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“Ground Zero Mosque” Leader’s Homophobic Comments Outrage Gay Community

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Homophobic comments by a new religious leader at the proposed Park 51 community center in lower Manhattan — also known as the “Ground Zero Mosque” by its detractors and as “Cordoba House” by its supporters — have angered the gay community and its supporters, and added fuel to the already extreme outrage exhibited by some conservatives and the Tea Party. (Remember who they’re really angry at.)

Via NY1 (who has a video, too,):

“In a lecture Imam Abdallah Adhami sells on the Internet, he offers the following explanation for the existence of homosexuality:

“An enormously, overwhelming percentage of people struggle with homosexual feeling because of some form of violent emotional or sexual abuse at some point in their life. Again, not necessarily in their childhood….A small, tiny percentage of people are born with a natural inclination they cannot explain. You find this in the animal kingdom on some level as well.”

“For gay rights advocates, the words are unacceptable.

“They are destructive. They play into old, worn-out stereotypes that somehow there is an illness to being gay,” said Gay City News Editor Paul Schindler.”

“Schindler says that unless Imam Adhami is willing to clarify or change his views, Park51’s ability to welcome everyone will be compromised beyond repair.

“It’s a hostile message and one that I think attacks the dignity of gay people,” Schindler said.

“Some prominent gay New Yorkers say even though they find the remarks made by the Park51 imam offensive, it’s nothing they haven’t heard before.

“It’s not a new statement, it’s been made repeatedly by people who practice homophobia as a way of life. It’s also unfortunately not limited to one religion,” said Gay Rights Activist David Mixner.”

Park 51 has been embroiled in a cultural war (leading to craziness like this,) ever since Fox News decided, after first supporting it, that it could get better ratings by opposing it. (Or, as Rachel Maddow calls it, “Scaring White People For Fun And Profit.”)

This is an extremely disappointing development. Not only are the words and point of view behind them entirely unacceptable, but they damage the reputation of the Park 51 project among its supporters, (liker the 9/11 mom who lost her daughter but has supported the project,) and now give right-wing conservatives and Tea Party crazies more fuel.

Pamela Geller, an extremist even by Tea Party standards, runs a little blog called Atlas Shrugged. In it she writes,

“The new Ground Zero imam who advocates Islamic law and jail for apostates, and calls unindicted co-conspirator in the WTC bombing, Siraj Wahhaj, his “beloved imam,” is a homophobe. Adhami’s repulsion of gays is consistent with the oppression, and in many Muslim countries, the execution of gays.

“Mayor Doomberg is in a real fix now. Which special interest will he satisfy? He has no spine. I bet he’ll dhimmi down and throw the gay community under the bus.

“Interesting that the gay Muslim interviewed in this video said that Adhami’s anti-gay remarks represented progress. Perhaps he hasn’t installed a gallows at Ground Zero ….. yet.”

While Geller’s juvenile delinquent rant (it’s Mayor Bloomberg, for those who aren’t familiar with the thrice-elected public servant,) is asinine, it’s a good depiction of what right-wing hate looks like. (And consider all the religious liberties issues this brings up. Surprised Geller doesn’t mention them…)

Trust me, Geller’s fans aren’t upset about the homophobic comments. In fact, they’re probably thrilled.

Oh, and they have planned a protest in front of Park 51 on February 3. Evidently, they want a Wal-Mart there instead. They give sign ideas here. Like,

Build It or Incite Retailers All Over The World!

Death To Those Who Defame Walmart

Walmart! Not In My Mosque’s Backyard!

Falling Skyscrapers – Yes!!! Falling Prices – No!!! (Isn’t that backwards?)

We Roll Back The Prices, You Roll Back Civilization

Price Cutter or Box Cutter?

A week later, at CPAC, they’ll be showing the “world premiere” of The Ground Zero Mosque: The Second Wave of the 911 Attacks.

