Bill Donohue

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy’s recent piece on parenting that was posted in the New York Times has received considerable media coverage. Politico titled its article on his op-ed, “Parents Can’t Function, They’re So Stressed, Surgeon General Warns.”

Indeed, Murthy claims that from his own experience, parenting has been “more stressful than any job I’ve had.” He notes that his view is shared by parents across the nation.

After painting a dour picture of parenting, he explains, “That’s why I am issuing a surgeon general’s advisory to call attention to the stress and mental health concerns facing parents and caregivers, and to lay out what we can do to address them.” He further says that we must identify “policies” and “programs” to improve matters.

This should give us pause. To be sure, parenting is stressful—there is nothing new about it—but so is work. It’s part of the human condition. Mature adults learn to deal with it. So why has the surgeon general decided that we are now at the breaking point and something must be done to alleviate parental stress?

If Murthy were a researcher, what he said would not raise red flags. But he is not. He is a senior federal employee, appointed by the president, and his answer to this problem is to create a committee to advise him what to do. Only the naïve would conclude that this would not involve state action.

This is a familiar pattern. Government officials announce they are going to fix a problem that is largely of their own making. They are good at contriving issues that demand an expansion of the government.

Brad Wilcox is a professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, and Wendy Wang is a director of research at the Institute for Family Studies. They examined the data from the 2022 General Social Survey on the subject of happiness. Here is what they found.

• Married men (ages 18-55) in America are about twice as likely to be very happy, compared to their unmarried peers.
• Men and women who have the benefit of a spouse and children are the most likely to report being “very happy” with their lives.
• A combination of marriage and parenthood is linked to the biggest happiness dividends for women.

Now if these same people were asked if it is stressful to raise children, no doubt they would agree. So what? Experiencing stress does not negate the possibility of being happy.

Winning the World Series or the Super Bowl is stressful for the players. It is also a source of tremendous happiness. The two emotions are not necessarily contradictory.

Back to Murthy. He is teeing this issue of parental stress up for his bosses, the president and the vice president.

When President Biden spoke at the Teacher of the Year event in 2022, he told teachers that their students are more than that. “They’re all our children…. They’re not somebody else’s children; they’re like yours when they’re in the classroom.” Also in 2022, Vice President Harris told Seth Meyers that “When you see our kids, I truly believe that they are our children, they are the children of our country, of our communities.”

Wrong. Children belong to their parents. Period.

Marx and Engels insisted that parents should not be allowed to raise their own children. Their position was not only implemented in the early years of the Russian Revolution, it has become a staple in the ideological arsenal of the Left ever since. To this day, left-wing intellectuals and activists argue that children are not the “property” of parents, and should therefore be raised communally. This is part and parcel of the “they’re all our children” mentality.

The Biden administration is on record saying it is okay for administrators and teachers not to tell parents that their child is going to transition to the opposite sex. It’s okay for agents of the government to know—they can even affirm the decision of the troubled student. But the parents can be kept in the dark. It’s easy for the Biden team to come to this conclusion. After all, “they’re all our children.”

Murthy has sounded a false alarm. Married men and women with children are the happiest people in the nation. They don’t need the prescriptions of a government advisory board to deal with the stress that comes with parenting. What they need is a government that knows its place and does not encroach on their rights.

Contact: surgeongeneral@hhs.gov

Bill Donohue

Unlike many sociologists, Travis Hirschi understands human nature. His specialty is crime. Instead of asking why do some people commit crime, he aptly notes that the right question is why doesn’t everyone.

One way to understand his point is to apply his logic to children. What do responsible parents spend so much of their time doing: they are constantly invoking the word “No.” That’s because what comes natural to us is to satisfy our wants and desires, and that can often be harmful to others, even dangerous.

Adults are the same way. When we see something in a store that we like, what stops us from stealing it? If we have been properly socialized, we know that stealing is morally wrong. But what if we have not been properly socialized? Then our instincts tell us to take what we want. Now it may be that we will refrain from stealing because we are afraid of being caught, and because stealing is a crime, we may be punished, even imprisoned.

What happens if we steal, get caught, and get a slap on the wrist? If this is the new normal, then it is only a matter of time before the word gets out that breaking the law to get what we want matters little. Only a fool would think this wouldn’t lead to a spike in crime.

