.
According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, fentanyl seizures continued to increase after the Trump administration implemented Title 42, going from 257 pounds seized in February 2020 to 3,300 pounds in May 2023.
Synthetic drug overdose deaths, mostly fentanyl, also continued to rise during that time, from around 40,000 between April 2019 and March 2020 to around 72,000 from April 2022 to March 2023, CDC data shows.
"The idea that having an incredibly low rate of illegal immigration is going to somehow stop people from using hard drugs or using fentanyl is just really detached from reality," Bier said.
So why didn’t Title 42 lower fentanyl seizure and overdose numbers?
"Fentanyl is being trafficked by U.S. citizens and permanent residents through ports of entry," Slack said.
About 19,600 of the 22,000 pounds confiscated so far in fiscal year 2023 has been seized at ports of entry, according to CBP data. Last year, 88% of fentanyl arrests were of U.S. citizens who were not expelled from the U.S. under Title 42.
U.S. citizens and permanent residents are able to cross the southern border multiple times and know the territory better, said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, an immigration expert at George Mason University.
Bier said even if all fentanyl were smuggled between ports of entry, Title 42 could actually have the opposite effect. Unlike under immigration law, people caught by Border Patrol and immediately expelled to Mexico via Title 42 do not face legal consequences, so they could drop the fentanyl they’re carrying into the bushes and try to enter the U.S. again after being expelled.
PolitiFact, Title 42 expiration: What's next for migrants applying for asylum at US’ southern border?, May 8, 2023
PolitiFact, Ask PolitiFact: Do rising fentanyl seizures at the border signal better detection or more drugs?, March 20, 2023
Vote Tim Scott, TIM SCOTT: SECURING THE BORDER, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
U.S. Senate, Alan Shao Jr. Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
Vote Tim Scott, post, Aug. 13, 2023
National Institute on Drug Abuse, What is fentanyl?, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
RAND Corp., Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, Feb. 2022
Legal Information Institute, 42 U.S. Code § 265 - Suspension of entries and imports from designated places to prevent spread of communicable diseases, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
U.S. Code, TITLE 42—THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
Sen. Tim Scott, Senator Scott Introduces Legislation to Extend Powers of Title 42 to Combat Fentanyl Crisis, May 10, 2023
National Center for Health Statistics, Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
U.S. Sentencing Commission, Quick Facts — Fentanyl Trafficking Offenses, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Drug Seizure Statistics FY2023, accessed Aug. 16, 2023
Email interview, Tony Payan, Director, Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Aug. 14, 2023
Email interview, Josiah Heyman, anthropology professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, Aug. 14, 2023
Email interview, Jeremy Slack, assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, Aug. 14, 2023
Phone interview, Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, professor at George Mason University, Aug. 14, 2023
Phone interview, David Bier, immigration studies director at the Cato Institute, Aug. 15, 2023
Email exchange, Adam Isacson, defense oversight director at the Washington Office on Latin America, Aug. 15, 2023
The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter
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The Killers brought a Russian fan onstage in Georgia — and it didn't go well
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-16-1142/ukraine-war-killers-brought-russian-fan-onstage-georgia-and-it-didnt-go-well
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Polarization
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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/killers-apologize-russian-fan-onstage-georgia-rcna100140
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WAR IN UKRAINE
The Killers brought a Russian fan onstage in Georgia — and it didn't go well
The American band has apologized after it waded into deep geopolitical waters at its concert in the Black Sea country Tuesday night.
Watch: The Killers introduce a Russian fan onstage at a concert in Georgia
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Aug. 16, 2023, 1:15 PM CEST / Updated Aug. 16, 2023, 3:36 PM CEST
By Yuliya Talmazan and Matteo Moschella
Nobody told The Killers that Russia is not the most popular subject in neighboring Georgia at the moment, it would seem.
The American rock band has apologized after wading into deep geopolitical waters during a concert in the country on Tuesday, when they invited a Russian fan on stage and were booed by the audience.
Videos circulating on social media show the band’s lead singer, Brandon Flowers, asking the audience if they could bring a fan drummer, who is Russian, on to the stage. In the videos, it appears the singer interprets the initial hum of the crowd as an agreement, but the audience then starts to boo and whistle loudly.
Some videos also show a group of people shouting, “F--- Russia,” while some fans walked out.
In some videos, Flowers can also be heard saying that he sees his fans as his “brothers and sisters,” which was also not taken well by the crowd.
In a Facebook post following the performance in the Black Sea town of Ozurgeti, the band said it was never its intention to offend anyone.
“We have a longstanding tradition of inviting people to play drums and it seemed from the stage that the initial response from the crowd indicated that they were okay with tonight’s audience participation member coming onstage with us,” the band said. “We recognize that a comment, meant to suggest that all of The Killers’ audience and fans are ‘brothers and sisters,’ could be misconstrued. We did not mean to upset anyone and we apologize. We stand with you and hope to return soon.”
In comments under the statement, people accused the band of not “reading the room” and some noted to Flowers that “true brothers honor your land’s sovereignty.” But others came to the band’s defense, urging against discrimination against all Russians for the Kremlin’s actions.
Georgia’s current government has been accused of pro-Russian leanings, but the dominating public opinion in the country is pro-Ukrainian.
“I think large parts of the Georgian public believe that Georgia is sort of indirectly at war with Russia,” Ghia Nodia, a political science professor at Georgia’s Ilia State University, said on the phone from Tbilisi. “Of course the war is in Ukraine, but many Georgians consider that this is also kind of Georgia’s war, that Ukrainians are fighting Georgia’s war. And so that explains, I think, the general attitudes,” he told NBC News.
