Gunshots, harassment and injuries, leading to a hate crime charge near my hometown, in a rural area between Buffalo and Rochester:
According to Jacob Zimmerman, member of the World Sufi Foundation, Monday night during evening prayers, cars drove by the mosque with people yelling obscenities and squealing tires—and gunshots were fired.
Zimmerman said when the 11 p.m. services ended, his friend David Bell heard something and ran to the bottom of the hill where a black SUV which had been harassing mosque members over recent days injured Bell in the hip and the mouth.
“It’s been going on for years,” Zimmerman said, “It’s never been taken seriously. It takes the police at least a half hour to get down here”.
We’ve spent years hearing Evangelical Christians whining about being oppressed, simply because others want a few rights (like the right to get married). If someone hung out after a tent revival and harassed Real Americans, the place would be crawling with cops in no time. But somebody needs to get hurt before Terrorist Muslins get the same level of response.
Also, too: Chuck Schumer can suck on a bag of dicks for his wimpy response to the 9/11 Mosque. I don’t expect the mouthbreathers who did this to care what Schumer says. But every time a rural fire hall or police department gets a Homeland Security grant, Schumer’s name is on the press release. Maybe if some local cop or sheriff thought Schumer gave a shit, he or she might be a little more diligent in responding to years of harassment.
Update: Here’s a video interview with Zimmerman. Five teenagers have been arrested, one is being charged with felony possession of a weapon.
El Cid
What do you expect with these Sufist triumphalists building their terror mosque a mere 370 or so miles from Ground Zero?
beltane
The Evangelical Christians are being oppressed. Can you imagine how painful it is for them that after so many years of trying, the government still won’t force people to accept Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior. How can you be so cruel as to deny them their right to impose a brutal theocracy on us?
El Cid
Man Already Knows Everything He Needs To Know About Muslims
SALINA, KS | THE ONION—Local man Scott Gentries told reporters Wednesday that his deliberately limited grasp of Islamic history and culture was still more than sufficient to shape his views of the entire Muslim world.
Gentries, 48, said he had absolutely no interest in exposing himself to further knowledge of Islamic civilization or putting his sweeping opinions into a broader context of any kind, and confirmed he was “perfectly happy” to make a handful of emotionally charged words the basis of his mistrust toward all members of the world’s second-largest religion.
“I learned all that really matters about the Muslim faith on 9/11,” Gentries said in reference to the terrorist attacks on the United States undertaken by 19 of Islam’s approximately 1.6 billion practitioners. “What more do I need to know to stigmatize Muslims everywhere as inherently violent radicals?”
“And now they want to build a mosque at Ground Zero,” continued Gentries, eliminating any distinction between the 9/11 hijackers and Muslims in general. “No, I won’t examine the accuracy of that statement, but yes, I will allow myself to be outraged by it and use it as evidence of these people’s universal callousness toward Americans who lost loved ones when the Twin Towers fell.”
“Even though I am not one of those people,” he added.
When told that the proposed “Ground Zero mosque” is actually a community center two blocks north of the site that would include, in addition to a public prayer space, a 500-seat auditorium, a restaurant, and athletic facilities, Gentries shook his head and said, “I know all I’m going to let myself know.”…
harlana
@El Cid: You know, until I realized that was from The Onion, I was totally buying it.
Cat Lady
Jacob Zimmerman is a muslim? FSM bless the yew ess of ay.
arguingwithsignposts
I seriously seeing some sort of remake of “Mississippi Burning” happening here.
Frank
I expected nothing from the GOP when it came to the mosque issue. But what a disappointment regarding the Dems! Very few has said anything positive. If they did say something positive it is usually in the from a weak press release.
These people (such as Schumer/Wiener) should be embarrassed of themselves. I do hope history will judge these people harshly.
TomG
Chuck Schumer is a useless Senator, as far as I’m concerned. In fact, you could probably replace BOTH of my senators with adults chosen at random from eligible NY state citizens and they’d each do a better job than what we are stuck with currently.
mistermix
@TomG: Gillibrand at least had the guts to say that what the community wanted, they should get. Not that her statement was a stirring embrace of liberty and tolerance, but it was a damn sight better than Chuck’s.
