Published: The Good Men Project (January 19, 2016) Since the start of his presidency, conservatives have been quick to lambast Barack Obama for not being tough on Islamic terrorists. Unfortunately for both them and the rest of America, a spoiled rancher and his political cohorts have now provided them with one of their ultimate moral tests – namely, whether their staunch anti-terrorist posturing...
Terrorism
One year after the Charlie Hebdo attack, we are still #JeSuisCharlie
Jan 6, 2016 | Civil Liberties, mic, Race and Racism, Terrorism
Published: The Daily Dot (January 6, 2016) January 7th marks the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris that left 12 dead and 11 wounded. As we reflect on the greater meaning of the tragedy that occurred that day, a series of complex lessons present themselves, encompassing many of the most crucial issues facing the United States today—from the importance of defending free...
How America’s fears are letting the terrorists win
Dec 22, 2015 | Civil Liberties, mic, Religion and Religious Issues, Terrorism
Published: The Daily Dot (December 22, 2015) Forget about the terrorists. At his rate it seems like we’re determined through our own fear to allow the terrorists to win. Allow me to explain. Let’s start with the rash of school closings that have occurred over terrorist threats. The first (and without question most patently absurd) was the “clock boy” incident from earlier this year, when a...
What the end of the NSA’s bulk phone record collection really means
Dec 2, 2015 | Civil Liberties, mic, Military-Industrial Complex/Security State, Terrorism
Published: The Daily Dot (December 2, 2015) It’s official: The NSA was legally required to terminate its bulk phone record collection program this week. That may not provide much comfort if you happen to use the Internet (and particularly if you communicate using social media)—but it's a major win worth acknowledging. If you’re wondering why the government can still monitor what you do online...
An aggressive military response is precisely what ISIS wants
Nov 20, 2015 | Foreign Policy, Immigration, mic, Race and Racism, Religion and Religious Issues, Terrorism, World Affairs
Published: Salon (November 20, 2015), The Daily Dot (November 18, 2015) As the world reels from the last Friday's terrorist attack in Paris, millions of people have taken to Twitter to share their grief and outrage... and many echoed Donald Trump's call to "bomb the shit" out of them. The desire to immediately strike back at ISIS with overwhelming force is understandable. It took under 48 hours...
Activision should be ashamed of its ‘Call of Duty’ terrorism hoax
Oct 4, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment, mic, Scandals, Terrorism
Published: The Daily Dot (October 4, 2015) To promote the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Activision reskinned the franchise’s Twitter account into a fake news agency called “Current Events Aggregate.” Its plan was to tease the plot of the new game through these fictitious news stories. Unfortunately, the company neglected to clearly indicate that any of the tweets they posted - which...
Why the government ignored a terrifying report that predicted the Charleston shooting
Jul 2, 2015 | Conservativism, Extremism, Media Issues, mic, Political Ideologies, Terrorism
Published: Daily Dot (July 2, 2015) It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Morris Gulett, the leader of a white supremacist religious group that vows to fight to “safeguard the existence of our race, the purity of our blood and the sustenance of our children,” recently expressed support for Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old white supremacist who shot nine people at a black church in Charleston, South...
Dylann Roof isn’t mentally ill – he’s a terrorist
Jun 22, 2015 | Conservativism, Extremism, Mental Illness, mic, Political Ideologies, Race and Racism, Terrorism
Published: Daily Dot (June 22, 2015) Why do we insist on claiming that Dylann Roof was mentally ill? In a recent segment on Fox News, the outlet blamed Roof’s actions on a “troubled past,” arguing that mental illness tends to be “swept under the rug” in these cases, but the exact true is opposite: We tend to use mental illness in place of a more troubling reality—Dylann Roof was a terrorist. “We...
5 reasons George W. Bush is still the worst president ever
Jun 4, 2015 | Civil Liberties, Economic Policy, Foreign Policy, Gay Rights and Other LGBTQIA Issues, mic, Original Source Salon.com, Political Parties, Republicans, Terrorism
Why teens are joining ISIS
Mar 3, 2015 | mic, Millennials, Religion and Religious Issues, Terrorism
Published: Daily Dot (March 3, 2015) A New York Times article published last week drew attention to the growing trend among affluent, intelligent, and socially well-adjusted young women joining ISIS or other Islamic terrorist organizations. This phenomenon struck the Grey Lady as particularly curious because, as a lawyer for the families of one of the girls put it: “It is those young people who...