The Creeping Liberalism in American Islam: Far from spreading Shariah, as Islamophobes have suggested, America's Muslim clerics are focusing on a more familiar trend: youngsters blending into American life. (Mustafa Akyol, Feb. 18, 2019, NY Times)
When you examine the internal discussions among conservative Muslim leaders or pundits in America today, they don't come across as concocting some "Protocols of the Elders of Mecca." Instead of cheering for any creeping Shariah, they seem worried about a creeping liberalism within American Islam.
Read Mikaeel Ahmed Smith, for example. He's an imam in Virginia who has titled an internet article "A Spiritual Disease in American Muslims, Making Them Gods Above God." His criticism targets a new genre of Muslim bloggers and writers who he says "challenge or outright reject the traditionally normative Islamic view on social issues and Muslim life." These young people care less about traditional religious texts, the imam warns, because of "a rejection of any authority other than one's own intellect."
Or read Butheina Hamdah, an academic, who sees alarming signs of "liberal individualism" among American Muslim women. She thinks the hijab (the Islamic head scarf) is becoming a mere "cultural marker of identity" while losing its "deeper theological dimensions." That is why "trendy" or "sexy" versions of the hijab are emerging, she argues, while young Muslim women embrace feminist notions of "bodily autonomy" and "individual choice."
Perhaps nothing marks this liberal trend more than the skyrocketing acceptance of gay marriage, which, as a 2017 poll showed, is now stronger among American Muslims than among white evangelical Christians. It is also reflected in the pro-L.G.B.T.Q. stance of two new Muslim congresswomen, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. (This month, Ms. Omar took a lesson in how to integrate into America's pluralist politics when she apologized, after heavy criticism from her own Democratic Party's leaders, for a tweet that insinuated that American support for Israel is fueled by money from a pro-Israel lobbying group. "Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes," she said almost immediately, adding, "I unequivocally apologize.")
There are two distinct lines in this trend toward American values. One is a kind of anything-goes social liberalism, spearheaded by small groups like Muslims for Progressive Values. The other, larger line is a political liberalism that accepts a pluralist framework for society while preserving its own social and moral conservatism. Jonathan Brown, a convert to Islam and scholar of Islamic studies at Georgetown University, theorized the latter approach in a much-discussed article in which he accepted gay marriage of non-Muslims by making an analogy to traditional Muslim empires' noninterference in what he called "incestuous Zoroastrian marriages."
Islam is particularly vulnerable to Amrericanization because it has so little theological content.
The exchange involving Mr. Sanders, the independent senator from neighboring Vermont who won the 2016 primary here with 60 percent of the vote, came after a question about whether Ms. Harris would have to tack left like Mr. Sanders to do well in the New Hampshire primary next year.
"The people of New Hampshire will tell me what's required to compete in New Hampshire, but I will tell you I am not a democratic socialist," she said. Mr. Sanders describes himself as a democratic socialist, a label that some prominent Democrats have also embraced, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
"I believe that what voters do want is they want to know that whoever is going to lead, understands that in America today not everyone has an equal opportunity and access to a path to success," she added.
Ms. Harris holds a mix of liberal and more moderate policy positions, and she has been criticized by some on the left for her criminal justice record as a prosecutor and attorney general in California.
On today's Bulwark podcast, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele joins host Charlie Sykes to discuss why he's remaining a Republican, the current state of the RNC and Trumpism, his relationship with Reince Priebus, President Trump's so-called National Emergency, the 2020 elections and future of the GOP majority in the Senate.
FBI agents are trained to identify and mitigate threats. It's clear that McCabe was seriously concerned about a national security threat emanating directly from the Oval Office. As such, he tried to mitigate that threat. These passages paint an image of a chaotic administration made even more chaotic with the firing of the FBI director.
In an interview Sunday on CBS, "60 Minutes," McCabe stated that during the days after Comey was fired, "the highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what to do with the President," even exploring the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment to have Trump removed from office. [...]
Shockingly, as excerpted in the Washington Post, McCabe recounts an Oval Office briefing in July 2017, wherein the president refused to believe a U.S. intelligence report that North Korea had test-fired an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. Trump dismissed this intelligence as a "hoax" because Russian President Vladimir Putin told him North Korea lacked that capacity. To a trained senior FBI agent and lawyer like McCabe, this would have fueled further concern that a president whose potential ties to Russian agents was already under suspicion, was relying on and receiving disinformation from the head of our most formidable adversary.
