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2 hours ago, Hector said:

Yeah

 

Trump wants to be seen as David to the mainstream media's Goliath. The more they pound on him, the more he will get the sympathy of his supporters. He's playing the media. If only they would just stop covering every little thing he does for a while and do some deep investigative journalism on the down low without all the speculations... THEN report it when there's actual proof (which we all can safely assume exists); this way he may loose some of his current power.

The media feeds his power among his base constituents every time they cover him negatively, it feeds into his narrative of fighting the "big bad" media. 

They must cover him, of course. But they should dial it down a bit. 

The way they covered him throughout the campaign lost them a lot of credibility with the public and now he can apparently get away with this. 

It's a brave new world.

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I Was a Muslim in Trump's White House

When President Obama left, I stayed on at the National Security Council in order to serve my country. I lasted eight days.

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In 2011, I was hired, straight out of college, to work at the White House and eventually the National Security Council. My job there was to promote and protect the best of what my country stands for. I am a hijab-wearing Muslim woman––I was the only hijabi in the West Wing––and the Obama administration always made me feel welcome and included.

Like most of my fellow American Muslims, I spent much of 2016 watching with consternation as Donald Trump vilified our community. Despite this––or because of it––I thought I should try to stay on the NSC staff during the Trump Administration, in order to give the new president and his aides a more nuanced view of Islam, and of America's Muslim citizens.

I lasted eight days.

When Trump issued a ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and all Syrian refugees, I knew I could no longer stay and work for an administration that saw me and people like me not as fellow citizens, but as a threat.

The evening before I left, bidding farewell to some of my colleagues, many of whom have also since left, I notified Trump’s senior NSC communications adviser, Michael Anton, of my departure, since we shared an office. His initial surprise, asking whether I was leaving government entirely, was followed by silence––almost in caution, not asking why. I told him anyway.

I told him I had to leave because it was an insult walking into this country’s most historic building every day under an administration that is working against and vilifying everything I stand for as an American and as a Muslim. I told him that the administration was attacking the basic tenets of democracy. I told him that I hoped that they and those in Congress were prepared to take responsibility for all the consequences that would attend their decisions.

He looked at me and said nothing.

It was only later that I learned he authored an essay under a pseudonym, extolling the virtues of authoritarianism and attacking diversity as a “weakness,” and Islam as “incompatible with the modern West.

My whole life and everything I have learned proves that facile statement wrong.

My parents immigrated to the United States from Bangladesh in 1978 and strove to create opportunities for their children born in the states. My mother worked as a cashier, later starting her own daycare business. My father spent late nights working at Bank of America, and was eventually promoted to assistant vice president at one of its headquarters. Living the American dream, we’d have family barbecues, trips to Disney World, impromptu soccer or football games, and community service projects. My father began pursuing his Ph.D., but in 1995 he was killed in a car accident.

I was 12 when I started wearing a hijab. It was encouraged in my family, but it was always my choice. It was a matter of faith, identity, and resilience for me. After 9/11, everything would change. On top of my shock, horror, and heartbreak, I had to deal with the fear some kids suddenly felt towards me. I was glared at, cursed at, and spat at in public and in school. People called me a “terrorist” and told me, “go back to your country.”

My father taught me a Bengali proverb inspired by Islamic scripture: “When a man kicks you down, get back up, extend your hand, and call him brother.” Peace, patience, persistence, respect, forgiveness, and dignity. These were the values I’ve carried through my life and my career.

I never intended to work in government. I was among those who assumed the government was inherently corrupt and ineffective. Working in the Obama White House proved me wrong. You can’t know or understand what you haven’t been a part of.

Still, inspired by President Obama, I joined the White House in 2011, after graduating from the George Washington University. I had interned there during my junior year, reading letters and taking calls from constituents at the Office of Presidential Correspondence. It felt surreal––here I was, a 22-year-old American Muslim woman from Maryland who had been mocked and called names for covering my hair, working for the president of the United States.

In 2012, I moved to the West Wing to join the Office of Public Engagement, where I worked with various communities, including American Muslims, on domestic issues such as health care. In early 2014, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes offered me a position on the National Security Council (NSC). For two and a half years I worked down the hall from the Situation Room, advising President Obama’s engagements with American Muslims, and working on issues ranging from advancing relations with Cuba and Laos to promoting global entrepreneurship among women and youth.

