Border Agents Stopped Muhammad Ali Jr. Here's How We Can All Fight Back
Sunday, 26 February 2017 14:45
Bayoumi writes: "Eight months and a presidential election later, Muslim Americans, including those with notable fathers, can't even return to their own country without problems. But, they keep telling us, it's not a Muslim ban."
People arrive at Washington Dulles International Airport on February 6, 2017. (photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
Border Agents Stopped Muhammad Ali Jr. Here's How We Can All Fight Back
By Moustafa Bayoumi, Guardian UK
26 February 17
The White House boxes clever, insisting there is no Muslim ban, but reports of obstruction and harassment go on. Citizens of any creed must know their rights
n 7 February, border agents at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood international airport held the son of boxing legend Muhammad Ali for two hours. According to his lawyer, they repeatedly asked him about his religion.
Just last June, the world mourned the passing of his father, perhaps the most famous Muslim on the planet, as an American hero. Eight months and a presidential election later, Muslim Americans, including those with notable fathers, can’t even return to their own country without problems.
But, they keep telling us, it’s not a Muslim ban.
Muhammad Ali Jr is not a visa-holder from Yemen, Iraq, Iran or Libya. He is not a refugee from Syria or Somalia or Sudan. He was born in Philadelphia. If they won’t let him into the USA, where is he supposed to go?
He is not the only citizen to report problems re-entering his country of birth. Last week Faruk Abdullah, a consultant based in Union City, California, was flying home from Berlin, where he had been meeting clients. Abdullah – who was born in Columbus, Nebraska, has no other citizenship and describes himself as “annoyingly patriotic” – told me he suddently found himself in front of three KLM ticket agents who were flummoxed as to why the system would allow him to fly from Berlin to Amsterdam but not from Amsterdam to San Francisco.
One of the agents told Abdullah she suspected US immigration had put a block on his travel, “probably because of your name”. Abdullah, who has flown overseas many times without incident, contacted his wife in California. She quickly assembled a team of lawyers. By the time Abdullah reached Amsterdam, he was able to board his flight to America. He still doesn’t know why he was flagged or then permitted to board.
“I just have this bad feeling that there is a deliberate attempt to undermine US citizens and US Muslims,” he said. “If I am a US citizen, I should totally be treated the exact same way as anyone else that is a US citizen.”
Immigration lawyers are also reporting that a number of Muslim US citizens and green card holders have had their Global Entry cards mysteriously revoked or applications suddenly denied, even after having been told they had been approved.
But it’s not a Muslim ban.
Trump’s executive order of 27 January barred entry of visa-holders from seven Muslim-majority countries and all refugees for at least 90 days. That order was horrible, unconscionable and quite probably illegal, according to a decision by the ninth circuit court of appeals. But the situation may now be even worse.
It’s one terrible thing to bar non-citizen Muslims entry. It’s another to treat Muslim citizens differently from other citizens by law and policy. Judging by my social media accounts, American Muslims, who are constitutionally guaranteed the right to equal protection under the law, are in constant communication regarding plans for overseas travel.
Earlier this month, Asifa Quraishi-Landes, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin, wrote a widely shared Facebook post that sought to alert US Muslims to their rights when traveling.
“Dear US Muslim citizens traveling overseas,” it began. “There are numerous reports that US Muslim citizens (and many non-Muslim persons of color) are being detained at secondary checkpoints through customs [and being asked] suspicious questions such as religious scholars they follow, social media groups, and political affiliations.
“As a citizen, you have an ABSOLUTE right to come back into the US. They cannot send you to another country.”
Emphasizing that one should “maintain etiquette, politeness, and composure” while engaging any border agent, Quraishi-Landes offered 10 necessary tips for US Muslim travelers:
1. Tell them you are an American citizen.
2. Tell them you’ve identified yourself.
3. Ask to speak to their supervisor.
4. Tell them you want a lawyer (have ACLU, CAIR, or your lawyer’s number with you)
5. Tell them you believe you are being religiously profiled. You MUST be allowed entry as an American citizen and you do not need to answer questions about how you pray or what you believe in.
