Anti-Muslim Bigotry In Broward Campaigns
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Ethnic baiting has again infested Broward politics.
A group of Democratic candidates– including judicial candidate Betsy Benson and state Sen. Candidate Gwyn Clarke-Reed – have been attacked for attending a Muslim event thrown by local members of Emerge USA, an Islamic political group.
Sheriff Scott Israel has been blasted in fevered Internet posts for hiring a Muslim sheriff’s deputy who is connected to folks who may be connected to terrorists. What these stories don’t mention is that the deputy was originally hired by Republican Sheriff Al Lamberti in 2012 and underwent a thorough a federal and state background check at that time, according to Broward Sheriff’s Office documents. He was promoted to a higher position last year by Israel and passed a second background check.
Still, the attacks have gotten a lot of currency on odious Internet outposts of bigotry and conspiracy madness, especially those featuring the McCarthyite rantings of a wacko local Republican who once ran for Congress. Unfortunately this bigotry was also reprinted by respectable local websites.
I will not link to the odious stories.
But I have to point out the hypocrisy.
Benson and Clarke-Reed and others were blasted for covering their heads while attending one of the Muslim events. Hmmm.
Doesn’t every male politician in Florida, gentile and Jew alike, cover his head when visiting an orthodox Jewish synagogue?
Its called common courtesy.
Some of this trash is being fed to websites by the opposing candidates’ camp. If the campaigns are starting like this, can you image how nasty they will get next hall?
Gov. Rick Scott visits a synagogue
September 24th, 2015 at 9:05 am
Must be a slow news day.
This story is pretty lame without the specifics of what was said and by whom.
FROM BUDDY:
I wrote what was said with enough details. I’m not going to repeat the bigotry any more than I have to and I’m not going to publicize the bigots who spread it. But I am going to call them out.
September 24th, 2015 at 9:41 am
The US Constitution is clear, there can be NO TEST for voting, holding any office or any civil
Right. Observance of religious customs is common courtesy when visiting a religious site or event. If people are critizing hiring a person because of his or her religion they don’t understand 300 years of American history starting with the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock
September 24th, 2015 at 9:47 am
One of Donald Trump supporters ignited this. There is good /bad of all kinds. Again, people can believe what they want. What if you are of the Muslim faith you are automaticly a terrorist just because the 9/11 hijackers were all Muslim makes all muslims bad people(come on). If an elected official attends a muslim prayer service etc they are deemed suspect and should be thrown out of office. What Muslims don’t pay taxes, etc. The terroists , the militants causing all the trouble over in the Middle east, these are the demographics we should be concerned about. We should be concentrating on getting rid Al Assad so the Syrian people can go back to Syria. Al Assad is the problem, not Muslims in general. To th e muslims that are reading this Al assad must go. He is giving this demographic a bad name. Some of you are just spreading more bigotry by endorsing this notion all Muslims are bad people and are basicly terrorist. Peace will come to the Middle East once Assad is gone. Trick is how do you get rid of assad(kill him, his entire blood line if you have to)
September 24th, 2015 at 10:00 am
Ditto what John Henry said.
I also will ditto what Ben Carson said, or what I believe he meant. There are a lot of Muslims that are perfectly fine to hold office but a radical Muslim, some call them Islamists, are unfit for office and are unfit to ever be allowed into this country.
Just look at the invasion of Europe taking place right now. Wherever Muslims gain any foothold, crime goes up and freedom goes down. The European Muslims are changing Europe and demanding that Europeans submit to them and their culture. No go zones, Muslim holidays, lost longstanding traditions are the Muslim legacy.
Only fools and Democrats (but I repeat myself) would import this menace into our country.
September 24th, 2015 at 11:25 am
You seem quick to cite Red Broward when they post something you like yet you don’t assign attribution for these multiple counts of bigotry on their blog.
September 24th, 2015 at 12:29 pm
I respectfully disagree with your position. The Jewish faith does not treat women as second class citizens, prohibited from expressing their individuality in the presence of others.
First, the purpose of the headdress, veil and other coverings for women in the Muslim culture, known as Hijab, is to restrict the viewing of a Muslim woman from anyone other than her husband and father.
In my opinion,by wearing a Hijab, any woman who is independent in her thoughts and actions is acquiescing and saying it is OK that the second class way Muslims treat women is acceptable.
These candidates by merely showing up to this event have shown respect to their Muslims hosts. Wearing a Hijab is disrespectful to women everywhere.
FROM BUDDY:
Wearing a head covering to show your respect for the setting has nothing to do with accepting any religious philosophy.
Does Gov. Rick Scott and every other politician who wears a yarmulka believes in Judaism?
By the way the last time I looked, certain hasidic Jewish groups had very strict policies on what woman are permitted to wear. So do the Amish.
I’m not going to turn this into a discussion of religion. This is really a post about how religious pandering by candidates is permitted by some, as long as its the right religion.
September 24th, 2015 at 12:30 pm
What’s the root cause of all this nonsense?
Anyone … anyone?
Answer: religion.
September 24th, 2015 at 12:47 pm
If you are going to comment on the article about Benson then in fairness you should let your readers know about the entire article.
