Shot in the Dark

Laphraoig Akbar!

The Airport Commission is debating the Moslem cabbies’ “right” to refuse service to people with alcohol.

I’ve had about enough of these idiots:

Many cabbies disagreed, saying that the proposal denies them the right to freely practice their religion.

“This is discrimination,” proclaimed Ahmed Shine, a taxi driver for seven years.

No, it’s a “job condition”.  If my religion forbade me from watching people use software, my employer would be well within its rights to toss me.  Ditto the MAC.

And the MAC isn’t saying you can’t drive a cab.  Merely that you can’t drive one on its turf, the airport.

Beyond that, Ahmed?  Stand on principle!  Refuse the booze!  Eke out a living hauling welfare fares home from the grocery store (no booze there!).

Abdifatah Abdi, who said he was speaking for an association of cabdrivers, said the commissioners “will be judged on your decision.”You are deciding the livelihood of 600 drivers and their families,” Abdi said. “Say no to discrimination. Say yes to justice for the weak.”

Then go out and get a job where you don’t have to deal with infidels!

Seriously, what’s next?  Refusing to serve women who aren’t wearing chador?

Go drive your cab in Mogadishu.

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Mitch Berg

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104 responses to “Laphraoig Akbar!”

  1. mike Avatar
    mike

    J. Ewing

    I’m game. Where would you like to start?

  2. Master of None Avatar
    Master of None

    “actual statement of informed opinion based on consistent principle?”

    AngryClown is an ass.

    How’s that?

  3. Fulcrum Avatar
    Fulcrum

    Personally I think that a cabbie that doesn’t pick up a driver based upon the alcohol reasoning, should go to the back of the queue.

    However, 5,222 denials in 5 years may seem like a big number, but what % is that of total cabs taken? In the grand scheme of things, they turned down 3 rides per day, which i am guessing is in the range of

  4. Mitch Avatar
    Mitch

    Anybody care to discuss the issue at hand,

    [Raises hand, waves enthusiastically.]

    Letting too many lefties into a comment section is like hiring debutantes to work in a physics lab. It’s noisy, and things get broken, and eventually you realize nothing is getting done.

  5. Mitch Avatar
    Mitch

    (Not to paint with too broad a brush. Some of you are indeed valuable commenters).

    (I keep Clown around because I told his parents I’d give him something to stay out of trouble).

  6. Fulcrum Avatar
    Fulcrum

    hmm, the comment section didn’t like my equation symbols i guess, but it should have said less than 1%.

  7. angryclown Avatar
    angryclown

    Gee Mitch, all Angryclown did was agree with you and all your wingnut pals start picking on him. It ain’t fair, I tells ya!

  8. angryclown Avatar
    angryclown

    Mitch observed: “I wonder – if you polled 100 New Yorkers about life outside of their roach-infested, over-priced city, and 100 average people real americans from between the Hudson and the Sierra Madre about life in New York – who’d score better?”

    What’s to know? You come home from a hard day working at the feed lot, smack the kids around, read the cows a bedtime story and go to sleep. On your birthday your wife lets you do her and you get to eat at Appleby’s.

  9. Troy Avatar
    Troy

    “all your wingnut pals start picking on him. It ain’t fair, I tells ya!”

    *sheds a tear* I pity the angryclown!

    “What’s to know? You come home from a hard day working at the feed lot, smack the kids around, read the cows a bedtime story and go to sleep. On your birthday your wife lets you do her and you get to eat at Appleby’s.”

    The dog ate your homework again? Poor, poor angryclown. *more tears*

    You have a great day, angryclown! 🙂

  10. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    We prefer Chili’s over Appleby’s. It’s much more diverse in a cultural sort of way.

  11. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    A friend at another blog will be leaving for the Virgin Islands next week (Yes, that one), and he has a novel idea. When he calls the cab company for the ride to the airport, he’s going to request a non Muslim driver.
    Let the Market work, I says.

