Yesterday I attended an event on domestic radicalization at the Center for American Progress which was co-hosted by the National Security Network that featured administration officials, a leader from a Muslim organization, a former NYPD commissioner and LAPD chief, and an academic who has studied domestic radicalization. It was the first such event I'd attended put on by a liberal organization. The featured speaker was Rep. Keith Ellison , the first Muslim representative elected to Congress -- and an underutilized resource on such matters. "As American Muslims, we have to tackle the moral logic that some Muslims use to justify violence in the name of religion, Ellison said. "To say glibly Islam is a religion of peace ignores the reality that there are some Muslims, to our horror, who distort Islam and advocate violence. We have to be at the forefront of correcting the record." While emphasizing the important role that the American Muslim community has and must play in countering...

Race is a really bad way to identify candidates who will look out for your interests. Tea Partiers find a way to justify the NAACP's resolution condemning them for racism. Conservatives accidentally make the case for stimulus. The top 10 countries with the highest incarceration rates. Guess who's on top?

There have been some vague attempts to justify landmarking the building slated for the construction of the Islamic Center near Ground Zero on the grounds that the building itself was hit by debris from 9/11, but an ad Ben Smith reports was rejected by NBC and CBS doesn't even try to pretend that they aren't opposing it because of religion: "On September 11, they declared war against us," says the narrator. "And to celebrate that murder of 3,000 Americans, they want to build a monstrous 13-story mosque at Ground Zero." [...] A CBS official, Marty Daly , also rejected the ad, according to emails shared by NRT PAC executive director Scott Wheeler . "They have very selective standards – they’ll run anything MoveOn.org throws out there," said Wheeler, also citing a controversial 2004 NAACP ad invoking the slain James Byrd . The word "they," he said, "is a reference to the people who are putting up the money with the intent of provoking us." Because running an ad encouraging the passage of...

Alex Pareene on the conservative hysteria over the proposed Islamic Center near Ground Zero, which has now become a gubernatorial campaign issue: If we don't give in to the most reactionary anti-Muslim forces in the nation, the terrorists who seek to convince Muslim youths that we're a reactionary, anti-Muslim nation will have won. Pareene is being sarcastic, but the opposite point is true -- a Muslim place of worship near Ground Zero would be proof that al-Qaeda hasn't succeeded in turning America's fight against terrorism into a war against Islam. Of course, if you believe we should be at war with Islam, then you're not going to make a distinction between your average Muslim and your average terrorist. By the numbers of course, it's al-Qaeda that is at war with Islam. The latest attempt to prevent the center from being built involves calls to landmark the building so it can't be changed. Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio argued yesterday that this ostensibly needs to...

Here's an odd confluence of events: On the same day that a D.C. District Court ruling makes it easier for the government to hold suspected terror detainees indefinitely, the Department of Defense announces the transfer of Mohammed Odaini back to Yemen: On May 26, 2010, a U.S. District Court ordered the release of Mohammed Odaini from custody at Guantanamo Bay. As a result, the Department of Defense has transferred him to his native country. In accordance with Congressionally-mandated reporting requirements, the administration informed Congress of its intent to transfer Odaini at least 15 days before his transfer. The suspension of Yemeni repatriations from Guantanamo remains in effect due to the security situation that exists there. However, the Administration respects the decisions of U.S. federal courts, which ordered the release of Odaini. As with all transfers, the U.S. Government will work with the Yemeni Government to the fullest extent possible to implement appropriate security...

Lyle Denniston reports : The D.C. Circuit Court, in a broad hint to the Justice Department to adopt a new strategy in detainee cases, suggested strongly on Tuesday that federal judges are now demanding too much evidence from the government to justify holding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere. Although the three-judge panel said it was not deciding the issue finally, it said that detention might be legal if the government has only “some evidence” to support captivity. Even a “preponderance of the evidence” standard may be too strict, it indicated. More on this later. I suppose having lost about three-quarters of the habeas challenges so far, the D.C. Circuit Court may have felt the government needed a little extra boost.

Andrew Napolitano is one of those genuinely idiosyncratic Fox News personalities. Last year, he wrote an op-ed in the LA Times denouncing the whole "War on Terrorism" framework and calling for terror suspects to be tried in civilian courts. Yesterday, in a conversation with Ralph Nader , he said George W. Bush and Dick Cheney should have been indicted : Napolitano: So what President Bush did with the suspension of habeas corpus, with the whole concept of Guantanamo Bay, with the whole idea that he could avoid and evade federal laws, treaties, federal judges and the Constitution was blatantly unconstitutional and is some cases criminal. Nader: What's the sanction for President Bush and Vice President Cheney? Napolitano: There's been no sanction except what history will say about them. Nader: What should be the sanctions? Napolitano: They should have been indicted. They absolutely should have been indicted for torturing, for spying, for arresting without warrants. I'd like to say they...