http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/ ... -confront-climate-of-fear


After shooting of imam, N.Y. Muslims confront climate of fear


USA Justice
After shooting of imam, N.Y. Muslims confront climate of fear
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Most members of the Bangladeshi community in Ozone Park insist the execution-style killings of an imam and his assistant just after prayers Saturday were hate crimes.
By Harry Bruinius, Staff writer August 16, 2016

New York ? Over a decade ago, Sahabuddin Chowdhury opened his modest auto repair and body shop on Atlantic Avenue in Queens, right on the northernmost border of Ozone Park, when his teenage daughter and son were still very young.

He was part of a wave of immigrants from Bangladesh that over the past two decades has made this traditionally working class neighborhood another of New York?s mosaic of ?littles.?

?We work hard here, we pray, we go to the mosque, we pray five times a day,? he says. ?Our children grow up for the Muslim community, and we are proud to be the Muslims. We are making a peaceful life in this community.?
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On Monday, however, Mr. Chowdhury closed his single-garage shop at noon and slowly made his way through the side streets to Ozone Park ? where a number of single-owner yellow cabs sit parked in front of the rows of single-family houses, many with American flags out front. He was on his way to attend a Salat al-Janazah funeral prayer for a local imam and his assistant ? an event attended by local officials, including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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The religious leaders, Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and his assistant Thara Miah, were shot and killed execution style, in broad daylight and near the neighborhood?s elevated subway tracks, minutes after they walked from midday prayers at a mosque two blocks away.

?I?ve never seen this happen, I?ve never seen this in my life,? Chowdhury says, noting that the neighborhood is not without its problems. ?The imam just finished the prayer, and now ? we are very, very upset. My kids, we are very now ? they are feeling very unsafe about what?s going on. My daughter, my son, they are crying, say[ing], 'Daddy, don?t go outside, it?s unsafe.' It?s not a good time for our people.?

It?s been a refrain of many American Muslims over the past year, as community advocates and even President Obama cite a growing climate of fear among Muslim residents. A growing list of threats and acts of violence and intimidation across the nation have set many communities on edge.

?See my beard, see my clothing ? I am a Muslim, anybody can hit me, anybody can shoot me,? says Mia Parvez, a tourism and travel agent wearing a light panjabi long shirt and traditional tupi cap. He has started to become more politically active this year, he says, becoming an organizer for the local Bangladeshi community. ?So this is the problem now, everybody scared now, not like before.?

Police arrested a Brooklyn man, Oscar Morel, later on Monday. He was charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, police said, but they caution that a motive has not yet been established. Imam Akonjee was carrying $1,000 cash, according to police, but security cameras captured the quick execution-style shootings and police believe robbery was not a motive.

Most members of the Bangladeshi community in the area insist that is was a hate crime ? even though many said they had mostly felt safe in this Ozone Park enclave in the past few months.

Muhammad Asrab Khan, like Chowdhury, is wearing a dusty T-shirt and work boots as he makes his way to the Janazah service ? even as the majority of the men gathering are attired in traditional garb like Mr. Parvez ? familiar clothing now on the streets of this ?Little Bangladesh? in Ozone Park.

Mr. Asrab Khan is an electrician, a small-business owner who installs security cameras, mostly as a subcontractor for the General Services Administration, the federal agency that oversees government buildings and maintenance.

He, too, was part of the influx of Bangladeshis who arrived in the past decade and have become legal residents ? about 15,000 per year, according to the Department of Homeland Security, with New York being the top destination.

?I am a contractor, and so many people here, they work for the government, work for the union, they try to build up our lives in Amrika,? Asrab Khan says, using the common pronunciation for America in the community. ?A lot of Bengali people, they are doctors and engineers and teachers ? they support our community, our government, and our police officers.?

Not too long ago, this area was knows as the ?Little Italy of Queens.? Before that, German and Irish workers helped build the row houses along the neighborhood?s side streets. Even earlier, back in the 19th century, French factory workers here produced pots.

And now Chowdhury and others here know well the idea of what they sometimes refer to as the ?Amrikan dream? ? a chance to provide their children with a better home, a better education, and in certain ways a better life.

As a member of the Chittagong Association of North America, an advocacy group for Bangladeshis headquartered in Brooklyn, Asrab Khan says communities in New York have not necessarily experienced the same kind of overt acts of intimidation and violence that some other communities in the US have experienced.