We are a nation run by a lot of fools. This is especially true of officials in big cities. The breakdown in the social order that is now commonplace was entirely predictable. Take New York City.

Before the pandemic, one in five New Yorker bus riders did not pay their fare. Now it’s one in two. Almost one million take the bus daily, and in 2022, the bus fare evasion cost the city about $315 million in lost revenue. It’s not hard to figure out why.

In 2008, a bus driver was stabbed to death in Brooklyn; he was killed after telling a passenger he needed to pay. The transit union jumped on this tragic incident and told bus drivers not to question those who refuse to pay. The word got out and soon there was an increase in fare beaters.

Why did fare beating jump from 18 percent in 2018 to 48 percent now? Because the word got out that even those who commit violent crimes suffer little or no punishment. It is not a big leap to think that if thugs are caught and released, what are they going to do to fare beaters?

Only a fool would be surprised.

The fools are Alvin Bragg, the George Soros-funded Manhattan D.A. who is responsible for the no-bail, catch and release, soft on crime policies. Another fool is the only person who can fire him, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul (she adopted the policies of her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, another fool). Indirectly, they sent the message to those who take the bus that fare beating is of no consequence.

It all filters down. What is happening is a variation of the “broken window” thesis. For example, when those who live in an apartment complex notice that broken windows are rarely repaired, it has a way of cascading: it invites a callous attitude toward misconduct, the result of which is an escalation of offenses of a more serious sort.

Responsible parents don’t wait until their child does something that is seriously wrong before disciplining him. Yes, some parents can be overbearing, and that is not a virtue. We are talking about reasonable ones.

They understand that if their child is not held accountable for relatively minor infractions, they are not likely to stop at that point. Just as it is foolish not to call the fire department until a neighborhood fire is literally next door, it is foolish not to act when Johnny keeps pushing the envelope.

Some urban problems are hard to resolve, but some are quite easy. All it takes is common sense and the will do act on it. Just keep the fools at bay.

Bill Donohue

I have long admired the erudition and courage of Mark Levin, the influential author and Fox News host. But his latest show featuring a so-called victims’ advocate was a disaster. Quite frankly, he was ripped off.

On his August 24 show, Mark had as his guest Joey Piscitelli. He was identified as a leader for 20 years with Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). He alleges that when Kamala Harris was the San Francisco district attorney she did not prosecute priests who were accused of sexually abusing minors (he claims to have been a victim).

He further contends that the district attorney whom she beat “in early 2004,” Terence Hallinan (he is wrong—she beat him in 2003 and took over in 2004), was hot on the trail of the Archdiocese of San Francisco but Harris never followed up. He attributes her inaction to Archbishop William Levada, “the most powerful bishop in the United States.”

Having closely followed this issue for decades, and having assisted in effectively busting SNAP (it is a shell of its former self, and even then it was not an organization), and having authored a book on this subject, The Truth about Clergy Sexual Abuse: Clarifying the Facts and the Causes, I am in a position to checkmate Piscitelli’s account.

If Harris showed favoritism to the Catholic Church, we would need to know if she prosecuted other professionals who interact with minors. For example, did she prosecute public school teachers, or members of the clergy from other religions? This is important because most of the offenses committed by priests occurred in the last century (mostly between 1965 and 1985). In education, the problem is ongoing. If Harris did not pursue teachers, why should she have pursued priests?

From my own research on this issue, subsequent to the publication of my book, I learned that Hallinan was able to secure Church documents on 40 former or current priests. It is important to note that in June 2003, approximately six months before Harris took over as D.A., the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a California law from 1994 that retroactively eliminated the statute of limitations for crimes involving the sexual abuse of minors.

Instead of asking why Harris did not pursue criminal cases against molesting priests—when the high court said such offenses were time barred—perhaps we should ask why Hallinan was so aggressive in singling out priests for prosecution, even using a grand jury to bring indictments. He was on a tear, seeking 75 years of Church documents.

Why would a D.A. want to spend his resources seeking to obtain the files on priests extending back to the 1920s? The San Francisco Chronicle, not exactly a Catholic-friendly source, labeled Hallinan’s pursuit “a fishing expedition.”

