American Muslims rally to condemn ISIS, American bigots claim it was a parade in support of ISIS

Home - In Dearborn, Michigan, American Muslims held a march to denounce ISIS. As in they held an actual parade to condemn ISIS and ISIS' version of Islam which is, uncannily enough, exactly what many shrieking xenophobes (e.g. sitting congressman and King of the Mole Rats Steve King) have been demanding American Muslims "do" in order to disassociate themselves with the bad people.

You know what happened next, right? It took about 10 days for conservatives online to start sending each other pictures of the march with claims that it was a rally in support of ISIS. Jesse Singal:

"This is Dearborn Michigan after the radical Islamic attack in California ! These are Isis flags and Isis supporters folks but the media has not reported because of politically correctness.” It had been shared almost 3,700 times, and I also found a tweet with the same photo that had been retweeted more than 1,300 times.
I assured the guy who had messaged me that if ISIS were openly demonstrating in Dearborn (which has one of the highest proportions of Arab-Americans in the country and which is therefore a frequent subject of unhinged rumors about Muslims), “the media” would be all over it, and that this was probably false — but that I’d look into it.

Read the full story here.

AMERICA faces bitter and almost certainly fruitless debate about gun control, violent crime, the assimilation of Muslims

AMERICA faces another bitter and almost certainly fruitless debate about gun control, violent crime, the assimilation of Muslims and even the sincerity of politicians’ public prayers, following a mass shooting in San Bernardino, a working-class city deep in the California desert, 60 miles east of Los Angeles, on December 2nd. The attacks left 14 people dead and wounded at least 17, making it the nation’s deadliest mass shooting since the massacre almost three years ago at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. The shooting began around 11am, after two attackers entered a holiday party for county health workers in black masks and tactical gear. After a car chase in the afternoon, the police killed both suspects. Read the Full story here HOME

Torture In America

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — I SPENT this semester teaching creative writing at Lehigh University. I’ve been a soldier, a police officer and an interrogator. So hearing students call me “Professor” and assigning homework was a significant change of pace. But the course’s title, Writing War, kept me from straying too far from the memories that have haunted me over the last decade. I am grateful to Lehigh for the opportunity to teach the course. The school’s willingness to put a veteran in the classroom is the very thing this country needs to be doing in order to collectively process what the last 13 years of war have wrought. But teaching a class about war reminded me daily that I am no college professor. I was an interrogator at Abu Ghraib. I tortured. Continue reading the main story RELATED IN OPINION Editorial: The Senate Report on the C.I.A.’s Torture and Lies DEC. 9, 2014 Here Come the Torture Apologists DEC. 9, 2014 Torture and Responsibility DEC. 9, 2014 Op

Sikander Hayat's America

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