Fox News 'terror expert' says everyone in Birmingham is a Muslim

[Judi Lynn]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by defacto7 (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Telegraph

Fox News 'terror expert' says everyone in Birmingham is a Muslim

Pundit on right-wing channel says non-Muslims "simply don't go" into Britain's second largest city, prompting immediate Twitter backlash



By Raf Sanchez, Washington
9:51PM GMT 11 Jan 2015

This story has been updated to include Mr Emerson's apology.


An American "terrorism expert" on the right-wing Fox News channel has declared that Birmingham is "a totally Muslim" city "where non-Muslims just simply don't go".

Steve Emerson made the claim, which may come as a surprise to the hundreds of thousands of non-Muslim residents of Britain's second-largest city, during a television discussion about no-go zones in Europe where Muslims are apparently in complete control.
"In Britain, it's not just no-go zones, there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don't go in," he said.

Mr Emerson, who describes himself as "an internationally recognised expert on terrorism", did not stop there.
"Parts of London, there are actually Muslim religious police that actually beat and actually wound seriously anyone who doesn't dress according to Muslim, religious Muslim attire," he proclaimed, without giving examples.

He described Birmingham as one of a number of European cities "where sharia courts were set up, where Muslim density is very intense, where the police don't go in, and where it's basically a separate country almost, a country within a country."
Mr Emerson is a regular contributor to Fox News and was appearing on Judge Pirro, a show hosted by the failed Republican politician Jeanine Pirro.


Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11338985/Fox-News-terror-expert-says-everyone-in-Birmingham-is-a-Muslim.html

[longship]

1. What a maroon! What an ignoranimous! What a Cararagoondia!

R&

[madamvlb]

2. #foxnewsfacts

[T_i_B]

19. My twitterfeed at the moment.....

......is virtually nothing but #foxnewsfacts.

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. including:

These centres for Moslamic induction are appearing on every street in Birmingham #FoxNewFacts

The city is now called Birming because ham isn't halal. #FoxNewFacts

This nice white Christian brummie lady was forced to wear a Moslem hijab by shakira police I am fuming #FoxNewFacts

In Birmingham 1 in 4 men choose to wear a burka #FoxNewFacts

Nuneaton was named during the daylight hours of Ramadan. #FoxNewsFacts

British toy manufacturer threatened with fatwa after writing Mecca-no on construction kit boxes. #FoxNewsFacts

[T_i_B]

26. The Best Of Twitter’s #foxnewsfacts

http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2015/01/12/best-twitters-foxnewsfacts/

Extremist rock group Showaddywaddy have reformed and changed their name to Jihaddywaddy #foxnewsfacts

https://twitter.com/seanakelly76/status/554405959582613505

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. Perhaps the whole thing is a set-up for John Oliver's new series

No-one is better qualified than him to take the piss mercilessly on this.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

3. Wow! FOX News just found the double negative area of the number scale!

When it comes to news, FOX has always been in the negative area of the ratings for real news anyway. They have been a *bit* on the conspiracy theory area anyway. But with this, they have hit a new area! Congratulations to FOX news for jumping 5 sharks!

[El Shaman]

4. Wow!

A real, live, terror anal/ist!!! Brits haven't changed much, since colonial times- right Newt!!??

[Jack Rabbit]

5. Whenever we see an expert on FoxNews, then there's one thing we can be certain about . . .

. . . he's not really an expert.

[Renew Deal]

6. Have to look it up, but I'm pretty sure Emerson is an expert at being clueless

[Roland99]

7. They do exist but perhaps not as onerous as Faux would have us believe

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/content/articles/2009/01/20/west_midlands_s15_w2_sharia_video_feature.shtml


I, for one, fear for my very life whenever I fly into BHX and take a train into Coventry or drive up to Derby. I now know what our troops who manned checkpoints in Iraq and Afghanistan when thru as I merge onto the M6....

[Turbineguy]

8. Fox News Terror Expert

4 contradictions at once.

[starroute]

9. Steve Emerson has been a progandist for Israel since Iran-Contra

And in recent years, he's been making a nice living as an anti-terrorism "expert."

http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Emerson_Steven

Steve Emerson, founder of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, is an author and media pundit who has made a career of issuing warnings about purported terrorist threats to the United States and the West. A former freelance journalist, Emerson emerged as a terrorism "expert" in the 1990s when he began writing alarming pieces about the purported activities of Islamic terrorists operating on American soil.