Where did Hallinan get the documents on the 40 priests? The archdiocese voluntarily turned them over in May 2002. By the way, lay employees were among the 40, and most of the priests were no doubt dead or out of ministry.

There is no question that San Francisco Archbishop Levada was seeking to protect the anonymity of accused priests. In doing so, he was doing what the leaders of every religious and secular institution do in these situations. Do the media open their books to the authorities on sexual abuse allegations? Do school administrators? Does Hollywood? In short, Levada was not an outlier, as Piscitelli suggests.

While serving as San Francisco District Attorney, Harris was asked why she would not make public those documents she possessed on priests. Linda Klee, her chief of administration and spokeswoman, told a reporter, “If we did it for you, we would have to do it for everybody. Where do you stop, and where do you start?”

Elliot Beckelman is a former prosecutor in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office who dealt with clergy sexual abuse cases.

He defends Harris’ decision not to release Church documents. “I don’t think a district attorney should float that out there if a person can’t defend themselves. It’s a very serious charge, a sex crime. The Catholics, like other minorities, feel picked upon, and I thought for the integrity of the investigation that we don’t have running press conferences to make out that the Catholics are worse than the Jews—which I am—or worse than the Hindus. There’s always a balance that comes to sexual assault investigations.”

Beckelman does not exaggerate. SNAP has smeared the Catholic Church for decades. Its longtime leader, David Clohessy, deposed in 2012 and shown to be a fraud. Five years later, after he was sued by an employee for accepting financial kickbacks and funneling money to SNAP via dummy organizations, he resigned. He was also shown to have more interest in sticking it to the Catholic Church than in doing anything constructive to help victims.

Clohessy admitted that there never was a SNAP office—he “worked” from home. It still has no office: its “staff” consists of persons with emails and a cell number.

Those who victimize minors are despicable. Ditto for those who exploit this issue for ideological and financial profit.

Bill Donohue

The 2024 Democratic platform notes, “For generations, LGBTQI+ Americans have summoned the courage to live authentically and proudly, even when it meant putting their lives and livelihoods at risk.”

However, it seems the speakers at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) could not summon “the courage” to speak “authentically and proudly” about their full-throated endorsement of the most radical LGBT policies ever implemented. They appear to be unwilling to put their political “lives and livelihoods at risk.” Even taking a fleeting second to explain who the “+” people are appears to have been too much for them.

No, rather than defending the record of the Biden-Harris administration, the DNC featured a stealth campaign to obfuscate the barbarism and depravity at the heart of the policies promoted over the last four years. Instead, the DNC has chosen to put a “joyful” and moderate spin on their agenda in hopes of appealing to normal voters in the swing-states.

While the Democrats might lack the fortitude to highlight their “accomplishments” on these issues, here is just a brief summary of what the Biden-Harris administration has done:

• On the first day of the Biden-Harris administration, it implemented an executive order allowing boys into the girls restrooms and locker rooms and to compete in girls sports.
• The Biden-Harris administration has rolled back religious liberty protections for medical providers compelling them to provide “gender affirming care.”
• The Biden-Harris administration has routinely championed the Equality Act. This act would effectively gut religious liberty protections and eviscerate women’s sports and other legal protections. It would compel Catholic Hospitals to provide “gender affirming care.”
• The Biden-Harris administration adopted a rule that if foster parents refused to support “gender affirming care” they would have their children taken from them.
• The Biden-Harris administration regularly condemned states like Florida, Texas, and Tennessee for defending parental rights and protecting children from mutilation in the name of “gender affirming care.”
• The Biden-Harris administration sought an appeal to mandate that Catholic doctors and hospitals would have to provide “gender-transition” surgeries.

You would not have heard any mention of these policies from the DNC speakers. There were platitudes about children “being who they are and loving who they love” as Michelle Obama put it, or Barack Obama’s insistence “that true freedom gives each of us the right to make decisions about our own life,…what our family looks like,…[and] who we marry….”

The DNC speakers were happy to go on about “book banning.” Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and Secretary Pete Buttigieg were happy to mention this. Of course, they left out that the books are not being banned, but instead, parents are calling on education officials to keep books out of schools that are not age-appropriate (they feature graphic sexual content).

