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What ordinary Muslims can do to expel the radicals from their ranks: Rebrand, organize

french muslims
© Jean-Paul PelissierMuslims pray at a mosque in Frejus, France.
A common complaint you hear these days, especially on the right, is that "moderate" Muslims do nothing to oppose or denounce radical Islam and jihadist terrorism. As a blanket generalization, this is untrue and unfair. If you bother to look, you can easily find examples of this around the world: individual Muslims assisting investigations and lending a hand to victims of terrorism, imams and organizations issuing statements against terrorism, even groups of Muslims bravely standing up for persecuted Christians (such as the Copts in Egypt).

Muslims are often the first targets and victims of the radicals, and even among those who share some of the jihadists' political beliefs, many would love to see the scourge of Islamist terrorism exterminated. While public polling on extremist attitudes often shows alarmingly large minorities of Muslims holding one or more radical beliefs, they still consistently show majority rejection of most of those beliefs in most countries' Muslim populations (in both Western countries and majority-Muslim states).

You may be skeptical about the political will behind these sentiments, but the sentiments are there, and the individual actions taken are real. Why, then, do we hear so little about them, and why do they seem to have so little impact? Media narratives and media laziness are a factor, as is the mainstream media's general difficulty when it comes to intelligently covering sincere religious belief of any stripe. But the media alone is an incomplete answer, especially given how many outlets are so visibly desperate to run stories about how radical Islam isn't Islam at all, etc., and how eagerly they tend to eat up propaganda from public-relations shops for organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Two things that are really needed are vocabulary and organization.

Stop

Moscow's reaction to new sanctions may be banning McDonald's if it is violating sanitary norms

mcdonalds
© Sputnik/ Vladimir Fedorenko
McDonald's fast food restaurants may be closed in Russia if they are violating the sanitary norms, which can be one of Moscow's responses to possible new US sanctions, Russian lawmaker Alexei Pushkov told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Pushkov proposed on his Twitter page to introduce sanitary sanctions against McDonald's following publication of photos from one of the restaurants in Louisiana showing dirty floors and ice cream machine.

"If something which causes the public outrage happens in one of the company's departments, there are reasons to believe that the same violations are also happening in other places because the company has the common quality control system. At least it is necessary to conduct very serious checks in all McDonald's restaurants in Russia and if there are violations there, not to turn a blind eye to them but to take tough measures - up to closing [the restaurants]," Pushkov said.

Heart - Black

Florida man facing charges of animal cruelty after stabbing dog for "always taking his girlfriend's side" in arguments

Mike Lado
© Lee County police office, Florida
A Florida man has been accused of stabbing his dog to death just moments after allegedly claiming it always took his girlfriend's side in arguments.

Mike Lado, 26, is facing charges of animal cruelty after detectives say he attacked Blue, his Boxer-Labrador mix, on Thursday night.

Lado had been out drinking for several hours before becoming embroiled in an argument with his partner at their home in Lee County, south of Sarasota, according to reports.

The man's girlfriend told detectives that Blue followed Lado into the kitchen during the row and began barking and growling. It is claimed that Lado then reached for a large butcher's knife and stabbed the dog twice. The dog then bled to death at the home.

Handcuffs

Teen charged with terrorism offenses after allegedly plotting attack with ISIS militant

isis flag
© Global Look Press
A 17-year-old girl has been charged with terrorism offenses after allegedly taking instructions from a Syrian Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) fighter on receiving weapons for use in a terrorist attack.

The unnamed girl is said to have asked for assistance in completing the plan and later received advice to that end. The charges followed an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command.

The accused has been remanded in custody and will appear in court later on Wednesday.

Bulb

Inspirational: North Carolina Police Chief stops arresting opioid addicts - finds that offering help causes crime and addiction to plummet

Chief Thomas Bashore
© CNNChief Thomas Bashore: A cop with heart and brains
Crime is down 40 percent in a North Carolina town where police began offering help and recovery options to drug addicts, instead of throwing them in jail.

A police chief in a small eastern North Carolina town, Chief Thomas Bashore, in collaboration with town manager Hank Raper, began a program - using compassion instead of violence - known as the HOPE initiative that is both saving lives and lowering crime.

Nashville, North Carolina, a town of 5,400 offers a unique program to help addicts recover, rather than continue the cycle of crime and addiction, by allowing addicts to turn themselves into police with their drugs and paraphernalia, without being thrown in a cage.

Instead of them facing arrest, they get help getting into a program to fight addiction.

