This past Sunday, January 24th, CWR received the following e-mail from Twitter:
Your account, @cworldreport has been locked for violating the Twitter Rules.
Specifically for:
Violating our rules against hateful conduct.
You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.
Please note that repeated violations may lead to a permanent suspension of your account. Proceed to Twitter now to fix the issue with your account.
The Tweet in question (screenshot attached) was of this Catholic News Agency news brief, written by Matt Hadro, posted on CWR on January 19, 2021. It stated:
“Biden plans to nominate Dr. Rachel Levine, a biological man identifying as a transgender woman who has served as Pennsylvania’s health secretary since 2017, to be HHS Assistant Secretary for Health. Levine is also a supporter of the contraceptive mandate. https://t.co/mY1Y8S5p2S
CWR’s managing editor David Kilby sent a note to Twitter on January 25, stating in part:
The reason given was that this Tweet violated Twitter Rules “against hateful conduct” and suggested that it might be promoting “violence” or somehow “harassing” others.
Can you please explain how this Tweet—a news account on a news site—specifically violated Twitter rules and/or how it supposedly involved “hateful conduct” or “harassment”?
Two days later, on January 27th, CWR received the following response:
Thank you for your patience as we reviewed your appeal request for account, @cworldreport, regarding the following:
Our support team has determined that a violation did take place, and therefore we will not overturn our decision.
You will not be able to access Twitter through your account due to violations of the Twitter Rules, specifically our rules around:
In order to restore account functionality, you can resolve the violations by logging into your account and completing the on-screen instructions.
It seems evident that Twitter’s focus is the descriptive of Levine as “a biological man identifying as a transgender woman…”
Since Levine is “transgender”, it’s curious why Twitter would think it harmful or hateful to note what Levine is “trans-gendering” from or to.
Twitter is clearly indicating that unless CWR and other outlets jump through arbitrary and constantly-changing rhetorical and ideological hoops, they cannot use Twitter. Just as bad, Twitter is implicitly making CWR admit to hateful or bigoted language, even though such was never the case. Not only is such an approach subjective in nature, it is an overtly biased, unfair, and discriminatory approach that both stifles free speech and undermines CWR’s right to report on current events.
Catholic World Report, which is operated by Ignatius Press, was founded by Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., thirty years ago. In late 2011, CWR went entirely online, and I was appointed as editor. At that same time, CWR opened its Twitter account; by the start of 2021, CWR’s Twitter account had 8500 followers.
The vast majority of CWR Tweets have been of links to CWR articles, reviews, interviews, and news briefs, with a headline, short descriptive, and link.
CWR is currently reaching out to other outlets about similar experiences and expects to post more on this story soon.
The above comes from a Jan. 28 story by Carl Olson, editor of Catholic World Report.
The left is so stupid and tyrannical. I’ll say it again: it’s impossible to be a Catholic if you are a Democrat. Democrat Catholics are either frauds or traitors to the church. It’s at the point now where Catholics must denounce Biden. Silence about Biden = violence to the true faith.
You have made the same statement about 250 times. Your repeated typing does not make it true. I believe one cannot be a Catholic while being constantly angry and stereotypical of others.
Here are some things Democrats support that Catholics regard as gravely evil:
1. same-sex sexual relations and marriage
2. abortion
3. transgenderism/bodily mutilation
4. fornication
5. treating people differently on the basis of race through antiracism efforts
6. atheism
7. socialism and Communism
I agree that anyone who supports those grave evils is not a Catholic. Democrats support all of them, so they can’t be Catholics. It’s logical.
Why does the truth bother you so much?
People are Catholics by virtue of their baptism. They may be erring Catholics or non-practicing Catholics or bad Catholics but they are still Catholics.
Good point and that is one of the saddest statements here.
I think it was St Bernadette Soubirous who said, “I fear nothing except bad Catholics”,
Or, something said by St John Fisher about betrayed by those who should be the guarding the gates.
And, you know, this is all I am left with on a beautiful Sunday morning.
ttfn
Kristiin, do you believe the person in the photograph above is a male or a female? Simple question.
Catholics must hold that that person is a male. A disfigured male, but still a male. And will always and only be a male. Any other answer disqualifies you from being Catholic and also gets you an “F” on the quiz in high school biology class.
I’ve noticed as a reoccurring theme that the dissidents here just loves to ridicule you if you attempt to speak the truth about what the Church teaches. And who is ridiculing who?
