Will someone tell Pam Geller, Robert Spencer, David Yerushalmi, and Gates of Vienna they might as well close up shop. A new study reported by the NY Times‘ Scott Shane confirms what most of us knew all along. The alleged phenomenon of Muslim-American terror is largely concocted from their fevered, belabored imagination:
A feared wave of homegrown terrorism by radicalized Muslim Americans has not materialized, with plots and arrests dropping sharply over the two years since an unusual peak in 2009, according to a new study by a North Carolina research group.
The study, to be released on Wednesday, found that 20 Muslim Americans were charged in violent plots or attacks in 2011, down from 26 in 2010 and a spike of 47 in 2009.
Charles Kurzman, the author of the report for the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, called terrorism by Muslim Americans “a minuscule threat to public safety.” Of about 14,000 murders in the United States last year, not a single one resulted from Islamic extremism, said Mr. Kurzman, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina.
The report also notes that the number of American Muslims charged with terrorism since 9/11 has topped out at the whopping total of 193. Of all the thousands of such cases, only 193 were perpetrated by Muslims in the past 11 years! The anti-jihadis owe these American citizens an abject apology. But they won’t get one. Instead they’ll continue feeling the cold blast of hate. And anti-Muslim haters like Yerushalmi will continue their financially lucrative campaign of writing anti-Sharia laws for state governments, some of which don’t even have a substantial Muslim population living in their borders. If anything was a solution in search of a problem, this is it.
No doubt, Geller will be snooping into the study author’s background (Jewish) attempting to find bias or some other taint. Good luck to her. It won’t take much to satisfy her twisted mind that the study is part of the international conspiracy to downplay the Muslim menace.
Silverstein has published Tikun Olam since 2003, It exposes the secrets of the Israeli national security state. He lives in Seattle, but his heart is in the east. He publishes regularly at Middle East Eye, the New Arab, and Jacobin Magazine. His work has also appeared in Al Jazeera English, The Nation, Truthout and other outlets.
And anti-Muslim haters like Yerushalmi will continue their financially lucrative campaign of writing anti-Sharia laws for state governments
He actually can’t do that without running up against the federal courts, the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment and the establishment and free exercise clauses of the 1st amendment. The Oklahoma Anti-Sharia constitutional amendment was struck down on those grounds by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Yerushalmi’s model statute is watered-down “feel good” legislation that really doesn’t accomplish anything, except formally require the state courts to enforce the individual rights that are already guaranteed by the federal and state constitutions. That’s something they were already required to do before anyone ever heard of the so-called American Laws for American Courts (ALAC) statutes. http://publicpolicyalliance.org/?page_id=38
This law applies with equal force to anyone trying to enforce a judgment handed down by a local Beit Din. FYI, so long as a Beit Din or Sharia Council conforms to a state’s criteria for alternate dispute resolution, the Courts will continue to enforce agreed-upon decisions in arbitration cases just like they did before the adoption of the ALAC. It also doesn’t effect the enforcement of foreign judgments that are covered by federal treaty or other international agreement to which the United States is a party.
There’s always been and there still is plenty of hatred out there. Antisemitism is no longer tolerable and so is overt colour-based racism. Homophobia is heading down the same dead-end. But the old hatred is still there.
As there’s plenty of hatred out there, it’s just natural some lowlifes would try to capitalise on it.
“And anti-Muslim haters like Yerushalmi will continue their financially lucrative campaign of writing anti-Sharia laws for state governments”.
Surely an “anti-Muslim hater” is one who hates “anti-Muslims”. Or possibly an “anti-Muslim hater” is one who opposes Muslim haters.
I think you should try to be more accurate in your language, Richard.
You know exactly what I mean and there’s nothing wrong with my language.
I’ve grown very tired of your pettiness & you’re walking on very thin ice.
I am very encouraged by this report. It shows that law enforcement is working effectively. When it it comes to terrorism, it is always better to nip it in the bud.
It shows nothing of the sort. In fact, NYPD has engaged in entrapment & highly Islamophobic behavior in running amok on this issue.
There is no “Muslim menace” as police officials and anti jihadis try to argue.
Nice to learn there is no (or not much) problem from “terrorists”. However, there is a HUGE anti-terrorism/counter-terrorism “industry” out there and much money to be made, just as, for example, with the ridiculous-seeming xrAy-sacanning machines foisted on USA by the Islamophobes for use at airports (and can Macy’s and public libraries be far behind?).
So we see that we do not have the subject-matter problem, but we have the fix-for-the-non-existent-subject-matter-problem problem. And it is a big one, including the training of NYPD to harass Islamic-looking people and other civil liberties problems.
To say nothing of the deeply mysterious “no fly lists” which assert a (to me questionable) power by USA to interfere with the private contract of an airline ticket BEYOND merely subjecting people to extensive (or more than merely extensive) search of person and luggage.
Here’s hoping that American Muslims have learned to “just say no” to the FBI’s entrapment schemes.
With an average of 11’000 murders a year, the single biggest threat to the US is the American himself.
That’s what you call a reality check…