The un-citizening of Muslims

US citizenship refused to woman who joined ISIS.

This case hinges on the State Departments argument that they did not know about Ms. Muthana’s birth until AFTER she was  born and considered her to be covered by the exception to born a citizen rule until then:
“Ms. Muthana’s father, Ahmed Ali Muthana, was a United Nations diplomat from Yemen. Children of people with diplomatic immunity are not automatically granted citizenship despite being born in the United States. But Mr. Muthana was discharged from his diplomatic post shortly before she was born in 1994.
The United States government, however, said it was notified about that change in early 1995, after she was born, and stopped considering him covered by diplomatic immunity only then.”

Pretty persuasive argument BUT…facts become facts when they occur, they do not become facts only after someone has been notified of them. The US constitution is clear about her citizenship as was the US government because they issued her a US passport.

Hitler’s Germany, Trump’s Amerika and my Neighborhood

Well, anti-Muslim hate has entered my own neighborhood.

Just yesterday, I was having an energized discussion with a dear friend who asked me about Pete Buttigieg’s Presidential run. I told him every Democratic hopeful (except for Bernie) is running to kiss the Israeli behind in spite of its genocide of Palestinians and to support the country blindly including Buttigieg and for me, that rules him out. We meandered to what is going on in the US and I said it is little different from 1933 Germany and heading towards a full-throated persecution of Muslims. I despaired of ever seeing Muslims come together and vote en bloc because that is the ONLY way we can scare the crap out of politicians; you can either buy Congress in the US or, bury it. My friend took umbrage at my comparisons of the US, Israel and Nazi Germany, he asked me if I had heard of any Muslim being gassed.

That’s one of the biggest problems. As soon as we draw comparisons between Nazi Germany, Israel and the US, people get all hostile, essentially saying how dare I draw an equivalence of the three. There does not NEED to be a carbon copy before we need to take a stand and compare where we or another country is heading. We Muslims don’t need to wait for eventual concentration camps or gas chambers before we may say, “Oh horrors! THIS looks familiar from history!”.

I am told to look at the other important achievements of the politicians instead to being a single-issues person. I AM concerned about other important things! I think things such as universal healthcare, universal and equal schooling all the way through universities, keeping the poor from being homeless and hungry are ALL important. But how important are they to me when I fear for the safety of my children and their future generations?

Sri Lanka Bombings

Sri Lanka Bombings.

I am FURIOUS!

Almost 300 people killed in Sri Lanka and the government there says it was the work of s fringe Muslim group. Yes, the government might be wrong but the tragedy is that they could also be RIGHT!

Stigmatizing entire groups

Last night, I was trying to catch up on my huge stack of unread magazines (there is a huge stack of books right behind them!) when I came up on a story about the WWII internment of Japanese-descent Americans in a stamp-collecting magazine (yes, I am one of those nutters).

On February 19^th, 1942, President Roosevelt signed an order leaving it to the military to designate “exclusion zones” and then moving the Japanese-Americans to “detention centers”. In spite of the fact that these were all Concentration Camps, the euphemisms they were known by were: “Assembly Center”, “Relocation Center”, “Isolation Center” and “Temporary Camps”, mostly along the deserts of the West Coast. In all, about 88% of the Japanese Americans…112,000 people were interned, most of their properties were “sold” at fire-sales or expropriated. Their actual losses at the time, were about $400 million, Congress generously provided a restitution after the war, of about $38 million and President Reagan signed an Act of apology in 1988.

Waters of Hate are rising, who will stop them?

Those who ignore the lessons of History (and current events), are destined to repeat History.

It is growing in the US and in the West, the hate-mongering against Islam, Arabs and Muslims is growing to greater and greater violence. Even US Agencies such as Police, FBI, ATF, ICE and others, even the White House, the Cabinet, Congress … even the military, are getting further and further dedicated towards Islamophobia.