  12. phaedrus Avatar
    phaedrus

    Kermit – that makes a lot of sense although I think I’m going to change it up a bit. I don’t care if they’re Muslim or not.

    I’m going to request a driver that will let me carry a bottle of wine.

  13. Fulcrum Avatar
    Fulcrum

    Kermit, i think you meant, “Make the Market work inefficiently, I says.”

    And you may want to direct your friend to AA as there may be a problem if he needs to bring booze with him on his trip! 😉

  14. Master of None Avatar
    Master of None

    I’m going to ask for a driver that minds his own business.

  15. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    No, I meant what I said. If a bunch of Somalis are going to get up on their high camel and try to dictate to the people who welcomed them as refugees, I say Screw Them.
    And my friend is planning on bringng back high octane rum from the USVI. I may have to have a taste.

  16. Lassie Avatar
    Lassie

    What if their cabs are running on E-85?

  17. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    Allah will smite their apostate asses.

  18. Fulcrum Avatar
    Fulcrum

    kermit said: “f a bunch of Somalis are going to get up on their high camel and try to dictate to the people who welcomed them as refugees, I say Screw Them.”

    All fulcrum can say, “kermit, your ignorance is completely overwhelming. First off, they are not all from Somali and secondly, they are not all refugees. But xenophobia and racism have always been your forte.”

  19. Master of None Avatar
    Master of None

    So Fulcrum, when the cabbies start refusing to carry homosexuals, what are you going to do then?

  20. Paul Avatar
    Paul

    AC said:

    In contrast to Maseter, Angryclown is intelligent and completely reliable.

    Oh yeah, we’re going to believe and trust a guy who wears greasepaint 24/7.

  21. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    Fulcrum, you incredibly ignorant ass, Bill Clinton dumped tens of thousands of Somalis in Minnesota in the 90s. If you are that removed from recent history I can’t help but wonder why you bother expressing opinions to people who are better informed than you are.

    And I’ve got you’re “forte” right here, bucko.

  22. angryclown Avatar
    angryclown

    “Dumped.” Kinda like garbage, eh Kerm?

    You sure don’t have to drill very deep on a wingnut blog before hitting that gusher of racism.

    The camel comment was a nice touch too. Very subtle.

  23. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    Sure clown. It was right after they piled thousands of Hmong up in St.Paul. There was nary a blue eye in the bunch.

    But rather than extrapolate my semantics, how about a little mind theatre?
    “Mohammed, we have a wonderful place for your family to take refuge. It’s called Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes.”
    “Wonderful, praise Allah! When do we leave?”
    “December. We want you to get the full experience. Bring warm clothes.”

  24. angryclown Avatar
    angryclown

    Can you imagine? Brown-eyed people! Run for it!

    The cold I bet they expected. They probably had to be warned about the racism.

  25. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    My mom has brown eyes, my brother-in-law’s parents immigrated from China and you are an ignorant ass.

  26. angryclown Avatar
    angryclown

    “How could I be a racist? My sister married a Chinese guy!”

    Angryclown’s a wise ass.

  27. Fulcrum Avatar
    Fulcrum

    Kermit, i love it, i call you ignorant, and you just proved it again! You didn’t refute one thing i said:

    “First off, they are not all from Somali and secondly, they are not all refugees.”

    To which you replied:

    “Fulcrum, you incredibly ignorant ass, Bill Clinton dumped tens of thousands of Somalis in Minnesota in the 90s. If you are that removed from recent history I can’t help but wonder why you bother expressing opinions to people who are better informed than you are.”

    How exactly are you better informed? Great, so Clinton settled many refugees here (obviously to your great displeasure). Does that mean all East Africans here are Somali? Does it mean they call immigrated as refugees?

    And this nugget, “better informed than you are.”

    Refuting your arguments is the easiest thing i do all week.