6. Do not sign anything – NOTHING.
7. If they try to make you reboard an airplane, sit down on the ground and go limp if they try to lift you. Never hit or push.
8. Keep asking for a lawyer.
9. Make sure someone knows your complete itinerary. Make sure someone is waiting for you at your destination or knows to expect you.
10. If you wish, email your name and itinerary to:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. Attorney groups at your destination airport will be notified, just in case. Even if you aren’t a refugee, it will allow them to route you to an immigration attorney if you need one.
Quraishi-Landes has done us a valuable service by composing this list, which must be shared and absorbed. But it is beyond infuriating that such a list has to exist in the first place.
Yarrow writes: "People have been wondering what folksinger/activists, some of them septuagenarians like Noel Paul Stookey and me, might be doing in the face of the current cataclysmic challenges to our democracy and our nation. The answer is simple: we are going to keep on keeping on."
Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary. (photo: Peter Yarrow)
Impeachable: A New Kind of Protest Song
By Peter Yarrow, Reader Supported News
26 February 17
‘Impeachable’ is a new twist on the kinds of songs that Peter Paul and Mary were singing that helped to mobilize Americans.
eople have been wondering what folksinger/activists, some of them septuagenarians like Noel Paul Stookey and me, might be doing in the face of the current cataclysmic challenges to our democracy and our nation.
The answer is simple: we are going to keep on keeping on. We inherited a legacy from Woody, Pete Seeger and the Weavers and many others who inspired us. They never quit, never stopped and never stopped advocating. Doing so is “in our blood” and it’s a great gift to both Noel and me, as it would be to Mary – were she still to be with us. She would join, even (or maybe especially) at our advanced age, the current advocacies that “hammer out a warning”, “ring out danger” and “sing about the love between our brothers and our sisters”. No, we’ve not “gone away”. We, and others who also come from the folk music/activist tradition, are solidly committed to using our music to generate community and consensus at our concerts and at gatherings and demonstrations to confront the most dangerous of challenges now threatening our country.
I have written, and currently perform, two songs that have come out of the presidential campaign and its results, one being The Children Are Listening and the other being, Lift Us Up. I am grateful that, in a limited context (for sure) both of these songs have become rallying points for efforts to assert what is good in ourselves and what is reprehensible and frightening in the face of the recent election.
By far the most important effort yet, by either Noel Paul or me – in terms of its reach and, in my opinion, its brilliance – is Impeachable, a parody Noel wrote of the song Unforgettable, which was a huge hit by Nat King Cole from the early 1950s. Impeachable was just released on the internet and went viral with, currently, over 800,000 hits. (Please share this link with your buddies and help us spread the message.)
Impeachable is an example of Noel’s extraordinary ability to write a super-funny, very surprising yet also, highly nuanced, lyric. He is, and has always been, an amazing songwriter. In its first public performance last weekend Impeachable brought the audience at our concert in Thousand Oaks, CA to its feet with a prolonged standing ovation. There were screeches of delight the likes of which I have never before heard at a Peter Paul and Mary concert.
Noel has clearly struck a hugely resonant chord amongst those who heard the hammer strokes warning of a grave danger to our nation, our democracy and, in fact, the whole earth.
Impeachable is a new twist on the kinds of songs that Peter Paul and Mary were singing that helped to mobilize Americans at the time of the Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement. Blowing In the Wind and If I Had a Hammer written by Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger & Lee Hays, respectively, were anthems that brought folks together in ways that let them recognize, in very personal ways, their collective strength as well as reassert a commonly held ethical/political perspective. Such was also the case with Where Have All the Flowers Gone and a myriad of other songs. With their repetition at rallies, marches and on the radio, these songs inspired many newcomers to the world of activism who asserted to us that our music, and that of our fellow folk musicians, became the “sound track of their political awakening”. (In our view, this is one of the greatest compliments we ever received.)