The war in Ukraine and the subsequent influx of Russians into Georgia have led to a peak of anti-Russian sentiment, Nodia said, not even seen after the 2008 war between the two countries.
But Nodia said that, to him, the audience was not hostile to the Russian fan per se, but rather to Flowers’ comment that all fans are brothers and that it doesn’t matter who is Russian and who is Georgian. “For Georgians, it matters a lot because Georgians consider Russia a hostile nation,” Nodia said.
Marketing specialist Keti Karseladze went to the concert with a group of friends and said the incident left her shocked and disappointed.
A self-described “huge fan,” Karseladze said she was excited to see the band, but said Flowers’ comments came across as “really aggressive,” especially the one about “brothers and sisters,” which, Karseladze said, was out of geopolitical context.
“I was thinking that there must be some misunderstanding,” Karseladze, 30, said, adding that some of her friends walked out of the concert in protest.
The band’s apology after the incident was “not enough,” she added. The crowd’s anger, she explained, was heightened by the fact that the 2008 conflict is still an “open wound.”
Georgia achieved independence from Moscow in 1991, and has a long history of tensions with the Kremlin since the Soviet Union’s collapse. That culminated in a brief military confrontation in 2008 over the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which Tbilisi and much of the world considers part of Georgia, but Moscow sees as independent.
Earlier this year protests rocked the Black Sea country of 3.7 million after the government tried to introduce a bill that fueled fears of Kremlin influence.
Georgia’s pro-democracy civil “Shame movement” said in a statement published on X, formerly Twitter, that the incident exposes the band’s “profound ignorance” and called for all artists to “acquaint themselves intimately” with places where they are performing.
“This mindfulness becomes crucial to avert their actions from glorifying a state their audience perceives as a symbol of terror,” the statement said.
A Tbilisi radio station also said on the Telegram messaging app that it will not be playing The Killers’ songs in protest.
The episode may also be seen as giving more ammunition to the Kremlin, which frequently accuses the West and Russia’s neighbors of what it calls rampant Russophobia and the cancellation of Russian culture.
NBC News has reached out to the Georgian embassy in London for comment.
In the aftermath of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Russians who morally opposed the war or simply wanted to escape mobilization have fled to Georgia, to a mixed reaction from the locals.
“I think most Georgians are not happy about the fact that so many Russians are here,” Nodia said. “But it does not mean that they are aggressive against individual Russians.”
Yuliya Talmazan
Yuliya Talmazan is a London-based journalist.
Matteo Moschella
Matteo Moschella is a London-based reporter for NBC News' Social Newsgathering team.
Andrew Jones contributed.
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Republicans find safe media spaces
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-14-1413/media-industry-republicans-find-safe-media-spaces
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Polarization
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lefts
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https://www.semafor.com/article/08/13/2023/republican-find-safe-media-spaces
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Sign up for Semafor Media: Media’s essential read. Read it now.
In this article:
DES MOINES – The Gannett-owned Des Moines Register is one of those medium-sized American dailies hanging on in a tough environment. Its signature political event is the annual Political Soapbox, long the premier venue for speechifying on the main drag of the Iowa State Fair.
But this year, the Register has a new rival. Republican Governor Kim Reynolds is hosting a series of “Fair-Side Chats” with presidential candidates on the other side of a set of stalls selling pork-on-a-stick, Spam-burgers, and other delicacies.
And Reynolds has the better bookings: Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Tim Scott, seen as among the campaign’s top tier, are skipping the Register’s wide-open public platform in favor of Reynolds’ safer stage. (Trump, in a snit with Reynolds, did neither.)
Reynolds is a star of retail politics who practically lives at the fair, and a welcoming public presence — but a rookie interviewer. In her first outing Thursday, the radio host and candidate Larry Elder cheerfully rolled over her attempt to ask questions. Friday, she mixed up the state from which North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum hailed, and found herself chiming in “yep, yep” to inanities like Miami mayor Francis Suarez’s declaration, “we’re ideators, we generated ideas.” She got out of the frame for Vivek Ramaswamy’s performance of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” It was the safest political space.
Thursday evening, DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley visited the other main media event of the day, a live taping of the “Ruth-Less” podcast, founded by former aides to Senator Mitch McConnell. Its name refers to the GOP-dominated Supreme Court after Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The podcast is raucous and beloved by the party’s political class, and the Des Moines bar was full of staffers for various campaigns. But its hosts aren’t looking to put their guests in a bad spot —the Republican consultant Eric Wilson called it a “trusting, safe space.”
Thursday night at Johnny’s Hall of Fame in Des Moines, the Ruthless hosts played a game with DeSantis called “Dem or Journo,” reading quotes calling DeSantis things like “fascist dictator” and asking him to guess which quote came from a political enemy, which from the main enemy, the media. He guessed right. “History has shown that siding with Governor DeSantis is has to be the right move when you face a crisis,” one of the co-hosts, who goes by the name Comfortably Smug on Twitter, concluded.
Public figures’ migration away from neutral or adversarial public platforms and toward safe spaces is a long-running trend, hardly unique to the right. President Joe Biden prefers progressive influencers to tough TV interviews, Elon Musk talks to friendly podcasters like Lex Fridman, and the list goes on.
