Favorite In an Orlando courtroom this morning, a 12-person jury, after three days of deliberation, found Noor Salman, the widow of Pulse attacker Omar Mateen, not guilty on all charges. Salman had been accused of providing material support of terrorism, based on the accusation that she aided her deceased husband in the 2016 Pulse attack, as well…
All posts tagged Islamophobia
The Nunes Memo and Katie Roiphe Article Show How Concerns for Due Process and Civil Liberties Are Highly Selective and Self-Centered
Favorite In 2010, civil libertarians encountered a surreal moment: After years of trying, largely without success, to get Americans to care about the assaults on basic rights carried out in the name of the war on terror, these issues suddenly exploded with great prominence to the forefront of our national debate. Suddenly, everywhere one turned,…
In Europe, Hate Speech Laws are Often Used to Suppress and Punish Left-Wing Viewpoints
Favorite Terrorist attacks, and the emotions they spawn, almost always prompt calls for fundamental legal rights to be curtailed in the name of preventing future attacks. The formula by now is routine: The victims of the horrific violence are held up as proof that there must be restrictions on advocating whatever ideology motivated the killer to act.…
Key Question About DNC Race: Why Did Obama White House Recruit Perez to Run Against Ellison?
Favorite Members of the Democratic National Committee will meet on Saturday to choose their new chair, replacing the disgraced interim chair Donna Brazile, who replaced the disgraced five-year chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Even though the outcome is extremely unlikely to change the (failed) fundamentals of the party, the race has become something of an impassioned…
Trump’s Muslim Ban Is Culmination of War on Terror Mentality but Still Uniquely Shameful
Favorite It is not difficult for any decent human being to immediately apprehend why and how Donald Trump’s ban on immigrants from seven Muslim countries is inhumane, bigoted, and shameful. During the campaign, the evil of the policy was recognized even by Mike Pence (“offensive and unconstitutional”) and Paul Ryan (violative of America’s “fundamental values”), who are far too…
The Smear Campaign Against Keith Ellison Is Repugnant but Reveals Much About Washington
Favorite Ever since he announced his candidacy to lead the Democratic National Committee, Keith Ellison, the first American Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress, has been the target of a defamation campaign that is deceitful, repugnant, and yet quite predictable. At first expressed in whispers, but now being yelled from the rooftops by some of the…
Brazilian Muslims Face a Wave of Persecution and Prejudice Stoked by New Government
Favorite In a hall full of high-ranking military officers in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, a screen transmits images of a man with a long gray beard, glasses and a kufi, a knit cap worn by many devout Muslim men. In the first photo, a man with white hair appears at a protest with Palestinian flags. In…
Don’t Expect Donald Trump to Stop Lying About Huma Abedin
Favorite Once again treating news of other people’s pain as an opportunity to score political points, Donald Trump seized on Huma Abedin’s decision to separate from Anthony Weiner on Monday as an opportunity to repeat his unsubstantiated claim that Hillary Clinton’s closest aide must have shared classified information with her husband, and draw attention to…
French Police Create Propaganda for ISIS by Ticketing Muslim Women on Beaches
Favorite Photographs and video of French police officers issuing tickets to Muslim women — for violating new local ordinances that ban modest beachwear as an offense against “good morals and secularism” in more than a dozen towns along the Riviera — spread widely on social networks on Wednesday, prompting waves of outrage and mockery by…
In Rudy Giuliani’s Universe, 9/11 Is Everything and Nothing
Favorite Warming up the crowd for Donald Trump on Monday in Youngstown, Ohio, former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani offered a glimpse into the alternate reality he has now signed on to by describing the presidency of George W. Bush as a time of undisturbed peace and security for Americans. During “those eight years, before…