INTERVIEW – BEN SHAPIRO – Editor In Chief of The Daily Wire, syndicated columnist and soon to be speaker at Berkeley this Thursday

• Berkeley braces for right-wing talk show host Ben Shapiro’s visit. (LA Times) — Girding itself for a visit from another polarizing political figure and the possibility of more violent protests, UC Berkeley is tightening campus security. In a message sent earlier this week, Provost Paul Alivisatos said the university was taking precautions in advance of the Sept. 14 visit by conservative political commentator and former Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro. There will be a “closed perimeter” around the building where Shapiro is scheduled to speak, and an “increased and highly visible police presence.” The university also is offering counseling to students and faculty worried about the event, which is being held at the invitation of the Berkeley College Republicans.
• Berkeley Agitators Say Orthodox Jew Ben Shapiro Is A ‘White Supremacist’ Left-wing agitators have falsely labeled conservative commentator Ben Shapiro a “white supremacist,” in an apparent attempt to inflame tensions ahead of Shapiro’s speech at the University of California, Berkeley on Thursday. Shapiro, the editor in chief of The Daily Wire, is an Orthodox Jew and a vocal opponent of the alt-right and other fringe white nationalist groups. Nevertheless, Refuse Fascism, a group that has previously organized violent demonstrations in Berkeley, labeled Shapiro a “fascist thug” and “white supremacist” over the weekend. “Fascist thug [and] white supremacist Ben Shapiro is coming to UC Berkeley — The issue is not ‘Free Speech,’” the group wrote in a Facebook post. “The Issue is Fascism.”