Ben Shapiro California State University, Los Angeles When did he start college? I don't know. Why was he giving a speech there? entitled "When Diversity Becomes a Problem". Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? student protesters demanded that the speech be cancelled, labeling it as "hate speech". Why was it considered hate speech? concepts of microaggressions and safe spaces were being used to suppress free speech in the name of diversity of skin color, What was the response after the speech? hundreds of student protesters formed human chains to block the doors to the theater where the event was to be held, How did he get inside? Shapiro eventually made it into the theater and began his speech, only for a fire alarm to be pulled by one of the protesters; Did they evacuate the building? Shapiro continued speaking regardless, calling Covino "cowardly" and referring to the protesters as "spoiled brat snowflakes" and "fascists". What happened next? After the speech ended, Shapiro had to be escorted out a secret exit by police and his own bodyguards,
What did the protesters do?
What did the protesters do?
On February 25, 2016, Shapiro gave a speech at California State University, Los Angeles, entitled "When Diversity Becomes a Problem". Shapiro's speech focused on how the concepts of microaggressions and safe spaces were being used to suppress free speech in the name of diversity of skin color, while ignoring the value of diversity of thought. In response to the announcement of the speech, hosted by the campus's chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, student protesters demanded that the speech be cancelled, labeling it as "hate speech". The university's president, William Covino, eventually announced the cancellation of the speech three days before it was to take place, with the intention of rescheduling it so that the event could feature Shapiro debating someone with opposing viewpoints. In response to the cancellation, Shapiro said he would be attending the event anyway, and several lawsuits were threatened against the university for canceling the speech. As a result, Covino ultimately backed down and allowed the speech to go on as planned. The day of the speech, hundreds of student protesters formed human chains to block the doors to the theater where the event was to be held, shoving away anyone who attempted to enter and starting several fights in the crowded lobby. Some students were ultimately able to enter the theater by being sneaked in through back doors, though the protesters soon found out and barricaded those doors as well. Shapiro eventually made it into the theater and began his speech, only for a fire alarm to be pulled by one of the protesters; Shapiro continued speaking regardless, calling Covino "cowardly" and referring to the protesters as "spoiled brat snowflakes" and "fascists". After the speech ended, Shapiro had to be escorted out a secret exit by police and his own bodyguards, while those inside the theater were told that they could not leave since the protesters were preventing anyone from leaving. Only after Shapiro left did the protesters eventually disperse, and those inside the theater were allowed to exit. Three months after the CSULA incident, Young America's Foundation announced on May 19 that it was filing a lawsuit against the university (with Shapiro as one of the plaintiffs), claiming that the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the students were violated by Covino's attempted cancelation of the event, as well as the physical barricading of students from entering or leaving the event, and the encouragement of such actions by several campus professors. CANNOTANSWER
Only after Shapiro left did the protesters eventually disperse, and those inside the theater were allowed to exit.
Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (born January 15, 1984) is an American conservative political commentator and media personality. At age 17, he became the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the United States. He writes columns for Creators Syndicate, Newsweek, and Ami Magazine, serves as editor emeritus for The Daily Wire, which he founded, and hosts The Ben Shapiro Show, a daily political podcast and live radio show. He was editor-at-large of Breitbart News between 2012 and 2016. Shapiro has written eleven books.

Early life 
Shapiro was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Conservative Jewish family of Russian-Jewish and Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry. At the age of 9, he transitioned with his family to Orthodox Judaism. He started playing violin at a young age, and performed at the Israel Bonds Banquet in 1996 at twelve years of age. His parents both worked in Hollywood. His mother was an executive of a TV company, and his father worked as a composer.

Skipping two grades (third and ninth), Shapiro went from Walter Reed Middle School in The Valley to Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles in Westside, Los Angeles, where he graduated in 2000 at age 16. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004 summa cum laude, at age 20, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, and then from Harvard Law School in 2007 cum laude. He then worked at the law offices of Goodwin Procter. , he ran an independent legal consultancy firm, Benjamin Shapiro Legal Consulting, in Los Angeles.

Career

Author 
Shapiro became interested in politics at a young age. He started a nationally syndicated column when he was 17 and had written two books by age 21.

In his first book Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (2004), Shapiro argues that the American Left has ideological dominance over universities, and professors don't tolerate non-left opinions.

In 2011, HarperCollins published Shapiro's fourth book, Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV, in which Shapiro argues that Hollywood has a left-wing agenda that it actively promotes through prime-time entertainment programming. In the book, the producers of Happy Days and M*A*S*H say they pursued a pro-pacifist, anti-Vietnam-War agenda in those series. Shapiro also became a fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

In 2013, Threshold Editions published Shapiro's fifth book, Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans.

In 2017, he released his first and to date only fiction novel, True Allegiance.

In 2019, Shapiro published the book The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great, which focuses on the importance of Judeo-Christian values and laments the decline of those values in modern America. In a May 2019 interview on BBC where Shapiro was promoting his book, interviewer Andrew Neil suggested that Shapiro's history of remarks were inconsistent with the message of the book. Shapiro took offense to the questioning, accused Neil (a prominent British conservative journalist) of having a left-leaning bias, said Neil was trying to make a "quick buck... off of the fact that I'm popular and no one has ever heard of you", before Shapiro ended the interview. Shapiro later admitted that he had been "destroyed" by Neil, commenting on Twitter that he "[had broken his] own rule, and wasn't properly prepared".

In 2021, Shapiro published the book The Authoritarian Moment, which argues that there is not a pressing authoritarian threat in U.S. politics from the right-wing. Rather, he argues that the authoritarian threat comes from the left's control of academia, Hollywood, journalism, and corporate America.

