News and Analysis (12/18/16)

“Iraq’s Christian community has been persistently persecuted since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003”:

• Muslim Businessman Buys Giant Christmas Tree to Show Solidarity with Baghdad’s Christians (Independent)

King calls “very effective in stopping terrorism and they really should be a model for the country” the surveillance program that the NYPD “was forced to admit in court … had yielded exactly zero leads into criminal or terrorist activity“:

• Rep. Peter King Urges Donald Trump To Create A Federal Muslim Surveillance Program (Huffington Post)

Among the 142 pages of FBI documents on their surveillance is an expression of ironic “displeasure with an article … that the bureau was watching Ali” calling it “irresponsible journalism … with a total disregard for or lack of the true facts” …

• F.B.I. Monitored Muhammad Ali Connections to Nation of Islam (NY Times)

… but in South Africa, Nelson “Mandela kept a photograph of himself with Ali on his desk and his favourite book, in his later years, was an autographed copy of Ali’s biography”:

• Muhammad Ali Letter to Nelson Mandela Sold for £7,200 (BBC)

Observe how wrong the Western press can get a story, giving a bar where men only come to drink alcohol and gamble as an example of “Sharia law.” Wait–what?

• ‘This Isn’t Paris. It’s Only Men Here’ – Inside the French Muslim No-go Zones Where Women Aren’t Welcome (Telegraph)

“Spokespeople from Microsoft and IBM say that their companies would not help create a registry of Muslims in the United States” …

• Microsoft, IBM: We Won’t Help Build a Muslim Registry (The Hill)

One important holdout is Oracle, which declined “to comment when asked by BuzzFeed about a Muslim registry or whether it still works with the NSA” and whose CEO Trump yesterday appointed to his transition team:

• Apple, Google, and Uber Join List of Tech Companies Refusing to Build Muslim Registry (Verge)

“France came out on top of the ignorance table, guessing that 40% of people in France are Muslim. The actual number is just 8.3%”:

• Americans and Europeans Hugely Overestimate our Muslim Populations: Americans think 17% of the country is Muslim. Wherever did people get that (embarrassingly wrong) idea? (Fast Company)

New York’s mayor is concerned that the college students lie intended to hide the fact that “she’d actually been out drinking with friends” from her father may mean that “real victims will now be met with more skepticism”:

• De Blasio Says He’s ‘Really Angry’ About Muslim Teen’s Attack Tale (NY Post)

ImadadDean