  28. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    Um, that would be Somalia with an A, Fulcrum. But please, continue to impress me with your intellect.
    “How exactly are you better informed?”
    At least I know how to spell the name of the country.

  29. Fulcrum Avatar
    Fulcrum

    A typo!?!? Way to dodge the issue Clinton, um, I mean Kermit.

  30. angryclown Avatar
    angryclown

    Geez, Fulcrum. Even Kerm’s Chinese brother-in-law spells better than you!

  31. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    Yeah, I think that engineering degree really helped him out.

  32. Mitch Avatar
    Mitch

    Fulcrum,

    So typos aside, it’s a simple fact – the vast majority of East African immigrants were Somali.

    It was Clinton Administration policy.

    That policy – bringing in wholesale lots of unassimilated immigrants, many of whom subscribe to a religious denomination that detests the very nation they moved to – is having consequences. Not always good ones.

    It’s worth a discussion.

  33. Fulcrum Avatar
    Fulcrum

    Mitch agreed, but Kermit’s grandiose xenophobic statements were way over the top and need to be called out. He lumps all Eastern Africans together, and all Muslims together. To believe that there is a monolithic Islam is as ridiculous and dangerous as to believe there is a monolithic Christianity.

    To say that since of portion of Islam’s followers detests America, and apply that to all of Islam’s followers is wrong. Personally, I think you would be hard pressed to find a lot of TC Somalians brought as refugees who truly detest America based upon religious beliefs.

    Personally I think this is all being blown out of proportion since the refused rides represent less than 1% of all rides taken at the airport (my estimation).

  34. Master of None Avatar
    Master of None

    So as long as something only happens 1% of the time, then every thing’s OK?

    Do you apply that standard to everything?

    So if we fire every cabbie that refuses a ride based on Sharia law, then that would be OK, cause it’s only 1%.

  35. Paul Avatar
    Paul

    Fulcrum said:

    Personally I think this is all being blown out of proportion since the refused rides represent less than 1% of all rides taken at the airport (my estimation).

    Is it? Then how about answering Master of None’s question: So Fulcrum, when the cabbies start refusing to carry homosexuals, what are you going to do then?

    I would add: What will you do when such cabbies refuse to carry women that are not dressed appropriately (burqas)?

    Count on it eventually happening; there is no tolerance for gays in Muslim society. Anyone that comes out of the closet in a muslim nation is summarily executed (that’s the lucky ones.)

    I find it puzzling that both the gay community and NOW have been quite silent on certain parts of Islamic law.

  36. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    “Kermit’s grandiose xenophobic statements were way over the top and need to be called out.”

    Well. I think we have a pot meets kettle moment here.

    I have never been grandiose. Grandiloquent, perhaps. And I’m not afraid of people who make sense, so that shoots the xenophobia charge down too.
    0 for 2, Fulc.

  37. angryclown Avatar
    angryclown

    As long as they have the good sense to be white.

  38. Fulcrum Avatar
    Fulcrum

    MONS & Paul: I did not say it is ok, i said blown out of proportion, and I meant to say in terms of the coverage in the media (all forms) based upon occurances. Now we have 3 denials by cabbie made per day. We have no clue what they are for, or who makes them. So, if we assume that they are all muslims denying rides to alchohol carrying passengers (which it isn’t), then we are talking about (assuming 1000 cab rides a day) denials at a rate of .3%.

    Denials based upon race/sex/sexuality/religion are human rights violations and completely unacceptable.

    Gret job Kermit, well if you aren’t xenophobic of those that make sense, you just identified yourself by definition as someone who does not make sense. Like I said, refuting your statements are the easiest thing I do all day.

  39. Master of None Avatar
    Master of None

    “We have no clue what they are for, or who makes them. ”

    Really? Could you possibly try to not be so disingenuous?