Columnist 
In 2012, Shapiro became editor-at-large of Breitbart News, a website founded by Andrew Breitbart. In March 2016, Shapiro resigned from his position as editor-at-large of Breitbart News following what he characterized as the website's lack of support for reporter Michelle Fields in response to her alleged assault by Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump's former campaign manager in spite of video and eyewitness evidence of the assault. In his resignation statement, Shapiro stated that "Steve Bannon is a bully", Donald Trump is a bully, and that Bannon had "shaped the company into Trump's personal Pravda". After Shapiro's departure, Breitbart published a piece, falsely attributed to Shapiro's father's pseudonym, saying "Ben Shapiro betrays loyal Breitbart readers in pursuit of Fox News contributorship", which Breitbart later deleted.

After leaving Breitbart News, Shapiro was a frequent target of antisemitic rhetoric from the alt-right. According to a 2016 analysis by the Anti-Defamation League, Shapiro was the most frequent target of antisemitic tweets against journalists.

On February 7, 2013, Shapiro published an article citing unspecified Senate sources who said that a group named "Friends of Hamas" was among foreign contributors to the political campaign of Chuck Hagel, a former U.S. Senator awaiting confirmation as Secretary of Defense as a nominee of President Barack Obama, but weeks later Slate reporter David Weigel reported there was no evidence such a group existed. Shapiro told Weigel that the story he published was "the entirety of the information [he] had."

On October 7, 2013, Shapiro and business partner Jeremy Boreing co-founded TruthRevolt, a U.S. media watchdog and activism website, in association with the David Horowitz Freedom Center. TruthRevolt ceased operations in March 2018.

On January 14, 2021, Shapiro was featured as a guest writer for Politico's Playbook newsletter, where he defended House Republicans who opposed the second impeachment of Donald Trump. The newsletter drew immense backlash from many Politico staffers, some of whom argued that Shapiro should not have been allowed to write the article. Matthew Kaminski, editor in chief of Politico, refused to apologize and defended the decision to allow Shapiro to write the article, stating that, "We're not going to back away from having published something because some people think it was a mistake to do so." According to the Daily Beast, more than 100 Politico staffers signed on to a letter to publisher Robert Allbritton criticizing both Politico's decision to feature Shapiro's article and the response from Kaminski.

Host 

In 2012, Shapiro joined KRLA-AM 870 as a host on their morning radio program alongside Heidi Harris and Brian Whitman. By 2016, he was one of the hosts for KRLA's The Morning Answer, a conservative radio show. Internal emails showed that Shapiro faced pressure from Salem Media executives, the syndicate that owned the show, to be more supportive of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election. Shapiro however remained highly critical of Trump throughout the election.

Shapiro and Boreing founded The Daily Wire on September 21, 2015. He serves as editor emeritus as well as the host of his online political podcast The Ben Shapiro Show, broadcast every weekday. , the podcast was ranked by Podtrac as the second most popular podcast in the U.S. Westwood One began syndicating The Ben Shapiro Show podcast to radio in April 2018. In 2018, Politico described the podcast as "massively popular". In January 2019, Westwood One expanded Shapiro's one-hour podcast-to-radio program, adding a nationally syndicated two-hour live radio show, for three hours of Ben Shapiro programming daily. As of March 2019, according to Westwood One, The Ben Shapiro Show is being carried by more than 200 stations, including in nine of the top ten markets. In June 2020, Shapiro stepped down from his role as editor-in-chief, which he had held since the site's founding, and took on the role of editor emeritus.

In September 2018, Shapiro started hosting The Ben Shapiro Election Special on Fox News. The limited-run series covered news and issues relating to the 2018 midterm elections.

Shapiro has made frequent appearances on PragerU with talks on intersectionality and Hollywood with 4,900,000 to 8,400,000 views .

In 2021, Ben Shapiro's podcast was ranked as the 9th most listened on Apple podcasts.

Speaker 

Shapiro speaks at college campuses across the United States. In his speeches, he often presents a conservative viewpoint on controversial subjects. He spoke at 37 campuses between early 2016 and late 2017.

Some students and faculty members at California State University, Los Angeles objected to a speech that Shapiro, who was then an editor at Breitbart News, was scheduled to hold at the university on February 25, 2016, titled "When Diversity Becomes a Problem". University president William Covino canceled the speech three days before it was to take place, with the intention of rescheduling it so that the event could feature various viewpoints on the subject of campus diversity. Covino ultimately reversed his decision, allowing the speech to go on as planned. The day of the speech, student protesters formed human chains, blocking the doors to the event, and staging sit-in protests. When Shapiro began his speech, a protester pulled the fire alarm. After the speech ended, Shapiro was escorted out by campus police. Young America's Foundation announced it was filing a lawsuit against the university (with Shapiro as one of the plaintiffs), claiming that the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the students were violated by Covino's attempted cancellation of the event, as well as the physical barricading of students from entering or leaving the event.

In August 2016, DePaul University revoked an invitation for Shapiro to address students at the school and barred him from entering the campus due to "security concerns."

On September 14, 2017, Shapiro gave a speech at the invitation of the University of California, Berkeley, student organization, Berkeley College Republicans, in which he criticized identity politics. The event involved a large police presence which had been promised by Berkeley Chancellor Carol T. Christ in her August letter that supported free speech. Together, the university and the city of Berkeley spent $600,000 on police and security for the event, which transpired with nine arrests but no major incidents.

Views

2016 presidential election 
Shapiro supported Ted Cruz in the 2016 presidential election and opposed Donald Trump's candidacy. He called Steve Bannon a "bully" who "sold out Breitbart founder Andrew Breitbart's mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump." Not voting for Trump or Clinton in 2016, Shapiro has suggested that the election of Trump was more a vote against Hillary Clinton than a vote in favor of Trump.

