Bucks County PA Elected Official Resigns After Sharing Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories on Facebook

An elected Middletown Township official resigned days after she took office when she was outed for sharing antisemitic content, posts supporting a violent conspiracy theory.

Kristi Ann Morris, a Republican who has said she has a doctoral degree and was a chemist, resigned after a township Republican brought to light posts made from a social media account bearing her name.

Morris was sworn in to her role as a member of the Middletown Township Board of Auditors Monday evening. Auditors serve a six-year term to the three-member board which oversees financial audits of the municipality and meets once or twice per year.

The elected-official resigned by midweek after being confronted about her posts.

The QAnon conspiracy was mainstreamed in recent years as numerous prominent conservatives have supported it. Many attackers during the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol displayed iconography that is often associated with the conspiracy.

The outlandish QAnon conspiracy theory alleges Democrats and some Republicans who did not support former President Donald Trump eat babies and harvest a chemical compound from their bodies. It also claims the “Deep State” has murdered opponents, is behind sex trafficking, worked to hide evidence of a shadowy global “cabal” that spans from royalty to Hollywood actors, and that gaffes made by the former president and other politicians are secret signals. Part of the conspiracy is that a high-level government official or officials were posting their moves online before stopping toward the end of 2020.

At a glance, Morris’ Facebook page shared some conspiracies, but nothing as overt as her Gab account.

Morris’ Facebook account prominently featured the quote: “Exposing friends to extremist content.”

Morris did not respond to a request for comment from LevittownNow.com. Not long after, she appeared to remove her Facebook account.

Three Middletown Township Republicans told this news organization Morris had stated in the past she believed a reckoning was coming related to corruption and elections, leaning into conspiracy theories.

Two of those Republicans said she made statements the conspiracy would be unveiled within weeks time. Both said her comments never panned out.

Morris ran as an endorsed member of the Middletown Township Republican Committee for the auditor role in 2021.

Pat Mallon, who leads the Middletown Township Republican Committee and is a former township supervisor, said Morris admitted to operating the account on social media.

“I therefore asked Ms. Morris for her immediate resignation from the party, from her committee position, and from her elected position as Auditor. Ms. Morris has tendered all of those resignations. There is simply no place in our party or in our community for these anti-Semitic words or posts,” he said.

The Middletown Township Board of Supervisors – made up of Democrats and Republicans – issued a statement condemning “all forms of hate speech.”

“Now more than ever, we must understand that our words have the power to be destructive and lethal. We, the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors, stand united against hate speech in our community. All people deserve the right to live in our community and nation without prejudice. Hate speech is not welcome in Middletown Township,” the municipality’s governing body wrote.

Prior to being elected to the Middletown Township Board of Auditors, Morris served as chairperson of the appointed Citizen’s Traffic Commission.

Nowakowski said he did not believe in “cancel culture,” but he felt it was important to let the community know about an elected official’s views.

Karen Hall spoke in support of Nowakowski’s statements at the supervisors meeting.

“This cannot be a representation of myself, for one, and for the people who are clearly looking to find ways to meet in a middle ground and eliminate the polarization of elected officials,” she said.

The supervisors will have to appoint a resident to fill Morris’ now-vacant auditor seat.

More Than 120 Celebrities Sign Open Letter Against Boycott of Sydney Festival Over Israeli Sponsorship

Kiss frontman Gene Simmons, actress Emmanuelle Chriqui, and filmmaker Nancy Spielberg are among the more than 120 members of the entertainment industry who have signed an open letter against the boycott of the 2022 Sydney Festival, after dozens of acts pulled out of the event over its $20,000 sponsorship deal with an Israeli embassy.

The open letter, published on Thursday by the non-profit group Creative Community for Peace, calls the boycott “an affront to both Palestinians and Israelis who are working to advance peace through compromise, exchange, and mutual recognition.” It also said the boycott “turns the festival from an opportunity for unity into a weapon of division.”

The letter continued saying that “while we all may have differing opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the best path to peace, we all agree that a cultural boycott is not the answer.”

An estimated 30 acts have so far reportedly cancelled their participation in the festival because it signed a $20,000 sponsorship agreement with the Israeli Embassy in Canberra, Australia, which will support a performance of “Decadance,” a piece by acclaimed Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin. The festival said on Tuesday that despite the boycott by pro-Palestinian artists, it will not terminate its sponsorship deal with the Israeli embassy.

The festival is set to take place Jan. 6-30 and will include more than 120 events. It opened on Thursday night mere hours after another act, Tropical F**k Storm, pulled out after failing to convince the festival to refund and end their deal with the Israeli embassy. The boycott also resulted in a pro-Palestinian protest outside the Sydney Opera House this week.

CCFP’s open letter quoted comments made by Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave in 2018 when he said: “The cultural boycott of Israel is cowardly and shameful. Israel is a real, vibrant, functioning democracy – yes, with Arab members of parliament – and so engaging with Israelis, who vote, may be more helpful than scaring off artists or shutting down means of engagement.” However, Cave has not signed the new open letter.

The letter also argued that,”while art can reflect politics, and artists can choose to reflect their politics in their own art, art should never become subservient to politics and artists and cultural events should never be forced to be politicized.”

Others signatories include songwriter and producer Diane Warren; singer Deborah Conway, actor Eric Balfour, Disturbed frontman David Draiman, comedian Elon Gold, actress and producer Noa Tishby and composer Aaron Symonds.

Simmons further slammed anti-Israel activists boycotting the Sydney Festival in a recent interview with an Australian morning show, accusing the campaign of”punishing young, talented people who have nothing to do with politics.”

“I fully respect people who have a different point of view — but right time, right place. Don’t take it out on young people in the arts. They have nothing to do with politics,” he said on air. “Leave young talents alone. The arts should be free of political pressure.”

CCFP Director Ari Ingel said in a released statement, “The organizers of the Sydney Festival boycott intentionally misrepresent the truth about Israel and make provocative statements, to try and bully artists into backing out of the festival. Their messages deceptively involve an element of dishonesty and deny the truth of Jewish indigeneity to the land of Israel. Their actions only further hostility and dampen hope for peace, which all of us so urgently desire.”

“The Sydney Festival is a beautiful event celebrating Sydney’s diverse and rich culture – bringing the entire community together. Unfortunately, it’s now being used for political purposes to divide, rather than unite,” Ingel added. “The boycott movement is also counterproductive and instead of amplifying the voices of coexistence trying to effect real change on the ground, those who support the calls for a boycott are only creating more hostility, division, and mistrust.”