by Oui
Sat Jan 13th, 2018 at 08:40:33 AM EST
Hate spreading outward from Trump's White House. The new nominations mirror the conservative beliefs in denial: climate change, fake news items, plain lies mixed with fundamental "Christian" fallacies on inequality and wealth (see also Mitt Romney in 2012).
Dutch Reporters Stun Trump's Ambassador By Pressing Him to Admit He Lied About "No-Go Zones"| The Intercept |
... saga goes on ...
After Hoekstra had presented his credentials to the Dutch king in the Hague on Wednesday, the former U.S. representative told reporters that he would be "moving on" from the controversy over his remarks.
But the reporters failed to play along, with one quickly asking, "Will you be visiting our 'no-go areas?'"
More below the fold ...
NOS Nieuwsuur is the Dutch National Broadcast Channel ...
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After drubbing by media, Trump's ambassador to the Netherlands apologizes for anti-Muslim remarks | Washington Post |
The embattled U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands Peter Hoekstra apologized Friday for making unsubstantiated anti-Muslim claims at a conference in 2015, after his first week in the post was clouded by questions about the incendiary statements.
Hoekstra, a former Republican congressman from Michigan and recent political appointee, made the apology during an interview Friday with De Telegraaf, one of the largest Dutch newspapers, at the end of a particularly rough introduction for the new ambassador.
"Looking back, I am shocked I said that," he told the newspaper. "It was a wrong statement. It was wrong."
Hoekstra made the remarks in question during a conference on terrorism hosted by the right-wing David Horowitz Freedom Center. He talked about the supposed "chaos" brought to Europe by immigrants from Islamic countries and repeated a baseless theory about so-called "no-go zones" that is popular in right-wing media.
Article on Islamophobia:
Two groups on the list, theCenter for Security Policy and the David Horowitz Freedom Center, have given awards of recognition to Jeff Sessions, a US senator from Alabama who chairs Trump's national security advisory committee and is a possible vice-presidential pick.
"Chaos in the Netherlands. There are cars being burned. There are politicians that are being burned," Hoekstra said at the time. "With the influx of the Islamic community -- and yes, there are no-go zones in the Netherlands. All right? There are no-go zones in France."
...
The State Department distanced itself from Hoekstra's remarks Thursday during a briefing in Washington but declined to call them inaccurate.
"The ambassador made mistakes in 2015," Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Steve Goldstein told reporters. "Those comments were not the position of the State Department, and you will never hear those words from this podium."
○ Funding Islamophobia: $206m went to promoting 'hatred' of American Muslims | The Guardian - June 20, 2016 |
○ Hate In the White House, Trump picks Bridenstine to lead NASA | Report SPLC |
○ Twisted Minds In Republican-Jewish Circles of Anti-Muslim Hate by Oui @BooMan on May 29, 2014
○ Sheldon Adelson: Ousting of A President for Israel's National Security by Oui @BooMan on July 28, 2012
Trump has been a long time coming, can't take blame for not warning folks in time. Have written about anti-immigration rhetoric, Islamophobia, Israeli support for the narrative all Muslims are terrorists, Middle East wars by choice, etc. ... hatred takes a long time to settle in the minds of the masses. Just keep repeating the same slogans and drop some money in the pockets of newspapers, television broadcasts and "journalists". In the Netherlands the 9/11 drama had a shock and awe effect with consequencies to split politics, families, organisations, media and set new priorities. I have written extensively about the populists rhetoric of Geert Wilders and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (AEI) fellow0. Bush and Sharon worked hand in glove to fight Al Qaeda where it wasn't ... in Saddam's Iraq. Soon the US, Israel and the Gulf States will continue to vilify Iran and its 65 million citizens. Swords and knives are already being sharpened, I doubt Europe will grow a spine and will once again with NATO function as US's mercenaries fight a new war before the 2020 elections.
○ Clarion Project and Islamophobia | Tikun Olam |
○ Clarion Fund produces anti-Muslim propaganda film Obsession to sway voters by shergald @BooMan on Sept. 27, 2008!!