Wednesday May 23, 2012
We take a break from our election news to remind you that the first real presidential election in Egypt’s history is taking place today. Well, it’s actually two days of voting, and none of the 13 candidates are expected to secure the 50% needed to win the election, so a runoff vote between the two top candidates is expected in June, but still… today is the day the lengthy process of electing an Egyptian president begins! 50 million Egyptians are eligible to cast ballots, but no one is sure yet what powers the new president will hold in the country. While it may still take some time for Egypt to sort itself out, we salute Egyptians today on another historic turning point in their transition towards democracy; one that will undoubtedly impact the whole Arab world. Read More »
Wednesday May 16, 2012
Landry reminded Louisiana voters about this Boustany scandal: “Oh and don’t forget that you are paying for his Congressional health care too” (unlike Landry’s Congressional health care, which is paid for by Disney’s Tinker Bell). Read More »
Tuesday May 08, 2012
Well, Romney just had Santorum’s McCain moment. Yesterday, a women told Romney that President Obama should be tried for “treason,” and Romney went on talking about how the constitution is important. Just when you think you’ve found the limits of our tolerance for madness in our political discourse, you find out you haven’t. Read More »
Friday May 04, 2012
Our event succeeded in disrupting the anti-Muslim narrative Spencer and Geller hoped to spread throughout the media. After the conclusion of our event, two AAI staff members and Countdown writers headed to the Spencer/Geller event, only to be escorted out by police… but not before taping this amusing video (you have to watch it). Read More »
Tuesday April 24, 2012
What’s so “appropriate” about spying on Arab Americans and American Muslims? We don’t know either. To make things more confusing, we were just told at the Arab American Leadership Day briefing at the White House that there was an on-going DOJ investigation into the NYPD’s surveillance operations. So why was Mr. Brennan prematurely stating publicly that he has “full confidence that the NYPD is doing things consistent with the law?" Read More »
Tuesday April 17, 2012
If Chabot and Engle truly want to discipline a dependent, but out-of-control state that is hindering peace with its obnoxious and disorderly behavior, I’m sure the Palestinians would want to be the first to happily point them in the right direction. Read More »
Wednesday April 11, 2012
But if you actually care to look at the details, it will quickly become clear that Ron Paul is the losing candidate whose ideas continue to influence the national conversation; out-fundraising Gingrich, and receiving more than twice as many Twitter mentions in the last week alone. But Gingrich’s desperate search for relevance goes on, to a strange mixture of our amusement and agony. Read More »
Tuesday April 03, 2012
In what constitutes conclusive evidence that the media will make headlines out of anything, several outlets ran headlines indicating that Rick Santorum would drop out of the race [hold your breath, here comes the shocker]… if Romney got enough delegates to lock down the GOP nomination. Yeah, like we were all under the impression, before this headline, that the losers would continue to fight for the nomination after someone had won. Then again, in the media’s defense, you could totally see Newt Gingrich campaigning well into June of 2013, regardless of what happens. Read More »
Tuesday March 27, 2012
The proper reaction to the discovery of a systemic problem of Islamophobia in the country’s leading law enforcement agency is: (a) full disclosure of the materials used, (b) the retraining of all agents who underwent training that stereotyped Arab Americans and American Muslims as threatening, and (c) a public apology from the FBI for allowing such absurd materials to make it into their trainings in the first place. To emphasize the seriousness of this issue, we’re going to skip the joke on this one. Read More »
Wednesday March 21, 2012
Are you disturbed by the PATRIOT Act’s civil rights transgressions? Wait until you hear this: The Justice Department apparently has an even more intrusive interpretation of their powers under the PATRIOT Act; one which, "Contrary to core principles of American democracy" (in the words of Senators Wyden and Udall), they refuse to disclose to the American people. Read More »
Wednesday March 14, 2012
