Wednesday, August 31, 2016
"If you are an Israel Hater you are an Antisemite" MLK JR.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Trump: Everything is Negotiable
Several months ago, Donald Trump took a new position on a highly contentious issue and then completely walked it back.
Women, he said, should face "some form of punishment" for getting an abortion if the procedure were outlawed.
Several hours of bipartisan outrage later, Trump did an about-face, releasing a statement in which he said those who perform abortions, and not the women who undergo them, should be punished.
But Trump's flip-flop was just one of many..
Here are 10 examples:
1. Nuclear proliferation
"Biggest problem, to me, in the world, is nuclear, and proliferation," Trump told the New York Times last week.
But Trump also said that he would like to see South Korea and Japan obtain nuclear weapons, which would fly in the face of non-proliferation efforts that have been American policy for decades.
"We're better off if Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea, we're better off, frankly, if South Korea is going to start to protect itself," Trump said during a CNN town hall this week. "It's going to happen anyway."
Trump added, "I don't want more nuclear weapons."
2. The Iraq War
Donald Trump in 2002: I support Iraq invasion
Donald Trump in 2002: I support Iraq invasion 01:32
Trump steadfastly insisted throughout his campaign that he -- unlike most of his Republican counterparts -- opposed the Iraq War before it began.
"I said, 'Don't hit Iraq' because you're going to totally destabilize the Middle East," Trump said during his June 16, 2015 speech announcing his candidacy for president. "I'm the one that made all of the right predictions about Iraq."
And throughout his campaign, Trump expressed some version of that claim at nearly every campaign rally and in every interview he was asked about the issue, arguing he should get "points for vision."
But his claim was debunked in February when BuzzFeed News dug up a September 2002 interview -- weeks before Congress voted to authorize military force in Iraq -- in which Trump said he was in favor of invading Iraq.
"Yeah, I guess so," Trump said after Howard Stern asked him if he favored invading Iraq. "You know, I wish the first time it was done correctly."
And two days after the war began, Trump said on Fox Business Network that the invasion "looks like a tremendous success from a military standpoint."
Trump was asked by Anderson Cooper bout the contradictory statements during a CNN town hall in February.
"I mean, I could have said that," he said. "Nobody asked me—I wasn't a politician. It was probably the first time anybody asked me that question."
3. Afghanistan War
Trump also flipped his position on the war in Afghanistan, labeling the war a "terrible mistake," in a CNN interview in October.
Trump subsequently claimed that he was talking about Iraq, and not Afghanistan -- which the U.S. invaded in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
But a review of the interview transcript shows that CNN anchor Chris Cuomo made it clear he was talking about Afghanistan, mentioning the country by name twice in his question to Trump.
"We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place," Trump said of Afghanistan during the October 6 interview.
And Trump himself then compared Afghanistan to the situation in Iraq.
"It's a mess. And at this point, you probably have to, because that thing will collapse about two seconds after they leave. Just as I said that Iraq was going to collapse after we leave," Trump said.
4. Abortion
Trump's response earlier on punishments for abortion isn't the first time Trump has changed his tune on the issue.
But his total shift on this issue -- going from "pro-choice" to "pro-life" -- is one Trump openly acknowledges.
"I'm pro-life, and I was originally pro-choice," Trump said Tuesday in a CNN town hall. "I have evolved."
That's because in a 1999 interview and in his 2000 book as he was considering a run for president then, Trump said he was "very pro-choice."
In that 1999 interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Trump said he would even support women's rights to "partial-birth" or late-term abortion.
Trump now wants to ban all abortions, except in the case of incest, rape or if the life or health of the mother is at risk.
5. Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Trump has sought to walk a fine line on the issue, on one hand promising his presidency would be a boon for Israel while also trying to position himself as a master negotiator who could draw the two sides of the conflict to a peace settlement.
But Trump shocked the political world when he proclaimed that he would try to be "neutral" in the conflict .
