Roe v. Wade Is Not a Gateway to an Islamist Takeover

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/77945684@N00/5495509094/">M.V. Jantzen</a>/Flickr

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When I began investigating right-wing celebrity and evangelical activist Kamal Saleem’s past earlier this year, large parts of his story seemed to fall apart. Although in his book, Saleem, a self-proclaimed “ex-terrorist” with ties to Moammar Qaddafi and Saddam Hussein, claimed to have called the cops after nearly being murdered by a band of swarthy-looking South Asian hitmen in Southern California, there was no record of a report being filed with any of the local police departments. The FBI couldn’t corroborate his claim to have advised them on counterterrorism strategies. And a former roommate in Oklahoma disputed the notion that he could have been waging a stealth jihad as a broke immigrant who needed a ride just to leave the house.

The fact that Saleem’s credentials as an ex-terrorist with inside knowledge of the Islamist plot to take over the United States were dubious at best has done nothing, however, to diminish his star power on the right. He’s still a fixture at churches and at conservative confabs. Right Wing Watch reports on his latest appearance, at “The Awakening” conference in Orlando late last month. Per Brian Tashman, “Saleem not only detailed a treacherous scheme by President Obama to use immigration reform to legalize terrorism, but also uncovered a liberal plot to use the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade to ‘bring Sharia law liberally in our face.'”

Essentially, his argument is that Roe v. Wade broke down the basic tenets of the American legal system, paving the way for an Islamist takeover. You can watch it here:

It’s a trap!


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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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