What does this have to do with being a Democrat. Or a Catholic for that matter? Apparently there was a violation of the Twitter rules. Don’t post hateful things to twitter if you are a dem or republican, Catholic or atheistic. Twitter gives a no-charge platform but only if it is used responsibly.
How is simply stating that Mr. Levine is a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman hate speech? Is saying the truth hate now? Yes it is, according to Democrats. That’s what it has to do with Democrats. And Catholics must speak and adhere to the truth. That’s what it has to do with Catholicism.
What this shows is that Democrats, and Twitter and all big tech is run by Democrats, will use their power to suppress truth that conflicts with leftism. It’s coming in government. It’s already in public schools. Democrats are totalitarians just like the Marxists they admire. It started with the gays. Now it’s coming full force with transgenderism and critical race theory. All those things espoused by Democrats are based on lies and involve efforts to control what people can think, say and do. They want to control your minds and your very lives.
Well it certainly isn’t loving. This is not an attempt at fraternal correction. It is an attempt at mockery. And mockery is an expressed form of hatred.
YFC— You write that “mockery is an expressed form of hatred”. So I guess you’d brand every comedian a hater.
When people like YFC get to decide what is hate and Truth and thinks he is a Catholic, the end is near and very welcomed.
bohemond, I am not a Twitter monitor, in case you didn’t know. And as to your comment “people like YFC”, well you probably know about the refuge that those who use ad hominems seek.
Because everything is political now. That’s the way you people wanted it, right? Chickens coming home to roost.
YFC you and your friends define “hate” as meaning anything you want it to mean.. You consider defining marriage between man and woman as hate when it reality is it Truth.
Nothing in the CWR was hateful or advocated violence. What I read was fact. Read it again.
Twitter is a joke! Rules for thee but not for me!
LOL cry more
Yikes. There should have been some sort of warning about this story. To see that face this early on a Saturday puts me off my feed.
Welcome to the inverted reality of 2021, where you will attacked for stating there are only 2 genders and they are assigned at birth.
Ah, bohemond, even your language has been corrupted by the times. I’m sure you meant to say that there are only two sexes and a person’s sex is determined at conception. We have to be clear and hold the line, even about the terms we use.
I stand corrected.
“Follow the science” we’re repeatedly told, except when the facts of biology (or some other science) don’t promote a predetermined position or ideology.
Pray for Rachel Levine and his deep confusion, gender dysphoria. He still has an X and a Y chromosome (and more). And, he is a father and husband. Saint Joseph, pray for the Levines.
Why is Twitter even a thing? But it’s exactly this kind of thing that will lead directly to the fall of the progressive juggernaut. The scary thing is what will replace it. Fr. Mitch Pacwa has “prophesied” that Christians and LGBTQ (he didn’t use that particular term) ‘community’ will be persecuted side by side.
You mean when the Muslims take over?
I actually welcome that, at least they have guts to stand up to this filth.
Richard, can you provide a reference to Fr. Pacwa saying that?
Thank you.
@Curious….he said it on the air on an EWTN call in show…email him and I’m sure he’ll be glad to elaborate…
Thanks. If the context relates to Muslim persecution that makes total sense. It’s like the Communist Chinese, they persecute Christians, Muslims, those of Fulan Gong and anyone who doesn’t submit totally to Communism. Communism, Islam and America’s woke leftists demand submission.
Kneel before them or else.
Male and female God created them.
Shemale and hefemale and other the Left distorted them.
Poor “Rachel”. She looks worse as a “woman” than she ever did as a man. “Her” thinking must have been disturbed. Why did the doctors allow “her” to disfigure “herself” so badly. “She” needed psychotherapy, not surgery. Nonetheless, I hope people are kind.
You would be thrown into a reeducation camp for saying such things if the Democrats could have their way.
A Christian’s job is not to hurt people emotionally and psychologically but to provide a balm for their souls, to tell them that God loves them and that Jesus died so that they can go to Heaven.
We are supposed to love our neighbor, not be cruel to them.
The most important thing is whether someone knows God and the One whom He sent.
My friend what you say is true but confirming someone in their sins in not charity.
“Hatred can be charming, while true charity can be stern.”–St. Augustine
The problem is what you said means different things to different people. Telling someone who has a normally developing or developed body that they can change their sex to me IS cruel and NOT loving. It is encouraging people to live in a fantasy world.