2020 presidential election 
On October 19, 2020, Shapiro announced that he would be voting for Trump in the 2020 presidential election: "There are three reasons I'm going to vote for Donald Trump in 2020 when I didn't four years ago: First, I was simply wrong about Donald Trump on policy. Second, I wasn't really wrong about Donald Trump on character, but whatever damage he was going to do has already been done, and it's not going to help if I don't vote for him this time. And third, and most importantly: The Democrats have lost their fucking minds."

He rebuked Trump on Election Night, November 3, 2020, when Trump claimed his reelection victory when neither he nor his opponent Joe Biden reached the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency. He tweeted: "No, Trump has not already won the election, and it is deeply irresponsible for him to say he has."

Abortion 

Shapiro supports a ban on abortion, including in cases of rape and incest, with one exception: when competent medical authority determines that the life of the mother is in jeopardy as a result of the pregnancy. He has further clarified that this includes extreme cases of mental illness where the life of the mother is at risk due to suicide. He also believes that doctors who perform abortions should be prosecuted. He has referred to women who have abortions as "baby killers." In 2019, Shapiro asserted that "the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade" was "not going to happen", and added that he had "serious doubts" about "whether the Supreme Court, as currently constituted, would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade".

In 2019, Shapiro spoke at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., where he said abortion is a "violent act".

Alt-right 
Shapiro is a critic of the alt-right movement, stating in 2017, "It is a garbage movement composed of garbage ideas. It has nothing to do with constitutional conservatism." In 2019, Shapiro criticized weekly newspaper The Economist for describing him as "alt-right" in their interview with him; in response, The Economist issued an apology and modified the article title to instead describe Shapiro as a "radical conservative".

Facebook 
In 2018, Shapiro argued that Facebook was targeting conservative sites after the platform implemented an algorithm change, limiting their traffic, and that they are not transparent enough.

Gun ownership 
Following the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Shapiro appeared on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight on January 10, 2013. On the issue of gun control, Shapiro called Piers Morgan a "bully" who "tends to demonize people who differ from you politically by standing on the graves of the children of Sandy Hook, saying they don't seem to care enough about the dead kids." Videos of the encounter quickly received millions of views and went viral.

Writing in October 2017, in the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting, Shapiro argued that "banning all guns would be unwise as well as immoral," but "we must balance the need and right to firearms with public policy concerns, including the risk that a machine gun will be used in public." Shapiro suggested that policy makers "should look at ways of enforcing federal laws banning the sale of guns to the mentally ill."

Israeli–Palestinian conflict 
According to Shapiro, the reason behind the Israeli–Palestinian conflict was that "Israel exists, and Hamas wishes it didn't exist". In 2003, Shapiro published a column on Townhall demanding that Israel "transfer the Palestinians and the Israeli-Arabs from Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Israel proper." Citing expulsion of Germans after World War II as a precedent, Shapiro insisted that "expelling a hostile population is a commonly-used and generally effective way of preventing violent entanglements." In the same article, Shapiro said that "The ideology of the Palestinian population is indistinguishable from that of the terrorist leadership." Jeffrey Goldberg was highly critical of these comments and cited them as an example of Shapiro's "fascist" behavior. Shapiro later reversed his view on the West Bank issue, saying it was "both inhumane and impractical".

Voxs Zack Beauchamp describes Shapiro as a polarizing figure, in part due to tweets such as one made in 2010 in which he said "Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage".

Shapiro supported Israel's settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank. Shapiro is a longtime opponent of the two-state solution.

In 2007, Shapiro wrote an article in which he described the "Palestinian Arab population" as "rotten to the core" and places the blame for the Arab–Israeli conflict "with the Palestinian Arabs themselves". He further believes Israel and America will "continue to pay the price in blood and treasure" if they refuse to recognize the "simple truth" that the "Palestinian Arab population breeds terrorism, anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism".

In 2019, Shapiro said that Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, whose comments about American support for Israel were accused of evoking antisemitic tropes, and the white supremacist San Diego shooter, hold "a lot of the same opinions about Jews."

In May 2021, during the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, Ben Shapiro stated that Hamas' rocket attacks "would entail an anti-Semitic genocide", adding that Hamas was spending "tens of millions of dollars in foreign aid" on building "terror tunnels and rocket capacity to strike at the Jews." Shapiro argued that Hamas was positioning its rockets in civilian areas, seeking to "force Israel to kill Palestinian civilians so Hamas can propagandize about supposed Israeli human rights atrocities." He stated that Hamas was not only killing Jews, but also Israeli Arabs and foreign workers. He also criticized the media coverage of the crisis, labeling it as "absurd", and The Times for their opinion article featuring a Palestinian writer titled "The Myth of Coexistence in Israel", saying that the main image used for the article, a map of Israel, was "so bad that MSNBC, which used the image in 2015, had to retract it and admit it was factually incorrect."

LGBT issues 
In 2010, Shapiro argued that homosexuality should not have been removed as a mental illness from the DSM because homosexuals have higher rates of depression than heterosexuals and do not reproduce.

Shapiro opposed the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling that deemed bans of same-sex marriage unconstitutional. However, he opposes government involvement in marriage, saying, "I think the government stinks at this," and expressing concern that because of the ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, at some point the government may try to force religious institutions to perform same-sex weddings against their will. According to Slates Seth Stevenson, Shapiro has described homosexuality as a sin. He has said that "a man and a woman do a better job of raising a child than two men or two women".

He has stated he does not feel same-sex marriage should be taught to students in schools, saying, "In California, they've already passed laws that you have to teach same-sex marriage in public schools, for example... I went to public school for elementary school and junior high, I don't know why the government is teaching me anything about this stuff. This is for my parents to teach me. This is a values thing". He also states, "I'm very much anti gay-marriage in the social sense. As a religious person, I think homosexuality is a sin, I think that lots of things are sins that people engage in, I think they should be free to engage in them." In 2014, Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center disputed Shapiro's assertion that the United States "is not a country that discriminates against homosexuals" and that "there is a vastly minute amount of discrimination against gays in this country."