The shift in Iowa, however, is one more body blow for the role the local media used to play in national campaigns, pulling them away from the polarized national discourse and toward more grounded local issues.
The Register, like virtually every American newspaper, has denounced Donald Trump on its editorial pages. But Reynolds’ move on her hometown paper is new, and the Register has not always been an automatically Democratic outlet. The paper endorsed Mitt Romney over Barack Obama in 2012, and its lead political reporter, Brianne Pfannenstiel, is well-regarded by the local Republicans on whom she regularly breaks news. (When Reynolds “gets the inevitable Fox News show, this will have been good practice,” grumbled a top State Senate Democrat, Zach Wahls.)
But Iowa, which seemed at times to set the culture of presidential politics, is now mostly subject to the same national trends of a new era of hyper-polarized politics and partisan media. The notion of a neutral platform has nearly dissolved, and — particularly in primary season — the leading candidates see no rewards in reaching toward the center. And Trump helped shift Republicans from hating the legacy media to merely mocking it, the theme of Ruth-less.
“What you’re seeing at the state fair is what’s happening everywhere,” said Kyle Munson, a former Register reporter who is president of the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation.
His foundation is trying to support and revive community journalism in the state’s rural western regions, where publications like the twice-weekly Storm Lake Times used to be essential parts of the political infrastructure.
The sheer proximity of community journalism to the people local journalists cover — the fact that editors and public officials have to make eye contact, and shake hands — is one antidote to polarization, he noted.
Benjy Sarlin noted in Semafor that Donald Trump never limited himself to an alternative conservative media space:
“Trump, who has done more to rally conservatives against the press than any modern politician, has also been more eager to cultivate a relationship with them than his chief opponent, Ron DeSantis, who has largely resisted interviews and engagement with non-conservative outlets.”
And in fact, DeSantis’ recent campaign reset has come with a modest amount more openness to the press.
| 786
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Country lacks a unifying voice in aftermath of Trump charges
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-05-0858/bridging-divides-country-lacks-unifying-voice-aftermath-trump-charges
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/08/05/us-lacks-unifying-figure/
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Supporters and protesters of former president Donald Trump demonstrate ahead of his arrival at the E. Barrett Prettyman courthouse. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
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In the hours after former president Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday, President Biden dined at a seafood restaurant, stopped by a movie theater to watch the summer blockbuster “Oppenheimer” and took a twilight stroll on the beach. He did not issue a statement on the indictment of his predecessor for allegedly seeking to overturn the last election.
America’s other living presidents — Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter — also stayed mum on the matter. Rushing into the void, partisan actors unleashed bitterly accusatory rhetoric that threatens to engulf both the court case and the presidential race.
The indictment’s aftermath has showcased how the country lacks a trusted singular voice of moral authority, one who could speak out on one of the most contentious and consequential judicial actions in political history: a former president charged with conspiring to undermine the nation’s democracy. If President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation in 1974 yielded the reassuring presence of CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, moderate Sen. Howard Baker (R-Tenn.) and — at least until he pardoned Nixon — incoming President Gerald Ford, this moment conspicuously lacks such a figure.
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“There’s nobody that the public at large is willing to listen to, because the trust in government has corroded to such a low degree,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian and author of a biography of Cronkite. “And the polling on journalists, the Supreme Court, Congress, the presidency — they’re all low. People aren’t admiring our public servants.”
Trump pleads not guilty
For Biden, who was vacationing in Rehoboth Beach, Del., when the indictment was unveiled, the public reticence is part of a long-running strategy to insulate his White House from charges of political interference in sensitive investigations of his predecessor. Trump’s position as the Republican front-runner to challenge Biden in 2024 and the ongoing legal difficulties of Biden’s son Hunter have further restricted the president’s ability to speak out.
Biden and the White House have largely refused to comment as Trump has faced a trio of criminal indictments in multiple jurisdictions that focus on a range of activity before, during and after his presidency. But while Trump’s prior charges involved alleged hush money payments to an adult-film star and the alleged hoarding of classified documents, the latest charges allege a more fundamental crime against the nation’s democratic system — one that presidents are sworn to protect and expected to vocally defend.
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As he seeks a second term, Biden, 80, has pitched himself as an experienced statesman working to restore the tenets of democracy after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection by Trump supporters. Tuesday’s indictment — which includes charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to deprive people of their right to have their vote counted — could provide fodder for Biden’s argument, but he has so far declined to make that case explicitly.
Biden’s aides say publicly commenting on Trump’s legal case could play into their opponents’ hands and undermine the principle of an independent justice system. At the same time, Trump has not hesitated to accuse Biden of engineering a political prosecution to skew the upcoming election.
“This is a persecution of a political opponent,” Trump said Thursday after appearing in court to plead not guilty. “If you can’t beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him. We can’t let this happen in America.”
Biden finds himself in unprecedented territory
Trump has long claimed to be the victim of persecution by a growing list of alleged saboteurs, including journalists, prosecutors, judges, military leaders, intelligence officials, former presidents and government bureaucrats — drawing once nonpartisan figures into the political fray. Amid the partisan squabbling over his latest indictment, no other national figures have been able to speak to the moment with a sense of gravitas that might be broadly accepted across political battle lines.
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While history is full of examples of deep ideological divisions, today’s battles lack a sense of “loser’s grace” in which both sides agree to accept the outcome and move on, said Russell Riley, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.