    I’ll grant you that 3 denials a day isn’t that big of deal, unless you happen to be one of the people being denied. If you’re blind, and are being denied because your guide dog violates Sharia law, then it is a human rights violation. This has happened, it’s documented, and it has to absolutely stop. We know who’s doing it, and why they are doing it, so don’t kid yourself.

  40. Fulcrum Avatar
    Fulcrum

    i was not trying to be disingenous, I didn’t look at the Press link which indicated that most, but not all of those denials dealt with alcohol or guide dogs.

    I agree with the guide dog issue, and apparently, if the papers are right, that practice has stopped. I have repeatedly stated my thoughts on penatlies for refusing to drive a passenger carrying alcohol.

    So MONS please tell us, why are they doing it?

    What do you think the penalty should be for pharmacists that refuse to fill orders on religious grounds?

  41. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    “Like I said, refuting your statements are the easiest thing I do all day.”

    Wow. Getting out of bed must be a real challenge, Fulc. That and grammar.

  42. Master of None Avatar
    Master of None

    Muslim activists are trying to impose Sharia law into American society.

    My view on Pharmacists?

    If the owner of a business doesn’t want to sell a certain product for ANY reason, that owner can do that.

    If the employee of a business doesn’t want to sell a product, then they have to answer to the owner. If I was the pharmacy owner, I would fire the employee if they refused to sell a product that I carried.

    If the customer doesn’t want to do business with this owner they can go elsewhere.

    At the Minneapolis airport, there are no alternatives to finding a cab. The cab drivers are licensed to operate on public property.

  43. Master of None Avatar
    Master of None

    Muslim activists are trying to impose Sharia law into American society.

    My view on Pharmacists?

    If the owner of a business doesn’t want to sell a certain product for ANY reason, that owner can do that.

    If the employee of a business doesn’t want to sell a product, then they have to answer to the owner. If I was the pharmacy owner, I would fire the employee if they refused to sell a product that I carried.

    If the customer doesn’t want to do business with this owner they can go elsewhere.

    At the Minneapolis airport, there are no alternatives to finding a cab. The cab drivers are licensed to operate on public property.

    The existing rules of going back to the end of the line aren’t working. People are still being denied service.

  44. Fulcrum Avatar
    Fulcrum

    Kermit, does your mouth hold both of your feet at one time?

    You chide me about grammar (when I made a spelling mistake) with an incomplete sentence?

    Refuting your statements is the easiest thing I do, since you do it for me!

  45. Fulcrum Avatar
    Fulcrum

    In retrospect apparently i do suck at grammar. And I tell ya, crow is mighty tasty deep fried!

  46. Master of None Avatar
    Master of None

    If the pharmacist is licensed to operating in a public facility, they should loose their license.

    If the owner of a pharmacy, chooses not to carry a product for ANY reason, that’s his right. The customer has the right and the ability to go elsewhere.

    I haven’t read anywhere that the practice of not carrying guide dogs has stopped, only that the cabbies have promised to stop it.

    Why are they doing it? My belief is that there are a small number of Muslim activists that are doing this, in an attempt to force Sharia concepts into American society.

  47. Master of None Avatar
    Master of None

    In my opinion, there is a small number of Muslim activists that are at the root of this problem. They are attempting to insert Sharia law into American society.

    If a pharmacist was licensed to operate in a public facility, and didn’t abide by the terms of that license, then I would pull the license. But, a private business owner can choose to sell or not sell anything they want for any reason they want.

  48. Paul Avatar
    Paul

    Master of None said: In my opinion, there is a small number of Muslim activists that are at the root of this problem. They are attempting to insert Sharia law into American society.

    That is exactly what is happening, and the story has drawn national attention because of it.

  49. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    That’s cool, Fulc. I recommend the honey mustard sauce. (insert smiley face here)

  50. Terry Avatar
    Terry

    Gee, AC seems to be flailing more than usual lately. Perhaps he’s been reading the history of Blind King John of Bohemia. Or maybe he’s just drinking more than usual since his partner left him.

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