Nation

MSNBC contributor: GOP is ‘a cult not radically dissimilar from al-Qaeda’

Published

8 months ago

March 22, 2021

Staff Writer

A contributor on MSNBC likened members of the Republican party to a terrorist organization responsible for the murders of thousands. Or, as some would call it, just a normal Friday on mainstream media television channels.

Contributor and frequent guest Jason Johnson said the GOP is “a cult not radically dissimilar from al-Qaeda,” and that the party seeks to stop everyone except White men from voting, as reported by NewsBusters.

“At some point, you have to recognize that when people worship white supremacy, when people worship Trump, when people worship whatever kind of Q-Anon conspiracy they want, it is now a cult,” Johnson said on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House. “It is a cult not radically dissimilar from al-Qaeda—at least from what we’ve seen so far.”

After the comparison, Johnson discussed his view that Republicans want to bring America back several decades in who it seeks to allow voting rights.

“We have to stop these people at every single turn because they will take America back to the 1930s, ’40s, and ’20s, and make sure that nobody who’s not a straight white male Christian is actually able to vote and exercise their right in this country,” he said.

Johnson revealed his strategy for taking down Republicans.

“And when you deal with cults, you can no longer defeat those people with logic. You just have to defeat them with laws and you have to allow people to live in whatever kind of crazy fantasy world they want as long as they’re not harming other people,” he told the MSNBC audience.

Read the full article here.

Nation

Boston Celtics Player Legally Changing Name to ‘Enes Kanter Freedom’ to Celebrate U.S. Citizenship

Published

3 days ago

November 29, 2021

Staff Writer

Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images

Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter is celebrating becoming a U.S. citizen in an incredible way. The 29-year-old athlete from Turkey is having his citizenship oath ceremony Monday, and will legally change his name to Enes Kanter Freedom.

Kanter is an outspoken human rights advocate who had his Turkish passport revoked in 2017 after he criticized Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mediaite reports “he has also criticized NBA stars Michael Jordan and LeBron James for not doing enough to help the Black community and not speaking out against exploitative labor practices in China respectively.”

Celtics head coach Ime Udoka told the Boston Globe the team is “all for” the player’s name change. Kanter’s manager says the player will complete his legal name change to have Kanter become his middle name and Freedom be his new last name at Monday’s ceremony.

“We congratulated him as a group for getting his American citizenship last week,” Udoka said. “That’s who Enes is, we’re proud of him. Enes is who he is. He’s passionate about his stances and the name change; you look at [Ron] Artest [who changed his name to Metta Sandiford-Artest in the middle of the COVID-19 outbreak] and guys that have done it in the past. It’s something he wants to express and we’re all for it.”

Kanter has already changed his official Twitter account to Enes Kanter FREEDOM with his new last name in all caps. Freedom made waves when he tweeted the following on November 18: Money over Morals for the ‘King’. Sad & disgusting how these athletes pretend they care about social justice. They really do ‘shut up & dribble’ when Big Boss [inserted Chinese flag] says so. Did you educate yourself about the slave labor that made your shoes or is that not part of your research?”

The tweet included photos of basketball shoes he wore painted with human rights depictions and phrases such as “hey still researching and getting educated?” as well as “I am informed and educated on the situation.”

The statement is with regard to his criticism of LeBron James’ partnership with Nike. “Nike remains one of the NBA’s biggest sponsors as both organizations feed off their partnerships with China” reports Mediaite. Kanter Freedom also made an offer to take Michael Jordan and Nike co-founder Phil Knight to China in order for the men to “visit these slave labor camps and you can see it with your own eyes.”