terrorism – RI Future

June 15, 2016June 15, 2016

Can we Christians examine our political sins?

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“Darkness cannot drive out
darkness; only light can do
that. Hate cannot drive out
hate; only love can do that.”
Dr. Martin Luther King

After 400 years of terror, isn’t it time for all Christians to speak out against ‘Radical Christian Extremism?’

Slavery was terrorism: Plantations were concentration camps. The Native American genocide was terrorism: The Trail of Tears was a death march. Hangings by slave patrols and the Ku Klux Klan were terrorism: These murders—often perpetrated or approved by white ‘Christians’—were intended to grieve, horrify and intimidate blacks.

Virtually all who committed these acts of terrorism claimed they were Christians.

This radical Christian extremism persists. Militant Christians still verbally and physically attack gays and blacks, Muslims and immigrants. They justify their hate by appealing to Jesus and the Bible.

Actually, the word ‘Christian’ may not apply to any who perpetrate these horrors. Should terrorists be called radical ‘Christian’ extremists? Their claims of following the tenets of Christianity are wholly false. More than a billion Christians should not be smeared by those committing acts of terrorism. Their crimes are perversions of Christianity.

The same is true of radical ‘Muslim’ extremists. Their claims of following the tenets of Islam are wholly false. More than a billion Muslims should not be smeared by those committing such acts. Their crimes are perversions of Islam.

Many Republican leaders, especially Donald Trump, disagree—along with many voters in the base of the Republican party. Why? Must all Muslims bear responsibility for those claiming acts of terrorism are a legitimate expression of Islam?

This political blame is based on fear and hatred. These are not Christian motives. As stated in I John 4:18, “There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out all fear.” Also, Jesus insisted Christians must love, not hate, their enemies. He modeled this love throughout his life and even during his crucifixion.

We must contend with our fears: our fears of blacks; our fears of gays; our fears of Muslims; our fears of immigrants. Unchallenged fears result in misplaced rage and scapegoating of ‘the other.’ This leads to verbal attacks and violence against hated groups.

Racism and homophobia are repulsive. Islamophobia and xenophobia are abhorrent.

Insisting all Americans oppose Muslim immigration or be castigated as purveyors of politically correctness is obscene. Yes, we must seek to be correct—politically and morally—but we can only do so, as the Apostle Paul states, by “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15).

What is the truth? Muslims are our neighbors. Muslims are soldiers serving our country. Muslims are patriotic citizens. And Muslims are no more deserving of prejudice than Christians.

What does love require? We must treat the vast majority of Muslims as neighbors, not enemies. We must respond with compassion to the extraordinary hardships of refugees, including Muslims. We must see Muslims as human beings—people who have far more in common with us than differences.

Love also requires those of us judging others must first judge ourselves. Jesus was explicit: Before taking the speck out of our neighbor’s eye, we must remove the log from our own eye.

Those using a broad brush to paint all Muslims with the taint of terrorism imagine falsehoods. Let’s reject our biases and diligently seek truth.

Moreover, let’s ask to what degree our Christian community is responsible for historic acts of terrorism which executed and enslaved millions. Orlando, San Bernardino, Paris and even 9-11 are horrific singular acts of terror. Contrast these with the multitudes of ‘Christian’ atrocities spanning centuries.

Does evil and apathy prevail among American Christians? Could it be that we Christians really do need to account for the log in our eye?

We can choose to scapegoat those having nothing to do with perpetrating terror attacks. Or we can conscientiously oppose such evil massacres, come together, foster unity, and overcome our fears and hatred by speaking the truth in love.

March 26, 2016

NBC10 Wingmen: ISIS loves Rep. Nardolillo’s reaction to terrorism

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Experts agree with the progressive left that ISIS wants American politicians to react to terrorism exactly as did Rhode Island state Rep. Bobby Nardolillo and Texas Senator/POTUS candidate Ted Cruz – as if they are scared, and don’t care about freedom and justice.

Bill Rappleye, Jon Brien and I discuss on NBC10 Wingmen:

November 19, 2015November 20, 2015

Cathie Cool Rumsey will run against Elaine Morgan

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Catherine Cool Rumsey, a former District 34 state senator who was defeated by embattled Sen Elaine Morgan in 2014, was “horrified” by Morgan’s infamous email besmirching Islam was “horrified” and said it solidified her intention to run against Morgan in 2016.

“It does not represent the district,” she told me. “We need to represent our state and country in a better light.”

