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Month: December 2015

Spike In Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Reflects America’s ‘Tremendous’ Bigotry Problem
A protest against Islamophobia and hate speech in Minneapolis, Minnesota on September 17, 2016. (Flickr / Fibonacci Blue)
December 14, 2015
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Spike In Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Reflects America’s ‘Tremendous’ Bigotry Problem

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

America seems to be in the grips of an epidemic of hate and bigotry unseen since 9/11, and, once again, innocent Muslims are the target of threats and outright violence.

Mainstream media and social media have been flooded with troubling reports of Islamophobia across the country in recent weeks.

Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told MintPress News, “We’ve seen a tremendous spike in anti-Muslim bigotry in our society fomented by individuals like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum and others. We’ve seen a spike in hate crimes as well.”

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How ISIS Oil Flows Through Turkey And Israel On Its Way To Europe
File: ISIS (Daesh) parades through the desert on stolen trucks. (Flickr / Day Ddonaldson)
December 9, 2015
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How ISIS Oil Flows Through Turkey And Israel On Its Way To Europe

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

It’s widely recognized that Daesh (the Arabic acronym for the terrorist group often called IS, ISIS or ISIL in the West) depends on oil sales to fuel its armies. Until recently, it’s been less clear who is buying Daesh’s oil, and how it ends up in their hands.

However, recent reports suggest that the oil flows to Europe and Asia through a complex process that implicates allies of the United States like Turkey and Israel. The U.S. is also facing increasing criticism for its failure to target the terrorist group’s oil infrastructure in a serious way until recently.

Cam Simpson and Matthew Philips, writing in November for Bloomberg Businessweek, called recent U.S. attacks on oil trucks an attempt by the Obama administration to “quietly” fix a “colossal miscalculation.” Government experts now argue that the U.S. dramatically underestimated Daesh’s oil profits:

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The Color Of Terrorism: Who Gets Charged And Why?
Two hijabi women hold signs expressing solidarity with the victims of the Charleston Shooting at a June 18, 2015 vigil in Washington, D.C. (Flickr / Stephen Melkisethian)
December 8, 2015
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The Color Of Terrorism: Who Gets Charged And Why?

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

What constitutes terrorism? Recent mass shootings in the United States, including those in San Bernardino, California, and Colorado Springs, have renewed a debate about how to define these disturbing and deadly incidents.

One part of the argument hinges on how journalists refer to these crimes in the media, with some, such as Jack Jenkins, arguing that Robert Louis Dear, the shooter who killed three people and wounded nine at a Planned Parenthood Clinic in November, is clearly a terrorist. By contrast, Kevin Gosztola observes that the term terrorism is essentially meaningless due to misuse.

Beyond how the media discusses mass killings, another factor is when and how courts decide to bring terrorism charges against a suspect. On Nov. 30, a Colorado court charged Dear with first-degree murder, but it could take weeks or months longer before Dear could face additional charges, including terrorism, amid an ongoing federal investigation. At the same time, the shooting in San Bernardino is already being treated as terrorism by federal investigators.

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Can Being White Save You From A Fatal Police Shooting?
Police drive a militarized armored vehicle to a Black Lives Matter protest in Baltimore. April 29, 2015. (Flickr / Arash Azizzada)
December 1, 2015
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Can Being White Save You From A Fatal Police Shooting?

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Last week, a white man was captured alive after a five-hour shootout with police at a Planned Parenthood clinic that claimed the lives of three and injured nine. Coming just days after the one-year anniversary of Tamir Rice’s death, and amid a number of high-profile police brutality protests, the violent incident has renewed a debate about race and policing in the United States.

On Friday, Robert Lewis Dear barricaded himself inside the health clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he engaged in an ongoing fire-fight with police before being captured alive. Among the victims were a university police officer, a mother of two, and an Iraq War veteran with two children. At least five of the other injured victims were police officers.

Earlier that week, activists took the streets in Cleveland to mark one year since the death of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy, who was killed by police while playing in a park with a toy gun. It is legal to openly carry firearms in Ohio, yet video footage of the shooting shows police opening fire on the boy within just two seconds of their arrival in the park. Police were slow to provide medical attention to the boy, even detaining his sister when she tried to provide medical aid. He died the next day.

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