 

We, the people of ALL faiths, need to actively stand and reject ALL aspects of hate, whether it is against Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus…against anyone because the dogs of hate are strong and demonic; once they are unleashed against one group, they will tear at everyone. This phenomenon is growing EVERYWHERE, not just in the US and the West against Muslims. We see it from the Philippines, to Myanmar, to India, to Pakistan, to Iraq, Syria, Israel…everywhere and the world bodies stand gutlessly and silently because it is happening to “them” or, our friends are involved in the genocide.

The duty to protest…

CAIR (Council for American Islamic Relations (USA) alerted me to a story exposing the Islamophobic library of the US Marine Corps. After reading it, I decided to write my own letter to the Secretary of Defense and the Commandant of US Marines (see below). Note the stamps I use on this letter, they all  carry an important message.

It is not enough to have an organization take on the fight, we, all of us, Muslim or not, must get off our duffs and add our voices to the protest against Humanity that we see regardless of who the victim may be at the time. Our silence not only marks us a cowards, it also lowers the importance of the fight any organization is picking up on our behalf. Then again, if we do not speak when the targets are others, who will speak for us? Sadly for us Muslims, it is only going to get worse and worse so the time to lend our voices is now.

An Ethical Dilemma and a Legal Problem…for Muslims!

You have a friend who was planning to join ISIS. You find out and talk with him and finally dissuade him from his plans. With your help he is now on the right path in life.

Should you tell the FBI even though he no longer has those plans?

What if you know that telling the FBI will only destroy the young fellow who is no longer a threat to anyone?

What if the FBI asks you if you know anyone planning to join a “Terrorist organization”?

Trumps’ Speech on Afghanistan…and Pakistan

Yes, Donald Trump, the President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of its overwhelming military decided to give a speech on Afghanistan. I would give it zero points for a well thought-out plan and full points for high rhetoric, bluster, fake bravado and other brave-appearing but meaningless, sounds.

Let’s take a closer look…

• “Love for America requires love for all of its people. When we open our hearts to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice, no place for bigotry, and no tolerance for hate.”

Unless of course, we talk about MUSLIMS who do not deserve any protections against prejudice, bigotry or, hate. Note that most naïve Muslims are still sitting out there waiting and hoping that Trump will condemn the bombing of the Mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota; they have a long wait in front of them.

Beards & Chinese Oppression of Muslims

Normally, this blog is only for my own thoughts that I want to share with others but once in a rare while, I come across something that demands to be placed in my blog and Revd. Father Frank Gelli’s “Rant” is one such piece. A British Anglican Priest, Fr. Gelli and I have been long acquainted. I find his thoughts to be very reflective of my own beliefs except that he is a bit more scholarly than I could aspire to being (did I just say that?).

For those who use the word “Trrrrzm” rather loosely and as an echo of the institutional search for Muslim enemies, Fr. Frank’s article might be a bit enlightening as to what is happening to Muslims in China and why Muslims there and in other places as well, might be tempted to lash back at their own country. Then again, if you would like to understand a brief history of beards, you came to the right place…

Here is his article in its entirety, English spelling and all….

That gurgling sound…

That gurgling sound we hear is the sound of the last of America’s moral values going down the sewer.

 

Neil Gorsuch has been confirmed by the Senate (

That gurgling sound we hear is the sound of the last of America’s moral values going down the sewer.

 

Neil Gorsuch has been confirmed by the Senate  and will be sworn in on Monday. This judge is so pro-money, that he found against the truck driver who was fired for abandoning his cargo to find a warm place during a snow-storm to avoid freezing to death. A lot of leaders have used this example to show how blatant Gorsuch’s biases are. Hardly anyone commented in the fact that Gorsuch was one of the White House lawyers who defended the authority of the Administration, to use “Enhanced Techniques” (Torture) on prisoners. Gorsuch’s excuse is that he was merely doing what he was paid to do because he was employed by the White House; “I was only following orders” is an excuse used by many a scoundrel throughout history.