Cool Rumsey lost to Morgan 52 to 47 percent in 2014. A one-term progressive Democrat, Cool Rumsey defeated conservative Republican Frank Maher 55 to 44 percent in 2012. District 34 is made up of portions of Exeter, Hopkinton, Richmond and West Greenwich.

In the 2014 cycle, Cool Rumsey was endorsed by Clean Water Action, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, RI Young Democrats, RI Progressive Democrats and the RI Sierra Club, among others.

Morgan made national headlines with an email she sent that said, among other offensive passages, “The Muslim religion and philosophy is to murder, rape, and decapitate anyone who is a non Muslim.” She was writing because she doesn’t think America should accept refugees fleeing war-torn areas of the Middle East.

Fellow Republican rep. Bobby Nardolillo, who held a State House event today on the same issue today, said Morgan should consider apologizing to Muslims.

Here are other stories RI Future has reported on the Syrian refugee crisis:

November 19, 2015November 19, 2015

Rep. Nardolillo thinks Elaine Morgan owes Muslims an apology

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Representative Bobby Nardolillo said fellow Republican Senator Elaine Morgan should consider apologizing to the Muslim community for her now-famous offensive email that besmirched Islam and said Muslim refugees should be relegated to camps if allowed into the United States.

“I would definitely say it was offensive and she should consider apologizing,” Nardolillo told me after addressing a small crowd at the State House on why America should reject refugees. “I completely disagree with her comments. She insulted a whole Muslim culture and I think that was totally inappropriate.”

Morgan, a freshman senator from South County, sent an email obtained by WPRI, that said, among other offensive passages, “The Muslim religion and philosophy is to murder, rape, and decapitate anyone who is a non Muslim.”

To my knowledge, Morgan has yet to publicly apologize for the politically incorrect email. A Senate spokesman for the Democratic caucus had not seen one, and asked his GOP counterpart to apprise him if one was issued. RIPR political reporter Ian Donnis said in a tweet he reached out to Morgan for further comment multiple times and has not heard back from her. According to the WPRI story, Morgan said the email should have read “the fanatical Muslim religion and philosophy.”

Morgan’s email was publicized nationally today, the same day Nardolillo led a scheduled event at the State House on why the United States should reject refugees from war-torn parts of the Middle East because of national security concerns. He said he didn’t think Morgan’s insensitive comments discouraged people from attending his event, which he said was more of a press conference than a rally.

January 12, 2015

Balancing words and body: Je suis Charlie

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Being a Catholic school student in the sixties was religion in interesting times.

Women may remember a scramble to hide our uncovered heads from God, who did not want to look down from Heaven and see that a seven-year-old had forgotten her beret. The nuns, who wore medieval veils that would win approval from all but the most fundamentalist Ayatollahs, would chew us out before grabbing a Kleenex and a bobby pin. Heads decently covered we could proceed into the holy place. Meanwhile, our moms were testing the limits by trading their decent Sunday hats for a mantilla- a lace scarf, or even a daring lace doily that hid nothing of their offending feminine hair.

Although Warwick was probably not swarming with heretics we were not to relax our vigilance. The nuns drilled us with the lives of the saints, most of whom did not die easy. We could never measure up to their martyrdom or even comprehend why both oppressors and oppressed hung life and death on an affirmation of faith.

In the center of worship was the consecrated host. The host was a thin wafer of wheat flour, similar to a candy we bought at the penny store called ‘Flying Saucers’, but minus the food coloring and little balls of sugar inside, though it would melt in your mouth the same way. Once the priest said the words it became the physical Body of Christ. The nuns told us of a martyr priest who ran into a burning church to save the Body of Christ at the cost of his own poor body. This was how we were to set priorities.

While the older nuns had to make their life choices in the Great Depression, the younger nuns were now faced with calls for liberation from the Pope to the streets. If you craved law and order you might find yourself marching with segregationists and warmongers. It was not only a war of words, it was a time when our president was shot and murdered in broad daylight at a civic event. Other terrible assassinations preceded this crime and would follow. Willing or not, people suffered martyrdom for speaking their truth.

How do you balance the Word and the Flesh?

No social freedom exists outside society, and no virtue is absolute. The quaint fears of the nuns were not completely unfounded. There was a time when Catholics were a persecuted minority in the US, and even in the sixties the Klan included Catholics on their enemies list. This may have been the New Frontier, but many citizens in the great Melting Pot bore the scars of history.

How do we reconcile our great principle of freedom of expression with the reality that words can affront and even harm? That one person’s joke is another person’s violation? That there’s such a thing as ‘fighting words’?

