The atheist Christopher Hitchens used to argue that religion was useful for getting good and conscientious people to do wicked things. Politics can be used in the same way. Those two candidates could only have advanced so far because American politics is so tightly wired to our fears and hatreds. Why would anyone decent support either of them — unless on some level you feared and hated the other side?
.. Asked if he could unequivocally state that he never dated a teenager when he was in his thirties, Moore replied: “It would be out of my customary behavior.”
.. I’d like to advance the political case against letting fear and hatred lead us to consistently lower our standards and lend our support to the ambitions of less and less worthy people.
.. First, there is is the argument from credibility. Every social conservative who supports Moore is increasing the cynicism of American society and justifying widespread skepticism about the sincerity of Christian belief among conservatives. People are reminded frequently that Christian conservatives once demanded that Bill Clinton resign in shame for carrying on an affair with a White House intern. Now some of those supposedly godly men, or their sons, defend Moore’s predation of teenaged girls on the grounds that even a child predator is better than a Democrat. This instrumentalism will eventually make it impossible for social conservatives to defend any of their preferred policies.
.. The country won’t give consent to pro-life laws if they have good reason to suspect their advocates are insincere. And the public will shrug at the abrogation of religious liberties if it thinks these amount to privileges for hypocrites.
.. You cannot be a good citizen of your country if your immediate political interests outrank every other good in the commonweal. And You cannot be a good citizen of your country if your immediate political interests outrank every other good in the commonweal. And citizenship requires some self-abnegnation, even some risk. Advancing a man of Roy Moore’s character to the Senate worsens public life in obvious ways.
- He’s unethical.
- He flouts the law.
- And he is peculiarly holier than thou.
Telling yourself that “this is war, and in war you have to make less than ideal choices” is a great way to excuse the destruction of your charity and the lifting of restraint, with collateral damage to your integrity.
.. Choosing the lesser of two evils is a fantastic way to prepare yourself to do worse and worse evils. And following it to the end is a bitter fate indeed. The worst tragedies of recent history were driven by masses of people giving in to existential fear and hatred. There are many alive today in Central and Eastern Europe who made themselves into Fascists or Communists in order to resist or avenge the Communists and the Fascists. But the names we remember and revere are often those who carefully and bravely stood apart.
George Soros Transfers $18 Billion to His Foundation, Creating an Instant Giant
The pioneer of hedge-fund investing has transferred the bulk of his wealth to Open Society Foundations
Open Society’s activism has sometimes angered nationalist governments, such as the current one in Hungary, which targeted a university Mr. Soros founded and which has run poster campaigns singling him out for his support of refugees. Mr. Soros has urged developed countries in Europe and elsewhere to share the burden of increased migration from conflict-ridden countries. Anti-Soros politicians in Macedonia, Poland and some other European countries have attacked foreign-funded groups, including Open Society, for what they see as outside interference in their affairs.
In the U.S., where Mr. Soros is a major contributor to liberal and Democratic causes, he is a lightning rod for conservatives. Open Society has supported efforts to overhaul immigration policies and the criminal-justice system, including prisons, and funded mentoring programs for black and Latino young men. It has supported activists working on issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement.
.. Mr. Trump, whose campaign cited Mr. Soros in a closing ad as part of a “global power structure” the ad said disadvantaged the working class.
.. Despite regularly telling others he was retired, Mr. Soros occasionally stepped back into active trading, such as during the financial crisis, when he helped guide his firm to big gains. Former employees say some past investment chiefs bristled at how Mr. Soros inserted himself in operations, judging them critically on what they felt was short-term performance.
.. Soros Fund Management’s annual returns have averaged around 11% in the past 10 years, according to a person familiar with the figures, well below the 30% of its early decades.
Terrorism Financing: It’s Time to Take Care of Unfinished Business
The SAAR network is a web of over 100 purported charities, nonprofits, and financial firms, centered in northern Virginia, that were accused of laundering money for terrorism. The SAAR Foundation, the nucleus of the network, was set up in 1983 under the patronage of Sulaiman Abdul Aziz al-Rajhi, a wealthy Saudi banking magnate who is strongly suspected of supporting al-Qaeda.
.. According to the federal affidavit filed by customs investigator David Kane, the SAAR network was funded with millions of dollars in Saudi cash and was then used to funnel money to terror organizations such as that of convicted terror financier Sami al-Arian, the North American representative of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
.. at least $26 million was routed to suspicious accounts in the Bahamas and the Isle of Man that may have been used to fund Hamas. In this way, wealthy Saudi backers of terrorism could use America’s own banking system to escape increasing financial scrutiny from the Saudi government.
.. One-time SAAR executive assistant Abdurahman Alamoudi (later convicted of a plot to assassinate Saudi crown prince Abdullah) boasted of his close ties to Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, as well as to political fixers such as Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist.
.. In Virginia alone, SAAR-network companies have made over $265,000 in political donations, with special distinction going to Reston Investments ($96,550), Mar-Jac Investments ($64,950), and the think tank IIIT ($25,500).
.. the SAAR network bought influence with local Arab-American community groups, and through them gained access to vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine.
.. Now it seems that the SAAR network is interested in Virginia’s gubernatorial race. Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam, the Democratic candidate for governor, recently received donations from at least two SAAR-network entities
When Victims Feel Most Victimized
Recent research on people’s reaction to mistreatment adds a twist to our knowledge about the limits of empathy
Consider a person who would contribute $10 to help an impoverished child. Now, suppose that person is asked to help 10 such children. Will the donor give $100? Just the opposite: The most common response, studies have found, is to give less than $10... Why does the suffering of one person affect us more than that of many?.. a single victim more readily engages our empathy.. Participants who had been told that the whole group was victimized found the deception less upsetting than the individuals who were told that they had been singled out... Lessened empathy for a group, studies have shown, is based in part on donors speculating that the misfortune must have been the victims’ own fault... large numbers of the needy remind us of our own insignificance as specks in the universe, trying in vain to make a difference... Telling a person that he was targeted because of the sort of person he is aches the most. It makes him complicit in his own victimhood.