Monthly Archives: June 2017

Full-face veils are banned; Men and women, straight or gay, can pray together; Sunnis and Shiites, who in other parts of the world are engaged in bloody conflicts, are encouraged to sit side-by-side.

Welcome to Germanys first liberal mosque.

Dozens of people gathered for Friday prayersled by a female American imam at the opening of Ibn-Rushd-Goethe-Mosque in Berlin on Friday, the AP reported.

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The mosque was the realization of an eight-year dream of German-Turkish womens rights activist Seyran Ates, who moved to Germany from Turkey as a child and was part of a government agency assisting with the integration of Muslims in Germany.

I couldn't be more euphoric, it's a dream come true, Ates, 54, told AP this week.

The mosque is jointly named after Ibn Rushd, a 12th century Andalusian Islamic scholar also known as Averroes, and German playwright Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It currently occupies the third floor of an old Lutheran church in Moabit, a neighborhood with a sizeable immigrant population.

German-Turkish lawyer, author and activist Seyran Ates (R) readies the prayer area prior to an inaugural friday payer at the Ibn Rushd-Goethe-mosque in Berlin on June 16. Men and women can pray together at the mosque, which is also open to LGBT Muslims. JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty

Ates said the mosque will be open to all but added that women would be proscribed from wearing the burqaa veil that completely covers the face and leaves just a mesh screen for the wearer to see throughand the niqabwhich covers the face except for a small slit for the eyes. [This is] for safety reasons and because it is our conviction that the full-face veil has nothing to do with religion, but is a political statement, Ates told German magazine Spiegel. Germanys lower house of parliament recently passed a bill banning full-face veils for people in certain professions, including judges and soldiers.

Read more: 10,000 Muslims will march in Cologne on Saturday against terrorism

More than 4 million Muslims live in Germany, with the majority coming from Turkey. Under Chancellor Angela Merkels open doors policy, Germany has taken in more than 1 million refugees since 2015, most of whom are from Muslim-majority countries Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Merkel has come under fire from conservative elements in Germany for the policy, and tensions have been further inflamed by Islamist-inspired attacks carried out in the country. In December 2016, Anis Amri, a Tunisian migrant whoseasylum request was turned down by German authorities earlier in 2016, drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people. The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack.

A police car is parked in front of the St. Johannis Protestant church which houses the Ibn Rushd-Goethe-mosque in Berlin on June 16. JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty

Germany and Turkey havebeen at loggerheads since German authorities banned Turks living in Germany from carrying out rallies in support of changes to the Turkish constitution that would give more power to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish leader accused Germanys government of fascist actions that were reminiscent of the Nazi period.

Ates said that the new mosque was designed to give modern and liberal Muslims the opportunity to show our faces in public. She said that she had received threats from people about the project, but that most of the feedback had been beautiful and positive, AP reported.

The womens rights activist was the subject of an assassination attempt in 1984 when working as a counselor for Turkish women and was previously attacked by the enraged husband of a former client. She will start Arabic and Islamic theology studies later this year and hopes to become an imam.

See original here:

Burqas Banned and LGBT Muslims Welcome at Germany's First 'Liberal' Mosque - Newsweek

Conservative radio host Mark Levin masterfully exposed the utter ridiculousness that is the liberal narrative that President Donald Trump has somehow committed obstruction of justice by carrying out his constitutionally defined duties as president.

Trumps political opponents for weeks have alleged that Trump committed obstruction of justice by firing FBI Director James Comey last week since the FBI was in the midst of an intelligence investigation into Trumps campaign. The FBI publicly acknowledged in March they were investigating claims that Trumps presidential campaign colluded with Russian operatives to undermine last years presidential election.

So far, the investigation has yielded no concrete evidence. And despite law experts going on cable television to explain that Trump didnt commit obstruction of justice by firing Comey, Democrats and liberals have been relentless in their claims.

But Levin on his show Friday attempted to finally quell the claims.