?But some political leaders are talking anti-Muslim, the sentiment is going up,? says Kazi Hussain, former president of the Chittagong Association. ?This is a bad thing, this is dangerous thing ? for democracy. So I?d like to say, Donald Trump, please stop your speech against the Muslims.?

During the service, angry cries of ?We want justice!? often interrupted those speaking.

"I want you to know we are all mourning with you," Mayor de Blasio told the crowd of more than 1,000 Muslim men attending the funeral prayers. The two victims "were examples of goodness and righteousness," he said.

?In Islam, the loss of a person is regarded as not just a loss for their family, but for the entire community,? the mayor continued. ?That?s something we as New Yorkers understand, again across all faiths, across all neighborhoods... We're not going to listen to those voices who try to divide us. We will stand up to them each and every time," he said. "We will make sure that whoever did this is brought to justice, I can guarantee you that."

For Nasir Uddin, an undocumented worker who peddles perfumes and such near Manhattan?s Chinatown on Canal Street, the ?Amrikan dream? has changed the lives of his American born children.

?I come here for one thing, mainly: education for my children,? he says. ?My sons now have a rising life, my daughter has a rising life, even if I am not rising so much. Amrika feeds me, gives me a better life.?

So where was Corzine and McGreavy while all this was going on?

Trump and Christie screwing with the States legal revenue via tax: Instead of paying 30 million to our State coffers, Christie wrote-off 25 Million that Trump owed, to keep him happy!

Then we complain about our schools, hospitals and roads !!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/us/ ... fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

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Reading comprehension is an important tool for many to learn. Try it sometime...

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Wow! There is something wrong with you. Read your own post. You called people who ignore the "liberal media" racists. Own up to what u post.

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Plus side: You were actually able to work the quote function!

Downside: You didn't provide evidence that I asked for proving that you have no point and are just posting crap.

Giuliani has, for the moment, surpassed Trump as the stupidest Republican on the planet. It is beyond comical.

I'm glad we have the Olympics to give us momentary respite from probably the craziest election year ever. I'm not looking forward to a Hillary Clinton presidency but Trump sure is making it easy for her, he might as well be Clinton's campaign manager.

https://youtu.be/MBKu9OJ8Ltk

Rudy Guiliani in drag, kissed by the Donald. Warning - once you see it you won't be able to "un-see" it.

Delusional Giuliani Claims There Were No Terror Attacks On US Soil Before Obama. #never #forget 9/11 Rudy! LOL

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is consolidating the support of the Millennials who fueled Bernie Sanders' challenge during the primaries, a new USA TODAY/Rock the Vote Poll finds, as Republican Donald Trump heads toward the worst showing among younger voters in modern American history.

The survey shows Clinton trouncing Trump 56%-20% among those under 35, though she has failed so far to generate the levels of enthusiasm Sanders did ? and the high turn-out that can signal ? among Millennials.

"I get worried about the bigoted element of our country, and that they will stick with Trump regardless of his stupidity," says Elizabeth Krueger, 31, an actress in New York City who was among those surveyed. She supports Clinton. "She is not going to be a perfect president, but who would be?"

More good stuff

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How is this for you? Remember?

- Hillary Clinton has widened her lead to 30 points over Donald Trump among New York voters, dominating a state Trump has vowed to make competitive in the 2016 presidential race, according to a new poll published Monday.

New Yorkers know a con man when they see one. NJ not so much

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Many people are waking up to the lies told to us by the media and by Establishment politicians. This election is a great thing and provides real hope for the future of this country.

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That's fun? Almost 40% of voters would choose Trump. I think that's pretty scary.

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I don't understand why you are incapable of using the quote button...

Please quote (if you can figure out how to) where I wrote that disagreements with the current admin means you are a racist. I won't hold my breath...

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It's still really early for this. But it doesn't look good for Trump right now.

I do look forward to when Trump's numbers start to bounce back a little and the racists and whingers on this site completely ignore the "liberal media" stories about Trump's resurgence. [/quot

So basically if you don't agree with the current administrations policies or like the elimination of the middle class you are now a racist.

Sounds like the words of a tolerant liberal

More Republican stupidity:

Rudy Giuliani: "Before Obama came along we didn't have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack inside the United States."

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It's still really early for this. But it doesn't look good for Trump right now.

I do look forward to when Trump's numbers start to bounce back a little and the racists and whingers on this site completely ignore the "liberal media" stories about Trump's resurgence.