Brian S (formerly Incertus)
@harlana: That’s the thing about the Onion. When they’re at their best (or when our society is at its worst), it’s almost impossible to distinguish the snark from real life. I think I should be depressed about that.
Xboxershorts
Not a peep in the DandC either. That worthless rag is an abortion…
scav
OT: Warning. Do not read until after breakfast, but there seems to be considerable competition for the Worst Company In The World (don’t forget BP is in the running – do we possibly need a tag or a pool or a fantasy league of worse companies?) ChiTrib on the Chickens — the NYTimes version is safer for breakfast purusal.
Mike in NC
Midnight Riders are a great Real American tradition!
cleek
@scav:
worst company in the world?
i vote for this one.
cleek
maybe he’d prefer the salted dicks ?
singfoom
Can someone please explain to me how the cognitive dissonance doesn’t make these people’s heads explode?
Sure, the article in the OP doesn’t make any mention of the religion of the perpetrator, but we’ve seen from other stories around the country that these are “REAL MURKIN Christians” defending their country from the scourge of Islam which they don’t consider a religion but an evil cult bent on destroying our country.
How do they square their faith, Christianity, whose main message is love and empathy for your fellow human beings (when you strip out the bullshit) with threatening other people for having a different faith?
Or denying those people the right to worship in the manner they so choose, like it says in the Constitution they like to blather on about.
This is a sad time for this country.
Felonious Wench
So, help me, if any of this crap starts in my city, my white Christian ass will be standing in front of the mosque during evening prayers, with cell phone in hand, ready to call the cops if any of these idiots show one sign of interfering with these people just practicing their religion in our country.
I’ve reached the point where talk isn’t enough. I have to do more.
mistermix
@Xboxershorts: 13-WHAM does more with fewer reporters. The D&C is a fucking joke.
General Stuck
And wingnuts leap to a post Beck hatefest Gallup Poll lead over dems 51% to 41% for the upcoming election, breaking all records for pre election party pref.
A dark cloud of fear, lies and bigotry casting long shadows of intolerance over America.
The Grand Panjandrum
@General Stuck: Nate Silver has a good post on that poll. Democrats are in trouble but trying to explain statistics to most of the knuckle draggers is like trying to explain climate change science to them.
schrodinger's cat
Shorter Schumer
I is in your Senate, pimping fur Wall Street
wilfred
Why are you surpised with Schumer? He’s an Israel Firster; anything that makes Muslims look bad is good for him. He’s not interested in any form of reconciliation that might improve the status of Muslims.
Don’t forget his championing of Mukasey.
scav
@cleek: Oh, we definitely need some sort of league or something, although that one should be going head to head with the Nigerian 419ers to my mind. Bad in a laugh out loud kinda way.
Jacob Zimmerman and David Bell. oh please. I simply love the world being such a complex place, but it does make dealing with individuals who run about screaming absolutes hard to take seriously. And they sometimes manage to be such dangerous people even though you’d expect them to stab themselves on their own safety scissors. This clearly isn’t even properly xenophobia anymore, people are now turning on presumably known neighbors as this is a non-urban area.
Uloborus
@singfoom:
It’s easy. What you guys persist in calling cognitive dissonance is a vague, unproven theory. Ask any psychologist OR psychiatrist. Humans have no trouble whatsoever believing any number of mutually contradictory things!
burnspbesq
@singfoom:
“How do they square their faith, Christianity, whose main message is love and empathy for your fellow human beings (when you strip out the bullshit) with threatening other people for having a different faith?”
Because they aren’t truly Christian. They have no idea what Christ actually taught. I wonder how many of them have ever cracked open a Bible.
jwb
@General Stuck: This too shall pass.