But what makes this political expedience even more outrageous is for the past four years we have been told by the Biden-Harris administration that “trans” kids are facing a crisis in this country. To drive this point home, they have turned to Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine, a man who pretends to be a woman. Levine has assured us that “Gender-affirming care is medical care. It is mental health care. It is suicide prevention care. It improves quality of life, and it saves lives.” If what he says is true, why would the DNC not give him a prominent platform to highlight this?

We at the Catholic League have the courage these speakers lack. This is why we have a billboard calling for the end of gender transitioning just outside of the United Center. Additionally, we have been running 30 radio ads on WLS 890 AM, one of the most prominent radio stations in Chicago. The radical LGBT agenda seeks to upend our nation, and the promotion of gender affirming care for minors is child abuse. This is a critical issue that we will never walk away from. The American people need to be leveled with, but the DNC speakers won’t do that.

Bill Donohue

The crazies have descended on Chicago, whipping up hatred against Jews and Christianity. Their goals are unambiguous: destroy Israel and destroy Christian sexual ethics. The former is easier to comprehend, but the latter deserves more attention, especially as it relates to the former. First a little background.

According to a New York Times story last November, “On Oct. 7, scores of Hamas gunmen swept into Israel towns and military bases near the border with Gaza, opening fire on people in their homes, on the streets, and at a music festival. The attackers fatally shot the elderly, women and young children, according to survivors; others were burned after attackers set their homes ablaze.” Most—70 percent—were civilians.

The protesters in Chicago are not upset with Hamas for killing 1,200 innocent Jewish civilians on October 7, 2023. Their only regret is that they didn’t finish the job.

“March On The DNC 2024, Chicago, IL,” is the name of the coalition. Its central aim is “Stand with Palestine! End U.S. Aid to Israel” and to “stop our government from arming and supporting this genocide!” But it also lists as one of its goals, “Defend LGBTQIA+ & Reproductive Rights!”

A look at some of the groups that are part of the coalition underscores the nexus between the political (anti-Israel) and the sexual (anti-Christianity) aspects of the protest.

Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws says, “We demand national legislation to expand access to abortion, support families, and defend the rights of trans and queer people.” It explains its founding, stating, “We are a national coalition formed to demand a federal response to the wave of attacks on our bodily autonomy.” Naturally, they add, “We demand an end to US funds going to the genocide in Palestine.”

CODEPINK not only hates Jews and hates Christian sexual ethics, it wants to kill unborn children in Israel. Earlier this year, it issued an urgent call for “Reproductive Justice in Gaza/Palestine & Everywhere!” Of course, it demands an end to U.S. aid to Israel. It showed what a fraud  it is when it said it was “an enthusiastic supporter of the rights of gay and lesbians to join and serve openly in the military,” but after that goal was achieved it issued the following statement: “To the LGBT community: Now that you can join the military, please don’t!” For good measure, it also wants to “Defund the Police, Defund the Military.”

Democratic Socialists of America not only has nothing to say about the Hamas attack on innocent Israelis on October 7, it blames Jews for defending themselves. “Since October 7, Israel has continuously engaged in provocative military aggression, aimed at expanding its brutal war into Lebanon.” It is also an “advocate for LGBTQIA+ liberation.”

Jewish Voice for Peace is a pro-Hamas organization that has played a prominent role in demonstrations against Israel. Its Chicago affiliate is part of the coalition; it has previously supported the Chicago Dyke March Collective. Its members “were present at Dyke March wearing Jewish symbols, including Stars of David, t-shirts with Hebrew, kippot, and sashes with Yiddish script.”

Thank God for Abortion—yes, such a group exists—has been around for several years. Although it is primarily interested in killing kids, its members have launched protests in Grand Central Station in New York City on behalf of Hamas. It also pays for a float at Gay Pride Parades. Its leader, a young woman, brags openly about her two abortions, saying to her followers, “I celebrate your life to have 20 abortions—I’ll throw you a party.”

In the 1960s, Wilhelm Reich, a cultural Marxist from the radical Frankfurt School, helped create the intellectual seedbeds that led to the  pro-Hamas and pro-LGBT coalition. He blended Freud’s ideas with those of Marx, envisioning a world where individuals would enjoy sexual liberation and society would experience a revolution. It was only fitting that he was a sex maniac and a member of the Communist Party.