First, Levin explained that there is simply no evidence to support the Trump-Russia conspiracy. Levin noted that there are dozens of leaks coming from the Trump administration weekly, so if there was evidence to prove any collusion, it likely would have been leaked already.

Leaks about everything else, but not [collusion], Levin said. Because it doesnt exist or it would be leaked.

Secondly, Levin said that as a constitutional matter its absolutely impossible for the president to commit obstruction of justice by firing his subordinate, which Comey was as FBI director, or by directing the FBI to stop or start investigations because the FBI isnt technically an independent government organization.

Lastly, Levin said the elements needed for obstruction of justice dont exist with Trump like Democrats claim.

The elements of obstruction are clear, Levin exclaimed.

The firebrand radio host then went on to excoriate Comey for saying Hillary Clinton needed to have shown specific intent to violate criminal statutes by retaining classified information on her private email server despite the statute in question not requiring intent. But when it comes to Trump and the allegation of obstruction of justice, Democrats are trying to rewrite statutes to pin Trump with some kind of wrongdoing.

So they change the standard for Hillary to make it harder to prosecute her, but they lower the standard for [obstruction for] Trump because they want him out, Levin added.

Listen to Levins complete breakdown below:

See the original post:

Mark Levin masterfully obliterates liberal Trump 'obstruction' narrative in just 3 quick points - TheBlaze.com

An openly gay California man identified as Jeff LeTourneau co-chair of the Orange County Democratic Party was caught on camera lambasting fellow gay men in a political rant because they were Republican.

While petitioning to remove Sen. Josh Newman (D-CA) over a proposed gas tax bill, Carl DeMaio and his husband, Johnathan Hale, were accosted by LeTourneau outside of a local Wal-Mart and eviscerated for their disloyalty to the LGBTQ community as they dared to identify as Republican.

You belong to a f***ing party that writes our destruction into its platform! LeTourneau blasted DeMaio and Hale. Get your s**t and get out of here!

Of the couple, LeTourneau said, You are a f**king disgrace to any gay person I know, you piece of s**t.

DeMaio a conservative talk radio host, as well as a former Republican San Diego city councilman and Hale San Diego Gay and Lesbian News publisher stood their ground and refused to back down, despite LeTourneaus increasingly unhinged behavior.

You can intimidate all you want, sir, they said repeatedly. This is the democratic process.

LeTourneau became increasingly agitated as he turned on Hale who was filming as well as those signing the petition, and even on a Wal-Mart manager who came outside to diffuse the situation.

Im here as an openly gay person on Pride weekend seeing these two people disgracing my community and letting them know I dont care about them. Theyre liars! Theyre liars! LeTourneau cried. You do not belong to our community. You also do not belong to the LGBTQ community either.

In a statement to Fox News, DeMaio said:

LeTourneau clearly thinks that if you are gay, you can only be a Democrat which is both arrogant and highly offensive. The idea that Californians are sick of paying higher taxes cuts across party lines and sexual orientation.

Throughout the altercation, Republicans DeMaio and Hale remained calm and asked LeTourneau repeatedly to stay calm and to back away.

See the exchange in the video below.

Here is the original post:

Gay conservative destroys gay liberal over democracy while being ... - TheBlaze.com

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has black helicopters flying around her head, according to conservative commentator Michelle Malkin.

Speaking with Sean Hannity on Fox News Friday, Malkin said Maddow has become Reynolds Wraps number one customer over her insistence to cover the alleged Trump-Russia conspiracy night after night despite a lack of concrete evidence to prove the allegations have any weight.

I think that Rachel Maddow must be Reynolds Wraps number one customer because the tin foil hat consumption is through the roof, Malkin said.

Her number one goal is to bash and obstruct the Trump administration it has been since day one, Malkin explained. And theyre going to beat that dead horse until they cant do it anymore.

After discussing many of the times Maddow pushed the Trump-Russia conspiracy without offering real evidence, Malkin and Hannity went on to bash Rolling Stone magazine for recently naming Maddow the most trusted name in news, which the duo said proves the left lives in an echo chamber.