Although he has been repeatedly criticized for producing faulty analyses and having a distinctly anti-Islamic agenda, Emerson is a frequent guest commentator on FoxNews, MSNBC, and other news programs, and he is often invited to give testimony to Congress. His work has also been lauded by a number of public figures. . . .

Since the 9/11 attacks and the onset of the "war on terror," Emerson has played a key role in promoting what some observers describe as "Islamophobic" rhetoric, arguing that civil rights groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) are terrorists sympathizers and that liberals like President Barack Obama coddle Middle East terrorists.


http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/08/31/308537/steve-emerson-investigative-project/

Steven Emerson directs the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), a group dedicated to exposing the dangers of Islamist infiltration in America through investigative journalism. But his career, as discussed in CAP’s new report “Fear, Inc.,” is marked by shoddy reporting and suspicious financial arrangements between private companies, in some cases listing him as the sole employee, and the nonprofit foundations which collect tax-exempt contributions to support his work. . . .

But Emerson’s supposed expertise in researching terrorist networks have frequently been questioned due to his propensity for making false accusations against Muslims and his sloppy approach to investigative reporting. Most notably, in 1995, Emerson claimed that the Oklahoma City bombing showed “a Middle East trait” because it “was done with the intent to inflict as many casualties as possible.” And in 1998, Emerson was tied to a false report that Pakistan was planning a nuclear first strike on India.

Emerson’s weak credibility hasn’t stopped him from building a mini-empire from his offices at the well-funded IPT. But his penchant for secrecy — his office location is secret, employees refer to it as “the bat cave,” and journalists who visit it have been blindfolded en route — has raised serious questions about management of IPT’s finances. . . .

IPT donors include: the Donors Capital Fund ($400,000) . . .


http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/donors-trust-donor-capital-fund-dark-money-koch-bradley-devos

Working out of an nondescript brick rowhouse in suburban Virginia, a little-known organization named Donors Trust, staffed by five employees, has steered hundreds of millions of dollars to the most influential think tanks, foundations, and advocacy groups in the conservative movement. Over the past decade, it has funded the right's assault on labor unions, climate scientists, public schools, economic regulations, and the very premise of activist government. Yet unlike its nearest counterpart on the progressive side, the Tides Foundation, a bogeyman of Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly, Donors Trust has mostly avoided any real scrutiny. It is the dark-money ATM of the right.

Founded in 1999, Donors Trust (and an affiliated group, Donors Capital Fund) has raised north of $500 million and doled out $400 million to more than 1,000 conservative and libertarian groups, according to Whitney Ball, the group's CEO. Donors Trust allows wealthy contributors who want to donate millions to the most important causes on the right to do so anonymously, essentially scrubbing the identity of those underwriting conservative and libertarian organizations. Wisconsin's 2011 assault on collective bargaining rights? Donors Trust helped fund that. ALEC, the conservative bill mill? Donors Trust supports it. The climate deniers at the Heartland Institute? They get Donors Trust money, too.

[Quasimodem]

10. According to Wikipedia (not a FOX Expert, I know) but ...

Birmingham has a population of 1,073,045 citizens of whom 46.07 % (494,358) are Christian, 0.45 % (4,780) are Buddhist, 2.08 % (22,352) are Hindu, O.21 % (2,205) are Jewish, 21.86 % (234,411) are Muslim, 3.02 % (32,376) are Sikh, 0.53 % (5,646) are of some other religions, and 6.53 % (70,086) would not state what their religions was, and 19.27 % (206,821) reported that they have no religion at all.

But, what the hell, Fox News was only off by 96.98 %. What do you want, perfection!

[Lucky Luciano]

12. I think it reads that Muslims are 21.86%. nt

[Trillo]

11. he got a little of it right

An American "terrorism expert" on the right-wing Fox News channel has declared that "... there are actually ... police that ... beat and ... wound seriously...." he proclaimed,...

[Third Doctor]

13. I'm sure

most of their dumb assed viewers believe this shit too.