Anonymous,
Anne TE is correct. To justify a person’s harmful behavior and to keep them in their psychological defense mechanisms is called “enabling behavior” and is a psychological defect called co-dependency.
Co-dependency is not love.
Her “behavior”. Her behavior is to advance the health of our nation. If you find a problem with that behavior then I have a bone to pick with you.
Whatnow,
Mr. Levine has serious psychological health issues and he’s mutilated his physical body in unhealthy ways.
If he’s a health disaster in his personal life, what makes you think that he can advocate well for everyone else’s health?
How can he fix the health of the country when her own distorted view of biology is confused?
Sorry I meant to write his own distorted view of biology. See I’m confused too!
Ronnie – what a breakthrough! You now see that you are confused. I will pray for your continued enlightenment.
No I don’t think so Ano. I meant it as a joke! I know that he is a male and has a confused disordered mental illness.
I couldn’t believe the extremely irrational, immature, Nazi-style reaction of Twitter, towards “Catholic World Report!” Ridiculous! The immature, irrational Leftist Liberals are extremely radical in forcing their immoral and idiotic beliefs on a democratic country– the finest in the world! Anything they don’t like or agree with, is ignorantly labelled as “hateful” and “violent!” This is a great danger, and has been going on for a long time, especially since the filthy, violent 1960s. Their Satanic evils were not stopped then– and sadly– there is a possibility that someday, America may face extreme consequences, as a result, including a Nazi-style leftist regime, wrongfully imposed on our country — and next, a rebellion, or war, against it– combatting Nazi-style evils, to possibly even include outrageously immoral laws, fake kangaroo courts, fake trials and fake sentences, even torture and death for Christians and morally-decent conservatives– similar to Communist countries! America needs to find a way to stop the dangerous, insane evils of the Satanic, subversive, immoral and highly dangerous liberal leftist political and social movement!
You forgot fake elections.
Can we all please just stop caring what the alphabet people and their allies think?
Joe,
It’s not advised to ignore what they think. They don’t just want to take away your freedom of speech: Those who direct the movement wish to go after much more. As Cardinal George said:
“I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the Church has done so often human history.”
We’re on the verge of a social catastrophe. We have to take what they say very seriously.
No, we are Christians.
A couple of things those evil Democrats believe in, and advocate for equal pay for equal work [Lilly Ledbetter] and a female Vice President.
Well, considering that female Vice President was thinking of legalizing prostitution in California (thus giving our daughters and granddaughters whole new “job’ opportunities) , if she does becomes president, she will give the title Madame President a whole new meaning.
You can have her, I admire people such as St. Nicholas who saved women from “jobs” such as that.
Mike M direct question: do you adhere to the teachings of the Church or that of the political Left. If you had to side with one over the other which one would it be?
I am not sure what you mean by “the political left” and I sincerely doubt that you do either. Things simply are not that cut and dry. Do remember that at least 50 percent of Catholics voted for our President. Many of us are actively pro-life, but understand that national politics is never about one issue, and that Catholic thought never has been dominant in this country. This goes back to the founding fathers who wrote about freedom of religion but did not include us.
Are those “50%” practicing Catholics or Catholics in name only? Would they have voted for someone who wanted to bring slavery back?
I do not assume to know the depth of anyone’s faith other than my own, so I cannot tell you what “they” are. I do find it disturbing when people who identify as Catholic regurgitate the evangelical premise that all Democrats are atheists. I fail to understand how your reference to slavery has anything to do with 21st century America.
As a leftist Annette you are unable to discern what I am talking about. Believe me I do know what I am talking about, the Left destroys everything in its path it tears down traditions (such as marriage) and replaces them with their own false traditions You admittedly side with a political party that not only supports abortion but praises it. Here in NY when the law was passed to allow abortion up to the 9th month. It was met with thunderous applause of all Democrats in the NY state assembly. Democrats have done all they can to remove from God from the culture and it is reflected in their policies.
Well Annette if you vote for someone who supports child killing what would prevent you from justifying a vote for an advocate of slavery or fascism or socialism or selectively killing those who are a burden to society. And without life all other issues are meaningless.
Ronnie, she don’t care. This is true of every Catholic I know who is a Democrat or who votes Democrat. They say they are pro-life but they don’t really care. It is not an issue for them at all.
