12.21.15: Avi Davis passed away this morning in Los Angeles. RIP.

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I have only just heard the tragic news that Avi Davis recently suffered a massive heart attack and remains hospitalized in a coma.

Avi is a loyal friend and dear colleague, the head of the LA-based American Freedom Alliance, an organization that has in professional terms been extremely supportive of my books, The Death of the Grown-Up and American Betrayal both. 

During the sustained attacks on American Betrayal spearheaded by David Horowitz's Frontpage magazine, Avi had occasion to prove his mettle: both his independence of mind and moral compass. Declining to follow the cowardly lead of many who reacted to the smear campaign by joining it or shunning the book, Avi decided instead to stage a public event around American Betrayal and M. Stanton Evans' and Herbert Romerstein's Stalin's Secret Agents both, inviting me to Los Angeles in December 2013 to speak at the Skirball Cultural Center. There I was joined via video by both Stan Evans and Sebastian Gorka. The following evening, Avi hosted a private dinner for 20, followed by a book-signing-cum-discussion drilling down on the possibly reasons behind the controversy American Betrayal had created.

Did I mention Avi cooked dinner himself? It was splendid, too. The discussion Avi would lead with about the attacks on American Betrayal was for me memorable and illuminating, and my only regret was that it was not taped. The AFI would subsequently name me one of its 2014 Heroes of Conscience and also a fellow.

All of this is testament to Avi's resolute committment to seeking knowledge with an open mind. Please pray for Avi's recovery.