“What is distinctive today is not, essentially, that we don’t have a common national figure both sides can turn to,” Riley said. “The system wasn’t built to require a Walter Cronkite to pronounce from on high that something is profoundly wrong. It was constructed on the premise that losers would accept the expressed will of the people. That’s the responsibility of a loser. And when it is not exercised, the system wobbles.”
Special counsel Jack Smith made a similar argument when he unveiled his 45-page indictment Tuesday, calling out Trump for inspiring the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the democratic principles it represents.
Special counsel Jack Smith on Aug. 1 announced four charges against former president Donald Trump in his investigation into the 2020 election. (Video: The Washington Post)
Trump’s strategy of denigrating Smith and the broader justice system — with the implicit goal of effectively putting his case before voters rather than jurors — increases the likelihood that the 2024 race will be dominated by debates over the status of the nation’s democracy, Brinkley said.
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Elected officials, military brass and religious leaders are among the figures who have been viewed as authoritative voices capable of calming or rallying the populace during crucial moments in U.S. history, reassuring the nation that its principles hold fast.
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Presidents themselves have often been called on to be the moral voice of the nation, appealing to its better angels at times of great tumult, tragedy or threat. As the country faced the throes of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used his “fireside chats” to reassure Americans and galvanize the country around a strategy for revival.
After the nation watched the violence of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Ala., President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke to a joint session of Congress and sent an unequivocal message by adopting the mantra of civil rights protesters: “We shall overcome.”
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Bush — whose own razor-thin 2000 election victory was ultimately accepted by Vice President Al Gore during a time of national angst — had to lead the country through tragedy less than a year later after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “I can hear you,” he said through a bullhorn as his stood amid the wreckage in New York three days after the attack. “The rest of the world hears you … And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”
All of those presidents enjoyed bipartisan popularity at a level that may no longer be possible. Even Obama, who governed at a more divided moment but whose voice was often sought out during times of racial strife, struck a chord with many when he sang part of “Amazing Grace” to commemorate the lives of nine Black parishioners slain by a white supremacist in 2015.
What indictment week tells us about 2024
Technological advancements have altered the landscape significantly. Then-Sen. Robert F. Kennedy gave a powerful address to a largely Black crowd in 1968 several hours after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated and the news had not yet reached many of the people in the audience. Today, by the time a president or other leader can arrange to stand in front of a microphone, millions of Americans have already not only digested the news but formed opinions based on the media prism through which they consumed the information.
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National institutions that were once at least somewhat removed from the vagaries of rank partisanship — including the military, the Supreme Court and the scientific community — have now been thrust deep into the nation’s culture wars. Public opinion polling shows a decline in broad support and trust in all three.
The media have been especially susceptible to the public’s declining sense of trust. Viewers in the aftermath of Trump’s indictment flocked to MSNBC or Fox News, receiving completely different depictions of what had just occurred.
“This is political germ warfare,” Fox News host Jesse Watters, whose prime-time show is often the nation’s most-watched cable news program, told viewers Tuesday. “These are political war crimes. It’s an atrocity. It’s like not just dropping one atomic bomb, you drop 15 dozen.”
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MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, in contrast, echoed the disbelief of many liberals that a figure like Trump gained power in the first place. “If the allegations made by the Justice Department in this indictment are proven, history will not ask how we got to the point where they had to indict a former president,” she said. “History will ask, ‘How did a person like this get elected to the U.S. presidency?’”
The bifurcated media environment has helped Trump maintain a robust level of support among Republicans even as he has faced three indictments in four months, Brinkley said.
“When Walter Cronkite left in 1981, you lost a referee on public affairs,” he said. “And with the advent of cable and the internet and social media, it's completely balkanized. Now, everybody is a consumer of the media they want.”
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Unlike Nixon, who was forced to resign and bow out of politics when it became clear that leaders within his own party had turned against him over the Watergate scandal, Trump has seen his standing among Republicans grow along with his rap sheet.
While a few former Republican allies have spoken out against him in the wake of the new charges — including former vice president Mike Pence, former attorney general William P. Barr and former national security adviser John Bolton — they have found themselves largely isolated as the GOP has coalesced behind Trump.
Hunter Biden’s legal predicament has also come into play as the president has opted to stay quiet about Trump’s charges. Congressional Republicans have spent much of the past year investigating Hunter Biden, recently touting testimony by a business partner who alleged that the younger Biden used his relationship with his father as he was pursuing international business deals.
Trump’s legal and political advocates have seized on that to paint the administration, the Democratic Party and the justice system as corrupt, saying without evidence that they are targeting Trump while protecting Hunter Biden.
“President Trump is under siege in a way that we have never seen before,” Trump lawyer Alina Habba told reporters Thursday outside the federal courthouse in Washington, accusing the Biden administration of engaging in “election interference.”
In the days since Trump’s indictment, Biden has declined to address such allegations.
Riding his bike for the fourth day in a row Thursday, Biden ignored reporters’ inquiries about Trump’s indictment and answered brusquely when asked if he’d consider pausing to answer their questions: “Probably not,” he said, riding by with a wave.
That afternoon, as the political world focused on Trump’s appearance in court, Biden was holed up at his beach house. At 1:54 p.m., reporters were advised that he would have no other public activities for the day.
CORRECTION
A previous version of this article gave the wrong title for Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The article has been corrected.