A harsher world began to reemerge in 2015. In February, three young American Muslim students were killed in their Chapel Hill home by an Islamophobe. Both the media and administration were slow to address the attack, as if the dead had to be vetted before they could be mourned. It was emotionally devastating. But when a statement was finally released condemning the attack and mourning their loss, Rhodes took me aside to to tell me how grateful he was to have me there and wished there were more American Muslims working throughout government.  America’s government and decision-making should reflect its people.

Later that month, the evangelist Franklin Graham declared that the government had “been infiltrated by Muslims.” One of my colleagues sought me out with a smile on his face and said, “If only he knew they were in the halls of the West Wing and briefed the president of the United States multiple times!” I thought: Damn right I’m here, exactly where I belong, a proud American dedicated to protecting and serving my country.

Graham’s hateful provocations weren’t new. Over the Obama years, right-wing websites spread  an abundance of absurd conspiracy theories and lies, targeting some American Muslim organizations and individuals––even those of us serving in government. They called us “terrorists,” Sharia-law whisperers, or Muslim Brotherhood operatives. Little did I realize that some of these conspiracy theorists would someday end up in the White House.

Over the course of the campaign, even when I was able to storm through the bad days, I realized the rhetoric was taking a toll on American communities. When Trump first called for a Muslim ban, reports of hate crimes against Muslims spiked. The trend of anti-Muslim hate crimes is ongoing, as mosques are set on fire and individuals attacked––six were killed at a mosque in Canada by a self-identified Trump supporter.

Throughout 2015 and 2016, I watched with disbelief, apprehension, and anxiety, as Trump’s style of campaigning instigated fear and emboldened xenophobes, anti-Semites, and Islamophobes. While cognizant of the possibility of Trump winning, I hoped a majority of the electorate would never condone such a hateful and divisive worldview.

During the campaign last February, Obama visited a Baltimore mosque and reminded the public that “we’re one American family, and when any part of our family starts to feel separate … It’s a challenge to our values.” His words would go unheeded by his successor.

The climate in 2016 felt like it did just after 9/11. What made it worse was that this fear and hatred were being fueled by Americans in positions of power. Fifth-grade students at a local Sunday school where I volunteered shared stories of being bullied by classmates and teachers, feeling like they didn’t belong here anymore, and asked if they might get kicked out of this country if Trump won. I was almost hit by a car by a white man laughing as he drove by in a Costco parking lot, and on another occasion was followed out of the metro by a man screaming profanities: “Fuck you! Fuck Islam! Trump will send you back!”  

Then, on election night, I was left in shock.

The morning after the election, we lined up in the West Colonnade as Obama stood in the Rose Garden and called for national unity and a smooth transition. Trump seemed the antithesis of everything we stood for. I felt lost. I could not fully grasp the idea that he would soon be sitting where Obama sat.

I debated whether I should leave my job. Since I was not a political appointee, but a direct hire of the NSC, I had the option to stay. The incoming and now departed national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had said things like “fear of Muslims is rational.” Some colleagues and community leaders encouraged me to stay, while others expressed concern for my safety. Cautiously optimistic, and feeling a responsibility to try to help them continue our work and be heard, I decided that Trump's NSC could benefit from a colored, female, hijab-wearing, American Muslim patriot.

The weeks leading up to the inauguration prepared me and my colleagues for what we thought would come, but not for what actually came. On Monday, January 23, I walked into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, with the new staffers there. Rather than the excitement I encountered when I first came to the White House under Obama, the new staff looked at me with a cold surprise.

The diverse White House I had worked in became a monochromatic and male bastion.

The days I spent in the Trump White House were strange, appalling and disturbing. As one staffer serving since the Reagan administration said, “This place has been turned upside down. It’s chaos. I’ve never witnessed anything like it.” This was not typical Republican leadership, or even that of a businessman. It was a chaotic attempt at authoritarianism––legally questionable executive orders, accusations of the press being “fake,” peddling countless lies as “alternative facts,” and assertions by White House surrogates that the president’s national security authority would “not be questioned.”

The entire presidential support structure of nonpartisan national security and legal experts within the White House complex and across federal agencies was being undermined. Decision-making authority was now centralized to a few in the West Wing. Frustration and mistrust developed as some staff felt out of the loop on issues within their purview. There was no structure or clear guidance. Hallways were eerily quiet as key positions and offices responsible for national security or engagement with Americans were left unfilled.

I might have lasted a little longer. Then came January 30. The executive order banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries caused chaos, without making America any safer. Discrimination that has existed for years at airports was now legitimized, sparking mass protests, while the president railed against the courts for halting his ban. Not only was this discrimination and un-American, the administration’s actions defending the ban threatened the nation’s security and its system of checks and balances.

