Comments on "To the Far Right Christian Hater...You Can Be a Good Speller or a Hater, But You Can't Be Both" by Bonnie Weinstein

I read To the Far Right Christian Hater ... You Can Be a Good Speller or a Hater, but You Can't Be Both by Bonnie Weinstein in a book club I organized as a member of the local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. It consists of hate messages sent to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), occasionally accompanied by a pithy rejoinder from the author, who is married to the organization's founder, Mikey Weinstein.

While the Establishment Clause of the USA Constitution has brought this society many benefits, some of which I've mentioned elsewhere, this book can open eyes to the dangers the continuation of the Global War on Terror (GWOT), in its neoconservative Bush-the-Small iteration or its neoliberal Obama iteration or its 45 Regime kill all non-whites iteration.

Review: Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America

In Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, Ari Berman describes the events which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, its impacts and the countermeasures its opponents took since then to undermine it through the book's publication in 2015.

I hope reading the book will motivate you to make sure you are registered to vote and actually vote in every election and attempt to understand your options in each election. And when you find your options are limited, then act to improve your options.

The book also is a great example of a phenomenon James W. Loewen identified in Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. Our public schools, for a variety of reasons, teach students that the United States always improves without explaining that people contested all issues, and some people won and others lost and sometimes those who lost won later. So we have this idea that "Civil Rights" happened in the 1960s, and, well, "problem solved."

Radio Islam Show Features Steve Downs, Coleen Rowley & Marcy Wheeler to Discuss War on Terror & Orlando Shooting

Here are the show notes:

In this Radio Islam segment we'll explore what FBI entrapment cases entail and loop it back to the Orlando shooting. See more at: www.radioislam.com/node/5168 Host: Gerald Hankerson Guest: Steve Downs, Founding Member of Project SALAM Guest: Coleen Rowley, Former FBI Agent Guest: Marcy Wheeler, Blogger/Journalist on the Empty Wheel

Corey Robin Interview of Moustafa Bayoumi, Author of “This Muslim American Life”

I've reviewed an earlier book by Moustafa Bayoumi, and I've followed Corey Robin's blog for a couple of years now. Also of note is Professor Robin's strong support of Steven Salaita.

Salon.com published Professor Robin's interview of Moustafa Bayoumi on December 27, 2015.

Get the book at an independent bookstore or from a library near you.

Review: God Sent Me: A Textbook Case on Evolution vs. Creation by Jeffrey Selman

Jeffrey Selman (website) was the lead plaintiff in a suit against the Cobb County, Georgia Board of Education which resulted in an order for it to remove a disclaimer from its public high school biology textbooks.

I've met Jeffrey twice in my activities for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the first time to lobby against Georgia's Religious Freedom Restoration Act legislation in March 2015 and the second time to hear him speak at our Augusta, Georgia chapter meeting about his book in August 2015.

Review: The Right vs The Right to Die: Lessons from the Terri Schiavo Case and How to Stop It from Happening Again by Jon B. Eisenberg

I attended a presentation by Robert Rivas of Final Exit Network, a group which, after a screening process to confirm a terminal condition and informed consent, provides information to people who want to kill themselves. He recommended to me The Right vs The Right to Die: Lessons from the Terri Schiavo Case and How to Stop It from Happening Again by Jon B. Eisenberg.

Eisenberg did pro bono legal work on behalf of Michael Schiavo, who had requested the State of Florida to order the withdrawal of a feeding tube from his wife Terri Schiavo, who had been in persistent vegetative state for several years. Terri’s parents objected, and lawyers representing the parents littered the Florida and Federal court systems with motions and appeals to delay the withdrawal of the tube. Eventually, the original Florida county court judgment was upheld, after years of litigation, Terri’s feeding tube was withdrawn, and she died of dehydration.

Help Documentary "(T)ERROR" Cover Legal Expenses and Insurance Costs

Update: Feb 15, 2016: This documentary is airing on PBS's Independent Lens, February 22, 2016.

A major theme of this blog has been criticism of the Global War on Terror (GWOT), in both its international and domestic forms. I hope this documentary film will be another tool to change the current policies of the United States government, but the filmmakers need your help to reach a wider audience.

TERROR Documentary is facing unprecedented legal obstacles, and there is now a danger WE WON'T BE ABLE TO RELEASE THE...
Posted by TERROR Documentary on Friday, July 31, 2015

Here's the link to the Kickstarter project.

Documentary: The Newburgh Sting

HBO premiered the documentary "The Newburgh Sting" on July 21, 2014.

The film has a Twitter account.

Minority Report Law? Cheney’s 1% Preemptive Doctrine of Prosecution and the Case of Ziyad Yaghi

Satyagraha911.org conducted an interview about the case of Ziyad Yaghi, a Muslim US citizen victim of the "War on Terror." The interview covers Ziyad's background, trial and imprisonment. Laila Yaghi, Ziyad's mother, Dr. Mel Underbakke of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms and journalist Siraj Davis participate in the interview.