Today, of course, the dominant transmission of such advocacies comes through social media, though in-person efforts such as The Women’s March on Washington, and the demonstrations at Standing Rock that electrified the nation are still, I believe, the most powerful tools for social/political mobilization.
Also, there is another new aspect to a musician’s, or an actor’s, or any artist’s efforts in the realm of advocacy. In this time, humor, as offered by the likes of John Oliver, the gifted cast and guests, such as the amazing Alec Baldwin, on Saturday Night Live, Samantha Bee, Melissa McCarthy, Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah, to name just a few, has played a huge role in inspiring and activating the spirit of our nation. It cuts through the extreme “noise” in tweets, frightening pronouncement and actions emanating from the current administration,
Please take heart my friends. From my travels, I have found that there has been a huge call to action heeded, even (and emphatically) in my and Noel’s elder demographic. Be assured that a large body of former artist-activists is mobilizing now with their songs, their poetry, their heart-rending videos, their humor and their visual work on signs and memes that spread across the internet with ever more amazing directness, humor, and determination. As long as this continues to build, we’re walking together and gaining strength. Let’s carry it on, my friends.
In solidarity and love, Peter
Impeachable By Noel Paul Stookey
Impeachable, that’s what you are… Impeachable, and yet so far... You’ve avoided closer scrutiny And even though Vlad-i-mer Putin, he Opens many doors, it only makes you more...
Impeachable, and when, some day We can say ‘you’re fired’ and you go away You may have thought you were unreachable (but) history makes some moments teachable: Someday Pence may be impeachable too
Galindez writes: "Like many of you, I was disappointed by the results of the DNC chair election. We were close again."
Keith Ellison and Tom Perez. (photo: Getty Images)
What Now? Keep Organizing
By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News
26 February 17
ike many of you, I was disappointed by the results of the DNC chair election. We were close again.
We are still making progress. I still believe our day is coming. The establishment wing has moved to the left. We have forced them to do that. They are still in the driver’s seat, but we are riding shotgun, and we have the map.
I see that many are saying this was the last straw. I think that would be a mistake. The Democratic Party is being transformed, but it will not happen overnight. Remember my story: When I was 17, I went in the Army and thought Ronald Reagan was making the country strong again. A few years later on campus at Syracuse University, I was walking past a rally for divestment from South Africa, and a story I heard on the stage stopped me in my tracks. That was the beginning of my journey.
Donald Trump is causing many people’s journey to start. Rank and file Democrats are attending protests. We must continue to lead the fight against Donald Trump. Groups like Our Revolution, MoveOn, and Democracy for America need to continue to organize. We must work in coalition with emerging groups like Indivisible. Many of the people in the streets and at town halls will look to us for leadership. We are not “paid” protesters, but we are experienced agitators.
In a statement after the DNC vote, Bernie Sanders said the following: “At a time when Republicans control the White House, the House, the Senate and two-thirds of all statehouses, it is imperative that Tom understands that the same-old, same-old is not working and that we must open the doors of the party to working people and young people in a way that has never been done before. Now, more than ever, the Democratic Party must make it clear that it is prepared to stand up to the 1 percent and lead this country forward in the fight for social, racial, economic and environmental justice.”
Jim Dean of Democracy for America wrote: “At a moment when the party so clearly needs real, foundational change, this result shows that many insiders are terrified of change. And, if Democratic insiders won’t build the reformed party we need to take on Trump and welcome in the army of grassroots resistance fighters who are already waging that fight in the streets, we’re going to have to do it ourselves.”
MoveOn’s director, Ilya Sheyman, told his members: “In recent years the Democratic Party has become too Washington-insider, too beholden to the same big donors and consultants, and too timid on issues of social, racial, and economic justice. It’s lost touch with the real grassroots of the party. Today’s vote to continue accepting corporate lobbyist donations just furthers that perception.
They are all right. Our job remains the same today as it was yesterday. Nothing has changed there. We still must unify the resistance to Donald Trump.
Jeff Weaver, the president of Our Revolution, is also right: “There’s too much at stake to let the Democratic Party continue its old (and losing) ways. With Trump and his allies controlling Washington we have to take it upon ourselves to elect progressives even if elements of the Democratic Party are locked in complacency.”