Eye 2

Malaysian lawmaker in trouble after saying a woman who refuses sex with her husband is emotionally abusing him

burka
© Beawiharta / Reuters
A Malaysian lawmaker is in hot water after saying that if a woman refuses sex to her husband, she is "emotionally and physiologically" abusing him, AFP reports. Activists and people on social media have called the comments "ridiculous" and "saddening."

Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh, a Muslim MP from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) party, made the controversial comments on Tuesday during a debate on amendments to domestic violence laws.

"Even though men are said to be physically stronger than women, there are cases where wives hurt or abuse their husbands in an extreme manner," said the lawmaker, who is also a member of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party, a founding member of the BN, AFP reports.

"Usually, it involves wives cursing their husbands - this is emotional abuse. They insult their husbands and refuse his sexual needs. All these are types of psychological and emotional abuse," he stated.

Biohazard

More acid attacks in London: Witnesses report that victims 'screamed in agony' while skin 'peeled off'

Acid attack
© Vickie Flores / London News Pictures / Global Look Press
Two men were left "screaming in agony" after acid was thrown in their faces in East London on Tuesday night, according to witnesses who said the corrosive substance "peeled off" their facial skin and melted their clothes.

The victims, thought to be in their late teens, flagged down police in Bethnal Green at around 7pm local time after having an unknown liquid thrown at them on Roman Road.

Paramedics were called and the men were taken to hospital for treatment. Firefighters at the scene also used their hoses to douse the men down.

Scotland Yard said the incident is being treated as a "suspected noxious substance attack."

Arrow Down

It's everywhere: Ben and Jerry's faces boycott threats after ice cream tests positive for glyphosate

glyphosate Ben and Jerry's ice cream
© Facebook/Ben & Jerry'sThere may be an ingredient found in weedkillers in your ice cream - glyphosate!
Ben & Jerry's - a brand famous for its quality and eco-friendly practices - is under fire after a test uncovered a controversial ingredient in its ice cream.

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) found glyphosate, the main ingredient in weedkillers like Roundup, in 10 out of 11 samples of the company's ice cream flavors, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

While the levels of glyphosate were well below the legal limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Organic Consumers Association argues that any presence of the pesticide product is misleading and potentially dangerous.

"It's time for Ben & Jerry's to announce it will immediately begin transitioning to 100-percent organic," using zero pesticides in production, the OCA said in a post on its website. "Otherwise conscious consumers have no choice but to launch a national and, if necessary, international protest campaign and boycott."

Comment: Why we should be concerned about the amount of glyphosate in our food supply:
Gut-Wrenching: New studies reveal the insidious effects of Glyphosate"

Contrary to the current widely-held misconception that glyphosate is relatively harmless to humans, the available evidence shows that glyphosate may rather be the most important factor in the development of multiple chronic diseases and conditions that have become prevalent in Westernized societies."

The acute toxicity of glyphosate is relatively low, meaning that accidentally ingesting it will likely not cause immediate harm. Chronic toxicity - the effects of continually ingesting glyphosate residues in food - is cause for concern. Glyphosate interferes with fundamental biochemical reactions and may predispose humans to obesity, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other health problems.



Quenelle - Golden

Interview with Filipino activist Mark Lopez on his open letter to US Congress

duterte
© Erik De Castro / Reuters
The open letter to the US Congress penned by Mark Lopez of Philippines has gone viral across social media and major outlets covering both Philippine and American politics. In this exclusive interview, Lopez told The Duran that if not for the power of social-media, Rodrigo Duterte may have meet the same fate as Muammar Gadaffi, Saddam Hussein, or Manuel Noriega

Mark Lopez lives in Manila and is a graduate from the prestigious University of Santo Tomas. His online writing recent caught global attention when he penned an open letter to the US Congress slamming American politicians who criticise Philippines for supposed 'human rights infractions' without full knowledge of the real human rights disaster caused by drug use and the crime wave caused by the narcotics trade.

Family

TrumpMania: 40,000 Boy Scouts cheer on President in energized POTUS speech

Trump National Boy Scout Jamboree
© Steve Helber/APPresident Donald Trump with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, left, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, both former Boy Scouts, at the 2017 National Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia on Monday.
Trump speaks to his young base.

The crowd was enormous, and energized to hear the US President address the 2017 National Boy Scout Jamboree.

The local Fox News affiliate reports...

Comment: Further reading: TrumpMania: US president draws 20,000 people at rally in traditionally Democrat-voting Youngstown, Ohio