Shapiro believes transgender people suffer from mental illness. Shapiro has commented, "You can't magically change your gender. You can't magically change your sex," and has compared such changes to the notion of changing one's age.

In July 2015, Shapiro and transgender rights activist Zoey Tur were on Dr. Drew On Call to discuss Caitlyn Jenner's receipt of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. After Shapiro referred to Tur, who is a trans woman, as "sir" and questioned her genetics, she placed her hand on the back of his neck and threatened on air to send him "home in an ambulance". Shapiro replied, "That seems mildly inappropriate for a political discussion." Later, Shapiro filed a police report charging Tur with battery and stated that he intended to press charges to teach the left a lesson. Tur said the report was Shapiro's attempt to keep the story in the news.

In 2019, in response to 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke calling for the removal of the tax-exempt status of religious institutions opposed to same-sex marriage, Shapiro said that if O'Rourke was going to try to "indoctrinate" his children in religious schools, Shapiro would be forced to either "leave the country" or "pick up a gun."

Muslims 
In a 2002 article, Shapiro wrote, "I am getting really sick of people who whine about 'civilian casualties'... when I see in the newspapers that civilians in Afghanistan or the West Bank were killed by American or Israeli troops, I don't really care". Shapiro declared that "One American soldier is worth far more than an Afghan civilian", accusing Afghan civilians of being "fundamentalist Muslims" who provide cover for terrorists or give them money. Shapiro later apologized for these assertions. He stated that the 2002 article was "just a bad piece, plain and simple, and something I wish I'd never written". He said that while he still partially agreed with his article's main point—"that we must calculate the risk to American services members when we design rules of engagement"—he "expressed [that point] in the worst possible way, and simplifie[d] the issue beyond the bounds of morality (particularly by doubting the civilian status of some civilians)".

In a 2014, YouTube video entitled "The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority", Shapiro said, "We're above 800 million Muslims who are radicalized – more than half the Muslims on earth. That's not a minority... the myth of the tiny radical Muslim minority is just that: it's a myth". Fact-checks by PolitiFact and Channel 4 News in the UK rejected his methodology and concluded his claim was false.

In 2018, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) document presented at the sentencing hearing of Quebec mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette showed that the murderer checked in on Shapiro's Twitter feed 93 times in the month leading up to the shooting. Shapiro condemned the attack and called Bissonnette an "evil piece of human crap".

He has argued that immigrants from Islamic countries degrade the United States.

Political ideology 

In 2016, Shapiro described himself as "basically a libertarian". In 2021, he described himself as "generally libertarian" in regards to the role of the government and as a conservative in regards to the role of social structures. The New Yorker, Haaretz and Vox have described Shapiro as "right-wing". Shapiro's views have been described by The New York Times as "extremely conservative". A 2020 study News, Nationalism, and Hegemony: The Formation of Consistent Issue Framing Throughout the U.S. Political Right examining issue framing by right-wing podcasts used The Ben Shapiro Show as an example which "offered a mainstream conservative perspective that favors President Donald Trump and his framing on issues like "nationalism"" in a two-by-two matrix that also examined a Stormfront podcast, an alt-right podcast, and the Daily Standard podcast.

Shapiro accuses the political left of believing in an imaginary "hierarchy of victimhood" in which the opinions of members of persecuted groups like the LGBT community are afforded more credence. He has argued that the left has dominated American culture through popular entertainment, media, and academia in a way that has made conservatives feel disenfranchised, and helped lead to the election of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. He has stated that "political correctness breeds insanity".

Shapiro supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, arguing that "China is a dictatorship. North Korea is a dictatorship. Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, Pakistan and Egypt are all dictatorships. We can't overthrow all of those regimes simply to free their citizens. We have to focus on those regimes that endanger American security."

In 2006, Shapiro called for sedition laws to be reinstated. He cited speeches critical of the George W. Bush administration by Democrats Al Gore, John Kerry and Howard Dean as "disloyal" and seditious. Shapiro subsequently retracted these views in a 2018 column, stating that his 2006 column "absolutely blows. It's garbage" and adding that the idea of sedition laws was "inherently idiotic". Shapiro later described President Barack Obama's 2010 State of the Union Address as "philosophically fascist."

Shapiro has called for lowering taxes on the very wealthy. He has also backed privatizing Social Security and repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Climate change 
Shapiro has acknowledged that climate change is occurring, but questioned "what percentage of global warming is attributable to human activity." Regarding sea-level rise as a result of climate change which will result in coastal property being flooded, Shapiro said, "You think people aren't just going to sell their homes and move?" He was accused of climate change denial by Scientific American for an opinion piece on the 2020 California wildfires, with the outlet arguing climate change contributed more to the severity of the fires than state policies, as Shapiro had claimed. In 2021, he said he believed that 4 °C (7.2 °F) of global warming should not be considered an emergency, that it's "purely a political designation".

Race 
Shapiro has argued that African-Americans were historically victims of injustice in the United States, but that they are not victims of widespread systemic injustice today. Shapiro has dismissed the idea that the United States was founded on slavery and argued that America "was founded in spite of slavery." In 2017, Shapiro stated that "the idea that black people in the United States are disproportionately poor because America is racist; that's just not true." Shapiro is critical of Black Lives Matter and has argued that "the Black Lives Matter movement did indeed begin with protests about police brutality but quickly morphed into broader debates over the validity of looting and rioting, tearing down historic statues, slavery reparations and defunding the police."