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Congress tries to break fever of incivility amid string of vulgar, toxic exchanges
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-01-1315/politics-congress-tries-break-fever-incivility-amid-string-vulgar-toxic
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Polarization
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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/congress-break-fever-of-incivility-toxic-incidents/
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POLITICS
Congress tries to break fever of incivility amid string of vulgar, toxic exchanges
BY SCOTT MACFARLANE
AUGUST 1, 2023 / 7:57 AM / CBS NEWS
They live a mile apart in Columbus, Ohio. And they shop in the same produce aisle at the same grocery store. U.S. Reps. Mike Carey, a Republican, and Joyce Beatty, a Democrat, often bump into each other at the airport and see each other around the neighborhood. Over glasses of orange juice and ice water in May, they even talked about the importance of being seen together at work, talking and planning.
The two Ohio natives are trying to patch up a different community 400 miles away.
In the heat of one of the most political, toxic and uncivil moments in memory in the U.S. Congress, the pair is trying to keep the House of Representatives from slipping deeper into a bad-mannered, boorish body of government.
Carey, a second-term Republican endorsed by former President Donald Trump, and Beatty, a fifth-term congresswoman who once chaired the Congressional Black Caucus, have formed a congressional Civility Caucus, seeking to inspire a more civil discourse between the two parties.
But relations between Democrats and Republicans — and even within the GOP — have been deteriorating. This congressional session has seen a number of coarse and vulgar exchanges, misogynistic name calling, heckling, formal censure resolutions and one lawmaker putting another in a physical restraint during a 15-round vote for House speaker in January.
Rep. Richard Hudson, left, pulls Rep. Mike Rogers back as they talk with Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and others during the 14th round of voting for speaker on Jan. 6, 2023.
ANDREW HARNIK / AP
"We can disagree, but you don't have to be disagreeable," said Carey, as he stood side-by-side with Beatty to speak with CBS News in the Cannon House Office Building.
Beatty said, "It's treating people well or how you would like to be treated. It's calling people out, if necessary, but doing it with civility."
The two have launched their effort with a series of joint speeches and meetings with business groups and political organizations. In May, in breakfast remarks before an audience of political staffers and policy wonks on Capitol Hill, Beatty and Carey described their efforts to meet and talk, in plain view, on the House floor during proceedings. Beatty said she'll walk to the Republican side of the aisle to speak with Carey, with Carey making the same overture for meetings with her on the Democratic side. They do so openly and noticeably, she said, "which unfortunately, in today's time might seem kind of rare. But we have decided to go with it and be visible with it."
Carey told CBS News the pair helped bridge gaps, and smooth friction, during the particularly divisive fight over raising the nation's debt ceiling in May. He said, "Joyce obviously was working with her (Democratic) members. And I worked on my side. Then we, as (an Ohio) delegation came together and every single one of our members voted for it on the House side."
The caucus has early commitments from at least 20 House members to join and participate. But members are only permitted to join as bipartisan pairs. Each person needs to find a partner from the opposite party.
The push for civility comes six months into a rancorous and uncivil first session of the 118th Congress. In June, Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Republican of Georgia, declined to answer CBS News questions about an incident in which she reportedly called colleague Rep. Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, a "little b****" in a House floor dispute over dueling efforts to seek impeachments of figures in the administration of President Biden.
In response to a question from CBS News about the tenor of House floor proceedings, Speaker Kevin McCarthy accused Democratic colleagues of a lack of civility during a June party-line vote to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, Democrat of California. Democrats shouted "disgrace," "shame" and "McCarthyism" during the censure proceedings, proceedings which Democrats themselves argued lacked in civility and decorum.
The marathon 15-round vote in which McCarthy was voted to be speaker in January featured a string of heckles, screams, name-calling and — during one seminal moment — a Republican House member physically restraining a Republican colleague back from confronting another House member on the floor.
A recent survey of congressional staffers by the non-partisan Congressional Management Foundation showed both parties are eager for an end to the discourteousness that plagues some of the politics and hearings in Congress. The group's survey reported 87% of congressional staff agreed with the statement, "Congressional leadership should enforce the rules and norms of civility and decorum in Congress."
"The research is clear — civility and bipartisanship are absolutely necessary for a functioning Congress," said Brad Fitch, president of the Congressional Management Foundation, which helps provide training and services to congressional offices.
Carey and Beatty told CBS News they share meals and are planning dinners and nonwork get-togethers with colleagues to foster and create some of the relationships needed to transcend and break the fever of a divided and volatile politics in the 118th Congress.
When pressed by CBS News for examples of their olive branches or approaches to civility, Beatty and Carey mention their joint speaking tour, ranging from business groups in their home city of Columbus and at Washington, D.C., political organizations, and they say they hope to speak with student groups, too, about the importance of civility.
Carey thinks his colleagues will still see an incentive in using coarse and fiery rhetoric, because uncivil words on the House floor can draw media coverage, donations and coveted attention from a party's supporters. As Carey told an audience during a speaking engagement with Beatty this past spring, "The people on the extremes seem to dominate the airwaves."
The structure of the Civility Caucus is similar to another bipartisan effort in the U.S. House, the Problem Solvers Caucus, an equally balanced bipartisan group formed in 2017 and led by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of New Jersey. The group is credited with helping negotiate and strengthen some of the larger bipartisan agreements during the past few Congresses, including the debt ceiling compromise, which averted a U.S. default on its debt.
Carey believes civility can be modeled, even by colleagues who oppose each on other on a vote or legislation. He told CBS News, "We're going come to different issues in different ways. We will see different pieces of legislation differently. But that doesn't mean we don't like each other. We can be respectful of that. And so that's what we're trying to do."
