The newest red state

The pilgrims came with honour and reverence, thanking God for His compassion and mercy, having escaped the toil and trial of the Hijaz and saved from the painful punishment of hell. They came to Mecca from ‘Arafat proclaiming “Labbayka! Here I am, at your service, O Lord!” They had performed all the rites of the pilgrimage and were now returning home, safe and healthy.

The case against Brandon Mayfield has been voided. (Previous posts). This is great news. More encouraging is what the fall-out of the case might be. First, I think it does wonders for increasing faith in the judicial system. It would have been better if the mistake had not been made in the first place, but the fact that legal system corrected the mistake relatively quickly is encouraging. Second, the PD for Mayfield believes part of the reason for the accusation was that Mayfield is Muslim. “Steven Wax, the public defender who represented Mayfield, said an FBI computer likely returned a…

Cornell West has a brave op-ed piece on the moral disaster that is the Middle East: As we witness another sad chapter in the Middle East — the loss of precious human beings, the presence of deep hatred and revenge, and the absence of Socratic questioning and empathy for all — the spirit of Spinoza haunts us. Where are the courageous thinkers who ask the hard questions that shatter our simplistic and sentimental frameworks of pure Israeli heroes and impure Arab villains (or vice versa) in the conflict? Is it possible for Jews to reject the ugly Israeli subjugation of…