Alt-right writers, now on the White House staff, have claimed that Islam and the West are at war with each other. Disturbingly, ISIS also makes such claims to justify their attacks, which for the most part target Muslims. The Administration’s plans to revamp the Countering Violent Extremism program to focus solely on Muslims and use terms like “radical Islamic terror,” legitimize ISIS propaganda and allow the dangerous rise of white-supremacist extremism to go unchecked.

Placing U.S. national security in the hands of people who think America’s diversity is a “weakness” is dangerous. It is false.

People of every religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and age pouring into the streets and airports to defend the rights of their fellow Americans over the past few weeks proved the opposite is true––American diversity is a strength, and so is the American commitment to ideals of  justice and equality.

American history is not without stumbles, which have proven that the nation is only made more prosperous and resilient through struggle, compassion and inclusiveness. It’s why my parents came here. It’s why I told my former 5th grade students, who wondered if they still belonged here, that this country would not be great without them.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/rumana-ahmed-trump/517521/?utm_source=twb
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On 2/23/2017 at 6:39 PM, Skin said:

Which brings me to my second worry that I buried deep.   And that is the fact that a highly motivated minority can easily defeat an unmotivated majority.  I have no question in my mind most despise Trump in this country.  Just look at his in the crapper poll numbers already.  Not to mention he lost the popular vote by 3 million.....But you KNEW the people that supported Trump were going to get their asses out and vote for him.  With Hillary, it was all wishy washy.   I and many others simply expected people to vote for her as more of a vote against Trump and I guess that theory was wrong.   People I guess really DO want to be excited to vote for someone.  Personally I think Hillary got a shitty ass rap in this election to begin with.  I mean the far left beat up on her like hell just as much as the republicans which bugged me to no end because these people in my eyes failed to see the bigger picture at stake by bashing Hillary just because she didn't check EVERY box on the purist liberal agenda.  You see it now with Cory Booker.  I think he is setting himself up to run, but it came out he accepted money from big pharma and now you already have (mostly younger voters) ripping him a new asshole and swearing to never vote for him.  Seriously!?   If that thinking continues and younger hardcore Bernie supporters don't accept the fact that you will never be able to vote for someone totally perfect and "pure" we are going to lose once again.  This infighting among people that by and large share the same values needs to end.  

I agree. However, after seeing Trump win I think all bets are off now. ANYONE can win. Even a hot-headed liberal firebrand (which is why they're all [Dems] running to embrace that mantle). However, after this political realignment, I think we'll probably see a swing far left and even that will fail quickly. The problem is that you have about 50% of America that's ready for the future and about 50% that are not. No matter how strong the liberal backlash is to Trump, you still have a powerful half of the electorate which will block any progress. They're not going away or changing anytime soon. Just like we on the left are not. It's a stalemate to a degree.

I really hate to say this, and I don't want to put this out there into the ether, but I think a karmic retribution is coming to this country. It will humble people of all political stripes and it's the only thing that is going to break the fever. It will probably be a massive tragedy of some sort, and it will be a long and painful process, but eventually we'll come through it. But we've done too much to too many people for too long. We're in complete disarray and we are at war with our neighbors and family members. Some dark force is going to take advantage of that, and only then will we realize we're in the same boat and we can't detach one another.

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I repeat what I have said many times before. The media (the so called liberal media) needs to grow some balls. They need to kick out all the commentators and make news again. Report the facts, don't transport opinion. And most above all don't even try to be "fair and balanced" when the very media outlet that created that slogan is anything but. Don't give those right wing people a voice. All they do is to pivot and detract from the story. They don't want to support the story. Their intention is to devalue the story. Look back, how they got away with telling outright lies or alternate facts as they would like to call it now. For some reason the liberal media desperately tries to "convert" Trump supporters. They need to realize that at this point they are immune to facts, the are unwilling to accept facts. At this point from their perspective it cannot be true what is not supposed to be true. They wont even listen. So don't waste your time and energy to convince them. There will be a time, the time when certain issues will affect those Trump supporters personally or when the truth is just to bold to be ignored, they will come around eventually. News it not entertainment. Don't present it as such. Media shall not lower itself just because large parts of the population is no longer capable or interested in understanding news. They are a lost cause. Make quality reporting for those who appreciate it. Know your target group. Much of this has to do with marketing. There is a simple rule. If you try to reach all people, your message get lost. If you try to reach a certain group of people, your message gets heard. We may not like this situation because this is not about selling shoes or toothpaste. It is about important things and those should be heard by everyone. But times have changed, rules have changed. Therefore the media needs to adapt to those changes in the process. Time is on the side of those who tell the truth. It's the only way to prevail.