Minority Report Law? Cheney’s 1% Preemptive Doctrine of Prosecution and the Case of Ziyad Yaghi... http://t.co/pbhprQigQt
— siraj davis (@sirajdavis) March 23, 2014

Film: Outlawed in Pakistan by Habiba Nosheen and Hilke Schellmann

This film aired as an episode in PBS's Frontline program on May 28, 2013. Visit its website for the entire film and features. Azra at Muslima Media Watch wrote an excellent review on September 10, 2013. Obviously, the film makes obvious the wretched state of police, criminal justice and judicial proceedings in Pakistan. People who claim to be working to reform their governments should prioritize professionalization of the police to better investigate rape.

Another important lesson for Muslims in the United States is the value of public television and radio, despite the limitations (and here) of PBS and NPR.

Filmaker Habiba Nosheen has a website, and she is on Twitter. The second filmmaker, Hilke Schellmann, is also on Twitter.

P.S. In 2008 on this blog I reviewed the film Shame by Mohammed Ali Naqvi about the rape of Mukhtar Mai.

Review: The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism by Trevor Aaronson

Trevor Aaronson's The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism gathers disparate news stories into one narrative: the frequency of "terrorism" convictions in the United States in the years following 2001 is neither a measure of the threat terrorism poses to public safety nor of the effectiveness of the federal government in protecting United States residents.

The Myth of the Muslim Tide: Do Immigrants Threaten the West?

Gene Bedient reviewed The Myth of the Muslim Tide: Do Immigrants Threaten the West? by Doug Sanders (Twitter) at Prairie Fire (Twitter).

What Turns Some Western Muslims into Terrorists? The Causes of Extremism, an excerpt from Chapter 2 of this book, has been published at Doug Sanders's blog.

I have not read the book.

Film: The Exonerated

The Exonerated is a dramatic reading of transcripts and letters of six wrongfully convicted and imprisoned US citizens. Supplement this by reading Actual Innocence by Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld & Jim Dwyer and this article at The Nation magazine from June 18, 2012.

The Death of an Imam

The Death of an Imam from Salah D. Hassan on Vimeo.
A short documentary film on the 2009 FBI shooting of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah in a Dearborn warehouse. The documentary was produced by faculty and students at Michigan State University.

View this post on Instagram

Honoring Imam Luqman on Saturday

A post shared by Dawud Walid (@dawudwalid) on Oct 26, 2020 at 5:48pm PDT

10 years later, the FBI's shooting death of Imam Luqman Abdullah in Dearborn still reverberates in Detroit's Black Muslim communities. October story: https://t.co/wfCTdYUdUS

— Niraj Warikoo (@nwarikoo) January 18, 2020

To-Read: The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism by Trevor Aaronson

The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism by Trevor Aaronson (Twitter). Mr. Aaronson has also created a Facebook page.

I first heard about Trevor Aaronson in This American Life's Episode 471 The Convert.

Updated February 21, 2013: I read it and reviewed it.

Support Yearning to Be Free on Kickstarter

I've pledged $60 to support a film project about a victim of the so-called War on Terror, Ahmad Abu-Ali. Please consider pledging your support.

Review: Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections by Kecia Ali

Update 2016-06-12.

@aymanfadel Thank you. FYI, there's a new edition of the book, with a substantial update to the chapter on same-sex intimacy & trans issues.

— Kecia Ali (@kecia_ali) June 12, 2016

Update 2015-November-13. A new edition is coming out. This review is based on the first edition.

Time to pre-order expanded edition of Sexual Ethics & Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith and Jurisprud... https://t.co/SJr3F8tHZ8

— Kecia Ali (@kecia_ali) October 27, 2015

I finally read Dr. Kecia Ali's (Twitter) anticipated book Sexual Ethics & Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith and Jurisprudence four years after its publication. I'm only reading on vacation these days. Ahough this book has long been on my to-read list, the suicide of Tyler Clementi moved it up to the top. I finished this in a day of travel.

TIME Survey Reveals that Opposition to Park51 Based Largely on Islamophobia

My hometown newspaper, The Augusta Chronicle, published an editorial which claimed that opposition to the Park51 project was not based on prejudice against Muslims.

The results from the TIME survey to which this editorial refers and which reports widespread opposition to the Park51 community center belies the claim that fear of Muslims/prejudice is not a major motivation behind this opposition.

Bones, Season 5, Episode 4-Good Portrayal of Muslim in Workforce

I had reviewed quite negatively the 2nd episode of Bones in 2005, but I actually have some good things to say about the latest episode, The Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Season 5, Episode 4. Actor Pej Vehdat plays the minor character Arastoo Vaziri, a lab intern at the Smithsonian. Prior to this episode, his cheesy foreign accent and the writing which constantly highlighted his being Muslim irritated me.

Law & Order Episode "Great Satan"

National Broadcasting Company's long-running series Law & Order's episode "Great Satan" (Season 20, Episode 3) portrays the use of an informant to convict a group of New York City Muslims for a terrorist plot against a synagogue.