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In: United States Congress
Scott MacFarlane
Scott MacFarlane is a congressional correspondent for CBS News, reporting for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms.
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First published on August 1, 2023 / 7:57 AM
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| 788
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Democrats and Republicans Are Living in Different Worlds
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-26-1425/polarization-democrats-and-republicans-are-living-different-worlds
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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/opinion/masculinity-gender-gap-2024.html
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| 789
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Alabama GOP refuses to draw second Black district, despite Supreme Court order
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-07-21-0555/voting-rights-and-voter-fraud-alabama-gop-refuses-draw-second-black-district
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Polarization
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/alabama-gop-refuses-draw-second-black-district-supreme-court-order-rcna94715
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ELECTIONS
Alabama Republicans refuse to draw a second Black congressional district in defiance of Supreme Court
The Supreme Court this year reaffirmed a federal court order for Alabama to include two districts where Black voters make up voting-age majorities, “or something quite close to it.”
Alabama lawmakers vote on redistricting map despite Supreme Court ruling
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July 21, 2023, 11:00 AM CEST / Updated July 22, 2023, 1:35 AM CEST
By Jane C. Timm
Alabama Republicans on Friday defied a U.S. Supreme Court order by passing a new congressional map that includes only one majority-Black district.
The GOP-controlled Legislature had called a special session to redraw an earlier map after the Supreme Court reaffirmed a federal court order to include two districts where Black voters make up voting-age majorities, “or something quite close to it.” But on Friday, state Republicans approved a new map with just one majority-Black seat and a second district that is approximately 40% Black.
The bill passed the House in a 75-28 vote after the Senate voted 24 to 6 in favor of the revised map.
The map was completed Friday afternoon — hours before the court-ordered deadline for the Legislature to draw up new boundaries — as a compromise between the House and Senate versions.
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed the redistricting map into law Friday night. A federal court will hold a hearing on the map Aug. 14.
“Following the U.S. Supreme Court order, I called the Alabama Legislature into a special session to readdress our congressional map," Ivey said in a statement after signing the measure. "The Legislature knows our state, our people and our districts better than the federal courts or activist groups, and I am pleased that they answered the call, remained focused and produced new districts ahead of the court deadline.”
Democrats slammed the map and its drafters, arguing that legislators ignored a court order and that the map continued the racist history of voter suppression.
"There was never any intent in this building to comply with their court order," said state Rep. Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa. "There was never any intent in this building to comply with the Voting Rights Act."
England and other Democrats argued the map was designed to bring another challenge to the Voting Rights Act.
"I'm ashamed of what we did here this week," said state Rep. Juandalynn Givan, a Democrat from Birmingham. "We’ve chosen to outright, blatantly disobey the law and to further attempt and vote to bury the Voting Rights Act."
Evan Milligan, executive director of Alabama Forward, who earlier this month won a voting rights case at the Supreme Court, speaks in Birmingham on June 28.Stew Milne / Getty Images file
The map drawing process has been closely watched by many in Washington, where redistricting battles playing out in the courts in Alabama, New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and other states could decide control of Congress.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and much of the rest of Alabama's congressional delegation had reached out to Republican legislators, according to Republican state House Speaker Nathan Ledbetter.
Alluding to Tuberville’s past as the football coach at Auburn University, spokesman Steven Stafford said in an email before the final vote: "Coach just wants the maps to be fair and for all Alabamians to be represented well. He trusts Alabama’s state legislators to get this right."
McCarthy reached out to plan sponsors and is concerned about maintaining his House majority, Ledbetter said, while Tuberville called Thursday morning and said he was surprised the Supreme Court had ruled against the state, given the court's conservative tilt.
"He was kind of surprised that we were in the situation," Ledbetter said. "There are a lot of eyes on Alabama."
McCarthy confirmed to NBC News that he talked to "a few" Alabama legislators.
"I’d like to know where they’re going to go and whether they’re in the process of happening," he said. "I know the Democrats are trying very hard to redraw New York. ... I think people should be very fair in this process to be able to see what’s happening. I like to know what’s going to happen out there."
How the map performs
Republicans have insisted the maps would give Black voters an opportunity to elect the representatives of their choice as required by the courts, but Democrats, voting rights experts and the groups that sued the original maps disagree.
Kareem Crayton, an Alabama native who is a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, said his team looked at 15 recent elections to see how the final map would perform.
They found that a candidate preferred by Black voters would win just once in every 15 contests. The election data underpinning that win was derived from a remarkable upset: former Sen. Doug Jones' victory over Roy Moore, a Republican accused of sexual misconduct with teenagers.
Opponents of the previous map are vowing to challenge the new one, said Deuel Ross, an attorney for NAACP Legal Defense Fund who argued the case before the Supreme Court.
"The map fails to provide Black voters with any new opportunity to elect the candidates of their choice. And this clearly violates not just the order of the District Court, but the order of the United States Supreme Court," Ross said in an interview Friday.
The plaintiffs plan to submit objections in the coming weeks under the current court order, and federal judges will consider them at the Aug. 14 hearing. The court can chose to implement maps drawn by outside experts if it agrees that the map is another racial gerrymander.
"This is exactly why the Voting Rights Act was first created — this sort of stubbornness of states," Ross said in an interview earlier this week. "Even when a court says that they're violating federal law or the Constitution, they continue to fail to do the right thing. It's troubling, but it's part of a troubling history that has existed in America and Alabama for a long time."