That is what is driving the Chicago protesters. They see oppression everywhere. Hence, they are convinced that the only true liberation is to shed their sexual and political shackles. According to their logic, Israel must be destroyed because it is an outpost of Western oppression and Christianity must be destroyed because it promotes sexual repression.

These people are not only mad, they are a threat to a free society. A sensible society would deal with them with dispatch.

Bill Donohue

The Catholic League is displaying a billboard and running radio ads during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

The digital billboard is located just outside the United Center, the venue of the DNC. It runs from August 19 to August 25. Here is what it looks like.

Welcome Democrats

DO WHAT IS MORALLY RIGHT

END GENDER TRANSITIONING NOW

[Our logo, name, location and website address will appear below on the left side. Across the bottom it will say, Paid for by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.]

The radio ads are running on WLS 890 AM. It is based in Chicago and has one of the largest radio signals in the world. It is also one of the top news talk stations in Chicago.

• 5 ads were run August 18 between 6 AM and Noon
• 5 ads are running through August 23, starting today, between 6 AM and noon
• 20 ads are running through August 23, starting today, between 6 AM and 7 PM

In addition, we are periodically sponsoring WLS’s coverage of the events. For example, at the top of the hour, the radio station will announce that it is covering the convention, acknowledging the Catholic League as a sponsor. We hope to draw new members as a result.

Here is the text of the ad that is being run on WLS 890 AM.

The Catholic League extends a warm welcome to Democrats convening in Chicago. 

While there are many critical issues facing our country, the Catholic League believes the number-one civil rights issue of our day is the exploitation of children done in the name of gender ideology.

Pope Francis has labeled gender ideology as the “ugliest danger” of our time.

The Catholic League believes it is outrageous that children are being coaxed into thinking that they can change their sex. Attempts to do so have serious mental and physical consequences. Moreover, allowing men to compete in women’s sports is subversive of women’s rights.

Please address this issue.

Bill Donohue

The First Amendment references religion twice: the free exercise provision and the establishment provision (they are incorrectly called clauses).

The First Amendment was originally slated to be the Third Amendment (but was moved up after the first two failed to be adopted). Written by Madison, he meant the former provision to guarantee the free expression of religion. The latter meant that (a) there could be no national church, and (b) there could be no favoritism of one religion over another. That was it. The rest was left to the states to decide (there were even state churches at the time).

The two provisions were meant to be complementary, not treated as if they were opposites (which is the flawed contemporary understanding). Jointly, they mean that the government cannot encroach on religion.

One governor who has no clue about what the First Amendment means is Tim Walz, the chosen vice presidential nominee for the Democrats.

On March 13, 2020, the Minnesota governor declared a “peacetime emergency” in response to Covid. Between March 13 and May 5, he would issue 51 “emergency executive orders” that greatly curtailed freedom of religion. As part of these orders he created a hotline for Minnesotans to report their neighbors for not complying with his orders. Essentially a state snitch patrol, it was reminiscent of what Orwell predicted in 1984.

On May 6, the Upper Midwest Law Center filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of the Northland Baptist Church and Living Word Christian Center against Walz for his executive order limiting the capacity of houses of worship.

On May 13, Walz really socked it to people of faith. He issued an executive order limiting houses of worship to 10 persons per service. But he allowed up to 50 persons to go to malls, shops, and other retailers. Other businesses such as pet-grooming services and medical marijuana dispensaries were allowed to resume in-person operations. Bars and restaurants were given instructions on a phased plan of reopening. Even casinos were allowed to resume by the end of the month, and the Mall of America was allowed to reopen for those seeking “retail therapy.” But those seeking spiritual therapy at their local church were capped at ten.

A week later, on May 21, the Minnesota Catholic Conference and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod announced they would not comply with Walz’s discriminatory policy. They said they would reopen at 33 percent capacity. Walz immediately slammed the door on them, saying they had to wait. He declared he was resolute on enforcing the 10 person cap for houses of worship. The same day a U.S. District Court judge sided with the two churches who brought suit on May 6.