Although I am long ex-Catholic, I find an answer in the metaphor of the body and blood. The body and blood of another human being is holy and not to be violated for imagined or real offense. The sacred heart beats in all of us and is not to be stopped in defense of some god or principle.

In fact, as the nuns taught us, suffering only gives validation to those who sacrificed. Thousands who never heard of Charlie Hebdo now march in the streets, because some men and women who went to work earned a martyr’s crown. Now the daily courage they showed in keeping on in the face of threats is known to the world. Their loss is not only felt by their friends and families, but by all who live by words and art, or simply hope to speak without fear.

Courtesy of CNN, here are the names of the slain Charlie Hebdo writers:

January 12, 2015

Torture in our name: #ReadtheReport

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It has been roughly one month since Senator Dianne Feinstein (who became Mayor of San Francisco following the assassination of George Moscone) released the Senate Intelligence Committee report detailing the violence and torture used by the CIA against individuals in the years following 9/11.

At least 119 individuals were detained by the CIA in years after the attacks, and, according to the Senate report, at least 26 were wrongly detained and had no associations with terrorism.

One innocent man, Gul Rahman, spent a month in solitary confinement because he had the same name as a suspected terrorist. Two CIA informants spent “approximately 24 hours shackled in the standing sleep deprivation position” before it was confirmed they were mistakenly being detained. These examples are surely some of the more benign experiences of prisoners in CIA detention facilities.

In the foreword to the report, Senator Feinstein wrote:

“It is worth remembering the pervasive fear in late 2001 and how immediate the threat felt. Just a week after the September 11 attacks, powdered anthrax was sent to various news organizations and to two U.S. Senators. The American public was shocked by news of new terrorist plots and elevations of the color-coded threat level of the Homeland Security Advisory System. We expected further attacks against the nation.

I have attempted throughout to remember the impact on the nation and to the CIA workforce from the attacks of September 11, 2001. I can understand the CIA’s impulse to consider the use of every possible tool to gather intelligence and remove terrorists from the battlefield, and CIA was encouraged by political leaders and the public to do whatever it could to prevent another attack. The Intelligence Committee as well often pushes intelligence agencies to act quickly in response to threats and world events.

Nevertheless, such pressure, fear, and expectation of further terrorist plots do not justify, temper, or excuse improper actions taken by individuals or organizations in the name of national security.

The major lesson of this report is that regardless of the pressures and the need to act, the Intelligence Community’s actions must always reflect who we are as a nation, and adhere to our laws and standards.

It is precisely at these times of national crisis that our government must be guided by the lessons of our history and subject decisions to internal and external review. Instead, CIA personnel, aided by two outside contractors, decided to initiate a program of indefinite secret detention and the use of brutal interrogation techniques in violation of U.S. law, treaty obligations, and our values.”

After many years, and despite CIA interference, the report has been made public. We should know what is done in our name.

You can read the full report here.

September 29, 2014September 29, 2014

ACLU: Leaked docs show RI driver’s license pics used in terrorism database

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Leaked classified documents indicate the Rhode Island Department of Motor Vehicles is sharing residents’ driver’s photos with the National Counterterrorism Center, a little-known federal agency that has authority to broadly monitor US citizens, according to the RI ACLU.

“The ACLU of RI has deep concerns about our state’s collusion with the NCTC in this manner, because it means that the DMV is assisting the federal government in collecting personal information about innocent Rhode Islanders,” wrote RI ACLU Executive Director Steve Brown in a letter to the DMV on August 20.

The ACLU sent the letter to media outlets today. It describes how the document in question indicates Rhode Island, and only 14 other states, have allowed the NCTC to use driver license photos in a vast database of American citizens.

In response to media inquiries, Governor Lincoln Chafee said, “Since the receipt of the letter, my administration has done an investigation and has found no evidence of the proactive sharing of information with the NCTC. I look forward to working with the Rhode Island ACLU on this issue.”

The ACLU’s Brown said the document came to his attention while reading a post on The Intercept, a news website that publishes Edward Snowden documents.

This post, written by highly-regarded national security reporters Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Devaraux, is titled “Barack Obama’s Secret Terrorist-Tracking System, By The Numbers”. They report, “Of the 680,000 people caught up in the government’s Terrorist Screening Database—a watchlist of ‘known or suspected terrorists’ that is shared with local law enforcement agencies, private contractors, and foreign governments—more than 40 percent are described by the government as having ‘no recognized terrorist group affiliation.’ That category—280,000 people—dwarfs the number of watchlisted people suspected of ties to al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah combined.”

