Kristof: 'Is Islam to Blame' For the Charlie Hebdo Massacre?

January 8th, 2015 10:18 AM
At around 6 p.m. Wednesday, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof was still wondering: "Is Islam to Blame for the Shooting at Charlie Hebdo in Paris?" ("Shooting?" Singular?) Maybe he still is. This was many hours after it was known that the perpetrators shouted "We avenged the Prophet Muhammad!" and "Allah Akbar!" after completing the Charlie Hebdo massacre of 12 in Paris, and after ISIS…
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Daily Beast: 'Minuscule' Number of French Muslims Support Violence

January 8th, 2015 9:47 AM
If 16% of American conservatives supported suicide bombings and other violence against civilian targets, do you think the MSM would characterize that proportion as "minuscule" and fret that other conservatives were being "stained" as a result? Yet on today's Morning Joe, there was Christopher Dickey, the Daily Beast's foreign editor, describing as "minuscule" the proportion of Muslims in France…

NYT Front-Page Item Frets Over 'Anti-Immigrant Sentiments' in Europe

January 8th, 2015 1:38 AM
At 4:45 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, the New York Times, teasing an item entitled "‘Dangerous Moment’ for Europe, as Fear and Resentment Grow," tweeted that "The Paris terror attack seems certain to accelerate the growth of anti-Islamic sentiment in Europe." Consistent with a long-established nasty habit, the opening sentence of the report by Steven Erlanger and Katrin Bennhold has since been…
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ABC, NBC, Others Decline to Show Cartoons of Muhammad (UPDATED)

January 8th, 2015 12:15 AM
Following the deadly Islamic terrorist attack in Paris on Wednesday, major broadcast networks ABC and NBC joined other news outlets in not showing any of the controversial cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad from the Charlie Hebdo magazine during their evening newscasts. Despite initially telling Buzzfeed that they would not be showing any of the cartoons, CBS News did go forward and…

Blogger Blasts Fellow Liberals For Pussyfooting Around Radical Islam

January 7th, 2015 9:44 PM
Chait writes that “the Muslim radical argues that the ban on blasphemy is morally right and should be followed; the Western liberal insists it is morally wrong but should be followed. Theoretical distinctions aside, both positions yield an identical outcome.”
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Networks Ignore Obama’s Shaky Footing on Depictions of Muhammad

January 7th, 2015 9:33 PM
On Wednesday night, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC ignored the contradicting statements made by President Obama in condemning the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris as an attack on free speech, but stating in a 2012 speech at the United Nations that “the future does not belong to those who slander the Prophet of Islam.” When it came to discussing the terrorist attack…

Politico's Byers at 4 PM: Paris Murderers May Be Islamic Terrorists

January 7th, 2015 9:28 PM
In an item time-stamped 4:11 p.m. ET at his "On Media" blog at the Politico, Dylan Byers wrapped up a post primarily about the Associated Press removing its "Piss Christ" photo from its image library by claiming, in reference to the Charlie Hebdo Magazine murders in Paris, that "Though there (sic) identity is as yet unknown, the masked gunmen are believed to be Islamic terrorists." Here's most…
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MSNBC Guest Equates Jerry Falwell Suing Hustler to Paris Attack

January 7th, 2015 7:27 PM
On Wednesday's Now With Alex Wagner on MSNBC, Eric Bates raised the specter of censorship by Christian conservatives during a panel discussion on the past Muslim backlash against Charlie Hebdo magazine – the target of an Islamic terrorist attack in Paris earlier in the day. Bates, a former executive editor for Rolling Stone magazine, cited Jerry Falwell's lawsuit against porn magazine Hustler in…

FT.com Editorial Refutes Editor Who Criticized Magazine's 'Baiting'

January 7th, 2015 6:14 PM
This afternoon, Matt Balan at NewsBusters covered Tony Barber's disgraceful evening (London Time) column at the Financial Times. In the wake of the terrorist attack at the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo which killed 12, Barber argued that "some common sense would be useful at publications such as Charlie Hebdo, and Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten." In other words, after sifting out the…
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MSNBC: In Europe, 'Extreme Right' Exacerbates Conflict With Muslims

January 7th, 2015 3:47 PM
On the day that 12 people were murdered for publishing satirical cartoons about Islam, Daily Beast foreign editor Christopher Dickey on Wednesday fretted about how the "extreme right" of Europe played a role in increasing the conflict with Muslims.

Financial Times Rips 'Stupid' French Magazine For 'Baiting' Muslims

January 7th, 2015 12:59 PM
Tony Barber, associate editor for the Financial Times, slammed the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo mere hours after Islamic terrorists killed 12 people at its main office in Paris . Barber hyped that the magazine "has a long record of mocking, baiting and needling French Muslims," and asserted that "too often editorial foolishness has prevailed at Charlie Hebdo."

NY Times Tweets Charlie Hebdo 'Has Long Tested Limits' of Satire

January 7th, 2015 11:37 AM
After a massacre that killed at least 12 at the offices of the satirical Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo, the New York Times issued this tweet: "The weekly #CharlieHebdo has long tested limits with its satire..." So the Times is the self-proclaimed arbiter of satire, at least when it comes to mocking one particular religion, Islam?
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Howard Dean: Don't Call Paris Shooters 'Muslim Terrorists'

January 7th, 2015 8:25 AM
Howard Dean—that celebrated scholar of Islam—has weighed in on today's murderous rampage in Paris, declaring that he refuses to call the shooters in this and similar cases "Muslim terrorists." According to Dean, the disregard for the lives of others that these terrorists display "is not what the Koran says." Dean's denial of the obvious puts him in the company of many liberals, most notably…

Shielding Islam Again: Nets Ignore Boston Bomber’s Radical Faith

January 6th, 2015 11:54 AM
Nearly two years ago, someone planted and detonated a bomb in the crowd at near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured. Police killed one of the suspects in a shoot-out and, after more shooting, captured his brother in a boat in someone’s backyard. Jury selection began yesterday in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and ABC, CBS and NBC on Monday…