Category Archives: USA

When is a terrorist not a terrorist? When he’s a white non-Muslim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Real-life scenario No. 1: A man with a weapon strides into a military medical office in Texas and opens fire, killing 13 people and wounding 29 before he is stopped and taken into custody. In the ensuing news media coverage and public discussion, the incident is widely viewed as an act of terrorism.

Real-life scenario No. 2: A man with a weapon shows up at a public gathering inside a supermarket in Arizona and opens fire, killing six (including a U.S. district judge) and wounding 13 (including a member of the U.S. House of Representatives) before he is stopped and arrested. In the ensuing media coverage and public discussion, the incident is generally not characterized as terrorism.

The difference? In the first scenario – the 2009 Fort Hood shootings – the perpetrator, Nidal Hasan, was a Muslim of Palestinian ancestry. In the second – the 2011 Tucson shootings that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords gravely wounded – the perpetrator, Jared Loughner, was non-Muslim and white.

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After no-fly problem, Muslim student walks into U.S.

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An American-born Muslim student who was prevented from flying to San Diego from Costa Rica after being told his name was on the U.S. government no-fly list returned home Thursday evening after flying to Mexico and then walking across the pedestrian border crossing to his waiting family.

Kevin Iraniha, 27, was met by his father, Nasser, brothers Jahan and Shervin, and several representatives from the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, including executive director Hanif Mohebi. The council came to Iraniha’s aid this week after a friend referred the family to the organization, Mohebi said.

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Minnesota: Tea Party candidate for state rep. compares Muslim women to garbage bags

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cindy Pugh garbage bags photoTea Party candidate for state representative Cindy Pugh uses her Facebook profile to defend Scott Walker, criticize Barack Obama, and boast about her ongoing campaign to defeat incumbent state Rep. Steve Smith, a Republican from Mound.

But she also used it recently to compare Muslim women and children clad in traditional Islamic garb to garbage bags.

Pugh shared the above photo on May 21 with the following commentary: “Disturbing … that women & little girls are OK with dressing like this!!! What will it take for these women to stand up and say, ‘NO’!? Wondering if they will ever do that?!”

The photo was originally uploaded by “Proud to be an Infidel,” a Muslim-bashing page with the following slogan: “It’s not Islamophobia when they are really trying to kill you.”

City Pages Minneapolis, 7 June 2012

Minnesota bakery workers in dispute over dress code

Posted on by Bob Pitt

More than 30 Somali employees at a bakery walked out in protest Monday after the owner ordered female workers to wear mid-calf skirts after a woman’s long dress recently got caught in a boot washer, MyFoxTwinCities.com reported.

Mike Knowles, the owner of Dianne’s Fine Desserts, told the Faribault Daily News that the new guidelines were installed for safety concerns. Somali workers, however, call the new rules an attack on their Muslim religion.

The women reportedly showed up to work in their full-length attire and were given the option to adjust their skirts or leave. About a dozen women left and they were joined by 20 men who say the dress code goes against teachings in the Koran.

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Judge rejects ‘national security’ defense in Muslim’s bias suit

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today welcomed a federal judge’s ruling that rejects a claim by a Washington, D.C., hotel that it had the right to discriminate against a Muslim employee because of a “national security exemption.”

United States District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein ruled yesterday that “the national security exemption does not immunize Defendant from liability as to Plaintiff’s retaliation claim.”

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Revoked-plates man had first asked for ‘HAJIKLR’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ICUHAJI plateWhen an Iraq War veteran filed an appeal last month to get back his personalized license plates, his attorney claimed the Department of Motor Vehicles had misinterpreted them.

The tag that read “ICUHAJI” was intended only as a message of support for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said. Not as a threat against Arabs.

What Andrew D. Meyer failed to mention was the content of the previous message his client had tried to get on his plates: HAJIKLR.

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NJ Muslims file federal suit to stop NYPD spying

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Syed Farhaj Hassan at press conferenceOne of the Obama administration’s go-to civil rights groups in its efforts to build relationships with American Muslims is suing the New York Police Department over its surveillance programs, some of which were paid for with federal money.

Eight Muslims filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday in New Jersey to force the NYPD to end its surveillance and other intelligence-gathering practices targeting Muslims in the years after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The lawsuit alleged that the NYPD’s activities were unconstitutional because they focused on people’s religion, national origin and race.

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