The story links to a document, with a National Counterterrorism Center seal, called : “Directorate of Terrorist Identities(DTI)Strategic Accomplishments 2013”. It says Rhode Island is one of 15 states to participate in a program that collects facial images from driver’s licenses.

On page 8, it reads:

To fulfill the biometric enhancement mission within DTI’s Identity Intelligence Group (IIG), the Biometric Analysis Branch (BAB) began an outreach/partnership effort with the larger law enforcement community to collect facial images associated with driver’s license data. With support from FBI partners and NCTC’s Domestic Representatives, this enhancement mission took on significant growth in FY13. BAB now coordinates directly with the following states; Arizona, Texas, New York, Maryland, Delaware, Washington DC, Florida, California, Virginia, Oregon, Massachusetts, Nevada, Gieorgia, Colorado, Washington, and Rhode Island. This effort has resulted in 2,400 Driver’s License facial images added to TIDE in FY13.

October 28, 2013October 28, 2013

NYPD comish at Brown after losing ‘stop/frisk’ suit

In a sign of either Brown University’s ignorance of reality, or their support for oppressive practices, (or love of causing a stir), they will host the controversial Commissioner Ray Kelly tomorrow at 4pm, at List Art Building. Naturally, Kelly will explain that in order to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs. In this case, he will proclaim that making New York City safe for “us” is the primary concern. The eggs in this case apply to people who are Black, Latino, and/or Muslim. These groups have been subjected to heightened surveillance and harassment programs that violate the 4th Amendment, as well as a rash of recent high-profile killings by NYPD officers.

Kelly has proudly supported his “Stop and Frisk” policy over the years- even in the face of massive disapproval. I studied this issue intensely and created a series on Unprison that uses statistics to denounce the claims of Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg. A summary of the series is also available in The Guardian. Tomorrow, oral arguments are being heard after Kelly’s NYPD lost the class action lawsuit Floyd v. New York. They are seeking a stay of execution in the Second Circuit. A complete overview of the case can be found here. Indeed, Kelly’s NYPD has prompted many millions of dollars in litigation.

Who should properly be credited when something doesn’t happen? There has been no repeat of the 9-11 attack in New York City… nor in any other American city. Commissioner Kelly claims it is the vigilance of his 35,000 troops that stands between civilization and mass destruction. Perhaps Mayor Angel Taveras, Dean Esserman, Hugh Clements and others should be receiving annual awards in Providence? Others might thank foreign security forces, American troops, Navy Seal Team Six, their chosen deity, a collapsed economy, border and TSA agents, or even the disinterest of would-be terrorists. But Ray Kelly wants you to thank him, and to forget about the constitution in the process.

I’m personally very curious how this stop on the Ray Kelly Victory Tour goes down at Brown. Someone please report in.

April 16, 2013

Terror as we celebrate asymmetrical warfare

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The bombs in Boston blew up while we were celebrating the shot heard ’round the world. An act of terrorism marred the annual marking of the world’s most famous response to asymmetrical warfare in history. There’s more than irony here, there’s a lesson to be learned.

For those who don’t know, the Boston Marathon is held each year on Patriots’ Day, a state holiday in Massachusetts set on the closest Monday to April 19, the day in 1775 when the British army first attacked the colonial militia.

Colonists got wind of the redcoat’s plan to attack and arrest some of the key radicals who had been fomenting a revolt. Paul Revere set out on his midnight ride, roughly the same route as the Boston Marathon, to roust up enough locals to take up arms against their government.

On the morning of April 19, the outmatched minutemen first clashed with the British army in Lexington, Mass. Realizing they were outmatched, the colonists dispersed shortly after what Ralph Waldo Emerson later dubbed the shot heard ’round the world. Not realizing they were enmeshed in an asymmetrical war, the redcoats began marching towards Concord and we ambushed them on their way.

Almost everything about how a rag-tag band of s0-called Patriots were able to upset the most powerful empire on the planet is a testament to how to foment and fight an asymmetrical war – including the events that led up to the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The Sons of Liberty, an anonymous band of rebels, goaded England into attacking through a series of clandestine direct actions like the Boston Tea Party and the burning of the Gaspee.

Someone put a few bombs in downtown Boston yesterday for the same reason colonial early Rhode Islanders burned the Gaspee: with the hope that it would be the response that is heard ’round the world.