Deep Thought – Atrios

Op-Ed Contributors – Why We Talk To Terrorists – NYTimes.com. NOT all groups that the United States government classifies as terrorist organizations are equally bad or dangerous, and not all information conveyed to them that is based on political, academic or scientific expertise risks harming our national security. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court, which last week upheld a law banning the provision of “material support” to foreign terrorist groups, doesn’t seem to consider those facts relevant.

Flailing After Muslims – NYTimes.com. On Monday, I spoke by phone with Colleen Kelly, a nurse practitioner from the Bronx whose brother, William Kelly Jr., was killed in the attack on the World Trade Center. She belongs to a group called September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and is opposed to Mr. King’s hearings. “I was trying to figure out why he’s doing this,” she said, “and I haven’t come up with a good answer.”  She recalled how people were stigmatized in the early years of the AIDS epidemic and the way that stigmas become the focus of attention and…

Joshua Stanton: The NYPD Should Build, Not Disrupt Faith. The very logic behind this NYPD initiative raises my hackles. Is a religious community really free to assemble when it does not feel safe doing so? Is the NYPD truly fulfilling its mandate by alienating one of America’s religious communities? My mind is as full of worry when contemplating these questions as the hearts of so many Muslim students, concerned about the safety of their campus communities.