Ok…

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News

Trump Campaign Furious Walz Using Trump’s Own ‘Reckless, Dangerous Rhetoric’ Against Him

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October 14, 2024

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The Trump campaign lashed out at Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Monday after the Democratic vice presidential nominee quoted the Republican presidential candidate who repeatedly over the weekend has been saying he would like to use the U.S. military against American citizens.

As NCRM reported, the Republican presidential nominee said he thinks the U.S. Armed Forces should be used against Americans who oppose him, called his critics “the enemy from within,” and declared they are more dangerous than America’s greatest foreign adversaries, including Russia, China, and North Korea.

“I always say we have the outside enemy, so you can say China, you can say Russia, you can say, Kim Jung-Un,” Trump told supporters at an Aurora, Colorado rally on Friday. But, he added: “It’s the enemy from within, all the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country. That’s a bigger enemy than China and Russia,” he said as the audience cheered.

READ MORE: MAGA Furious After Kamala Harris Agrees to Fox News Interview

Then, on Sunday, Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo of his desire to use armed forces against Americans on Election Day.

“I think the bigger problem are the people from within, we have some very bad people, we have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the — and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary by the military.”

Trump War Room, the official social media account of the Trump campaign, posted video of Walz on Monday speaking with supporters.

“Donald Trump over the weekend was talking about using the U.S. Army against people who disagree with him,” Walz had said. “Just so you’re clear about that, that’s you. That’s what he’s talking about. This is not some mythical thing out there. He called it the ‘enemy within.'”

The Trump War Room social media account wrote: “Tim Walz peddles a disgusting lie that President Trump will use the U.S. Army against his political opponents: ‘That’s you, that’s what he’s talking about.’ This is reckless, dangerous rhetoric,” the campaign stated. “Tim should be ASHAMED of himself.”

READ MORE: ‘Is He OK?’: Trump’s Dark of Night Rage Posting Backfires

See the videos below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Fascist to the Core’: Trump’s Top General Slams Ex-President as ‘Most Dangerous Person’

 

 

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News

MAGA Furious After Kamala Harris Agrees to Fox News Interview

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13 hours ago

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October 14, 2024

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The right wing freakout is in full force after Fox News announced Vice President Kamala Harris will sit down for an interview with then network’s chief political anchor Bret Baier on Wednesday in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania.

It will be the Democratic presidential nominee’s first official Fox News interview, after entering the race in July, less than three months ago.

“While Trump became the first major presidential nominee to back out of the traditional pre-election ’60 Minutes’ interview, Kamala Harris has agreed to sit down with Fox News for an interview this week,” noted Zeteo News’ Justin Baragona.

“Harris has upped her media appearances recently, having sat down with Stephen Colbert, 60 Minutes‘ Bill Whitaker and Howard Stern, among other personalities,” Deadline reports. “But she’s also been urged by some supporters to make an appearance on Fox News, populated by voices on the right, even though Baier is on the network’s news side. With an average of 2.3 million viewers, Special Report has ranked among the most watched cable news programs.”

READ MORE: ‘Is He OK?’: Trump’s Dark of Night Rage Posting Backfires

Trump recently did pull out of a previously agreed-to interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” and has refused to do any more debates with Harris after losing the first one on ABC News. Before that debate Trump had suggested a condition of him participating in the ABC debate would be Harris had to agree to two others, which she did. Next week she will appear in a CNN town hall, which originally was to be a debate until Trump pulled out.

“As of today, it has been **one month** since Trump’s been interviewed by a mainstream media outlet,” noted Harris campaign spokesperson Ian Sams, “as he has backed out of 60 Minutes and refuses to debate again.”

“Meanwhile Harris is willing to even go on Fox,” he added.

During the 2024 campaign Trump has done virtually no interviews with mainstream media outlets, avoiding The New York Times, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and MSNBC. He did sit down with NBC News’s “Meet the Press” for Kristen Welker’s first interview as the show’s new moderator last year in September.

READ MORE: ‘Fascist to the Core’: Trump’s Top General Slams Ex-President as ‘Most Dangerous Person’

The Nation’s John Nichols commented that Trump is “running scared.”

