Slashdot Mirror
Donald Trump Obliquely Backs a Federal Database To Track Muslims
HughPickens.com writes: Philip Bump reports at the Washington Post that Donald Trump confirmed to NBC on Thursday evening that he supports a database to track Muslims in the United States. The database of Muslims arose after an interview Yahoo News's Hunter Walker conducted with Trump earlier this week, during which he asked the Republican front-runner to weigh in on the current debate over refugees from Syria. "We're going to have to do things that we never did before," Trump told Walker. "Some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule." When pressed on whether these measures might include tracking Muslim Americans in a database or noting their religious affiliations on identification cards, Trump would not go into detail — but did not reject the options. Trump's reply? "We're going to have to — we're going to have to look at a lot of things very closely," he said. "We're going to have to look at the mosques. We're going to have to look very, very carefully." After an event on in Newton, Iowa, on Thursday night, NBC's Vaughn Hillyard pressed the point. "Should there be a database system that tracks Muslims here in this country?," Hillyard asked. "There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases" Trump said. "We should have a lot of systems." Hillyard asked about implementation, including the process of adding people to the system. "Good management procedures," Trump said. Sign people up at mosques, Hillyard asked? "Different places," Trump replied. "You sign them up at different places. But it's all about management."
The cataloging, rounding up, and internment of the Japanese is one of the darkest and frankly most embarrassing chapters in America's history. I can't believe someone is honestly suggesting that we do this again.
No ... I am not proposing this. I am just terrified this is the direction things are headed. The current hysteria over a few mentally unbalanced fanatics really has me worried. The worst thing that can happen is that the overwhelming majority of Muslims, who are as horrified at the actions of IS as the rest of us, are marginalized and dissuaded from helping in rooting out this menace.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/...
Clearly there could be the rise of a charismatic egomaniac who preys on the fears and hatred of the conservatives, making groups out to be the scapegoats (Muslims, gays, immigrants... at least it's not Jews this time around). Everything Trump says about these groups are the same things that Goebbels and Hitler were saying about Jews. We are witnessing the rise of the radical fascists Europe had to deal with 80 years ago. How in the hell are people so damn fucking stupid not to learn from history?
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
"Trump would not go into detail — but did not reject the options" apparently Not saying "NO" = "YES"
How would the posters that are upset about this feel about applying this to the
Scientologists ?
Aum Shinrikyo ?
Golden Dawn ?
The KKK ?
Neo Nazis ?
Pegida ?
Republicans ?
Libertarians ?
People that have more money than you do ?
Just how do you feel about freedom of speech ? Woodrow Wilson at Princeton ? The Halloween costume of your choice ? Operation Rescue publicizing abortion practices ?
It seems that a lot of people have remembered the first amendment today and will probably forget about it by next week.
I have not seen any Democrats proposing anything that even comes close to the things coming out of the Republican party.
Haven't been on a college campus in the last few years? No?
From the Republicans we see religious tests, attempts to deny rights to specific religions, and now a national registry of Muslims of the exact same sort that Hitler used against the Jews.
You mean the "religious test" that current administration routinely applies when considering refugee status, but which the leader of the House explicitly said would be part of no legislation to come from that body? And that "national registry of Muslims" that a reporter conjured up out of thin air, that one? Please cite the language used by "the republicans" as they propose such a thing. Be specific.
it's only one side of the American political spectrum that's pushing for all-out fascism
You don't actually know what word means, do you? The only party that's all about heavy-handed centralized government power and crony corruption is the Democrat party. They love that stuff.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Lately I've been feeling like I'm in a Philip K Dick novel.
Mostly random stuff.
Nope. You're living in your own little fantasy world, sponsored by Rush Limbaugh. Trump explained how he'd sign Muslims up for the database.
The reason this is a good move is because people like you are so delusional you'll give him a pass because you would sooner blame the media than pull your head out of your ass.
You are living in denial. Things are getting out of hand in this country, and instead of trying to deny it, you need to take a hard look at the facts of the situation. Just the other day Ted Cruz suggested that we only allow Christians into this country. Multiple Republican candidates just visited a big conference held by some nut who thinks we should execute gay and lesbian Americans. Donald Trump has endorsed setting up a database of Muslims, and there are multiple instances of Trump supporters violently attacking Hispanic Americans. And those are just a few example of right-wing extremism! Don't you see where this is all headed? Can you not understand how dire the situation is becoming? Fascism is already here, and it's not coming from the left.