Shapiro was one of several conservative commentators condemning Representative Steve King (R-IA) after King's January 2019 comments in defense of the terms "white supremacy" and "white nationalism". Shapiro called for King to be censured, and supported King's 2020 primary challenger Randy Feenstra.

Religion
Shapiro practices Orthodox Judaism, a theologically conservative stream of the Jewish religion, which informs his ideological positions.

In a 2011 tweet, Shapiro claimed that Judaism is plagued by "Bad Jews" who "largely vote Democrat". The same year, he wrote an article titled "Jews in Name Only" in which he claimed "Jews who vote for Obama are, by and large, Jews In Name Only (JINOs)" and that such Jews "do not care about Israel" or that they "care about it less than abortion, gay marriage and global warming". During the 2016 presidential election, he wrote an article titled "No, It Doesn't Matter That Bernie Sanders Is Ethnically Jewish. He's a Jew In Name Only."

Safe spaces 
Shapiro is an outspoken opponent of safe spaces, especially those on college campuses, arguing that they go against free speech.

COVID-19 vaccine
Shapiro announced he was in favour of the COVID-19 vaccine and that he was vaccinated.

Western civilization 
Shapiro frequently praises "western culture" and "western civilization". In 2019, he said, "I believe Western civilization is superior to other civilizations."

Personal life 
Shapiro's sister is Abigail Shapiro, an opera singer; she posts videos under her YouTube channel Classically Abby, and she has been subjected to online antisemitic trolling due to her brother's high public profile. Shapiro is a cousin of writer and actress Mara Wilson, though the two are not on speaking terms due to their conflicting political views.

In 2008, Shapiro married Mor Toledano, an Israeli medical doctor of Moroccan descent, and they lived in Los Angeles. The couple has three children: two daughters and a son. They practice Orthodox Judaism. 
In 2019, the FBI arrested a man from Washington for making death threats against Shapiro and his family.

In September 2020, Shapiro announced that he and his family were moving out of California. Shapiro relocated the headquarters of his Daily Wire enterprise to Nashville, Tennessee, but he resettled in South Florida.

Works 
 Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (). WND Books: 2004.
 Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future (). Regnery: 2005.
 Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House (). Thomas Nelson: 2008.
 Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV (). Harper Collins: 2011.
 Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America (). Threshold Editions: 2013.
 The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against the Obama Administration (). Threshold Editions: 2014.
 A Moral Universe Torn Apart (). Creator's Publishing: 2014.
 What's Fair and Other Short Stories (; Amazon e-book only; no longer available). Revolutionary Publishing: 2015.
 True Allegiance (). Post Hill Press: 2017.
 Say It's So: Papa, Dad, Me and 2005 White Sox Championship Season (). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform: May 2017
 The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great  (). Broadside Books: 2019.
 Facts Don't Care about Your Feelings . Creators Publishing: November 2019
 How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps.  Description & preview (via arrow keys or scrolling) (). Harper Collins: 2020.
 Catastrophic Thinking (). Creators Publishing: February 2020.
 Facts (Still) Don't Care About Your Feelings (). Creators Publishing: September 2020.
 The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent (). Broadside Books: July 2021.

See also 
 Intellectual dark web, a loose collection of public personalities of which Shapiro is often cited as an example
 Owning the libs
 List of Phi Beta Kappa members by year of admission
 List of Harvard Law School alumni
 List of syndicated columnists
 List of American conservatives

References

External links 

 The Daily Wire
 California Bar profile

 
 In Depth interview with Shapiro, September 1, 2013

1984 births
Living people
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American non-fiction writers
Activists from Los Angeles
American political activists
American Orthodox Jews
American Zionists
American anti-abortion activists
American critics of Islam
American columnists
American infotainers
American legal writers
American libertarians
American male bloggers
American bloggers
American male non-fiction writers
American media company founders
American media critics
American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American political commentators
American political writers
American social activists
American social commentators
American conservative talk radio hosts
American YouTubers
Breitbart News people
Businesspeople from Los Angeles
Commentary YouTubers
Harvard Law School alumni
Jewish American attorneys
Jewish American writers
Jewish activists
Lawyers from Los Angeles
News YouTubers
Radio personalities from Los Angeles
The Daily Wire people
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Writers from Los Angeles
Writers on Zionism
21st-century American Jews
Abdulredha Mohamed Hasan Buhmaid (or Buhamaid, ) was a 28-year-old Bahraini protester shot by a live bullet in the head on 18 February 2011. He died in hospital three days later, the seventh death in the Bahraini uprising.

Buhmaid was among a group of protesters who on 18 February marched toward the Pearl Roundabout following the funeral procession of protester Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima, who was killed four days earlier. When the protesters neared Pearl Roundabout, the army opened fire. Buhmaid collapsed to the ground, and blood poured from his head after it was hit by a bullet. The army opened fire twice more. Protesters regrouped after each round of shooting. Riot police finally intervened and dispersed protesters. Over one hundred protesters were injured, some seriously. Buhmaid was taken to Salmaniya hospital where attempts to revive him failed over the course of three days. He died on the afternoon of 21 February.

Several witnesses including journalists and medics accused authorities of shooting directly at protesters, preventing some ambulances from reaching the site and firing at others. The government however, denied those statements. It stated that warning shots were fired in the air and accused protesters of faking injuries. An investigation by a government-appointed commission of inquiry blamed the army for Buhmaid's death. The incident marked the first time that the Royal Bahraini Army was used to confront civilians, and at the time was considered "the bloodiest" incident since protests erupted.

Following the incident, the government offered dialogue which the opposition said they will only take part in after the withdrawal of the army. The general labor union called for a general strike. Internationally, the attack on protesters was condemned by Barack Obama and Human Rights Watch. High Representative of European Union expressed her deep concerns and called for restrain and immediate dialogue. Britain revoked over forty arms licenses to Bahrain after an earlier announcement that it would review them and German president canceled a planned visit to the country. Buhmaid is remembered by the opposition as a martyr, leader and symbol of peacefulness.