Two days later, on May 23, Walz reversed his position and announced a new plan to reopen the houses of worship with 25 percent capacity. He cited a new CDC policy as the reason for his change.

On March 30, 2021 Walz lost in his effort to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the two churches. This was the first substantive loss in court that Walz faced; it compelled him to settle out of court to cut his losses.

On May 6, Walz reached a settlement with the two churches and agreed to end his discriminatory treatment of churches and other houses of worship by promising that Emergency Covid Orders would treat all houses of worship the same as stores and entertainment venues. On the same day, he announced a new plan to “end nearly all state Covid-19 restrictions by May 28.”

Walz was not alone in singling out churches, synagogues and mosques for punishment—this was standard fare for many executives. But he was among the worst. When religion takes a back seat to secular interests, it perverts the intentions of the Framers and creates a hostile environment for religious Americans.

What happened during Covid should never be allowed to happen again.

Contact Walz’s chief of staff: Chris.Schmitter@state.mn.us

Bill Donohue

From FDR to Bill Clinton, Bob Hope was a regular entertainer at White House events. He was never coarse, nor did he embarrass anyone. Why is it that Democrats such as Kamala Harris and Joe Biden continue to showcase the most obscene and racist performers in the nation?

On July 30, hip-hop queen Megan Thee Stallion worked the crowd at a Kamala Harris campaign rally. The lyrics to her hits, “Savage” and “Girls in The Hood,” included vulgar terms referring to female genitalia and patently obscene terms; she also dropped the N-word.

In September 2023, Lil Wayne performed at “the first-ever hip-hop house party at the Office of the Vice President of the United States.” Harris enjoyed him singing “A Milli,” a tune that used gay slurs, obscenities, the N-word, references to feces and lyrics such as, “I’m a venereal disease like a menstrual bleed.” His number, “Mrs. Officer,” was a filthy hit job on cops, and he dropped the F-word 17 times doing his song “Uproar.”

Harris learned a lot from her boss, Joe Biden. Two months ago, after his disastrous debate performance, he invited Fat Joe to a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. He entertained the failing president with lyrics such as, “Kicked the b**ch out the room and gave her no breakfast; Had to stash the jewels, these b**ches so reckless; Keep my hoes on cruise, I’m talking naughty nothings.” He used no obscenities in “Tell Me When To Go,” but he did take a shot at Jews, singing, “Jesus Christ had dreads, so shake em; I ain’t got none, but I’m planning on growing some; Imagine all the Hebrews going dumb.”

When Biden was the presumptive presidential nominee in August 2020, he sat down for a chat with Cardi B for an interview. Ten days earlier she released one of the most disgusting, misogynistic songs ever recorded, “WAP.” And, of course, she dropped the N-word.

Donald Trump has welcomed rappers to his rallies, but they do not perform.

What is wrong with Harris and Biden? Are they okay treating women like raw meat? Are the most vile obscenities okay to invoke at campaign rallies? Is it okay to rip gays and Jews? Why would they recoil in horror if a Republican office holder used the N-word to describe African Americans? Have they no decency?

The message that Harris and Biden are sending to young people, in particular, is that it is fine and dandy—even fun—to speak in public like filthy louts and inveterate racists.

It’s a sure thing that the lyrics they find so amusing will not be featured on TV next week as they take the stage at the Democratic National Convention. How cowardly. Why not let the whole world know what you find to be entertaining? And then lecture us on civility and racism!

Bill Donohue

Thomas Jolly, the homosexual activist who insulted Christians with his opening ceremony antics, is ready to roll out the closing ceremony. It is scheduled to begin August 11 at 3:00 p.m. ET.

There will be the traditional athletes’ parade and medal ceremony. It will be held indoors at France’s national stadium, involving hundreds of singers, performers, acrobats, dancers and circus artists. Jolly says it is his “ambition” to “celebrate in suspended time, with conscience, and with the idea that together we can make a difference.”

How he will suspend time remains a mystery. But at least it is being done with a conscience, which is better than the alternative.

Jolly has already made a difference. He has joined the ranks of anti-Christian bigots. Will he give us Round 2 of his obscene portrayal of Christianity, or will the guy who grew up playing with dolls tap the brakes and be a good boy? If he does, it will show that our protest was not in vain.