Trump supporters “swarmed all over Fox’s Bret Baier today like he was a Capitol Police Officer on J6 after he posted on Twitter that he will be interviewing Kamala Harris this Wednesday,” MeidasTouch News reports. “Baier received 2,200 comments on his tweet announcing the interview in just the first hour after he posted it.”

“Most of the MAGA comments to Baier follow a consistent theme – that they lost all faith in Baier after his tough interview embarrassed Trump last year, and that they expect him to go into this interview with guns blazing to win back their favor. They also mentioned some of the previous Harris interview conspiracies – that her earrings were airpods where she was getting the answers, that she was given the questions ahead of time, that Baier and Fox called the 2020 election too early for Biden, etc.,” MeidasTouch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski reported.

Journalist Mike Rothschild, who has written books on right wing conspiracy theories, observed: “This is smart from the VP. She has nothing to lose by appearing on the news arm of Fox News (as opposed to the screeching infotainment arm) and if she breaks through to a fraction of their viewership, it’s worth it. It’s almost like the Harris campaign knows what it’s doing.”

The news Harris will appear on Fox News comes on the heels of one of that outlet’s former top hosts, Geraldo Rivera, denouncing Donald Trump and endorsing the Vice President’s run for President.

READ MORE: Elon Musk’s X Engaged in a ‘Pattern of Election Interference’ to Help Trump: Reports

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OPINION

‘Is He OK?’: Trump’s Dark of Night Rage Posting Backfires

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16 hours ago

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October 14, 2024

By

After a weekend of speeches dehumanizing immigrants and threatening to use the U.S. military on Americans who oppose him, Donald Trump in a 1 AM dead of night post lashed out at his Democratic presidential opponent in what some are saying was projection.

“I believe it is very important that Kamala Harris pass a test on Cognitive Stamina and Agility,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform at 1:12 AM. “Her actions have led many to believe that there could be something very wrong with her. Even 60 Minutes and CBS, in order to protect Lyin’ Kamala, illegally and unscrupulously replaced an answer she had given, which was totally ‘bonkers,’ with another answer that had nothing to do with the question asked. Also, she is slow and lethargic in answering even the easiest of questions. We just went through almost four years of that, we shouldn’t have to do it again!”

Late Monday morning Trump posted the same message on the social media site X. He also recently called Vice President Harris “retarded,” according to The New York Times.

“So, let me get this straight,” noted Zeteo News media columnist Justin Baragona. “The 78-year-old GOP presidential nominee, who has been showing serious signs of age-related decline, refuses to release his medical records — but he is now demanding his much younger opponent take a cognitive test?”

READ MORE: ‘Fascist to the Core’: Trump’s Top General Slams Ex-President as ‘Most Dangerous Person’

SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile observed, “Trump is furious that Harris is saying Trump’s ‘staff’ won’t let him do 60 Minutes or release his medical records.”

“Claiming Harris is ‘slow and lethargic’ is a heavy lift even for this pathological liar and his MAGA mob.”

The Harris campaign mocked Trump in response.

“Trump posts at 1:12am that VP Harris must take a cognitive test,” wrote campaign spokesperson Ian Sams. “As he refuses to release his medical records, sit with 60 Minutes, or debate her again— instead retreating solely to rambling rallies where he’s increasingly making no sense.”

“Is he okay?”

READ MORE: Elon Musk’s X Engaged in a ‘Pattern of Election Interference’ to Help Trump: Reports

Republican Voters Against Trump, a project of the Republican Accountability PAC declared, “It’s always projection with Trump.”

Before Trump’s post on Saturday, MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin told viewers: “For Trump and his party, the strategy in this final stretch to the election is about one thing and one thing only: projection.”

“Everything Trump and his party accuse Democrats of doing ultimately ends up being a cynical projection of themselves, from defending democracy to free speech, reproductive rights, and free and fair elections.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Campaign an ‘Influence Operation’ Says Former State Dept. Official — Experts Agree

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