The Cellar - Don't be a Muslim in America...

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Don't be a Muslim in America...

A follow up to a piece from late last year, about a US Airforce veteran, then living abroad with his family and refused the right to fly back the US to be with his sick mother, eventually allowed in the country...and now not allowed to leave the US to return to his family and job.

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In early November, I wrote about the infuriating story of Saadiq Long, the 43-year-old African-American Muslim who - despite having never been charged with any crime - was secretly placed on a no-fly list and thus barred from flying to the US to visit his seriously ill mother. When I met with Long in early November in Doha, Qatar, where he has lived for several years with his wife and her two children while teaching English, he was in the middle of his futile months-long battle just to find out why he was placed on this list, let alone how he could be removed.

Two weeks after that article was published, Long - without explanation - was finally removed from the no-fly list and he flew from Doha to Oklahoma City to visit his mother and other family members. He took several flights to make the 20-hour journey, all without incident. He has remained in Oklahoma for the last ten weeks, visiting his family in the US for the first time in over a decade.

But now Long - unbeknownst to him - has once again apparently been secretly placed by some unknown National Security State bureaucrat on the no-fly list. On Wednesday night, as Associated Press first reported, he went to the Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City to fly back home to Qatar. In order to ensure there were no problems, his lawyer sent the FBI a letter ahead of time notifying them that Long would be flying home on that date (see the embedded letter below).

But without explanation, Long was denied a boarding pass at the airport by a Delta Airlines agent. Three local police officers then arrived on the scene, followed by a US Transportation Security Administration agent who "told Long he couldn't board a plane but did not give him a specific reason".

Long's lawyer, Adam Soltani of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), was with him at the airport and repeatedly asked agents why this was happening and who they should contact. He got no answers, except was told to contact the FBI. But both the FBI and Delta refused to comment to AP, while TSA spokesman David Castelveter would only say this:

"It's my understanding this individual was denied a boarding pass by the airline because he was on a no-fly list. The TSA does not confirm whether someone is or is not on the no-fly list, as that list is maintained by the FBI."

Long and his CAIR lawyers have thus far been told nothing about why he is barred once again from flying.

Read the rest here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...ng-no-fly-list

Kafka would be proud.

I get a lot of shit for vaguely looking middle eastern.

I was in Oklahoma City, Norman, and Moore Oklahoma in the days up to the flight date in question. I've seen no evidence of local residents' attitudes that resemble what the government's been doing. But of course, you wouldn't see that on the outside. This whole shameful affair is evidence of an unacceptable overreach by our government. THIS is how the war on terror has gravely wounded our nation. It is a wound that is survivable, but NOT if we keep digging at it like this.

If we have some evidence, it should be presented. If we do not, the government needs to BACK THE FUCK OFF. Furthermore, I DO NOT hold my government responsible for preventing every bad thing that could possibly happen. That kind of expectation, that kind of passive fearfulness produces bad results. Vigilance is one thing, paranoia is another. I don't want my government acting on paranoia, but on facts.

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Originally Posted by ZenGum (Post 852288)

Kafka would be proud.

Orwell too, though "proud" is probably the wrong word.

Re Orwell. "Vindicated" I think.

He was a terrible snob though. Still, almost definitely the time and class he was born into. Because I'm saying this as someone who read him first aged 12 and loved him ever since.

One of my best go-to books for long journeys, waiting for interviews, in times of stress is Homage to Catalonia. My main reasons for going to Spain were not cheap booze and sunshine, but Orwell and Laurie Lee.

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Don't be a Muslim in America...

Pleasethankyou.

In general we've got more of a Huxley thing going, but this is pretty Orwell.

So, Huxwell & Orxley are saying we're pretty much fucked, then.

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Originally Posted by Gravdigr (Post 852405)

Pleasethankyou.

Tasteless jokes thread is over there ---->

AND, don't be a reasonably good looking, hefty, black man with a nice smile in southern Calif these days...

Attachment 42811 Attachment 42812

ABC World News

Christopher Dorner Manhunt: Possible Sighting of Fugitive Ex-Cop Leads to Store Evacuation

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<snip>
LAPD spokesman Gus Villanueva said the major response to the possible sighting
was a precaution, but couldn't say whether Dorner was in the area.

The announcement of the $1 million reward today came as authorities in Big Bear, Calif.,
scaled back their search for Dorner, the disgruntled ex-cop who is suspected in three revenge killings.

They're just laying the groundwork, so later when they mistakenly shoot a few large black men who weren't the guy they were after, they can say, "See? We're not racist, we're just incompetent."

Kafka? Orwell? Hells bells, people, my LOCAL police force would be proud.

Effers.

And give me some Soma, would you? My knees hurt and I want to forget.