In McCabe's telling, he was seriously worried that obstruction of the Mueller probe was happening or could happen. In his "60 Minutes" interview, McCabe said that fearing he might be fired, he moved to try and ensure the "Russia case was on solid ground." He took steps to make it tougher for anyone to end the investigation if he was removed. Specifically, McCabe said he ordered an obstruction of justice investigation of the president. This additional obstruction component would have added a layer of protection to the Russian case in that someone trying to close the investigation would have had to prove that decision was not intended to obstruct, or aid the president in obstructing, the broader investigation.
Of course, McCabe's fears about his job were warranted. He was fired from the FBI a mere 26 hours before he could have retired with an FBI pension. This firing was the result of a DOJ Inspector General inquiry that recommended McCabe be fired for an unauthorized media disclosure and for lacking candor on four occasions. I led an adjudication unit in the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility and was responsible for disciplinary decisions in cases of serious misconduct. I later served as the FBI's chief inspector, investigating and reviewing sensitive personnel and program performance issues. In the hundreds of internal investigations that I've handled, I never saw an FBI employee fired within 26 hours of retirement.
PORTSMOUTH - City Councilors Ned Raynolds and Nancy Pearson will ask their fellow councilors to authorize a report from city staff on their proposal to close a number of downtown streets to vehicular traffic on July weekends.
"The idea of making downtown Portsmouth more pedestrian friendly and bike friendly is something I think has been an idea that's been around for a long time to talk about," Raynolds said Monday. "We do it a few times a year, like when we have the Halloween Parade and Christmas Parade."
The councilors believe that it's the right time "to give the idea a little more prominence and take a closer look. Our goal is to make downtown Portsmouth even more vibrant and economically thriving by making the experience for people an even better experience," Raynolds said.
You Should Be Roasting Cabbage Whole: This simple cooking method transforms the staple into a sweet and creamy late-winter star (JENNY EVERETT, February/March 2019, Garden & Gun)
Charred Green Cabbage
Yield: 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 large head of green cabbage
2 tbsp. melted butter
1 lemon
Kosher salt
PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the outside of the cabbage and place it in the oven on a baking sheet. Roast for about 2 hours, until outer leaves are very dark and a small knife goes into the core easily. Remove from oven and carefully peel off and discard dark leaves until you reach less-browned layers. Cut cabbage into quarters, then brush with melted butter and char on a hot grill until caramelized, about 2 minutes. Squeeze lemon over top and sprinkle with salt to taste. Top with chopped chives and roasted sunflower seeds. Serve with any grilled or roasted meat or fish.
Ranky Tanky: Keeping the Faith: The Charleston band taps its roots to bring Gullah music to the top of the charts (ALLISON GLOCK, February/March 2019, Garden & Gun)
Charleston-based Ranky Tanky formed in May 2016, when five musician friends with shared personal and professional history dating back decades--trumpeter Charlton Singleton, drummer Quentin Baxter, guitarist Clay Ross, bassist Kevin Hamilton, and vocalist Parler--got together at Ross's urging to record their interpretation of Gullah music, songs and spirituals passed on from those descended from enslaved people, primarily along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts, who developed their own language and culture thanks to their relative seclusion.
"When Clay approached us about Ranky Tanky, honestly the first thing I said was 'Why would we go out and do Gullah?'" Singleton recalls, sitting beside Parler as he tears open a biscuit and slathers it with jam. "'I can go to church right now and hear folks singing those songs.'"
Singleton, who is forty-eight, could not have predicted how their arrangements of age-old Gullah mainstays would penetrate a cluttered media landscape and resonate with listeners hungry for authenticity and mainlined soul. How the music of his youth and family would quench a thirst he never suspected existed beyond his backyard. "What I learned is that everybody can relate to it somehow," he says. "In all of our travels, whether it's us playing in Seattle or Nebraska or Northern Canada, everybody's got some sort of turmoil that they've been through. And this music, coming from this community and those enslaved Africans, everybody can feel a piece of Ranky Tanky." (The very name is an evocation of movement, meaning "work it" or "get funky.")