The main jist of the article was that Benson has someone on her kick off host committee that while involved with Kids in Distress, blamed underage girls who had sex with an adult employee of Kids in Distress. On top of that, this same cohost of the Benson event, said he would jump a wall to get at a couple of 15 year old girls playing with themselves. All of the comments made by this person is on video.
That this person is on a Judge’s host committee is what is truly odious, not whether or not the candidate wore a headress at a muslim event.
It is your blog and your call, but the readers should have a chance to read the article and decide what is really odious in the article
http://redbroward.com/2015/09/21/davis-2/
FROM BUDDY:
Actually, it is not the same article. The allegation was repeated in the piece linked above, but it was first published in a previous article.
September 24th, 2015 at 3:16 pm
@ 6.Dear Buddy:
You wrote “The Jewish faith does not treat women as second class citizens.”
This is true of Reform and Conservative judaism, but is entirely false as to the Orthodox/Chasidic Jews…
Check out this (men cannot sit next to a woman on a plane because they are deemed unclean): http://jezebel.com/ultra-orthodox-mens-refusal-to-sit-next-to-women-delays-1696965853
and this (women not allowed to read from the Torah at the Wall in Jerusalem, only permitted for men):
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Rabbi-slams-Women-of-the-Wall-for-smuggling-Torah-scroll-into-holy-site-398653
September 24th, 2015 at 3:27 pm
Nobel prize winner Mulala was shot in the head for her beliefs and still wears a berka (sp?) Maybe their heads were covered as a tribute to her?
September 24th, 2015 at 5:15 pm
Truthinness and Left wingers and anti-Semities and Roman Catholic bashers and anti-Moslem bigots n even Hillary Clinton now use questionable definitions of Second Class” and ignoring the fact women and men are different sexes or genders. And yes,the loonies of the Left defending sex changes are pervert proveyors not civil rights activists.
Differences of sex or gender cannot be ignored disregarded or nullified despite temporary left wing legal changes that will eventually lead to such revulsion these temporary victories of perversion will be reversed.
September 26th, 2015 at 9:49 am
Buddy,
Please get the facts right. The director of CAIR was hired as a Deputy by the current Sheriff. The articles [attacking Israel are] factually accurate. Yours was not.
FROM BUDDY:
I have the facts right. The Muslim in question was originally hired by Sheriff Al Lamberti and underwent a background check at that time. He also underwent a background check when he was promoted by Sheriff Israel. I have the documents from BSO. Do you?
The article you mention was not written by an investigative reporter or even a reporter. It was written by a crazy self-promoter who is driven by such anti-Muslim hate that he hardly ever gets his facts right. This guy, who has sadly infested the Broward Republican Party for years, sees every Muslim as a terrorist and every Jewish murderer of Arabs as a hero. He has praised the late Jewish extremist Mier Kahane, who was labeled a terrorist, along with praising Kahane’s terrorist organization.
By the way, the article attacking Israel appeared on a website that this week labeled Pope Francis a Communist.
Browardbeat is not going to reargue the Middle East conflict. But since this bigot injected himself in Broward politics, I decided to comment on it.
September 26th, 2015 at 4:07 pm
As far as I know Mr. Nevins is a PROFESSION JOURNALIST with a 30 year or more UNQUESTIONED reputation. If he as a PROFESSIONAL JOURNALIST makes a PROFESSIONAL decision it should be accepted by non,journalists. Sheriff Israel is the dulely elected Sheriff and LEGALLY responsible under the applicable laws to run his Department. If he violates the law citizens and non-citizens can complaint to the State Attorney or US District Attorney or sue in State or Federal Law. The US Constitution and the discussions held in Philadelphia and State Legislatures clearly show there can be NO Religious tests to limit a citizens Civil Rights PERIOD! A Moslem or anyone else is fully entitled to serve in any capacity that they are qualified for. I may TOTALLY disagree with CAIRE or CAMERA on the Pro-Israel Right Wing Side but their members are entitled to the FULL rights of US citizenship. Views in the Middle East are irrevelant any way except in Congressional or Presidential Elections in the main hopefully.
September 27th, 2015 at 4:37 pm
Buddy,
I don’t know what documents BSO gave you,but I am looking at his BSO application for the position of Deputy Sheriff dated 6/1/14. On the application he is asked “Are you currently an employee of the Broward Sheriff’s Offices?” His answer was NO. Under SECTION II Applications With Other Agencies he lists BSO Detention Deputy 02/09 Withdrew App, BSO Reserve Deputy Sheriff,03/12 NOT SELECTED,FHP Auxiliary Trooper 10/13, Withdraw/BMI,Hollywood PD Police Officer 02/14 Pending #13 on list.Please Explain your statement that Al Lamberti originally hired him as a Reserve Deputy.
FROM BUDDY:
He was hired 8/10/2012 as a reserve deputy cadet. The words “date of hire” are specific on the BSO document.
If I were you I would be more concerned with the handful of bad cops who abuse their badges than any imagined terrorist. More people have been killed, injured and abused by cops violating their oath of office and their training than any terrorist every did in Broward County.
As far as this guy’s “terrorist connections,” Sheriff Scott Israel will pay the price if it is true.