Short biography

Buhmaid (or Buhamaid, 28) was married and had three children. He lived in Malkiya, south west of Manama. According to his wife, he had strong ties with his brothers. In an interview with the Bahraini newspaper Al Wasat, she said he used to take part in any political event in his area. "He was hoping to be Malkiya's first martyr and so he became", she added.

Background

Inspired by the successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, protests erupted in Bahrain on 14 February. During the day named as the Day of Rage, over 6,000 people participated in fifty-five demonstrations and political rallies in twenty-five different locations throughout Bahrain. Security forces responded to protests by firing tear gas, rubber bullets, sound bombs and birdshot. More than thirty protesters were injured and Ali Mushaima died as a result of birdshot injury in his back. The following day, during the deceased funeral, another protester was killed the same way. Angry protesters marched to and occupied Pearl Roundabout. By nightfall, their numbers had swelled to over 10,000. On 16 February, thousands of protesters continued to occupy Pearl Roundabout.

On 17 February (later referred to as the Bloody Thursday), police launched a pre-dawn raid on sleeping protesters. Four protesters were killed and more than 300 were injured bringing the number of those killed in the events to six. Health workers and a journalist were allegedly attacked by security forces. The army was deployed following clearance of Pearl roundabout which then set up checkpoints and barriers. The Interior Ministry issued a warning to stay off the streets, and the army warned that it was ready to take "punitive measures" to restore order. Protesters resorted to Salmaniya Hospital's car parks where thousands of them protested against the government. All 18 Members of Parliament from Al Wefaq, the only opposition political party represented in Parliament, submitted their resignations.

Incident

On 18 February, over 50,000 participated in the funerals of crackdown victims. One was held in Al Daih, another in Karzakan. The largest however, was in Sitra. At about 4:46 in the afternoon, about a thousand protesters, most of them young men who participated in Al Daih funeral of Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima marched toward Manama, defying the government ban on gatherings. By 5:18 they had reached a road junction; to the right was Salmaniya hospital and to the left Pearl Roundabout. They turned left after a short pause. On their way, they clashed with riot police who withdrew from the site. Protesters continued their march removing barriers set by police a day ago.

By 5:30 protesters were 80 to 200 meters away from army forces stationed in Pearl Roundabout which "were armed with M16 assault rifles, Dilmun rifles and Browning .50 calibre machine guns mounted on top of armoured vehicles". The protest was peaceful and protesters were "holding their hands in the air and chanting 'peaceful, peaceful'". Some were holding flowers. As protesters continued marching, army troops opened fire.

Abdulredha Buhmaid was among the protesters. He was shot by a bullet in the head, collapsed to the ground and in the words of a witness, "blood was rushing from his head". Others sustained severe injuries inflicted by gunshots, two of whom also fell to the ground. Several eyewitnesses said army troops "gave no warning", but one witness said he heard them issue a warning several minutes after the initial shooting. Another witness said they heard a "faint voice of someone over a loudspeaker in the distance but could not make out what the speaker was saying".

Most protesters ran after hearing gunshots and a helicopter chased them. After shooting stopped, protesters regrouped. One youth picked a rock and headed toward the army, only to be stopped by four other protesters. A witness interviewed by Physicians for Human Rights said that he and other protesters moved closer to army forces following the initial shooting. According to him he asked "Why do you shoot us? We had our hands up. We are peaceful. What do you want from us?", one soldier replied "I want you to leave. If you do not turn back, I have orders to shoot". Arriving ambulances started evacuating the injured when army opened fire again.

When the shooting stopped, about fifty protesters started praying on the road, and few stood in front facing the army with their hands in the air. The army opened fire for a third time. The period of each shooting was short, because "people immediately started running away", witnesses said. After that, riot police intervened, firing tear gas and birdshot to disperse protesters, inflicting more injuries among them.

A cameraman  working for the Associated Press said he saw "army units shooting anti-aircraft weapons, fitted on top of armored personnel carriers, above the protesters in apparent warning shots and attempts to drive them back from security cordons". Bahraini photojournalist Mazen Mahdi said that the army shot "live fire from machine guns" and that paramedics were blocked from helping the wounded. "The first was a warning shot in the air. But after that, they just opened fire at the people ... They shot at the ambulances when they came in", he added.

A senior emergencies researcher and medics interviewed by Human Rights Watch confirmed that some of the twelve ambulances sent were prevented by security forces from reaching the site. The Daily Telegraph said ambulances and paramedics "were shot at" and that "several were detained and at least one ambulance was impounded". Michael Slackman of The New York Times reported that he and a colleague were "shot at from a helicopter" shortly after army opened fire on protesters. Associated Press witnesses, The Daily Telegraph, and The New York Times mentioned that army personnel positioned in high buildings and helicopters fired on protesters. Jalal Firooz, resigned MP of Al Wefaq, Bahrain's main opposition party, said he saw soldiers fire on protesters. A report by three local rights groups mentioned that "photos of the injuries suggest that army aimed at the upper body area".

Riot police chased down protesters who fled to Salmaniya, Bahrain's main hospital. Security forces backed off after initially advancing toward the hospital and firing tear gas into it. That night, over seven thousand protesters staged an anti-government sit-in in hospital parks, described by The Guardian as "the only place in Manama where they now feel safe to gather in numbers". The incident marked the first time that the Royal Bahraini Army was used to confront civilians, and at the time was considered "the bloodiest" incident since protests erupted.