Keep fighting the real enemies. The real enemy is not only Trump; it is still the corporate control of our electoral system. We have to fight both at the same time. Don’t demonize other opponents because they are not with us yet. Meet them where they’re at, and work with them on the things we agree on. Be patient, and you will find that over time you will agree on more and more. One day soon, all of our efforts will be rewarded.
Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott moved to Des Moines in 2015 to cover the Iowa Caucus.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
Reich writes: "Both Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, among other retailers, have dropped Trump brands, both Ivanka's and her father's. Their decisions came amid calls for a boycott against retailers that carry Trump products."
Robert Reich speaking to Occupy San Francisco in 2011. (photo: Jeff Chiu/AP)
Boycotting Trump
By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog
26 February 17
oth Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, among other retailers, have dropped Trump brands, both Ivanka’s and her father’s. Their decisions came amid calls for a boycott against retailers that carry Trump products.
Macy’s dropped Donald Trump’s clothing line early in his campaign after he called Mexican immigrants “killers” and “rapists.“ Now Macy’s is under increasing pressure to drop Ivanka’s as well.
Travis Kalanick, Uber’s CEO, quit Trump’s economic advisory council after he was pressured by consumers and employees. That came after Trump’s Muslim ban and #deleteuber went viral.
Keep the pressure on. Let’s make it unprofitable to work with Trump. Boycott Trump. Reject companies that do business with Trump. Boycott companies whose CEOs collaborate with Trump.
You need to be both a political activist and a consumer activist.
Republicans Accuse Voters of Using Town Halls to Express Themselves
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=9160"><span class="small">Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker</span></a>
Saturday, 25 February 2017 14:41
Borowitz writes: "Saying 'Enough is enough,' Republican senators on Friday angrily accused their constituents of 'intentionally and opportunistically' using recent town-hall meetings as vehicles to express themselves."
People shout to Representative Jason Chaffetz during his town hall meeting at Brighton High School, Thursday, February 9, 2017, in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. (photo: Rick Bowmer/AP)
Republicans Accuse Voters of Using Town Halls to Express Themselves
By Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker
25 February 17
The article below is satire. Andy Borowitz is an American comedian and New York Times-bestselling author who satirizes the news for his column, "The Borowitz Report."
aying “Enough is enough,” Republican senators on Friday angrily accused their constituents of “intentionally and opportunistically” using recent town-hall meetings as vehicles to express themselves.
One of the angriest Republicans, Senator Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, said he was “disgusted and offended” by the “flagrant exercise of freedom of speech” he witnessed at his town hall.
“The spectacle of people standing up, asking their elected representatives questions, and expecting them to answer is the most disgraceful thing I’ve ever experienced,” Cotton said. “This will not stand.”
Cotton accused “outside agitators” of sending voters to the town halls “to cynically exploit an obscure provision in the Constitution called the First Amendment.”
“I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but isn’t it a little suspicious that, in town hall after town hall, all these voters were so well-versed in one tiny sentence in the Constitution?” he said. “It doesn’t pass the smell test.”
While Cotton said that he would consider participating in future town halls, he warned that some modifications to the town-hall format were necessary, such as banning voters from the events.
“We need to send a strong message to these people,” he said. “A town-hall meeting is not a time for everyone in town to come to a hall and meet.”
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n 7 February, border agents at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood international airport held the son of boxing legend Muhammad Ali for two hours. 
eople have been wondering what folksinger/activists, some of them septuagenarians like Noel Paul Stookey and me, might be doing in the face of the current cataclysmic challenges to our democracy and our nation.
ike many of you, I was disappointed by the results of the DNC chair election. We were close again.
oth Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, among other retailers, have dropped Trump brands, both Ivanka’s and her father’s. Their decisions came amid calls for a boycott against retailers that carry Trump products.
aying “Enough is enough,” Republican senators on Friday angrily accused their constituents of “intentionally and opportunistically” using recent town-hall meetings as vehicles to express themselves.