CORRECTION (July 21, 2023 7:35 p.m. ET): A headline and a previous version of this article misstated McCarthy’s title. He is the House speaker, not its majority leader. A previous version also misspelled the last name of a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center. He is Kareem Crayton, not Clayton.
Jane C. Timm
Jane C. Timm is a senior reporter for NBC News.
Kyle Stewart, Diana Paulsen , Michael Mitsanas and Michelle Acevedo contributed.
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Did Matt Gaetz’s Wife Call for Boycott of 'Barbie' After Watching the Movie?
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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee Says if Trump Loses, 2024 Could Be Last Election ‘Decided by Ballots Rather Than Bullets’
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TRENDING NOW | Previously Undiscovered Virus Found at Bottom of Pacific Ocean
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee Says if Trump Loses, 2024 Could Be Last Election ‘Decided by Ballots Rather Than Bullets’
The conservative pundit and former judge said tactics are being used against the ex-president similar to 'Third World dictatorships'
Published |Updated
Zachary Leeman
JWPlayer
Mike Huckabee made an extreme prediction about 2024 when discussing the possibility of Donald Trump losing or being prevented from running due to his legal troubles.
In a segment over the weekend on his Trinity Broadcast Network series, the former Arkansas governor suggested the four sets of criminal charges Trump is facing is an attempt to keep him from office, comparing the tactics to those used in "Third World dictatorships."
Mike Huckabee in the Fox News Channel Studios in New York CitySteven Ferdman/Getty Images
Huckabee, who has already endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, said if former president is kept from office in 2024 because of his legal troubles, it'll be the last election in the country decided by ballots instead of bullets.
"If you're not paying attention, you may not realize that Joe Biden is using exactly those tactics to make sure that Donald Trump is not his opponent in 2024," he said. "Here's the problem, If these tactics end up working to keep Trump from winning or even running in 2024, it is going to be the last American election that will be decided by ballots rather than bullets."
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5 Political Trends that Will Determine the 2024 Election
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https://www.newsnationnow.com/on-balance-with-leland-vittert/tuberville-military-chiefs-making-a-mountain-out-of-a-molehill/
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Americans are divided on whether society overlooks racial discrimination or sees it where it doesn’t exist
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https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-25-0749/race-and-racism-americans-are-divided-whether-society-overlooks-racial
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https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/25/americans-are-divided-on-whether-society-overlooks-racial-discrimination-or-sees-it-where-it-doesnt-exist/
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AUGUST 25, 2023
Americans are divided on whether society overlooks racial discrimination or sees it where it doesn’t exist
BY KILEY HURST
Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Black Americans’ civil rights, we asked U.S. adults what they think is the bigger problem when it comes to racial discrimination in the country today.
How we did this
53% say people not seeing racial discrimination where it really does exist is the bigger problem.
45% point to people seeing racial discrimination where it really doesn’t exist as the larger issue.
Views on this have changed in recent years, according to Pew Research Center surveys. In 2019, 57% said people overlooking racial discrimination was the bigger problem, while 42% pointed to people seeing it where it really didn’t exist. That gap has narrowed from 15 to 8 percentage points.
Americans’ current views on this question differ greatly by:
Race and ethnicity: 88% of Black adults say people overlooking discrimination is the bigger problem. Smaller majorities of Asian (66%) and Hispanic (58%) adults say the same, as do 45% of White adults.
Partisanship: 80% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say people not seeing racial discrimination where it does exist is the larger issue. About three-quarters (74%) of Republicans and Republican leaners give the opposite answer.
How views on racial discrimination differ within political parties
Majorities of Republicans across age groups say people seeing racial discrimination where it doesn’t exist is the larger issue. But Republicans ages 50 and older are more likely than those under 50 to say this (78% vs. 68%).
Among Democrats, age differences aren’t as large, but there are differences by race and ethnicity. Hispanic Democrats are the most likely to say people seeing discrimination where it doesn’t exist is the bigger problem. Some 29% say this, compared with 20% of Asian Democrats, 19% of White Democrats and 8% of Black Democrats.
Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and the survey methodology.
Topics Discrimination & PrejudiceRacial Bias & DiscriminationBlack AmericansPartisanship & Issues
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Kiley Hurst is a research analyst focusing on social and demographic research at Pew Research Center.
POSTS BIO EMAIL
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Sage Steele: ‘Something in me changed’ after vaccine mandate
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Jim Jordan Reveals 'Smoking Gun' Against Biden
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White House Accuses McCarthy of Lying in Impeachment ‘Efforts to Smear the President’
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White House Accuses McCarthy of Lying in Impeachment ‘Efforts to Smear the President’
White House spokesman Ian Sams called impeachment inquiries into President Biden 'shameless and baseless'
Published |Updated
Mariana Labbate
JWPlayer
White House spokesman Ian Sams on Tuesday rebuked comments made by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about impeachment inquiries and bribery allegations in the Biden administration, accusing him of lying.
Sams wrote a statement calling McCarthy's claims "false" and listing a number of lies the speaker said in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity.
While on air, McCarthy said that Congress had found evidence that the Biden family had business deals with China, that Biden himself had received payments from abroad while he was vice president, and is considering impeachment inquiries based on these findings.
In response, Sams called out McCarthy's "continued lying" about the Biden administration, accusing the Speaker of "making a series of plainly false, widely debunked attacks in order to promote the extreme far right’s baseless impeachment stunt that even some members of McCarthy’s own caucus are expressing concerns about pursuing.”