"I want to be very neutral and see if I can get both sides together," Trump said in a December interview with the Associated Press.
He reignited that backlash in February when he said he wants to "be sort of a neutral guy" in negotiating a deal.
But Trump's neutrality claims were nowhere to be found in a speech earlier this month during the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual gathering, where he sought to place himself squarely and unequivocally in the pro-Israel camp.
"When I become president, the days of treating Israel like a second-class citizen will end on day one," Trump said.
6. Torture
Donald Trump declared in February that "torture works" and that he would "bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding."
In subsequent rallies, Trump argued that ISIS's brutal and barbarous tactics merited a more forceful response from the U.S. that would include torturing suspected terrorists.
As experts argued that military officials would disobey even a commander-in-chief's unlawful order -- as Trump's torture decision would be -- Trump bristled.
"Frankly, when I say they'll do as I tell them, they'll do as I tell them," Trump said during a March 3 GOP debate.
The next day, Trump walked back his comments.
"I will not order a military officer to disobey the law. It is clear that as president I will be bound by laws just like all Americans and I will meet those responsibilities," Trump said in a statement that also acknowledged that the U.S. "is bound by laws and treaties."
The day after that, Trump again changed his answer again.
"We're going to stay within the laws. But you know what we're going to do? We're going to have those laws broadened because we're playing with two sets of rules: their rules and our rules," Trump said pointing to ISIS's tactics.
7. Immigration
Donald Trump drew millions to his campaign with his bold and uncompromising pledges to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and deport all of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
But faced with a report that he told the New York Times editorial board in an off-the-record meeting that his immigration views are in fact more flexible than he has let on, Trump appeared to confirm those suspicions.
"Everything is negotiable," Trump said in late February on Fox News when asked about the report.
Trump then went on to say that he would be willing to negotiate on the height of the wall and suggested his policy to deport all undocumented immigrants could also be flexible.
Pressed by CNN the next day during a news conference as to whether deporting all undocumented immigrants was negotiable, Trump again offered a response that left the door open to changes to his policy down the line.
"At this moment, the answer is absolutely not," he replied.
8. Gun control
Donald Trump's position on the campaign trail has been clear and unequivocal. "I'm a very strong Second Amendment person," he has said repeatedly.
Trump has argued in favor of eliminating gun-free zones in schools and on military bases and argued that looser gun laws in France could have diminished the number of casualties during the Paris terrorist attacks.
But while he's argued during his running for president that he wouldn't support any further restrictions to gun access, that hasn't always been Trump's position.
Trump previously argued in favor of banning assault weapons and supported "a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun," a position he articulated in his 2000 book "The America We Deserve."
9. Muslim ban
Trump continues to supports his contentious proposal to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from entering the U.S. until we "figure out what the hell is going on" -- with terrorism, that is.
But the pool of people who would be banned has shrunk since Trump made the broad-based proposal that could keep as many as 1.6 billion people from entering the U.S.
Trump first described his proposal in December as a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." Pressed the day of the announcement for whether the policy would apply to all Muslims, Trump's campaign manager simply replied "everyone."
Later that evening, Trump said his policy would not apply to Muslims already living in the United States.
Since then he has also expanded his exceptions to include foreign leaders, government officials and business executives.
10. Hillary Clinton
Trump: Clinton doesn't have the stamina to be President
Gearing up for an increasingly likely general election battle against Clinton, Trump frequently slams the Democratic presidential front-runner on the trail, including referring to her as "the worst secretary of state in the history of the United States."
Trump had previously and repeatedly heaped praise on Clinton, including in a March 2012 interview as Clinton entered the last year of her tenure as secretary of state.
Trump called Clinton "a terrific woman" in the March 2012 Fox News interview and said that "she really works hard and I think she does a good job."
Thanks to cnn for this article.
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Itihaj Muhammad, American Olympic Fencer, is a Disgrace to America and an Enemy Of Women's Equality
The burqa, the hijab and the chador are the visual symbols of the horrifying treatment of women in most muslim countries.