Casualties

At least 120 people were injured according to medical officials. Salmaniya hospital was "overwhelmed" with casualties, some of whom were taken to private hospitals. Doctors said that nine of the thirty-two casualties who reached Salmaniya hospital were in critical condition. Some medics cried while treating the injured, some of whom had bullets still lodged into their bodies, X-rays showed. A doctor interviewed by Al Jazeera English pleaded for help from "all countries in the world". Describing the situation in hospital as a war, Dr. Ghassan said, "They are shooting at people's heads. Not at the legs. People are having their brains blown out". Two doctors said they treated patients who "seemed to be [injured by] live bullets rather than shotgun pellets, judging by the entry and exit holes".

Buhmaid was taken to Salmaniya hospital. Blood was still "pouring from his head and he was unconscious". He was "clinging to life" in intensive care unit where doctors "struggled to stop his bleeding". "This is a bullet, gunshot wound, direct to his head and he's bleeding profusely from his nose, from his ear, his brain is shattered into pieces", said a doctor. Buhmaid's "brain was destroyed, but his body was still alive". His clinical death prompted a nurse on 20 February to smash a glass-framed image of the Prime Minister. Remaining in ICU for three days, Buhmaid was medically declared to be dead early in the afternoon of 21 February, becoming the seventh victim of the uprising.

Listing him under "Deaths Attributed to Security Forces", the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry appointed by King Hamad to investigate the events stated that Buhmaid's death "may be attributed to the BDF [army]" while also referring to the contrary result of the military investigation.

Government account

On the night of 18 February, Fasial al-Hamar, then the Minister of Health, issued a press release aired on the national TV which denied there had been any deaths. He said the situation at Salmaniya hospital was calm and that only seven people were being treated for minor injuries. He also warned against what he called "rumors" spread in some satellite channels and websites. Bahrain's ambassador to the United States said that if army forces did fire live ammunition, "Probably they were warning shots only". "The forces that were used were proportional according to the law, they were legal, they were necessary because they were stopping the shops. The economy was hurting, the national economy. We had to take action and action was taken by the law," he added. However he admitted protesters did not use live rounds and promised that "Investigations will happen. And they will continue".

The army said that protesters defied its orders to evacuate the area. According to its statement, after at least fifteen minutes of repeating the same orders, soldiers fired warning shots to the air. It also alleged that protesters were accompanied by "a line of ambulances" out of which they took blood bags to "feign that they had been injured". Military prosecutors carried out an investigation and concluded that the trajectory of the bullet that killed Buhmaid were inconsistent with the bullet having been shot by the BDF, on the basis of an ordnance expert's report that concluded the shot was fired from a high elevation.

Aftermath

Following the incident, the government offered dialogue with opposition and ordered army to withdraw from Pearl Roundabout. On 19 February, army troops were replaced by riot police. Hundreds of protesters moved to the site from different locations. A standoff between protesters and riot police was created, until the latter suddenly moved away. Thousands of protesters re-occupied the site following police withdrawal.

Funeral

Buhmaid's funeral was held on 22 February in his village, Malkiya. Over 9,000 participated in the funeral procession which started from roundabout 13 in Hamad Town and ended in Malkiya graveyard. At the same day during afternoon, over 100,000 participated in a protest dubbed "March of loyalty to martyrs" in honor of the seven victims of the uprising.

Medics' trial

In May 2011, 47 doctors, nurses, and dentists were charged for their actions during the uprising. One of the charges was conducting unnecessary operations to Buhmaid, which led to his death. In a press conference, Minister of Justice said "Buhmaid was shot in the head and he underwent a surgery in the presence of the media. His head had been open in an exaggerated manner, which led to his death".

Reactions

Domestic

Buhmaid's family said they were sad for his death, but their pride had overcome it. Appearing on the national TV, the crown prince authorized by his father, the king, offered unconditional dialogue with opposition. He offered "condolences to the people of Bahrain for the painful days they are living" and asked them to remain calm. Opposition activists demanded withdrawal of army and resignation of government for the dialogue to begin. "[There is no] serious will for dialogue because the military is in the streets", said Matar Matar, resigned MP of Al Wefaq. The general labor union called for an indefinite general strike "unless the army is pulled out from the streets and peaceful demonstrations are permitted".

International

Barack Obama criticized the government actions. In reference to government of Bahrain and Yemen, he said "The United States condemns the use of violence by governments against peaceful protesters in those countries and wherever else it may occur". Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of European Union demanded "restraint" from all parties and said that report of violence "deeply concerned" her. She called for dialogue to begin "without delay". The United Kingdom revoked forty four arm licenses to Bahrain, twenty of them open licenses. Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said "We are deeply concerned about the situation in Bahrain and the events which have led to the deaths of several protesters".

German president canceled a planned trip to the country. "Freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in Bahrain have to be fully guaranteed", a spokesman quoted him saying. Lawrence Cannon, then Canada's Foreign Minister called the Bahraini government to "exercise restraint" and lunch an investigation into protesters' deaths. "Canada urges Bahrain to respect its citizens' rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and to engage in peaceful dialogue with its people to address their concerns", he added.

Human Rights Watch condemned the attack. "The Bahraini army has done what the Egyptian army did not do and exactly what the United States and its other partners urged it not to do -- it has opened fire on its own people," its Washington director said. Fareed Zakaria, CNN's international affairs analyst, said that the crackdown on protesters was a "rash move that will enrage many of its people and cost the regime international prestige". "This is a terrible mistake and they will pay a heavy price for it. The regime in Bahrain is doing something very rash and unwise; it is trying to respond by using force and punitive measures. This is not going to work in the end", he added.