I’ve been trying to figure out what might have caused that bump, and I just don’t see the Beckteapatriotsforjesusfest2010 as being sufficient to have moved the polls like that—and not much else happened (other than continued sucky economic numbers). So I really have to believe it’s just an outlier. But as Nate Silver asks, an outlier from what? Looking at the long term trend of the poll, you can see that numbers started to move markedly sometime toward the end of July, about the time the (non)mosque controversy heated up. That, in a nutshell, tells you why the Dems have been acting like such collective turds on this issue, for all the good it has done them. I’m sure they saw the polling almost immediately. On the other side, I have to believe that the Goopers have, like the CEOs that fund them, purchased short-term political gain for long-term health of the party and country.
morzer
There’s a mosque about a mile from where I live, and I don’t think they’ve had any trouble. If they do so, I shall march boldly forth and do my best to kick asses and take names. It’s been brutally hot here (temp around 92, probably for a few more days) so the kicking and taking will be more merciless than usual.
General Stuck
@jwb: mid term polls on registered voters are notoriously inaccurate, but Gallup has been doing these the same way for a long time, and as a general harbinger with a gap this large is not good. Especially since, for at least a couple of decades now, they nearly always underestimate the number of wingnuts who end up voting.
But we are in unchartered waters, I think, for my lifetime, with some unknowns not experienced recently. Such as it only being 2 years since Bush, and the country blaming him, and goopers by extension for the econ collapse and goopers just as low a party approval in general as dems. And still mid fourties support for Obama. If by the end of September, after the ad wars start and people start paying attention, the likely voter numbers still favor wingnuts, then dems are in serious trouble. Too early to tell, or confirm that right now. But dems are going to lose a fair number of seats, no matter.
And to me, if it’s a blowout putting wingers back in charge with no real ideas to offer and after just two years out of power after fucking things up, then I think xenophobia will have won the day, as well as racial anxiety. Just saw a Newsweek poll saying Repubs by 52 percent believe Obama is a Muslim, and right now, they are the most enthused to go vote in two months.
Linda Featheringill
Because I could not find an email address or even a phone number for the Sufi Masjid in Waterport, I tracked down Jacob Zimmerman’s phone number. I just talked with Mrs. Zimmerman [nice lady with a young voice]. I expressed my distress with the jerks that were harassing their community and told her that these jerks did not speak for me.
She seemed to appreciate the call and the message of peace.
Edit: At first I included their phone number but then wondered about the wisdom of that, so I removed it.
danimal
I’m much more concerned about potential Islamic terrorists in our midst than the actual terrorism (arson, assault and vandalism) Americans are committing.
Islam is an evil, violent cult, while Christianity promotes love and grace. That’s why real Christian Americans need to utterly drive out the infidels–to spread God’s love and destroy the violent cult of Islam.
/unthinking bigot
A Ghost To Most
Hmm .. I didn’t know my brother (who lives a couple miles away, and would be really down with this) had bought a black SUV
Mickey7
@TomG: Rep. Weiner didn’t distinguish himself in this discussion, either. It was nearly impossible to tell from his mealy-mouthed missive whether he was for it or against it. I think that was exactly his point. He was fence-straddling, which seems to be the Dems favorite pastime now, trying to appease his liberal constituency who are outraged about this nonsense while still staying in favor with the ADL and their ‘we’ll decide for the country when it’s okay to be tolerant’ groupies.
eemom
has that lamest of all lame ducks, Paterson, taken a public position on the Cordoba project? What about Andrew Cuomo?
Linda Featheringill
@danimal:
Careful, danimal. You pushed that one close to the edge. Damn good thing you signed it the way you did.
:-)
jwb
@General Stuck: I like the fact that 17% of Dems think Obama is Muslim. I wonder if that is a measure of the firebagger sentiment in the party… I’m certainly not trying to put a positive spin on the Gallup numbers, I just think the 10% is an outlier. But as an outlier it still suggests that the Dems are working against a substantial gap. My question is what opened up that gap over July and August. Well, we had continued sucky economic numbers, which I think is the actual main engine moving the numbers. But it is has been amplified, I think, by the (non)mosque controversy. The biggest problem for this election will remain that it will inevitably be framed as a vote on the status quo, and the the status quo sucks. Moreover, if you aren’t paying close attention, it’s easy enough to vote for crazy, thinking that the crazy is really all theater (the pols won’t actually do the crazy things they say), and even if they try to Obama will check them. Those of us who have been paying attention the past two years know the folly of that mindset, but that fact won’t change how the less engaged will calculate their vote.