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25 minutes ago, Raider of the lost Ark said:

I repeat what I have said many times before. The media (the so called liberal media) needs to grow some balls. They need to kick out all the commentators and make news again. Report the facts, don't transport opinion. And most above all don't even try to be "fair and balanced" when the very media outlet that created that slogan is anything but. Don't give those right wing people a voice. All they do is to pivot and detract from the story. They don't want to support the story. Their intention is to devalue the story. Look back, how they got away with telling outright lies or alternate facts as they would like to call it now. For some reason the liberal media desperately tries to "convert" Trump supporters. They need to realize that at this point they are immune to facts, the are unwilling to accept facts. At this point from their perspective it cannot be true what is not supposed to be true. They wont even listen. So don't waste your time and energy to convince them. There will be a time, the time when certain issues will affect those Trump supporters personally or when the truth is just to bold to be ignored, they will come around eventually. News it not entertainment. Don't present it as such. Media shall not lower itself just because large parts of the population is no longer capable or interested in understanding news. They are a lost cause. Make quality reporting for those who appreciate it. Know your target group. Much of this has to do with marketing. There is a simple rule. If you try to reach all people, your message get lost. If you try to reach a certain group of people, your message gets heard. We may not like this situation because this is not about selling shoes or toothpaste. It is about important things and those should be heard by everyone. But times have changed, rules have changed. Therefore the media needs to adapt to those changes in the process. Time is on the side of those who tell the truth. It's the only way to prevail.

I agree. It sounds silly but liberal media needs to understand they're already in war with this scum and his supporters. Who gets behind is left behind, there are no more arguments or facts to convince these people, instead stay focused on the ones who want to get informed or involved. 

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12 hours ago, Raider of the lost Ark said:

I repeat what I have said many times before. The media (the so called liberal media) needs to grow some balls. They need to kick out all the commentators and make news again. Report the facts, don't transport opinion. And most above all don't even try to be "fair and balanced" when the very media outlet that created that slogan is anything but. Don't give those right wing people a voice. All they do is to pivot and detract from the story. They don't want to support the story. Their intention is to devalue the story. Look back, how they got away with telling outright lies or alternate facts as they would like to call it now. For some reason the liberal media desperately tries to "convert" Trump supporters. They need to realize that at this point they are immune to facts, the are unwilling to accept facts. At this point from their perspective it cannot be true what is not supposed to be true. They wont even listen. So don't waste your time and energy to convince them. There will be a time, the time when certain issues will affect those Trump supporters personally or when the truth is just to bold to be ignored, they will come around eventually. News it not entertainment. Don't present it as such. Media shall not lower itself just because large parts of the population is no longer capable or interested in understanding news. They are a lost cause. Make quality reporting for those who appreciate it. Know your target group. Much of this has to do with marketing. There is a simple rule. If you try to reach all people, your message get lost. If you try to reach a certain group of people, your message gets heard. We may not like this situation because this is not about selling shoes or toothpaste. It is about important things and those should be heard by everyone. But times have changed, rules have changed. Therefore the media needs to adapt to those changes in the process. Time is on the side of those who tell the truth. It's the only way to prevail.

Thank you! 

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We don't have a "liberal" media.  We have a LAZY media out for ratings and click bait. 

 

Trump should be licking the medias ass for the simple fact that they got him to where he is by covering EVERY little move he made through the primary and the general election.  EVERY TIME he held a rally they would go to him and show the whole freakin thing even though it was just him spouting off the same crap over and over simply because they knew a circus would bring in viewers.   Poor Bernie was drawing crowds just as large if not larger and they would hardly ever cut in to show one of his rallies because he focused on stuff that actually matters.   Like issues and policy.........

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Bill Maher summed it up best last night....

 

 

 

And since ANYONE can literally run and win the Presidency at this point like was noted because Trump as officially set the bar so low just in terms of having any kind of government experience, I say BILL MAHER 2020!!!!!!

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The analysis of the press is interesting.  I am finding that there is too much of two things.  The pathetic "entertainment"  value is turning serious discussion into a farce.  It is like bread and circuses and distracting the real issues.  Giving the likes of Trump exactly what he wants.

  However, am also finding it frightening how many people in the mainstream media are promoting Trump and ignoring the damage he is doing every day.  Too many are extreme to the right and don't even care about what he does and says but instead what to talk of  rubbishing " the elite left"  and ignoring that Trump is a billionaire who is more of an elite than anybody in the left.   Also ignoring the damage he is doing every day.  Trump is behaving even worse than people imagined he would and is being permitted to. 

