Red Mosquito

I feel like I need to explain basic, fundamental concepts in order to continue this discussion. This probably isn't worth the time.

I think the issue, LV, may be that I do understand your basic premises and the conclusions they lead to, and you would prefer to adhere to the former without having to take ownership of the later.

Nope. I can categorically assure you that is absolutely not what is happening here.

that's good, because I am only reassured when it is categorical.

Glad we understand each other.

So this Obama speech is just him defending Muslim Americans

E.H. Ruddock wrote:So this Obama speech is just him defending Muslim Americans

If the average American can't be trusted with guns they definitely cannot be trusted to fight the urge to attack anyone with a hijab or prayer cap that they see.

US stops British Muslim family from boarding flight to visit Disneyland
David Cameron to examine case amid heightened terror concerns
Family of 11 had been granted authorisation to fly online in advance


A British Muslim family heading for Disneyland was barred from boarding a flight to Los Angeles by US authorities at London’s Gatwick airport amid concerns of an American overreaction to the perceived terrorist threat.

US Department of Homeland Security officials provided no explanation for why the country refused to allow the family of 11 to board the planeeven though they had been granted travel authorization online ahead of their planned 15 December flight.

Senior politicians have been drawn into the case, warning that a growing number of British Muslims are being barred from the US without being told the reason for their exclusion.

Aides to the prime minister, David Cameron, have promised that he will examine the case, which comes as a leading community group in the US has warned that Muslims are being subject to “an unprecedented and dramatic increase” in violent and hostile incidents. Advocates attribute this increase to the recent terror attacks in Paris and the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.

Comments by the Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump calling for a ban on all Muslims entering the US have also contributed to the tense atmosphere.

President Obama alluded to these comments in a speech earlier this month. “We betray our most noble past as well if we were to deny the possibility of movement, the possibility of progress, if we were to let cynicism consume us and fear overwhelm us,” Obama said.

The case of the family from London who were turned back at the airport has been raised by the British Labour MP Stella Creasy, who believes a lack of information from US authorities is fuelling resentment within British Muslim communities.

“Online and offline discussions reverberate with the growing fear UK Muslims are being ‘trumped’ – that widespread condemnation of Donald Trump’s call for no Muslim to be allowed into America contrasts with what is going on in practice,” Creasy writes in an article for the Guardian. She said she was in contact with at least one other constituent who had had a similar experience.

US Homeland Security officials did not respond to a request for comment on why the family had been stopped from entering the country.

The family planned to visit cousins in southern California and go to Disneyland and Universal Studios, but they were turned away by US officials while at the departure lounge.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said Cameron would consider the issues raised in Creasy’s letter and respond in due course. The prime minister has already described Trump’s remarks as “stupid, divisive and wrong”.

Mohammad Tariq Mahmood was one of the family members turned away from the flight. He was travelling with his brother and nine of their children. Mahmood told the Guardian that no officials had told them why their entry was barred, but he thinks the reason is “obvious”.

“It’s because of the attacks on America – they think every Muslim poses a threat,” Mahmood said.

He said the children had been counting down the days to the trip for months, and were devastated not to be able to visit their cousins as planned.

He said that the airline told them that they would not be refunded the $13,340 cost of their flights. They were also forced to return everything they bought at the airport’s duty-free shops before being escorted from the airport.

“I have never been more embarrassed in my life. I work here, I have a business here. But we were alienated,” Mahmood said.

Creasy, having “hit a brick wall” in her own attempts to get answers from the American embassy, has asked the prime minister to press US officials for an explanation for the Mahmood family’s exclusion.

She has also asked him to clarify whether the UK monitors the numbers and ethnic or religious background of those who are blocked from travelling, to “help reassure all UK citizens that no discrimination on the grounds of faith is happening at UK airports”.

Two days after the family was stopped from boarding their flight, another British traveller, Ajmal Mansoor, an imam and lecturer based in Bristol, was turned away from boarding a flight to New York.

“USA has the right to issue and revoke visa – I fully understand that,” Mansoor wrote in a Facebook post. “However not forwarding any reasons infuriates ordinary people. It does not win the hearts and minds of people, it turns them off. I am amazed how irrational these processes are but does USA care about what you and I think? I don’t think so!”

The US embassy in London did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Someone in that party probably had a name that matched someone on a watch list.

I was unaware that Disneyland had an airport.

@SkitchP wrote:I was unaware that Disneyland had an airport.

John Wayne International Airport >> LAX. John Wayne has some of the best TSA related experiences in the country. That's some claim to fame.

This is at a Sydney public school:

Islamic students 'threatened to behead non-Muslim staff in name of ISIS' at Sydney high school where principal was stood down for 'banning women teachers from Year 12 graduation'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... chool.html

Islamic students at a Sydney public school threatened to behead non-Muslim staff and declared themselves ISIS sympathisers, staff alleged.

Police feared students at Punchbowl Boys High School were being radicalised after principal Chris Griffiths did not cooperate with a de-radicalisation program.

Mr Griffiths and deputy principal Joumana Dennaoiu were removed from their roles at the Muslim-majority school after an investigation by the Education Department.

The pair were stood down for allegedly stopping female teachers from participating in official events such as the Year 12 graduation ceremony, along with other issues.

Several employees claimed non-Muslim staff were verbally attacked, including with threats of beheading, by Muslim students declaring themselves ISIS sympathisers, according to The Australian.

Not only were these incidents not reported to police, the 'actively hostile' relations were so bad police liaison officers couldn't access the government school for the past 2.5 years.

Officers said Mr Griffiths converted to Islam in 2014 and claimed relations between police and the school broke down after he was appointed two years ago.

What stories like this underline is the absolute cowardice and weakness of authorities to deal with these issues, lest they be accused of engaging in discrimination, etc.

After taking a few billion euros from the EU for a refugee deal, Turkey is about to declare it void and dump a few million more refugees on Europe.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38103375

BurtReynolds wrote:After taking a few billion euros from the EU for a refugee deal, Turkey is about to declare it void and dump a few million more refugees on Europe.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38103375

Europe(n): an infinitely large life raft.

im still more scared of white christians in the US than Islamics in the US

Peeps wrote:im still more scared of white christians in the US than Islamics in the US

Yep. The systematic dismantling of things like civil rights and healthcare is a much larger immediate threat.

Peeps wrote:im still more scared of white christians in the US than Islamics in the US

Same. White Christians scare me way more than anyone else. That goes for my entire life.

That because you're all dopes.

They (radical Christians and radical Muslims) are scary in different ways

BurtReynolds wrote:That because you're all dopes.

It's a numbers game, basically. There are way more Christians in the US than there are Muslims, and they have far more political power. While I do think, in this day and age, that Islam is the more dangerous ideology, it doesn't have enough traction in the US to be a comparable concern right now.