Parler remembers thinking when she signed on that the band would book a few local gigs, perhaps some summer festivals. "The initial talk was maybe ten tour dates," seconds Singleton, who at the time had just agreed to be the first artist in residence at Charleston's Gaillard Center for the performing arts. But ten shows turned into twenty, then fifty. "And then it was five countries in Europe. I was like, 'What?'"
"We went to the Czech Republic, and they were screaming 'Ron-ky Ton-ky!'" says Parler, bemused still.
Just days after federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson slapped Roger Stone with a gag order, President Trump's longtime ally attacked her on social media -- posted her photo with a fundraising rant and crosshairs next to her head on Instagram.
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Sunday blamed "wicked Jews" for trying to use him to criticize Women's March leadership and "break up the women's movement." [...]
As of early last month, over 300 organizations have withdrawn their sponsorship of the Women's March amidst controversy over the ties of the group's co-chairs to Farrakhan and allegations of anti-Semitism. Organizations that have rescinded their support include AFL-CIO, NARAL, GLAAD, Human Rights Campaign, NRDC, OXFAM, Greenpeace, Amnesty, Southern Poverty Law Center, and EMILY's List.
LaRouche, who died Tuesday at age 96, was a despicable old fraud, and the warmest feeling I've ever been able to conjure for his devotees is pity. Fiercely authoritarian in both his political ideals and his personal life, LaRouche fed his followers a stream of lies, psychological abuse, and paranoid fantasies. Those fantasies featured a big cast of villains, from the queen of England to Aristotle to "Dope, Inc." to gay people, not to mention whichever follower or ex-follower was the designated scapegoat of the moment. One such scapegoat, Ken Kronberg, committed suicide after the denunciations turned his way.
LaRouche didn't limit his abuse to the people who chose to cast their lot with him. He aimed it outwards too--most infamously during "Operation Mop-Up," when his followers in several cities used fists, bats, chains, and nunchuks to attack members of the Communist Party and other leftist groups. When those assaults began in 1973, LaRouche considered himself a part of the radical left; Operation Mop-Up, he hoped, would establish his "hegemony" over the competition. But a few years later he was aligning himself with Klansmen and the far-right Liberty Lobby. He had a habit of flipping positions like that. [...]
In 1989 LaRouche went to prison for fraud, and he spent five years behind bars before he was paroled. After that, he and his followers were less likely to get meetings with Washington officials (though Roger Stone was flirting with him recently--and another ex-governor, Jesse Ventura, became a LaRouche fan). But his former followers sometimes did well for themselves. Matthew Sweet's recent book Operation CHAOS notes that a fellow named Clifford Gaddy managed to hop from the LaRouche world to the Brookings Institution, where he co-wrote a book on Putin with future Trump advisor Fiona Hill. (I should probably note that Sweet thinks it possible that Gaddy had been spying on the LaRouchies for the feds all along.) And there are journalists on both the left (Robert Dreyfuss) and the right (David "Spengler" Goldman) who spent time in LaRouche's orbit before heading off in their own directions.
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Sunday decried former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's comments that Justice Department officials raised a plan to potentially remove President Trump from office as a "silent coup," and suggested those involved should be imprisoned. [...]
"This is a silent coup," he continued. "These guys, if you ask me, ought to be the ones in jail. They ought to be the ones under investigation."
On Monday, at Shacharit services that begin at 8 in the morning, Rabbi Joseph Prouser will read from the Torah, as he does every Monday morning.
But because that Monday, February 18, also is Presidents Day, Rabbi Prouser will follow the Torah reading by reading the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln's short, transcendent, beautiful, despairing, soaringly hopeful eulogy. Rabbi Prouser has translated it into Hebrew and set it to haftarah trope, so instead of reciting it he sings it. [...]
When Rabbi Prouser chants the Gettysburg Address in Hebrew, he brings together all the strands -- of striving toward what is right; of acknowledging the losses inherent to life; of understanding that decisions have consequences, and that sometimes those decisions are wrong; of trying to live with dignity and courage and decency and love.
Or, as Lincoln said in that second inaugural, "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in."
It was immediately apparent that numerous lawsuits would arise in the aftermath of President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration to build a wall on the Mexican border, but it was just as obvious how these complaints would begin. Legal experts cried out that Trump had already undercut his executive action by uttering the words "I didn't need to do this." George Conway, for example, said that would be the "first sentence of the first paragraph of every complaint filed this afternoon."