Our protest was aimed at many parties to the Olympics. We contacted Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee; the fifteen major sponsors of the Olympics; leading Republicans and Democrats; and the U.S. Olympic Committee. We not only protested what happened in the opening ceremony, we asked that they make sure that the closing ceremony is not a repeat.

The Catholic League was the only Catholic organization to register a formal protest. Moreover, by supplying contact information, we were the only one to give Catholics a voice in registering their objections. And unlike others, who did next to nothing, we didn’t try to hustle our supporters by asking for a donation.

We are happy that so many contacted Bach in July about what Jolly did. You can contact him again about the closing ceremony.

 Contact: media@paris2024.org

Bill Donohue

Note: In an earlier post, mention was made of Walz, Sanders and de Blasio honeymooning in communist countries. We were remiss in not mentioning Joe Biden. He is now included in this revised version.

In the 1930s, if a Republican politician chose to go to Hitler’s Germany for his honeymoon, he would have been hounded from office. But in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s three Democrats and one independent (with close ties to the Democrats) chose to go to communist countries for their honeymoon. One of them is Tim Walz, the newly minted Democratic vice presidential candidate. We need to know why.

In 1989, Walz moved to Communist China to teach at a high school for a year. He later said it was “one of the best things I’ve ever done.” Five years later he got married and chose to honeymoon there. He has been to China at least 30 times.

When Walz was chosen to join Vice President Kamala Harris on the presidential ticket, the Chinese state media noted his frequent trips there and praised him for “fostering cultural exchanges.”

Under Mao Zedong, who ruled China from 1949 to 1976, 77 million people were killed, far outdoing the body count under Hitler and Stalin. While Walz has criticized human rights abuses in China in recent years, he has never explained why he would honeymoon in a nation with a history of mass murder. Nor has he explained why he is reticient about condemning Communist China for threatening the security of Taiwan.

Walz has much in common with Joe Biden. In 1977, then-Senator Biden spent his honeymoon with his second wife, Jill, in a Communist-run country, Hungary. But he did more than celebrate his marriage. According to Daily News Hungary, he met with Communist officials and “had some secret meetings during his stay.”

It was a weird place to go to at the time. In 1956, Hungarian young people staged a revolt protesting Soviet domination. Tens of thousands took to the streets for six days before they were crushed by the communists. Mass arrests and executions followed and some 200,000 Hungarians fled to Austria and Yugoslavia before the borders were closed.

Why would Biden choose to honeymoon behind the Iron Curtain? That’s a long way from Rehoboth Beach.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who frequently caucuses with the Democrats, spent his honeymoon in the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). The communists killed 66 million, mostly under Stalin.

Like Walz, Sanders has never explained why he would honeymoon in such a blood-stained country. He did so in 1988. While he was there he condemned U.S. foreign policy, but said nothing about egregious human rights abuses in the USSR.

In 1972, Sanders said that U.S. policy in Vietnam was “almost as bad as what Hitler did.” In 1985, he had a friendly sit-down with Daniel Ortega, the communist dictator of Nicaragua. In 1989, he visited Castro’s Cuba, praising the communists for their healthcare system, schools and housing, but saying nothing about the political prisoners being held. Today he refuses to condemn the oppressive Marxist regime of Maduro in Venezuela.

In 1994, former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio went on his honeymoon to Cuba. What he did was illegal, but that didn’t matter. He never told his children about this—they found out after he admitted it on TV; they were told their parents honeymooned in Canada.

In 1988, de Blasio went to Nicaragua to support the communist Sandinista regime. In 1990, he said he supported “democratic socialism” (which is an oxymoron), but when he was asked about this by the New York Times in 2013, he denied it. When the reporter said he has the evidence, de Blasio said, “It doesn’t matter.”

It does matter to the American people that left-wing political leaders cozy up to communist totalitarian dictators. Biden has already been erased by Harris, De Blasio is out of office and Sanders is going nowhere, but for Walz, that is a different story. He needs to come clean. It is one thing to teach in Communist China, quite another to celebrate a wedding there. And why all the back and forth trips?

Contact Walz’s chief of staff: Chris.Schmitter@state.mn.us