Although some American women, usually America hating radical Chic dilettantes, wear these symbols of women's inferiority while claiming they are showing solidarity with muslims in the arab world they are actually showing solidarity with countries that routinely butcher hundreds of women a year for being victims of rape, and notably, being caught without the covering demanded by evil, misogynistic muslim demagogues.
It is like someone wearing a Nazi uniform and saying "I do it out of unity for Jews that were tortured and gassed in the concentration camps."
When Itihaj Muhammad starts her career of endorsing products on TV, Americans should boycott the products she promotes, and make the sponsors stop promoting this hate filled disgrace.
The following article was written by an Arab Human Rights Advocate and exposes the reality of the Hijab.
Asra Q. Nomani is a former Wall Street Journal reporter and the author of “Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam.” She is a co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement, a new initiative of Muslims and their allies, advocating peace, human rights and secular governance. She can be reached at asra@asranomani.com.
For us, as mainstream Muslim women, born in Egypt and India, the spectacle at the mosque was a painful reminder of the well-financed effort by conservative Muslims to dominate modern Muslim societies. This modern-day movement spreads an ideology of political Islam, called “Islamism,” enlisting well-intentioned interfaith do-gooders and the media into promoting the idea that “hijab” is a virtual “sixth pillar” of Islam, after the traditional “five pillars” of the shahada (or proclamation of faith), prayer, fasting, charity and pilgrimage.
We reject this interpretation that the “hijab” is merely a symbol of modesty and dignity adopted by faithful female followers of Islam.
This modern-day movement, codified by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Taliban Afghanistan and the Islamic State, has erroneously made the Arabic word hijab synonymous with “headscarf.” This conflation of hijab with the secular word headscarf is misleading. “Hijab” literally means “curtain” in Arabic. It also means “hiding,” ”obstructing” and “isolating” someone or something. It is never used in the Koran to mean headscarf.
In colloquial Arabic, the word for “headscarf” is tarha. In classical Arabic, “head” is al-ra’as and cover is gheta’a. No matter what formula you use, “hijab” never means headscarf. The media must stop spreading this misleading interpretation.
Born in the 1960s into conservative but open-minded families (Hala in Egypt and Asra in India), we grew up without an edict that we had to cover our hair. But, starting in the 1980s, following the 1979 Iranian revolution of the minority Shiite sect and the rise of well-funded Saudi clerics from the majority Sunni sect, we have been bullied in an attempt to get us to cover our hair from men and boys. Women and girls, who are sometimes called “enforce-hers” and “Muslim mean girls,” take it a step further by even making fun of women whom they perceive as wearing the hijab inappropriately, referring to “hijabis” in skinny jeans as “ho-jabis,” using the indelicate term for “whores.”
But in interpretations from the 7th century to today, theologians, from the late Moroccan scholar Fatima Mernissi to UCLA’s Khaled Abou El Fadl, and Harvard’s Leila Ahmed, Egypt’s Zaki Badawi, Iraq’s Abdullah al Judai and Pakistan’s Javaid Ghamidi, have clearly established that Muslim women are not required to cover their hair.
[Another opinion: A conservative theologian explains why he disagrees with Jerry Falwell Jr. on Christians and guns]
Challenging the hijab
To us, the “hijab”is a symbol of an interpretation of Islam we reject that believes that women are a sexual distraction to men, who are weak, and thus must not be tempted by the sight of our hair. We don’t buy it. This ideology promotes a social attitude that absolves men of sexually harassing women and puts the onus on the victim to protect herself by covering up.
The new Muslim Reform Movement, a global network of leaders, advocating for human rights, peace and secular governance, supports the right of Muslim women to wear — or not wear — the headscarf.