 

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12 minutes ago, jazzyjan said:

The analysis of the press is interesting.  I am finding that there is too much of two things.  The pathetic "entertainment"  value is turning serious discussion into a farce.  It is like bread and circuses and distracting the real issues.  Giving the likes of Trump exactly what he wants.

  However, am also finding it frightening how many people in the mainstream media are promoting Trump and ignoring the damage he is doing every day.  Too many are extreme to the right and don't even care about what he does and says but instead what to talk of  rubbishing " the elite left"  and ignoring that Trump is a billionaire who is more of an elite than anybody in the left.   Also ignoring the damage he is doing every day.  Trump is behaving even worse than people imagined he would and is being permitted to. 

 

Fantastic points. Was actually having that same exact discussion w/ someone before! Why would I NOT be surprised if in some greasy, slimy way the media along w/ Trump are mutually behind this 'circus shit show' that was going on in 2015 into the entire first 1/2 of 2016! Every one of the major US cable networks are doing killing right now with ratings. All of this smells rancid! :wacko:

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9k=

The eldest son of beloved boxer and American legend Muhammad Ali was detained by immigration officials for hours at a Florida airport earlier this month as he and his mother returned to the country from a speaking engagement abroad.

 

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that 44-year-old Muhammad Ali Jr., and his mother Khalila Camacho-Ali arrived at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 7 upon returning from a Black History Month speaking engagement in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and they were pulled aside while going through customs because of their Arabic-sounding names.

Camacho-Ali was reportedly let go after she was able to produce a photograph of herself with her legendary boxer ex-husband, but her son did not have a photo like that with him, and he was detained.

 

Family friend and lawyer Chris Mancini told the Courier-Journal that Ali Jr., was held and questioned for nearly two hours. Officials repeatedly asked him “Where did you get your name from?” and “Are you Muslim?”

From the Courier-Journal:

When Ali Jr. responded that yes, he is a Muslim, the officers kept questioning him about his religion and where he was born. Ali Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1972 and holds a U.S. passport.

Reached for comment via email Friday, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection wrote, “Due to the restrictions of the Privacy Act, U.S. Customs and Border Protection cannot discuss individual travelers; however, all international travelers arriving in the U.S. are subject to CBP inspection.”

The line of questioning is indicative of profiling and designed to produce answers that corroborate what officials want to hear, Mancini said. Neither Camacho-Ali nor Ali Jr. have ever been subjected to detainment before, despite extensive global travel experience, he said.

“To the Ali family, it’s crystal clear that this is directly linked to Mr. Trump’s efforts to ban Muslims from the United States,” Mancini said, referring to Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order that temporarily banned people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

More from the Courier-Journal:

Officials at the Fort Lauderdale airport did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

Camacho-Ali and Ali Jr. live in Deerfield Beach, Fla., a 20-minute drive from the airport. While Ali Jr. was detained, Camacho-Ali ran around the airport asking, “Where’s my son?” and begging for help, according to Mancini. Because incidents involving customs officials are considered to be on federal soil, local police had no jurisdiction to help her. Ali Jr. was eventually released two hours later, and the family contacted Mancini the following day.

Mancini told the Courier-Journal that he and the Ali family are considering filing a federal lawsuit and are currently trying to find out how many people have been subjected to the same type of treatment as Ali Jr.

“Imagine walking into an airport and being asked about your religion,” Mancini said. “This is classic customs profiling.”

http://www.theroot.com/muhammad-ali-jr-detained-by-immigration-at-florida-air-1792738400

 

How long before the ban will extend to anyone who, in the eyes of Trump and his white supremacist punks, does not hold an American surname? As if Americans were the purest of the pure humans in the world... I am sure Trump and his punk chums would be capable to come up with such porkery in the near future.

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3 hours ago, horn said:

Oh no! Are they gonna close down all the kebab stands due to its Arabic-sounding name?

Do I have to change my name?
Will it get me far?

:imsad:

06frugal-kebab-stand-articleInline.jpg

 

 

will it become John Smith's Arabian desires?

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Trump supporters are always excusing his dreadful behaviour while pointing the finger at anyone who is against him. He mocks disabled people, gloats about grabbing women by the pussy and saying he could shoot someone in Times Square and not lose voters.  Yet they claim he had more decency and class than Hollywood awards because of an envelope muck up fail at the Oscars. See his supporters saying that all over the net. They really excuse everything he does and says. 

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