[Quasimodem]

14. Anyway, he is in walk back mode, now.

Well, in the UK, anyway.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-30773297

He promises to publish an apology on his ... ahem ... website.

[Burf-_-]

15. Fox News is the lowest common denominator.

[rpannier]

16. To his credit, his apology is something to be admired

Here's the apology in full:

You may quote me on this as I will be posting this and taking out an ad in a Birmingham paper. I have clearly made a terrible error for which I am deeply sorry. My comments about Birmingham were totally in error. And I am issuing an apology and correction on my website immediately for having made this comment about the beautiful city of Birmingham. I do not intend to justify or mitigate my mistake by stating that I had relied on other sources because I should have been much more careful. There was no excuse for making this mistake and I owe an apology to every resident of Birmingham. I am not going to make any excuses. I made an inexcusable error. And I am obligated to openly acknowledge that mistake.

Steve

PS. I intend to make a donation to a Birmingham charity.

*********
There is no... 'to anyone offended' or '... an intern made the error...'

I wish other people would be as forthcoming with their apologies

[Judi Lynn]

17. It could be a first, seeing a public apology which appears to be an apology. n/t

[T_i_B]

18. Trouble is...

....it's difficult to believe that this was any sort of innocent error on the part of the "expert". It's just such a huge lie. We can only assume that he thought that everyone who watches Faux News ill swallow any old sensationalist lie.

[Judi Lynn]

22. So true. "Error" and "mistake" have never seemed interchangeable with "blatant lie"!

Those who watch Fox to "learn" anything already want to believe everything they hear there. I don't think they could care less if it's actually true. Who hasn't seen people in their lives who deliberately spread lies about others, just because of their own social perversity!

It's actually shocking to know this network lies deliberately. They aren't do it to please their audience. They don't respect their audience enough to tell them the truth. That's where they unfortunately resemble a lot of other corporate "news" sources, too, who lie to the more stable part of the human race regularly.

Hideous state of unprofessionalism for U.S. American "journalism".

[Violet_Crumble]

20. I saw a tweet in response to the apology...

James Gleave ‏@jamesgleave1 · 10h10 hours ago
The Fox News guy has apologised and called the city of Birmingham 'beautiful'. The guy can't get anything right, can he? #FoxNewsFacts

fwiw, I agree with you about his apology...

[T_i_B]

21. LOL!

One of the nice things about Brummies is that they're the sort of people who call a spade a spade and will openly admit that their city isn't the prettiest. (Especially Birmingham New Street train station). There are however, other things about Birmingham that make it a good place besides how it looks.

[Violet_Crumble]

24. The whole thing was comedy gold.

The only thing that wasn't funny is that it's clear this so called terrorism expert comes out with complete crap like that all the time and hasn't been picked up on it because he assumed his audience was all dense American conservative types. But the rest from start to finish was hilarious.

While I've been to a few cities in England, I haven't been to Birmingham, but I always thought of Birmingham and Manchester as gritty sort of cities. I don't know why. I had a different mental image of London and when I went there it was different to what my friends had told me it was like (they said it was miserable and gloomy and I had a few sunny days and thought it was wonderful).

[T_i_B]

27. Birmingham's OK

It's just a normal large city. Not somewhere I'd recommend to an American tourist (I'd be more inclined to suggest somewhere with a bit of history) but not too much of a dump either.

This is the one place in Birmingham I'd really like to visit.

http://www.libraryofbirmingham.com/

[leftynyc]

23. It' got to be killing

the clowns on fox to pretend they care about what happened in Paris. France has been nothing but a punch line to them for decades now.

[marble falls]

29. I heard on Fox the Birmingham Mayor and Council's threat of fatwa made him apologize.........

Gotta admit thats the most abject apology I've ever heard a conservative make.

[Fearless]

30. You should see the twitter backlash! It's hillarious!!

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/_foxnewfacts_trends_worldwide_after_fox_expert_completely_makes_up_fake_story

[defacto7]

32. Locking - Not LBN

Consensus is that this is not LBN and not of national interest, it reads as opinion and FOX news is not a reputable source. If FOX news is being questioned, then it may belong in GD, but for all other reasons the opinion is to lock.