Unfortunately, the idea of “hijab” as a mandatory headscarf is promulgated by naïve efforts such as “World Hijab Day,” started in 2013 by Nazma Khan, the Bangladeshi American owner of a Brooklyn-based headscarf company, and Ahlul Bayt, a Shiite-proselytizing TV station, that the University of Calgary, in southwest Canada, promotes as a resource for its participation in “World Hijab Day.” The TV station argues that wearing a “hijab” is necessary for women to avoid “unwanted attention.” World Hijab Day, Ahlul Bayt and the University of Calgary didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In its “resources,” Ahluly Bayt includes a link to the notion that “the woman is awrah,” or forbidden, an idea that leads to the confinement, subordination, silencing and subjugation of women’s voices and presence in public society. It also includes an article, “The top 10 excuses of Muslim women who don’t wear hijab and their obvious weaknesses,” with the argument, “Get on the train of repentance, my sister, before it passes by your station.”
The rush to cover women’s hair has reached a fever pitch with ultraconservative Muslim websites and organizations pushing this interpretation, such as VirtualMosque.com and Al-Islam.org, which even published a feature, “Hijab Jokes,” mocking Muslim women who don’t cover their hair “Islamically.”
Last week, high school girls at Vernon Hills High School, outside Chicago, wore headscarves for an activity, “Walk a Mile in Her Hijab,” sponsored by the school’s conservative Muslim Students Association. It disturbed us to see the image of the girls in scarves.
Muslim woman Samantha Elauf (R), who was denied a sales job at an Abercrombie Kids store in Tulsa in 2008, stands with U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lead attorney Barbara Seely (C) at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, February 25, 2015. The Court on Wednesday considered whether Elauf, who wears a head scarf, or hijab, was required to specifically request a religious accommodation at her job interview at the store in 2008 when she was 17. The company denied Elauf the job on the grounds that wearing the scarf violated its "look policy" for members of the sales staff. REUTERS/Jim Bourg (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT RELIGION TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) Muslim woman Samantha Elauf (R), who was denied a sales job at an Abercrombie Kids store in Tulsa in 2008, stands with U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lead attorney Barbara Seely (C) at the U.S. Supreme Court. REUTERS/Jim Bourg
Furthermore, Muslim special-interest groups are feeding articles about “Muslim women in hijab” under siege. Staff members at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has pressed legal and PR complaints against U.S. companies that have barred employees from wearing hijabs on the job, has even called their organization “the hijab legal defense fund.”
Today, in the 21st century, most mosques around the world, including in the United States, deny us, as Muslim women, our Islamic right to pray without a headscarf, discriminating against us by refusing us entry if we don’t cover our hair. Like the Catholic Church after the Vatican II reforms of 1965 removed a requirement that women enter churches with heads covers, mosques should become headscarf-optional, if they truly want to make their places of worship “women-friendly.”
Fortunately, we have those courageous enough to challenge these edicts. In early May 2014, an Iranian journalist, Masih Alinejad, started a brave new campaign, #MyStealthyFreedom, to protest laws requiring women to wear hijabs that Iran’s theocracy put in place after it won control in 1979. The campaign’s slogan: “The right for individual Iranian women to choose whether they want hijab.”
Important interpretations of the Koran
The mandate that women cover their hair relies on misinterpretations of Koranic verses.
In Arabic dictionaries, hijab refers to a “barrier,” not necessarily between men and women, but also between two men. Hijab appears in a Koranic verse (33:53), during the fifth year of the prophet Muhammad’s migration, or hijra, to Medina, when some wedding guests overstayed their welcome at the prophet’s home. It established some rules of etiquette for speaking to the wives of prophet Muhammad: “And when ye ask of them anything, ask it of them from behind a hijab. This is purer for your hearts and for their hearts.” Thus, hijab meant a partition.
The word hijab, or a derivative, appears only eight times in the Koran as an “obstacle” or “wall of separation” (7:46), a “curtain” (33:53), “hidden” (38:32), just a “wall of separation” (41:5, 42:52, 17:45), “hiding” (19:14) and “prevented” or “denied access to God” (83:15).