During the interview, Hannity also lamented over the breathless hysteria created by the mainstream media over the Trump-Russia allegations that have thus far proved to be fruitless.

It is an allusion factory, it is an echo chamber, Malkin said of the liberal media, explaining that President Donald Trump doesnt just have to address the Washington swamp but also the mainstream media swamp.

People are sick and tired of itthere is so much real news that is going on, Malkin said, calling Rolling Stones Maddow declaration a slap in the face.

Read more:

Watch: Michelle Malkin hilariously destroys Rachel Maddow for pushing liberal conspiracies about Trump - TheBlaze.com

On a gray day last October, teachers across Seattle wore a shirt that read BLACK LIVES MATTER.

They knew there might be criticism. John Muir Elementary in south Seattle had done this in September and received a bomb threat and hate mail from across the U.S.

But they did, and the day was, by most accounts, uneventful. Some kids got it most didnt. Just another school day.

And then, a backlash, but this time not from outsiders. White parents from the citys tonier neighborhoods wrote to their principals to say they were displeased. A Black Lives Matter day was too militant, too political and too confusing for their young kids, they said.

Some danced around their discomfort, others snarked in ALL CAPS. These parents would not talk to us, so we made a public records request for their emails.

Their names were blacked out, which is why they are not named here.

Wrote a parent at Laurelhurst Elementary: Can you please address why skin color is so important? I remember a guy that had a dream. Do you remember that too? I doubt it. Please show me the content of your character if you do.

From Eckstein Middle School in Wedgwood: What about red and black or yellow and white and black? How does supporting Black Lives Matter help that gap?

And from Bryant Elementary in Ravenna: Im writing to share what my 9-year-old daughter told me about what she learned in class regarding the Black Lives Matter discussion. She said she felt bad about being white. And that police lie and do bad things.

These three schools are in northeast Seattle, one of the whitest, most affluent corners of the city. They are also in staunchly liberal neighborhoods dotted with rainbow yard signs that say All are welcome.

This is what Ive come to call Seattles passive progressiveness, said Stephan Blanford, a Seattle school board member whose doctoral research focused on race and public education. We vote the right way on issues. We believe the right way. But the second you challenge their privilege, you see the response.

Blanford is black and represents the Central District, the historic African-American heart of the city. He wasnt surprised by the emails from parents after the Black Lives Matter day. Middle-class white parents have asked him for help getting their kids out of Madrona Elementary, which is 44 percent black.

No one will say to me, We dont want our kids to go to a black school, but I believe thats frequently the underlying reason, Blanford said.

Black Lives Matter emerged from a Twitter hashtag in 2012, after the death of Trayvon Martin, a Florida teenager whose killer was acquitted. The movement gained momentum as videos emerged of police officers killing black men, and from there became a rallying cry against racism. Those three words say that black lives havent mattered enough in this country, and they should.

Reaction to the Black Lives Matter day might have been more muted had Sarah Talbot, the principal atLaurelhurst, not sent an email afterward to parents.

I heard from a few parents concerned about what teacherswerentsaying, Talbot wrote.

They werent saying anything about lives the lives of students, parents and families who are not black. I worried about that too. Would our Native students feel left out, since they face the same (or worse) effects of systemic racism in schools and outside of schools that black students face? What about the majority of the students in our school who are white? They also live with the effects of a society that unfairly prioritizes their lives.

But then I remembered that atLaurelhurstElementary, we have a 20 percent difference in the growth of black students reading skills when compared to the average growth of all students at our school."

After school, a mom learned that her 5-year-old was asked to stand up in front of his class and talk about Black Lives Matter and his shirt. By the end of the day, he had taken it off and shoved it in his cubby.

TheLaurelhurstBlog, which doesn't name its writer, wrote to media a week later: Many parents contacted theLaurelhurstBlog and found the email disturbing, divisive and offensive, and one called it racially biased."

The blogger continued, Talbot says there is injustice and there are gaps but where are her examples? Since she didnt provide any, is it her own invented bias that she is bringing to the community, creating divisiveness?

