by digby
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This poor guy isn’t a bigot. He just wants his good paying factory job back. As soon as he get’s home from his vacation in Aruba:
An airline passenger accused of kicking and mocking a Muslim worker at a Kennedy Airport lounge was indicted Thursday on hate crime charges.
Robin Rhodes, 57, of Worcester, Mass., yelled “F–k Islam! F–k ISIS!” after he assaulted Rabeeya Khan, at Terminal Two’s Delta Sky Lounge at 7:10 p.m. on Jan. 25, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown office said.
“Trump is here now,” he taunted, according to prosecutors. “He will get rid of all of you. You can ask Germany, Belgium and France about these kind of people. You will see what happens.”
Rhodes was returning from Aruba and awaiting a connecting flight home when he began harassing Khan as she sat at her desk in the lounge, authorities said.
“Are you f—ing sleeping?” he asked, court papers said. “Are you praying? What are you doing?”
Rhodes then allegedly punched the door, which hit the back of Khan’s chair.
Khan, who wears a hijab, asked Rhodes what she did to him to set him off.
He kicked her in the right leg and blocked the door as she tried to leave, according to court papers. She ran out when a witness came inside to break up the dispute, but Rhodes chased after her and bent down on his knees and began to bow in imitation of a Muslim praying, authorities say.
“I guess I am going to jail for disorderly conduct,” he said while being arrested, according to police.
On Thursday, he was indicted on charges of assault as a hate crime, unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime, menacing as a hate crime and aggravated harassment.
If convicted of the most serious offense, he faces up to four years in prison. Rhodes was released on $50,000 bond. His next court date is June 12.
It sounds like he was drunk although it doesn’t say so. It’s not about free speech in this case. He got violent and he’s going to pay a price for that, drunk or not.
But this kind of Trump ranting is not uncommon. Remember this one?
Meanwhile, these assholes are getting their wish:
The president of Portland State University, Wim Wiewel, met last week with 10 prospective students in Hyderabad, India. But what started as a get-acquainted visit quickly turned into more of a counseling session, as the students expressed fears about coming to the United States this fall.
One student, who is Muslim, said his father was worried that America had an anti-Muslim attitude, Mr. Wiewel recounted. “Several others said they were concerned about the ‘Trump effect,’” he said in an email.
“I’d say the rhetoric and actual executive orders are definitely having a chilling effect,” Mr. Wiewel wrote, referring to the Trump administration’s travel ban.
Like many universities across the country, the Oregon university is getting fewer international applications.
Nearly 40 percent of colleges are reporting overall declines in applications from international students, according to a survey of 250 college and universities, released this week by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. The biggest decline is in applications from the Middle East.Mathias Sunardi, right, an International student, worked with Brendan Ball on an artificial intelligence project at Portland State. Leah Nash for The New York Times
Many officials cited worries among prospective students about Trump administration immigration policies. “International student recruitment professionals report a great deal of concern from students all over the globe,” the study said.
I wouldn’t come here if I were a foreigner. It’s a big world and the US isn’t the only game in town. People like that man who kicked the Muslim worker and rich white Master of the Universe are the only people who really matter in America and they say what goes. The rich white guys don’t care about anything but money and the white working class guys don’t like anyone who isn’t exactly like them.
The rest of us Americans are having to put up with this ignorant garbage but people from other countries don’t. That’s our burden unfortunately. We have a very large white male anxiety cult in America and we all have to walk around on eggshells to make sure they don’t feel disrespected or all hell breaks loose. Why would any foreigner want to deal with that crap?
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