For a while there, we thought Gingrich’s anti-Muslim rhetoric was motivated by cheap political pandering to the growing bigoted sentiments on the far right, but now we understand he’s just trying to restore the balance destabilized by all this extra protectiveness of Islam. Thanks Newt! Read More »
Wednesday March 07, 2012
No AIPAC edition of Countdown would be complete without Jon Stewart’s brilliant take on The Daily Show on how criticizing Israel is taboo in American political discourse, while perfectly fine in Israeli politics. “Apparently in Israel,” he said, “you are allowed to criticize Israel and still hold public office." Read More »
Wednesday February 29, 2012
When American troops burned Qurans in Afghanistan, the U.S. military sensibly apologized for the mistake. Well, Gingrich is not happy about that (the apology, not the Quran-burning) because apologizing amounted to American “surrender.” Yup, in Gingirch’s world, nations are all 13 year old boys who must prove they’re tough by never apologizing when they screw up. Read More »
Wednesday February 22, 2012
But don’t worry; Santorum’s press secretary Alice Stewart explained that this was all a misunderstanding: Santorum wasn’t attacking the President’s faith, just his “radical Islamic policies.” Oh, thank God it’s just his radical Islamism; for a second there it sounded like Santorum was questioning the President’s faith. Stewart later said she misspoke and was actually trying to say “radical environmental policies.” Nicely done, Ms. Stewart, nicely done! If you ever find yourself in trouble and in need of damage-control, you know who to hire. “Your honor, my client wasn’t trespassing through his neighbor’s backyard, he was just trying to burn his house down.” Read More »
Tuesday February 14, 2012
Whether you’re upset today because you hate participating in the commercial industry of love, or because can’t think of an original Valentine’s gift (heart-shaped chocolate box is just fine), or because the world is reminding you that nobody loves you (don’t believe it, we’re sure someone does), today still means something very different to you than it does for Bahrain. Read More »
Thursday February 09, 2012
Health-warning: don’t play drinking games with Islamophobic references at CPAC (we’re just guessing it’ll be dangerous). Read More »
Tuesday January 31, 2012
The consequences were tragic: immediately following Santorum’s remarks, over a billion and a half Muslims died of laughter. We at Countdown encourage the remaining ones (when done mourning, of course) to let Santorum know that equality is kind of a familiar concept to them, and that the God of Abraham is actually their God too. Read More »
Tuesday January 24, 2012
A bigoted woman in a Santorum forum (rhyme not intended) told him that Obama “is an avowed Muslim [and…] has no legal right to be calling himself President.” How did Santorum respond? By saying “I’m doing my best to get him out.” We never thought we’d say this, but at least McCain had the decency, however terribly executed, to try to repudiate his crazy supporter’s remarks. Welcome, once again, to the 2012 election. Read More »
Wednesday January 18, 2012
We at Countdown don’t really care whether Colbert makes the ballot in South Carolina. We’re just dying for him to be allowed to join the debates. Can you imagine an exchange between Colbert and Newt? Yes, we can’t stop smirking at the thought either. Read More »
Latest poll to be released Friday finds Americans are divided on continuing aid to #Egypt: http://t.co/1spZM1m9d2
about 40 seconds ago.
RT @MaiE_89: In the 1990’s, #Egypt had a 60% favorable rating among Americans, while today only 36% of US views the country positively via @AAIUSA
about 4 minutes ago.
The Muslim Brotherhood has a negative favorable/unfavorable ratio of 30%–47%
http://t.co/rMKu4JJrgW
about 5 minutes ago.
Looking at Iran by James Zogby
Kahlil Gibran Awards Gala - April 16, 2013President Obama got it just about perfect in his Jerusalem speech when he urged Israelis to see the world through the eyes of Palestinians. That portion of his remarks was so compelling it deserves to be quoted in full: Read More »
Air Date: 5/31/2012
Fellows from Syracuse University’s “Leaders for Democracy Fellowship Program (LDF); Bill Press, Host of the “Bill Press Show” and author of the new book, The Obama Hate Machine: The Lies, Distortions, and Personal Attacks on the President---and Who Is Behind Them. Read More »
The story of Arab Americans coming of age as an organized community is a classic American tale of immigrants seeking opportunity, benefiting from America’s freedoms, but also experiencing, at times, the dark side of exclusion and discrimination that has so often been a part of our nation’s history. Read More »
Apr 16 2013
Apr 27 2013
Jul 19 2013
