By Peter Burrows 1/28/16 elburropete@gmail.com - silvercityburro.com
Eighty-one Democrats and one Republican have cosponsored a House Resolution, H.Res. 569, GǣCondemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States.Gǥ This was introduced only 15 days after a Muslim couple killed 14 and wounded 23 in San Bernardino, CA.
The resolution expresses Gǣcondolences for the victims of anti-Muslim hate crimesGǥ in America, but no condolences for the 14 killed in San Bernardino or the other 75 Americans murdered by Muslim terrorists in the United States since the Twin Tower tragedy on 9/11/01. In that same time period, only ONE Muslim was killed in a hate crime in the U.S., committed by a white supremacist right after the 9/11 attack. (1)
FBI statistics show that in 2014 there were 1,092 religious hate crimes, 16.3% of them against Muslims and 58.2% against Jews. (2) Wikipedia puts the U.S. Muslim population at 3.3 million and the U.S. Jewish population at 6.8 million. So while Jews outnumber Muslims by a little more than two to one, they suffer hate crimes over three and a half times more often than Muslims.
Where is the House Resolution condemning violence, etc. against American Jews? A cynic would say one isn't needed because the Jews are already in the Democratic camp, while the Muslims, especially if the Obama Administration carries through with plans to grant around 170,000 visas to Muslim immigrants this year, are a brand new minority that can be appealed to by the time honored tactic of depicting them as GǣvictimsGǥ to be rescued by the Democrats.
When combined with other Administration actions to whitewash Islam, the House resolution makes political sense, though not in any other context. For example, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson recently visited a mosque in Virginia where he said the overwhelming majority of Muslims want to live in peace and anyone who doesn't understand that Gǣdoes not understand Islam. The very essence of the Islamic faith is peace.Gǥ
Think about that. Our Director of Homeland Security thinks the very essence of Islam is peace when all over the world Muslims are proving otherwise, everyday. (3)
Last December, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, no one to take a back seat when it comes to PC butt kissing, attended a dinner celebrating the 10th university of Muslim Advocates, a lobbying organization that makes sure the First Amendment protects Muslims' right to undermine our free society.
At that dinner, Lynch said she was concerned about an Gǣincredibly disturbing rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric,Gǥ which if it leads to violence against Muslims or people thought to be Muslims, would prompt the DOJ to take action against the hate speechers. House Resolution 569 also Gǣdenounces in the strongest term the increase in hate speech--.Gǥ
Accusing people of hate speech raises some tricky First Amendment problems. Who defines hate speech? If hate speech is a crime Gǣwhen it leads to violence,Gǥ aren't Muslims guilty of hate speech when they quote the many parts of the Koran that call for violence against non-Muslims? (4)
Was Donald Trump guilty of hate speech for saying this country should halt Muslim immigration and even Muslim tourism until Gǣour country's representatives can figure out what is going onGǥ? Hate speech or free speech? Trump's comment was quickly denounced by the Obama administration, most leading Republicans, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders et al, only proving that Trump's statement is a non sequitur because it's obvious our representatives can't figure out what's going on.
A petition in the U.K. has gathered over 600,000 signatures to ban Trump from entering the country because of his comments. He wouldnG