In the Koran, the word hijab never connotes any act of piety. Rather, it carries the negative connotation of being an actual or metaphorical obstacle separating the “non-believers” in a dark place, noting “our hearts are under hijab (41:5),” for example, a wall of separation between those in heaven and those in hell (7:46) or “Surely, they will be mahjaboon from seeing their Lord that day (83:15).” Mahjaboon is a derivate verb from hijab. The Saudi Koran translates it as “veiled.” Actually, in this usage, it means, “denied access.”
The most cited verse to defend the headscarf (33:59) states, “Oh, Prophet tell thy wives and thy daughters and the believer women to draw their jilbab close around them; this will be better so that they be recognized and not harmed and God is the most forgiving, most merciful.” According to Arabic dictionaries, jilbab means “long, overflowing gown” which was the traditional dress at the time. The verse does not instruct them to add a new garment but rather adjust an existing one. It also does not mean headscarf.
Disturbingly, the government of Saudi Arabia twists its translation of the verse to impose face veils on women, allowing them even to see with just “one eye.” The government’s translation reads: “O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (i.e. screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way). That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed, and God is most forgiving, most merciful.”
Looked at in context, Islamic historians say this verse was revealed in the city of Medina, where the prophet Muhammad fled to escape persecution in Mecca, and was revealed to protect women from rampant sexual aggression they faced on the streets of Medina, where men often sexually harassed women, particularly slaves. Today, we have criminal codes that make such crimes illegal; countries that don’t have such laws need to pass them, rather than punishing women for the violent acts of others.
Another verse (24:31) is also widely used to justify a headscarf, stating, “… and tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their chastity, and do not reveal their adornment except what is already shown; and draw their khemar over their neck. . . .”
In old Arabic poetry, the khemar was a fancy silk scarf worn by affluent women. It was fixed on the middle of the head and thrown over their back, as a means of seducing men and flaunting their wealth. This verse was revealed at a time, too, when women faced harassment when they used open-air toilets. The verse also instructs how to wear an existing traditional garment. It doesn’t impose a new one.
Reclaiming our religion
Asra Nomani talks to audience members in 2009 after Doha Debate in which she argued for the right of Muslim women to marry anyone they choose. )
In 1919, Egyptian women marched on the streets demanding the right to vote; they took off their veils, imported as a cultural tradition from the Ottoman Empire, not a religious edict. The veil then became a relic of the past.
Later, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel-Nasser said in a speech in the early 1960s that, when he sought reconciliation with members of the Muslim Brotherhood group for attempting to assassinate him in 1954, the Supreme Leader of the Brotherhood gave him a list of demands, including, “imposing hijab on Egyptian women.” The audience members didn’t understand what the word hijab meant. When Nasser explained that the Brotherhood wanted Egyptian women to wear a headscarf, the audience members burst out laughing.
As women who grew up in modern Muslim families with theologians, we are trying to reclaim our religion from the prongs of a strict interpretation. Like in our youth, we are witnessing attempts to make this strict ideology the one and only accepted face of Islam. We have seen what the resurgence of political Islam has done to our regions of origin and to our adoptive country.
As Americans, we believe in freedom of religion. But we need to clarify to those in universities, the media and discussion forums that in exploring the “hijab,” they are not exploring Islam, but rather the ideology of political Islam as practiced by the mullahs, or clerics, of Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Islamic State.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Milwaukie Criminal Pulls Gun On Officer Who shoots him, Residents Riot
MILWAUKEE — The black man whose killing by police touched off rioting in Milwaukee was shot by a black officer after turning toward him with a gun in his hand, the police chief said Sunday, as Wisconsin's governor put the National Guard on standby against any further violence on the city's mostly black north side.
Police Chief Edward Flynn cautioned that the shooting was still under investigation and authorities were awaiting autopsy results, but that based on the silent video from the unidentified officer's body camera, he "certainly appeared to be within lawful procedure."
