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American Muslim Statement on Free Speech

I am a signatory. I am listing only the text as The American Muslim is hosting the master document with signatories. —- We, the undersigned, unconditionally condemn any intimidation or threats of violence directed against any individual or group exercising the rights of freedom of religion and speech; even when that speech may be perceived as hurtful or reprehensible. We are concerned and saddened by the recent wave of vitriolic anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic sentiment that is being expressed across our nation. We are even more concerned and saddened by threats that have been made against individual writers, cartoonists, and others…

Excerpt from “Butterfly Mosque” by @g_willow

Very excited that G. Willow Wilson has made the Prologue of her excellent book, Butterfly Mosque, available. I think, once you read it, you get a flavor of the character in the story. [I am of the opinion that even in memoir, the protagonist is the creation of the writer. The question is that creation recognizable as the writer.] —- PROLOGUE In the upper reaches of the Zagros Mountains, the air changed. The high altitude opened it, cleared it of the dust of the valleys, and made it sing a little in the lungs; low atmospheric pressure. It was a…

Penis Slicing and Cheney is more Taliban than the Taliban – #torture

Andrew Sullivan brings us two torture related stories today. One pulls on reporting by Glenn Greenwald, in which we find out Binyam Mohamed had his genitals sliced open as torture. If, for some reason, that image doesn’t nauseate you, imagine his name was Benjamin Moses (it is the Hebrew equivalent) and he was in Taliban custody. We surely would be up in arms. Speaking of the Taliban, Andrew also tells us that the Taliban treat their prisoners better than Vice-President Cheney did.