I’m very curious to see whether the Dems have an actual election strategy for November. So far, it’s looked a lot like duck and cover, but I’m imagining they have simply been trying to get through till after Labor Day, at which point we’ll start seeing what they are planning. At least I hope that’s what’s been going on.
catclub
@singfoom:
“How do they square their faith, Christianity, whose main message is love and empathy for your fellow human beings.”
…whose main message is USA #1!!
fixed.
danimal
@Linda Featheringill: It’s getting harder to mock wingers these days. Just read Yahoo comments; it’s almost impossible to out-imbecile or out-bigot them. They’ve really raised their game in the past couple of months.
Linda Featheringill
@danimal:
I have stopped reading Yahoo comments. I decided exposing myself to all that toxic waste was bad for my health.
maya
Dems polling could be correlated to China’s poor criminal execution spine harvest this year. Not that spines used to kowtowing would be much of an improvement for them anyway.
Corner Stone
This didn’t strike anybody else as oddly written? The unmanned SUV has been harassing people? And after some shots were fired this idiot ran off into the night after them where apparently the unmanned SUV punched him about his belly area?
Michael
@beltane:
I’ve always found that verbalization to be a little creepy and a lot gay, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Gin & Tonic
@eemom:
Asshole Paterson thinks it would be better if they’d move. He doesn’t say how far away is far enough away.
jwb
@danimal: It should be very interesting watching the GOP try to stuff this back in the box after the election. I really don’t know if the powers that be fully recognize their problem, and it’s going to take them and the party in all sorts of directions they won’t be able to control or anticipate. I’m also praying that these attitudes do not win significant number of converts among the college aged and twentysomethings, because lord help us if they do.
Frank
@Mickey7:
In Politics 101, this is how you lose elections. For God’s sake, stand for something! Yes, they don’t want to upset the hypocritical ADL. But by taking fence-straddling to such an extreme they are alienating their own base. Yes, your own base might vote for you. Might. But the downfall is that they may not volunteer or donate money.
cleek
@scav:
the Consumerist does a “worst company in America” playoff every year. Comcast won in 2010.
PayPal lost to Cash4Gold
Larry Signor
@morzer: Yes, sir. My sentiments, exactly. These pseudo-christian revenge mongers need some serious ass kickin’, and I got a new pair of size elevens I just broke in on my sons bleary eyed, over educated ass about this. America is over reaching to find someone to blame or our own ignorance.
daveNYC
There is a difference between punching hippies over the public option, and getting wishy-washy in the face of rising xenophobia and hate crimes. The dems are dialing the spinelessness up to eleven.
Bloomberg was able to nut up, what the hell is wrong with the rest of these guys?
roshan
EXTRA! EXTRA!
DKos guy tells off wingnut old guy in a crowd at a Starbucks!
Sadly, no fisticuffs involved.
singfoom
Bigotry, in whatever form regardless of which group is committing it, should be loudly condemned from all corners. Those who explicitly or implicitly call for these awful actions or support them thematically should be called to account by our active media.
Oh shit. Nevermind. Those fucking guys are too easily distracted by shiny things and can’t possibly attack any issue from an angle that isn’t two-sided, regardless of the stupidity of any given side.
Ok, well, hopefully responsible politicians from both sides will come together and make it clear that they will not stand for this hateful rhetoric and denounce it among their own party and ask for an end to it.
Oh shit. Nevermind. Well, here’s to hoping that normal citizens continue to confront bigotry and racism and hate where they see it and make it known to our Muslim-American friends that they and their creed are welcome and these people bothering them misunderstand the nature and principles of this country and defend the rights that they share to peacefully assemble and worship as they please.