Conway was a little off on the paragraph, line number, and the day, but animal and wildlife activists at the Center of Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Legal Defense fund did not take long to mention that Trump himself said he didn't have to do this, calling into question whether this was a legitimate emergency.
An investigation of a disputed 2018 congressional contest in North Carolina has uncovered a "coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme," the state's elections board executive director said on Monday.
Poorly drafted laws give the president a wide range of easily abused emergency powers. Even if he can declare a "national emergency," however, that does not mean he can use it to pay for and build a wall.
Some point to 10 U.S.C. 2808 and 33 U.S.C. 2293 as possible justifications. But Section 2808 states that, during a "national emergency" that "requires the use of the armed forces," the president can reallocate defense funds to "undertake military construction projects ... that are necessary to support such use of the armed forces." No threat posed by undocumented immigration "requires the use of the armed forces," and it is hard to see why a wall is "necessary to support such use."
In fact, as Yale Law School professor Bruce Ackerman explains, longstanding laws bar the use of troops for domestic law enforcement (including enforcing immigration law).
Section 2293 also only applies to a war or emergency that "requires or may require use of the armed forces." Another federal law allows the military to condemn property for various purposes, such as "fortifications." But that only extends to projects for which funding has been appropriated by Congress.
Arguments that Trump can use disaster relief funds to build the wall are even more implausible. [...]
Even if the president can use emergency powers to get funds, that does not mean he can seize property by eminent domain. The Supreme Court has long held that the use of eminent domain must be expressly authorized by law. No emergency law expressly permit the use of eminent domain for border walls not otherwise authorized by Congress.
Building Trump's wall requires using eminent domain on a massive scale. A third of the needed land is owned by the federal government. The rest would have to be taken from private owners, Native American tribes and state governments, many of whom are unlikely to sell voluntarily.
The result would be one of the largest federal condemnations in modern U.S. history. In Texas alone, there are almost 5,000 privately owned lots in the likely path of the wall. Securing the land and building on it is likely to be costly and time-consuming. Construction and legal battles over compensation can drag on for years.
This reality underscores the absurdity of claiming that a wall is needed to combat an "emergency." Emergency powers are intended to address immediate threats that cannot be dealt with by slow-moving legislative processes. If the supposed emergency can be fixed by a wall that takes years to build, this means it was not an emergency in the first place. In reality, there is no genuine crisis that a wall could fix. It would not even meaningfully reduce undocumented immigration.
Even inside a hotel so secure that it has body scanners at the entrance and snipers on the roof, Vice President Pence travels with a vast security detail. Its main function, it seems, is to elbow people out of the way so that the vice president and his unsmiling wife can walk through a lobby, crowded with European officials and military brass, and speak to no one. Which is perhaps unsurprising, for Pence was heading to the main forum of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday -- an annual event whose origins lie deep in the Cold War -- to make statements so tone-deaf and, frankly, peculiar that their intended audience could not have been the one in the room.
Part of his problem is the new context. Two years ago, when Pence spoke at the same forum, many in Europe were still hoping to work with the Trump administration. His speech was banal and uninspiring -- it was "an entirely conventional restatement of American commitment to Europe," I wrote at the time -- but Europeans were so relieved to hear it that they decided, on balance, to believe him. Now they don't. At a side event honoring the late senator John McCain, who had been the moving spirit of the Munich conference for decades, Pence announced that "I bring greetings from the 45th president of the United States of America, President Donald Trump." He then waited for applause. None came.
Senator Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vowed on Sunday to investigate whether the top officials at the Justice Department and the F.B.I. plotted an "attempted bureaucratic coup" to remove President Trump from office, and said he would subpoena the former F.B.I. director and the deputy attorney general if necessary.
Even Devin Nunes would know better than to parade a bunch of national security officials to explain why Donald needs to be removed.
McCabe said officials looked at the following events:
Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Trump asked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to "include Russia" in a memo the President requested outlining reasons to fire Comey (which Rosenstein did not do).
Trump fired Comey.
Trump made public comments linking his firing of Comey to the Russia investigation on NBC.
Trump met in the Oval Office with Russian officials where Trump reportedly said that firing Comey relieved "great pressure."