Director Blanford urged me to interview Jill Geary, the school board director representing northeast Seattle. Geary is a white mom of five with a daughter at Laurelhurst Elementary; maybe she could explain parent thinking, he said.

Geary doesnt see herself as a total insider, however. She was once an administrative law judge who focused on special education; years ago she refused to join other parents in trying to oust a program for highly traumatized kids at Laurelhurst.

She sighed a little as she explained:

They would prefer to be all lives matter, because then their child is included in the conversation about mattering, she said. What they dont think is, would a black mother feel like her child matters, based upon the way that history, the nation, the city, the institutional structures, have treated her child? Thats not the process theyre using.

Geary shared a story from earlier in the year: A sticker that read HCC = APPartheid was placed outsideThurgood Marshall Elementary. HCC stands for Highly Capable Cohort; APPartheid is a play on what the program was called before APP, or Advanced Placement Program.

The sticker's message: The gifted program is overwhelmingly white. Last year,1 percent of the program was black, even though the district was 16 percent black.

We got very angry emails about that, as though we had sponsored it, Geary said. They were upset their kid was being shamed for being in HCC. I think thats the same instinct.

Read: Where are the black kids in Seattle's gifted program?

When Geary spoke with a parent upset about the Black Lives Matter day last fall, she said, I know your child matters. You know your child matters. But Im not sure that we as a society have made it clear that we believe black children matter in the way that white children matter.

But Geary said caring a lot is part of the culture at affluent schools like Laurelhurst, where parents have time and money to get involved.

Theres a portable on the playground, and we are arming ourselves to get rid of it, Geary said. I hate to say it, but that is privilege amplified.

I asked Jennifer Harvey, a religion professor in Des Moines, Iowa, to read these emails and share her thoughts. Harvey recently had an opinion piece in The New York Times titled, Are we raising racists?

As a white person myself, I hear and I know how white people think about race,and I wasn't surprised to see just a basic lack of understanding of how racism functions, Harvey said. This would not be unique to Seattle liberal whites, nor among liberals who didn't vote for Trump. These kind of sentiments are very deep seated.

She continued: What I see when I read these emails is this utter failure to value black life. Because if you value black life you go, Oh my god, even if I don't understand this,why is it that African-Americans need to have this movement for black lives, and what is it like to be a 10-year-old child who's black?

It's like there's this total white vortex that just screams out from these emails, whether they are being nasty intentionally or just saying,'I don't get it.'They make me really sad.

Not that all parents bristled at the Black Lives Matter day. Several cheered on the school in their emails. And when I contacted members of the Laurelhurst PTA members, two moms replied that they supported it.

But there was also a mom heartbroken by how the day had played out for her son.

I was feeling scared to drop them off at school, [my son] in particular, being at Laurelhurst as a brown student in a sea of white peers and white staff, she wrote to Principal Talbot.

That morning, the mom and her son talked about what his Black Lives Matter shirt meant. He told me he felt scared, the mom wrote.

As we parked, he said, Mom! I just got a good idea. If I get white paint and put it all over my body to cover the brown so they cant see it, then people will stop killing us black and brown people.

I cried so many tears of sadness, fear, anger and feelings of lost hope yesterday morning, she said.

After school, she learned that her 5-year-old was asked to stand up in front of his class and talk about Black Lives Matter and his shirt. By the end of the day, he had taken it off and shoved it in his cubby.

I asked him why, and he said because he was tired of people asking him about it and wanting to take his picture, the mom wrote. I was so angry all I could do was pick him up, hug him so tightly and said, I can see why you chose not to wear it. That sounds uncomfortable and unfair.

When I told Director Blanford this story, he said it made sense the boy was overwhelmed. In his day-to-day experience as a student, he's probably pretty invisible, and then all of a sudden, hes the celebrity in the classroom."

Referring back to the critical parents, he said, The intersection of class and race always has the potential to be explosive. This was a nice powder keg, and it just needed the match."

Read more here:

To understand white liberal racism, read these private emails - KUOW News and Information