Gamertag: WyleType
Nonsense. He's a politician. He purposefully obfuscated the answer.
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
The risk you are hypothesising is worrisome, and I agree that it's plausible.
We are at a point now where it's impossible (thanks to the efforts of some people) to even have realistic discussions about serious adult topics. We have been getting conditioned to accept certain assumptions that are never questioned. The result of which is that the boundaries of the debate are constrained so that no meaningful ideas ever see the light of day. Worse, people are really not very creative. 99.9% of the time, all the debate about whatever topic, is just regurgitating the same tired ideas, and the same false input data. Some assumptions and manipulations of public consciousness about the immigration issues:
1. It's "racist" to not let certain people into your country.
2. There is no need to select immigrants according to the likelihood that they will contribute to the economy.
3. Illegal aliens are "undocumented immigrants." No they are not, they are in the country illegally. Therefore they are not immigrants. They are illegal aliens!
How many of the people arguing for letting anyone into the country, and for giving undocumented/illegal aliens the same access to social services, voting privileges, etc. as citizens or permanent residents always leave their front door unlocked?
Here's what the government should do with all its domestic spying data: Find all the people who advocate letting anyone into the country and giving social benefits to illegal aliens, and fine them in geometrically increasing amounts weekly until they remove all the locks from their dwellings.
You see, the USA (or any nation) is the collective property (estate) of the people in that nation. The people are like a family. Therefore, we have a collective interest to ensure that the people who enter the country are going to preserve and/or increase the value of that estate, and not be the sort of family members that cause harm to other members of the family. This is the same thing we do when we decide who may enter and live with us in our private homes.
If we apply the same logic used about illegal aliens and refugees to the decision about whether or not to lock our doors, the conclusion is:
1. If you lock your door to keep out bad people, you are greedy and selfish for not giving other people a chance to have your stuff. So you should unlock your home.
2. If a random someone comes into your unlocked home and starts making a meal for themselves, and putting their feet up on the table while watching the (sport you don't like) game on your TV, and you call the cops to have them removed, if they happen to be brown or black then you are a racist.
The problem is that the whole thing lends itself to "wackadoodles". You have an entire system of belief based on nothing but hearsay, with some ancient goat-herders writing down some oral traditions that have been embellished over generations, and then telling people that this stuff is literal truth. Then people believe this stuff with no evidence for it whatsoever, other than other people reading the same texts and also claiming it's literal truth from God. From there, it's a very small stretch to take some part of that "literal truth" and decide that it really means you need to go murder some people. The Bible after all says that if you have children who disobey you, you're supposed to stone them to death. All these books are full of nonsense like that.
And the "wackadoodles" have been doing this for literally millenia. Christians used to routinely burn people at the stake for being the "wrong" kind of Christian, and interpreting this "word of God" differently.
As long as people believe that some book is the "word of God" then you're never going to get past this stuff. People need to move to actual ethical systems where you can evaluate them based on reason, not superstition.
Yeah obviously, I understand that's why we should absolve Hitler of all blame too. His guys just said "Shall we put the Jews in the oven now?" and Hitler said "Yes" thinking they asked him "Shall we put the Jews in the really fun theme park where they can enjoy themselves and have a great time".
Slashdot has long been going down hill, but now that we have new age Hitler sympathisers I think I'm done. This place has become a cesspit of ignorance and hate, and the handful of bright lights that shine out have been drowned out by the nonsense.
10 years ago there would not have been a single person trying to defend him, now we've got a +5 moderation on someone pretending he mis-heard the question even though we're talking about multiple questions over multiple interviews. He didn't mishear it every fucking time by two different interviewers in two different venues on two different days. Give me a fucking break. It's even right there in the summary that he's backed this policy up in two different interviews. That's not a mere faux-pas.
What the fuck is wrong with you guys? Since when did supporting Nazi ideals become cool here? We seem to have gone from supporting freedom, to widespread infiltration by people who think "liberal" is a dirty word, and defending a presidential forerunner who wants to recreate the Third Reich in America.
That is the way it always is with Trump. He always has some way to excuse the asshole things he says. Like when he said "blood coming out of her wherever" that wasn't a reference to Megyn Kelly being on her period, no ... he was referring to her "ears or nose."
At some point you recognize the pattern and stop giving the guy the benefit of the doubt.