Legacy

Buhmaid was the first person named a "field commander" by February 14 Youth Coalition, which also named their attempt to reoccupy Pearl Roundabout in the first anniversary of the uprising, "operation of the martyr leader Abdulredha Buhmaid". His death was described by the online opposition newspaper, Bahrain Mirror,  as a "legendary scene that will remain forever in the conscience of humanity". A poster found in two articles of the aforementioned newspaper described Buhmaid as "the martyr who brought down an army with his peacefulness".

Speaking to participants of a sit-in front of United Nations building in Manama on 22 February 2012, Ahlam al-Khuza'e of Al Wefaq said that shooting scene of Buhmaid was "the top manifestation of peacefulness". On 29 February, opposition parties organized a gathering in Malkiya to honor Buhmaid. Thousands participated in the gathering including Isa Qassim, Bahrain Shias' top religious figure.

See also

Timeline of the Bahraini uprising (February–March 2011)

References

2011 deaths
2011 in Bahrain
Deaths by person in Bahrain
Deaths during the Bahraini uprising of 2011
1982 births
Protest-related deaths
Articles containing video clips
Filmed killings in Asia The 2016 Sacramento riot was a civil disorder at a neo-Nazi rally outside the California State Capitol in Sacramento, California on June 26, 2016. Neo-nazi groups including the Traditionalist Workers Party and other white supremacist groups were involved. Counter-protestors arrived at the rally to oppose the Neo-nazis and white supremacy. This included Antifa and their allies. Ten people were hospitalized for stabbing and laceration wounds with the majority of those hospitalized being counter-protesters.

Riot

A neo-Nazi group called the Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP) had a permit for a rally on the west steps of the capitol building. They were joined by their affiliate, Golden State Skinheads (GSS).

Several groups led by Antifa (Anti-Fascist Action) Sacramento and BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) organized a counter protest. BAMN issued a statement saying that "collective power through mass militant direct action can shut these Nazis down and deal the fascists and white-supremacists a decisive tactical defeat". Antifa Sacramento stated that "fighting fascism was not a political duty, but a moral one", and called for direct action against them.

Anti-fascist protesters started arriving around 9:00 a.m. and just before 11:00 a.m. they confronted a TV crew, shouting "no cameras" at reporter Mike Luery of KCRA and the cameraman. The protesters grabbed Luery's mic and attempted to grab the camera.

Just before the TWP rally was scheduled to begin around noon, about 300 or more anarchists and other counter-protesters confronted the group. Members of the counter-protesters wore masks and used wooden bats, sticks, fireworks, and other weapons. A few people carried knives, though which side brought the knives used in the subsequent stabbings is unknown. About 400 people were involved in the violence. Ten people were hospitalized, all for multiple stabbing and laceration wounds, including two in critical life-threatening condition. Only one of the TWP and GSS members was stabbed. The capitol was locked down. Streets were closed. Over 100 police officers responded in riot gear and on horseback. They used rubber pellets and pepper-spray balls.

Matthew Heimbach, the chairman of the TWP, said they expected violence, although they planned the rally to be peaceful. TWP sent about 30 people together with Golden State Skinheads.

Yvette Felarca, an organiser for BAMN, stated that "mass militant action, with an integrated group of people" was used to shut down white nationalists. Felarca was filmed punching a man at the protests.

California Assemblyman Jim Cooper was at the Capitol during the riot.  He said violence was unnecessary, and the counter-protesters could have shut down the rally with yelling.

Cres Vellucci, a police observer and representative for the National Lawyers Guild, described the violence as a "free-for-all". Vellucci said the police basically let people do what they wanted and fight it out.

Participants
The Traditionalist Workers Party is listed as a white nationalist extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which describes TWP as the political wing of the Traditionalist Youth Network. The rally was also organized by the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi organization.

Counter-protests were organized by BAMN, a militant left-wing group

Aftermath
A middle school in Berkeley, California received an email threatening harm against its students if it did not fire Yvette Felarca, a teacher at the school who was caught on video violently attacking a protester and is an organizer with BAMN. In response, police increased security at the school and summer programs were moved to other locations. Because Felarca's actions were committed off-hours, no action can be taken against her unless the police file charges against her, which they did. Cate Cauguiran reported that the police and the California Highway Patrol were investigating a video of Felarca punching a protester.

Both sides of the protest have claimed victory. The TWP considered the action a success because "six Antifas have been hospitalized in critical condition, with many more being treated for lesser injuries" while they "only suffered one significant casualty." The counter-protesters considered it a success because they prevented the TWP from achieving their objective of holding a rally in Sacramento.

The TWP planned to be in Cleveland, Ohio for the Republican National Convention there in July.

The Anti-Defamation League wrote that despite both sides claiming success, it is "the white supremacists who most benefit from the free publicity" generated by the violence.

Genevieve Leigh, writing for the Trotskyists World Socialist Web Site, denounced the violence by counter-protesters.  Leigh wrote that violence by small groups does not address the fundamental structural problems of a capitalist society and "ultimately play in the hands of the state."

On June 30, representatives and community leaders across Sacramento held a unity conference at the Capitol to denounce the violence on Sunday.  Darrell Steinberg, the mayor of Sacramento, said “what happened here on Sunday is the opposite of what Sacramento is about.” Richard Pan, a Senator for Sacramento’s 6th District, said ”Many people come here to articulate different views and it’s important people have the ability to do so but violence is not the answer to addressing those issues."

, one suspected neo-Nazi protester and three counter-protesters were charged with crimes connected to the riot. Felarca was one of those arrested. Felarca was later ordered to stand trial facing felony assault charges and misdemeanor rioting charges.

Notes

References

2016 in California
21st century in Sacramento, California
Crimes in California
History of Sacramento, California
June 2016 crimes in the United States
Knife attacks
Mass stabbings in the United States
Far-left politics in the United States
Neo-Nazism in the United States
Political riots in the United States
White American riots in the United States
Riots and civil disorder in California