But as has been noted before, no sane debate or discussion will be effective. These hypocritical assholes will keep fucking that hate chicken as long as they can….
Mumphrey
I wonder how many of these assholes will wake up after somebody gets killed. I think a lot of these scumbags are just wimpy, scared little babies who get off on talking big and tough and threatening others, but I’d like to think that most of them would draw the line at killing somebody. What they’ll do or say or think, though, when one of the relatively few who really are violent kills somebody, well, I don’t know about that. I’d like to think many of them will wake up and grow up, but I guess that’s too much to hope. I guess a lot of them will “deplore” or “condemn” the violence, but won’t change their tunes otherwise.
I can’t understand why the cynical, slimy Republicans like Gingrich or Lazio are going along with this. I can’t believe they’d really be happy with unhinged losers going around shooting Muslims, but that’s where this is leading. Palin I can understand; she’d be as happy as can be with a nice little genocide, as long as the right people get ‘cided, but I don’t see most Republicans, as soulless as they are, thinking a race war, even one as one-sided as this one would be, would be good for business…
danimal
@Mumphrey: Why would a race war be bad for business if you’re a Republican?
I’m hopeful that the GOP leadership is cynical, but doesn’t want to incite a pogrom against Muslims, but I’m very fearful that we are one terrorist attack away from massive bloodshed.
Bush, to his credit, was largely able to corral the bigots, but their is no way they will listen to President Barrack Hussein Obama’s plea for moderation if AQ pulls off another attack.
AxelFoley
@Corner Stone:
Christine is real?
Or, since this is a black SUV, is it Ta’quanda?
Hey, I’m black, so I can make that joke.
Svensker
@wilfred:
What you said. I think the only reason Chuck and Wiener didn’t come out strongly against the mosque is that they are beholden to Bloomberg.
Svensker
@burnspbesq:
I wouldn’t be too sure about that. My wingnut relatives are big Bible hounds, take Bible classes, etc. Two of them actually went to seminary and have quite a good grasp of religious history.
It’s all about cognitive dissonance. My brother will NOT watch a movie with Ingrid Bergman in it because she left her husband and went to live with another man. Yet he is a huge El Rushbo fan. Explain to me how that works.
Suffern Ace
@Mumphrey: It depends on your business. The more folks are afraid, the more they’ll want to take it to Iran and Syria. Having fewer and fewer people with disposable income also can’t be good for retailers, but once you’re wealthy enough, you can just go along with the tax cuts and hope for the best. It’s not like you actually have to run a profitable company to make a fortune anymore anyways.
Our pending sharp decline to our standard of living has to be explained by something. That the little people have decided to blame each other will continue to be beneficial to the family fortunes.
someguy
Upstate NY = Mississipi with better colleges.
Mnemosyne
@Svensker:
Because women are supposed to be Good and Pure at all times, so when one of them breaks the rules, it’s the end of the fucking universe. But everyone knows that men are horndogs who can’t be controlled, so any misbehavior on their part gets a wink and a nod.
Also known as the double standard.
Gin & Tonic
@Mumphrey:
None. SATSQ.
Frank
@Svensker:
So do they have a clue of something called the Ten Commandments? Did they think Jesus was kidding about turning the other cheek? Did they not think Jesus was serious when he talked about “love thy enemies”? Did they not understand what the story about “those without sin throw the first stone”?
singfoom
I refuse to let these bigoted assholes define our country. The ideals of this country run completely contrary to this kind of hate and idiocy.
I wish there was someone like Joseph Welch who would stand up in a public venue and call these people out for their bigotry. Someone needs to stand up on a national level and say, “At long last, sirs, do you have no shame? You are shaming this country and yourself. If you wish to stew in your hate, by all means, but please keep it to yourself and stop bothering other citizens who are doing you no harm and just exercising *THEIR* constitutional rights.”
I’d run for office and do it, but I’m too foul-mouthed and speak my mind so I’d never make it that high. What to do?