Lawmakers called on McCarthy to schedule votes on gun violence legislation as soon as possible.Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The White House spokesperson also accused McCarthy of spreading lies about the FBI and its informants.
Read More
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Sen. John Fetterman Mocks Recent House Impeachment Effort
White House Says GOP Impeachment Plan Is to ‘Figure Out the ‘Evidence’ Later’
"Speaker McCarthy has decided the truth should not get in the way of his and House Republicans’ relentless efforts to smear the President," Sams wrote. "Instead of pursuing this shameless and baseless impeachment stunt, House Republicans and Speaker McCarthy should join the President to work on continuing to bring down inflation and lower costs, create jobs, and grow the economy."
Read nextManchin Criticizes Biden Energy Priorities
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What Meta’s New Studies Do—and Don’t—Reveal About Social Media and Polarization
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JONATHAN STRAY IDEASAUG 3, 2023 9:07 AM
What Meta’s New Studies Do—and Don’t—Reveal About Social Media and Polarization
The papers are neither proof that Facebook divides us nor a vindication of social media. They’re a starting point.
PHOTOGRAPH: GETTY IMAGES
SAVE
LAST WEEK, THE first papers from a collaboration between Meta's Facebook and a team of external researchers studying the 2020 election were finally published. Two of these studies asked: Are we trapped in filter bubbles, and are they tearing us apart? The results suggest that filter bubbles are at least somewhat real, but countering them algorithmically doesn’t seem to bring us any closer together.
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Some are interpreting these results as proof that Facebook divides us. Others are claiming these experiments are a vindication of social media. It’s neither.
The first study tried to figure out whether we’re really in informational echo chambers, and if so, why. Unsurprisingly, the segregation in our information diets starts with who we follow. This mirrors offline life, where most people’s in-person social networks are highly segregated.
But what we actually see in our Feed is more politically homogeneous than what is posted by those we follow, suggesting that the Feed algorithm really does amplify the ideological leanings of our social networks.
There are even larger partisan differences in what we engage with, and Facebook, like pretty much every platform, tries to give people more of what they click, like, comment on, or share. In this case, it looks like the algorithm is sort of meeting human behavior halfway. The difference in our information diets is partly due to what we’ve chosen, and partly the result of using computers to guess—often correctly—what buttons we’ll click.
This raises the question of how ideologically similar people’s news should be. You can read the computed values of the “isolation index” in the paper, but it’s not clear what numbers we should be aiming for. Also, this study is strictly concerned with “news and civic content.” This might be democratically important, but it makes up only a few percent of impressions on Facebook. It’s possible that positive interactions with people who are politically different change us the most, even if it’s just reading their posts on unrelated topics.
The second study directly tested whether increasing the political diversity of people and publishers in your feed has an effect on polarization. For about 20,000 consenting participants, researchers reduced the amount of content from like-minded sources by about a third. This increased consumption from both neutral and cross-cutting sources, because the amount of time spent on Facebook didn’t change.
Of the eight polarization variables measured—including affective polarization, extreme ideological views, and respect for election norms—none changed in a statistically significant way. This is pretty good evidence against the most straightforward version of the “algorithmic filter bubbles cause polarization” thesis.
But this is not the end of the story, because filter bubbles aren’t the only way of thinking about the relationship between media, algorithms, and democracy. A review of hundreds of studies has found a positive correlation between general “digital media” use and polarization, worldwide, as well as a positive correlation with political knowledge and participation. Social media use has many effects, both good and bad, and filter bubbles aren’t the only way of thinking about the relationship between media, algorithms, and democracy. For example, there’s evidence that engagement-based algorithms amplify divisive content, and tools to reach targeted audiences can also be used for propaganda or harassment.
We need to ask not just how to prevent harm, but what part platforms should play in helping to make societal conflicts healthier. It’s a deep question, and scholars have explored how different theories of democracy might call for different types of recommender algorithms. We don’t want to eliminate all political conflict or enforce conformity, but there’s no denying that the way Americans are fighting each other now, sometimes called pernicious polarization, is destructive, escalatory, and unhealthy.
Meta’s results notwithstanding, we know that content can have effects on polarization—because of the Strengthening Democracy Challenge, a series of experiments that tried to change how people approach political conflict. It’s also possible to algorithmically identify political content that garners agreement across societal divides, a strategy known as bridging-based ranking, and prioritizing such content is thought to reduce polarization. Such a ranking system is already in use to select Twitter’s community notes. There have even been experiments showing that a carefully designed AI chatbot can help mediate divisive conversations.
There is, in short, a lot to try.
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Many people will be looking to the current batch of experiments to either crucify or exonerate Facebook. That’s not what they do; this is bigger than Facebook, and these studies are early results in a new field. Meta should be commended for undertaking open research on these significant topics. Yet this is the culmination of work announced three years ago. In the face of layoffs and criticism, the appetite for open science on hard questions may be waning across the industry. I’m aware of at least one large research project Meta recently canceled, and the company said it “does not have plans to allow” another wave of election research in 2024. Many in the research community support a bill called PATA, which would give the National Science Foundation authority to vet and prioritize research projects which platforms would be obligated to support.
Simultaneously, the AI era is dawning, and our information ecosystem is about to get a lot weirder. We’re going to need a lot more open science on the frontiers of media, machines, and conflict.
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For the GOP in WA, the point is to flip off the libs
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