Donald Trump?s already-narrow path to victory is rapidly disappearing

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/th ... -is-rapidly-disappearing/

Hilary already has 273 EV even if she loses all six of the states that are currently rated as "toss-ups."

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As long as someone wrote it: it has to be true.

That is because she will not rock the boat. All of you cheeleading for Hillary don't seem to get that she is a shill that will fall into line. If you wanted change it was Bernie or is Trump

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slates ... gration_at_all_study.html

A Gallup Study Just Debunked the Most Popular Theories About Trump?s Rise

By Osita Nwanevu


A new Gallup working paper on Donald Trump supporters has exposed critical parts of the prevailing narrative about Trump?s rise as myths. According to the Washington Post?s write-up, the study?based on more than 87,000 interviews Gallup has done with Trump supporters over the past year?reveals that Trump supporters have not been significantly adversely impacted by trade or immigration, the two issues that have been the focal points of the Trump campaign. From the Post:

The Gallup analysis is the most comprehensive statistical profile of Trump's supporters so far. Jonathan Rothwell, the economist at Gallup who conducted the analysis, sorted the respondents by their Zip code and then compared those findings with a host of other data from a variety of sources. After statistically controlling factors such as education, age and gender, Rothwell was able to determine which traits distinguished those who favored Trump from those who did not, even among people who appeared to be similar in other respects.

Rothwell conducted this kind of analysis not only among the broad group of Americans polled by Gallup. He was also able to focus specifically on white respondents, and even just on white Republicans. In general, his results were the same regardless of the group analyzed.

Rothwell?s analysis found that those who support Trump are more affluent than those who do not and that Trump supporters may even be more affluent than generic white Republicans, who tend to earn more than most Americans. Trump supporters are also only slightly more likely to be unemployed than all nonsupporters when controlling for geography and other factors, but are no more likely to be so than whites or white Republicans.

The study also suggests that while blue-collar workers with low levels of education are significantly more likely to support Trump, those workers are not, for the most part, factory workers who have been hit by trade and the decline of American manufacturing. ?The Gallup analysis shows that Americans who live in places where employment in manufacturing has declined since 1990 are not more favorable to Trump,? the Washington Post?s Max Ehrenfreund and Jeff Guo write. ?Rothwell did not find a relationship when he focused only on white respondents, either, or even specifically on white Republicans.? In fact, Rothwell writes in the study that Trump attracts less support in regions where trade has had a greater impact on manufacturing. ?Surprisingly, there appears to be no link whatsoever between exposure to trade competition and support for nationalist policies in America, as embodied by the Trump campaign,? he says.

But Rothwell also writes that there is genuine malaise at the heart of at least some support for Trump?blue-collar workers without college degrees obviously fare worse in the economy than other Americans. Additionally, those in areas where intergenerational mobility has fallen flat and where physical health has been poor were more likely to have favorable views of Trump. Still, Trump?s abysmal numbers with minorities, including blue-collar minorities who have been faring similarly poorly to the blue-collar whites that back Trump, indicate that support for him is not purely economically motivated.

The study paints a similar picture on immigration. From the Post:

Although Trump voters tend to be the most skeptical about immigration, they are also the least likely to actually encounter an immigrant in their neighborhood.

Rothwell finds that people who live in places with many Hispanic residents or places close to the Mexican border, tend not to favor Trump?relative to otherwise similar Americans and to otherwise similar white Republicans.

Among those who are similar in terms of income, education and other factors, those who view Trump favorably are more likely to be found in white enclaves?racially isolated Zip codes where the amount of diversity is lower than in surrounding areas.

The study, of course, won't change anything about the Trump campaign. As we?ve seen, imagined grievances make for good politics.

Trump's spokesperson courageously stated that Obama started war in afghanistan

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/t ... 57acf50de4b0718404108e3c?

Trump Supporters? Excuses For His Poll Numbers Are Getting Increasingly Weird

It's a fun read. Trumpians are being creative!

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Total agree - I'd like all public servants with managerial or supervisory roles, all emergency services personnel and politicians of all tiers of government, be required to undergo a mental health evaluation and examination before being approved for a position.

This will help with my advocacy of STOP ELECTING IDIOTS

"I do not know Mr. Trump personally and I have never had the opportunity to assess his personality professionally."

Curious when we can see his in depth analysis of Hillary and the other two candidates???

The study of Donald Trump - By Psychology Today

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/t ... -personality-donald-trump

Quote:trump is the GOP nominee. Period