PurpleGirl
Cuomo supports building the cultural center with prayer room, his running mate does not. Lazio has been calling for Cuomo to start an investigation into the funding for the project and to debate with him the whole project. Cuomo has so far declined to have a debate about it.
Paterson has offered to help the sponsors find a new site.
YankeeApologist
@Frank:
It makes you wonder, doesn’t it, Frank? Islam also is pretty stringent against murder, and that didn’t stop Al Qaeda. The Westboro Baptist Church somehow has the money to transport all those “God Hates Fags” signs to soldier’s funerals.
I’m starting to believe that organized religion has pretty much jumped the shark.
So far, I think the Buddhists are the only ones that haven’t wantonly destroyed something in the name of “love and empathy for all”.
sukabi
@harlana: that’s because we’ve moved beyond satire… we’re totally through the looking glass at this point…
this is probably what it’s like to live in a psychotic’s brain.
Paris
Unfortunately, I know one of the teens that was arrested personally. I would like to throttle about ten conservatives and a couple of democrats right now, along with the evil harpy Pam Geller and the other neo nazi haters.
asiangrrlMN
@Corner Stone: I was struck by it right away (see what I did there?). Someone was talking about how the passive voice in incidents like this (as well as other crimes) really downplays the intent. “Bigoted racists shot at the mosque” and “the SUV rammed into Bell and injured him” is not genteel enough for the delicate sensibilities of the reader or some such shit.
@El Cid: Holy shit. I thought it was real, too, until I saw harlana’s comment. Sad, sad, sad.
@AxelFoley: Now that’s just funny.
This shit is gonna get way worse before it gets any better. And, yes, I don’t think the GOP gives a shit if (Muslim) blood is shed.
Amarie Rosa
@burnspbesq: Every muslim in the western world HAS cracked open the Bible. Get educated before you utter such nonsense!
Amarie Rosa
@burnspbesq: Every muslim in the western world HAS cracked open the Bible. Get educated before you utter such nonsense!
Dr. Morpheus
@Felonious Wench:
I’ll do it with a gun.
I don’t own a gun.
I have never owned a gun.
I have never considered owning a gun.
But the American Constitution is under threat by these Teabaggers and it’s time to consider Second Amendment remedies when they threaten our fellow Americans and their places of worship.
nancy
@Paris:
I don’t know the people featured in this story personally. I, too, live nearby. Years ago I worked in both Waterport and Holley. I am distressed that this happened. Bigotry and violence are always wrong; however, the Sufi religion is so peaceful. Even they have been turned into the “other” and racists and bigots think it’s OK, even right, to attack the other.
A few years ago, a racist event occurred in the small town I live in. I knew one of those young men. It was covered by a local TV station and I found out about it as I did this, by a link from a blog. Maybe even this blog. It was important to me to comment, using my full name on the station website, to say I’m a resident and I don’t agree with racist behavior. I don’t know if that mattered to anyone else but I will go to WHAM’s site and comment if I can. I believe that I have to stand up in this small way in what can be considered as my community.
Ruckus
@singfoom:
I’d run for office and do it, but I’m too foul-mouthed and speak my mind so I’d never make it that high. What to do?
Same thought here. When I was 12 and trying to decide what to be in life I thought about all the careers that I could have and why not.
1. Religious, pastor or some such, OK that was just too funny to finish the idea, I mean can you hear the sermon – Hey dumbasses. I’d lose them from the first day.
2. Politician, I can lie, but not with a straight face and language, well that’s another fucking strike.
3. Teacher, couldn’t see not making any money and putting up with all the bureaucracy of school systems. Plus the language.
4. Military, I actually didn’t think I could kill or tell someone else to. Flies and spiders yea but people?
5. Banker, could probably pull off some sort of theft if it was really necessary for survival, but day to day theft from everyone for no other reason than I could?
Marissa
@El Cid:
You dumbass, that mosque was built about 30 years ago. Ground Zero happened 20 years later. Stop being an ignorant dumbass and educate yourself before you show the world that you think you know something.