Members of the other major political party also believe in equal pay for equal work AND believe that abortion, including sex-selection abortion which generally targets females, is wrong. They’re happy to support women like Kristi Noem, Nikki Haley and others. Watch their primaries in 2024 and support qualified, pro-life women running for office.
Good luck with that. Trump and his bro’s will still be storming on that capital. And still gettin arrested just like they should.
Like the “summer of rage” where 30 people were murdered, half of them Black?
Ronnie – I don’t see the relationship between the two. Means do not justify the ends, and the violent attempt to overthrow the United States Government and defile the Capitol building and overturn its national election has nothing whatsoever to do with what you call the “summer of rage”. Trump lost his impeachment defense team this week because he was STILL demanding that they justify his attempt to overturn the election by telling a long list of lies. He still controls Hill Republicans like a puppetmaster. And that includes some who left office like Haley etc.
Anonymous…”Trump lost his impeachment defense team this week because he was STILL demanding that they justify his attempt to overturn the election by telling a long list of lies”
Well why not investigate some additional evidence: evidence that could be cited includes (1) blatant disregard for law in some swing states where election officials (including secretaries of state) changed the rules of the election without the statutory consent of their legislatures; (2) blatant actions by election officials that aggressively prevented poll watchers from observing the processing and counting of ballots, as required by law—nullifying that processing and counting; (3) credible evidence of large quantities of “mail-in” ballots that were apparently never folded, with Biden’s name pre-selected by the printing machine and no down-ballot races included; (4) the unprecedented pausing of voting late at night Nov. 3 in the swing states when Trump was winning by large margins, only to be resumed hours later with Biden winning by modest margins; and many more documented serious irregularities. These anomalies are significant enough to demand a thorough bipartisan investigation of these states’ elections, to settle the legitimate question of who lawfully won—a move state leaders have so far resisted. What are you and the liberal Dems afraid of? The truth maybe.
So called “Catholic Twitter” needs to begin the migration to their own Mastodon Server. Centralizing your speech with any of these “woke” social media companies is a grave mistake. This is just the beginning of the end for them on Twitter, facebook, et al and these companies are within their rights under law for blocking anything they want. So instead of crying about the constitution, which doesn’t apply to this situation, they need to find the intelligent work around to protect their voice.
David, thank you.
The truth anywhere is a threat to lies everywhere.
To mikem 7:47 pm:
Proving exactly what? Hitler provided an affordable automobile for the working class. He also believed in building good roads so that ordinary people could visit all parts of the country. Does that make him a “good Catholic”, despite the Holocaust?
Klinger for Secretary of Defense.
BJ for Surgeon General
Really?
At least Mr. Levine doesn’t claim to be Catholic.
That’s true. Rachel is Jewish, according to the Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh.
“A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.” Deut. 22:5
What does Rachel’s rabbi (or rabba or rabbanit) think?
Wow Anonymous have you been duped by the Deep State & fake news! 300 police officers injured, hundreds or thousands of businesses destroyed, hundreds of assaults & 30 people killed. And that’s not trying to overthrow the government? We still do not know who was behind this organized attempt to breach the Capitol where mostly Trump supporters were killed. And which party supports & promotes violence all the time? Take a wild guess: why it’s the “party of death”, the Democrat party.
Ronnie I will try never to respond to any of your posts again. You cling to debunked conspiracy theories. We DO know who lead the seditious attack on the government from the videos and photos, including selfies, and social media. There is no shame for you or anyone else in being deceived, but your continuing to recite the tales demonstrates a serious problem.
In the end, God commands us “You shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor”. If a person is lying and we go along with the lie we are breaking God’s commandment and risking eternal damnation. I cannot, will not lie for levin and put my soul in immortal peril. I should not be asked to.
Anon. If you think they are conspiracy theories why not examine thoroughly the issues raised. What are you & the Left so afraid of? By labeling & dismissing the evidence without investigation confirms something is fishy & that maybe Trump was right. As for your “fake news” evidence let’s wait & see who was involved. We do know that 30 people were killed, hundreds of cops injured, thousands of businesses were destroyed & cities destroyed all by the Left! The truth will set you free Anon. Nice knowing you.
I meant the above for Ano although the Left here changes their identity often.
Debunked conspiracy theories like the Russian collusion hoax? Or that Trump is a Russian agent, a Nazi, a racist, a white supremacist, Hitler. If anyone is involved in conspiracy theories it is the deranged Left!