February 25, 2011

The Week in Sharia: Obama’s Extremely Covert Plan

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One thing led to another:

  • New Hampshire heard arguments from citizens about a bill to ban gay marriage. Concerned citizen Howard Kaufman took to the floor of the state house to float the second-wackiest conspiracy theory of the week: Gay marriage is a secret gateway to Islamic law.
  • The wackiest conspiracy of the week? That belongs Avi Lipkin, an American-born Israeli who revealed (scoop!) that President Obama is pushing for amnesty for undocumented residents as part of a secret plot to flood the nation with 100 million Muslims. As MoJo‘s David Corn explains, the plan is to “turn this country into an Islamic nation by the end of his second term.” And the United Nations is in on it!
  • The American Bar Association is in on it, too.
  • At a town hall meeting in Pompano Beach, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) was asked by the director of CAIR‘s South Florida chapter why he thinks Islam is so horrible. West, who’s been floated as a vice presidential candidate, responded: “I’ve been on the battlefield, my friend. Don’t try to blow sunshine up my butt and tell me it’s warm and fuzzy.” Which is gross.
  • West appeared on Fox and Friends to explain what he meant on Wednesday, and, after first labeling Muslims “an enemy,”warned that he would not tolerate being portrayed as an “enemy of Islam.” Because seriously, where did anyone get that idea?
  • A Texas man who set fire to the playground of an Arlington Islamic center last July pled guilty to federal hate crime charges.
  • Tennessee has already banned Islamic law. But just in case they missed something the first time around, Volunteer State lawmakers are going to try to do it again. A proposed bill before the state legislature would make “material support” for Islamic law punishable by 15 years in prison. Per the bill, “The knowing adherence to sharia and to foreign sharia authorities is prima facie evidence of an act in support of the overthrow of the United States government.” Among the ways you can show adherence to Sharia: getting married, not robbing banks.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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