At the same news conference, Mayor Tom Barrett said a still image pulled from the footage clearly showed the gun in 23-year-old Sylville K. Smith's hand as he fled a traffic stop Saturday.
"I want our community to know that," Barrett said. But he also called for understanding for Smith's family.
"A young man lost his life yesterday afternoon," the mayor said. "And no matter what the circumstances are, his family has to be hurting."
Flynn refused to identify the officer who shot Smith but said he is black. The police chief said he wasn't sure what prompted the stop but described Smith's car as "behaving suspiciously."
After watching the officer's body camera footage, Flynn said the entire episode took about 25 seconds, from the start of the traffic stop until shots were fired. He said Smith ran "a few dozen feet" and turned toward the officer while holding a gun.
"It was in his hand. He was raising up with it," the chief said. He said it was unclear how many rounds the officer fired.
Earlier Sunday, Gov. Scott Walker activated Wisconsin's National Guard, and 125 Guard members were reporting to local armories to prepare for further instructions. Flynn said they would not be deployed unless the chief decided to do so.
"I'm hopeful that will not be necessary," the mayor said. "But if it is necessary, we will do so." Flynn said 150 department officers specially trained in managing big protests had also been mobilized.
Six businesses were burned in the unrest that spilled past midnight Sunday. Seventeen people were arrested, Flynn said, and four officers were hurt, none seriously.
Milwaukee Alderman Khalif Rainey, who represents the neighborhood that erupted, said the city's black residents are "tired of living under this oppression."
"Now this is a warning cry. Where do we go from here? Where do we go as a community from here?" he asked.
Flynn said Smith had a lengthy criminal record with Milwaukee police. Online court records showed a range of charges against Smith, many of them misdemeanors.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Smith was also charged in a shooting and was later charged with pressuring the victim to withdraw testimony that identified Smith as the gunman. The charges were dropped, but it was not immediately clear why.
"My son is gone due to the police killing my son," Marilyn Haynes told the Journal Sentinel. "I am lost."
On Sunday morning, about three dozen volunteers swept up glass and filled trash bags with rocks, bricks and bottles at the intersection where a gas station burned to the ground. One volunteer picked up a bullet casing and handed it to police.
Darlene Rose, 31, said that she understands the anger that fueled the violence, but that it doesn't help.
"I feel like if you're going to make a difference, it's got to be an organized difference," Rose said. "The people that came and looted, you're not going to see them here today."
Early Sunday evening, about 100 people gathered next to the blackened ruins of an auto parts store, saying they hoped there would be no repeat of the violence. Most were from Greater New Birth Church, and wore red T-shirts that read "Grace Stop the Violence" as they sang songs and prayed.
The anger at Milwaukee police is not new and comes as tension between black communities and law enforcement has ramped up across the nation, resulting in protests and the recent ambush killings of eight officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas.
Nearly 40 percent of Milwaukee's 600,000 residents are black, and they are heavily concentrated on the north side.
Milwaukee was beset by protests and calls for police reform after an officer shot and killed Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, in 2014.
In December, the U.S. Justice Department announced it would work with Milwaukee police on changes.
Critics said the police department should have been subjected to a full Justice Department investigation like the one done in Ferguson, Missouri, after the killing of black 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014 touched off violence there.
The officer involved in the most recent Milwaukee shooting was 24 years old and has been an officer for three years, according to the department.
At one point Saturday evening, as many as 100 protesters massed at 44th Street and Auer Avenue, surging against a line of 20 to 30 officers. The Journal Sentinel reported that some in the crowd smashed a squad car's windows. Another police car was set on fire.
In addition to the gas station and auto parts store, a bank and a beauty supply shop were burned. Firefighters held back from the gas station blaze because of gunfire.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Brigitte Gabriel Exposes "Islam is Peaceful" scam
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/video/2014/06/amazing_answer_peaceful_muslims_concern_standing_ovation.html#ixzz4GvnOpD2v
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