{"id":39850,"date":"2025-02-26T13:55:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T21:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=39850"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:55:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T21:55:24","slug":"our-muslim-boy-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/02\/26\/our-muslim-boy-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"OUR MUSLIM BOY WONDER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Who\u2019s really being removed by ICE tonight? The child who would\u2019ve discovered the cure for cancer in 2046? The 9th grade nerd who would\u2019ve stopped that Astroid that\u2019s gonna hit us in 2032? Do we care?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
MICHAEL MOORE<\/a> FEB 25, 2025<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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70 years ago today in San Francisco, California, a son was born to Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian Muslim who had entered the United States and enrolled at the University of Wisconsin. I don\u2019t have the evidence of his citizenship, or how or why he was allowed to enter our country. The records do show that he impregnated a young woman from Green Bay and, apparently, this baby (anchor baby?) is the result of that union. On the birth certificate, apparently, is the baby\u2019s name, or his father\u2019s, written in Arabic: \u0639\u0628\u062f\u0627\u0644\u0641\u062a\u0627\u062d \u062c\u0646\u062f\u0644\u064a. So one more unintended, unannounced, unapproved Arab-Muslim made his way into this great country and became a US citizen simply because on this day in 1955 he left his mother\u2019s womb head first and landed in a birthing room at some random hospital in San Francisco \u2014 and, naturally, because of a reckless mistake our Founding Fathers made in granting automatic free-to-be-you-and-me unvetted but highly-valued American citizenship for doing\u2026 what?<\/em> Just showing up after a few contractions and \u201cPresto! Yes, you, too, are now an American \u2014 just like me!\u201d Except my name on my birth certificate is written in American-English, not Arabic. You can see why Donald Trump and MAGA-nation are so rightfully upset at how randomly any baby<\/strong> can just become an American \u2014 even before they\u2019ve had their first meal!<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many millions upon millions over the years have snuck into this nation without permission, without invitation, just wham-bam-thank-you-Uncle-Sam-you\u2019re-an-American-man now \u2014 in this case because of the perhaps questionable morals of a Wisconsin farmer\u2019s daughter. Unbelievable. And disgusting. People, please<\/em>, let\u2019s get the order correct. Write this down: \u201cFirst comes love<\/strong><\/em>. Then comes marriage<\/strong><\/em>. Then<\/em> comes \u0633\u062a\u064a\u0641 \u062c\u0648\u0628\u0632 in the baby carriage \u2014 complete with immigration papers, references, a current passport and a landlord\u2019s signed approval, including first and last month\u2019s rent and security deposit<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here we are now, in 2025, with at least 11 million \u201cillegal\u201d migrants roaming about this hallowed land, driving on our roads, getting God-knows how much free welfare, free blankets, free Federal surplus cheese, free use of 9-1-1 and<\/em> our public libraries while the rest of us have to work and pay taxes for all of this. And what, pray tell, can you tell me we have received in return for Abdulfattah\u2019s \u201clittle mistake\u201d that was deposited in that hellhole we call San Francisco, once a great place to leave your heart in that \u201ccity by the bay\u201d? Nothing. We get nothing<\/em> from that Syrian Muslim who sired a Jr. Abdulfattah. A nothing-migrant with a nothing-out-of-wedlock-baby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except<\/em>\u2026 that \u201cnothing-baby\u201d was soon adopted and given an American name \u2014 Steve Jobs. Yes, that<\/em> Steve Jobs. Who, along with Steve Wozniak, is responsible for this laptop I\u2019m writing on, the phone that\u2019s in my pocket, the iPod shuffle that I\u2019ve had for a decade and holds 1,000 of my favorite songs on a device that isn\u2019t even an inch wide, my AppleTV+ on my tv across the room is easily one of our top two streamers when it comes to exceptional content. I also just started wearing an Apple Watch that counts my steps, the beats of my heart, the number of teeth I have left and informs me that today my blood pressure is 106\/60 (it is also predicting that INCIDENT will win the Oscar this Sunday for Best Documentary Short). I am grateful for that Muslim migrant baby being born here 70 years ago today. Because if he hadn\u2019t, it\u2019s possible we would have none of his inventions. We would also have no TED LASSO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Share<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This little story, I hope, will give pause to any bigot who constantly rails against the danger we are all in because of these \u201cfilthy, lowlife aliens.\u201d Those of us who count ourselves as part of the \u201cnon-hater\u201d demographic of Americans cannot even begin to add up or ascertain the innumerable ways our lives have been made better by our beloved immigrant neighbors. Or how many lives have been saved because of their discoveries, or simply, their care for us in an emergency situation. If all of those strangers who have had some impact on our lives could suddenly appear on this screen, it would be an overwhelming cacophony of human love. For every time I have heard a negative word or blatant hatred spewed toward those who came from afar, I have felt that I should pause, get down on one knee, and thank all of those who gave up their lives elsewhere to come here and be with us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have amongst your family and friends a few uninformed Trumpsters who still scream about building a wall or deporting anyone who can\u2019t prove they belong here, maybe you could show them the following list of immigrants who somehow got here, and then contributed amazing things for the rest of us to benefit from. Perhaps they will see that the reason this is a great country is because these great people made it what it is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check this out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mona Hanna <\/strong>uncovered the Flint Water Crisis and led the fight to protect the children of Flint. <\/strong>She was born in England. Her scientist parents fled Iraq during the Ba\u2019ath years in the 1970s. They then moved to Michigan. Without her, it is possible we never would have known the full truth of how Flint\u2019s children were poisoned by the State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harry Belafonte<\/strong>, one of the greatest singers, political activists and humanitarians in American history. He was born in Manhattan to a Jamaican immigrant mother working as a housekeeper. She sent him back to Jamaica to live with grandparents from age 5 to 13. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib <\/strong>represents the cities of Detroit and Dearborn. Her parents were Palestinian immigrants. She is serving her fourth term in Congress as the first Palestinian-American woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albert Einstein<\/strong>, born in Germany, in addition to developing the theory of relativity among other things, he also called for the creation of the IRC \u2014 the International Rescue Committee \u2014 that today helps refugees and displaced people around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pierre Omidyar<\/strong>, founder of <\/strong>Ebay. His parents left Iran to go to school in France, and when he was 6 they moved to the US where his dad got a residency at Johns Hopkins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joan Baez<\/strong>\u2019s grandfather moved to the US from Mexico when her father was 2. Her father was instrumental in the development of X-Ray microscopes and related technologies, and Joan, well, is Joan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sergey Brin<\/strong>, co-founder of Google. His parents left the USSR when Sergey was a toddler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irving Berlin<\/strong>, the most famous composer of the Great American Songbook. He wrote \u201cWhite Christmas.\u201d His parents left Russia when he was 5, escaping the pogroms and the poverty. He brought joy into millions of American homes with such songs as \u201cCheek to Cheek,\u201d \u201cCount Your Blessings,\u201d \u201cEaster Parade,\u201d \u201cPuttin\u2019 on the Ritz,\u201d and \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gene Simmons<\/strong>, rock legend from the band KISS. His mother was a Holocaust survivor, spending seven months in the Mauthausen camp. After liberation, she made her way to Haifa, where Gene was born in 1949. At age 8, his parents divorced and his mom took Gene and moved to Queens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billy Wilder<\/strong>. He made SOME LIKE IT HOT, THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, SUNSET BOULEVARD, STALAG 17, THE APARTMENT and SABRINA. He was born in Austria-Hungary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda Sarsour<\/strong>, born in Brooklyn, daughter of Palestinian immigrants, and co-chair of the Women\u2019s March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of the three founders of YouTube are immigrants. Steve Chen <\/strong>was born in Taiwan. His parents moved the family to Illinois when he was 7. Jawed Karim<\/strong> was born in East Germany to a Bangladeshi father and a German mother, and then moved to Minnesota when Jawed was 13. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan Koum<\/strong>, creator of WhatsApp. <\/strong>He was born in Ukraine in the mid 1970s. His mother moved him when he was 16 to a tiny apartment in Mountain View, CA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cesar Chavez<\/strong>, American labor leader and civil rights activist, was born in Arizona to Mexican immigrant parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katalin Karik\u00f3<\/strong>, the famed biochemist, was born in Hungary before moving to the United States where she went on to lead development of mRNA vaccine science \u2014 key to the Covid 19 Vaccine \u2014 for which she won a Nobel prize and saved millions of lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This list of immigrants who made America great can literally go on for miles. And I\u2019m going to guess that every single one of you works with, lives next door to, or has your groceries bagged by a kind young man from Honduras, or has been told the stories of those in your family who came to these shores many decades ago, and due to their perseverance, or perhaps even a hole in a fence, led you to be here today, reading these words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upgrade to paid<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to stop this current madness of rounding up people of color for committing the crime of not being born here \u2014 or as Trump would now like to change the Constitution, whether you were born here or not, if you aren\u2019t white, you are suspect. Like, if you\u2019re not white, there\u2019s no way you got that job as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a Black man. There\u2019s no way you got that job as the Chief of the US Coast Guard on your own merit because, after all, you\u2019re a \u201clady.\u201d Tonight, ICE agents all across America are banging down doors to remove the dangerous \u201cillegals.\u201d But one of them might\u2019ve been the guy who tomorrow was going to help rebuild a children\u2019s playground across town \u2014 but he is now in shackles on a military cargo plane on its way to Guatemala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s the young woman in Boston from earlier today. If you hadn\u2019t smashed her guitar and thrown her in the back of your government van, she was the one who might\u2019ve gone on to write the sequel to the beautiful and haunting song, \u201cHallelujah.\u201d Now our souls will never hear it.

Or there goes the little girl who would\u2019ve one day grown up to be the scientist who discovered the cure for cancer, snatched from her mother\u2019s arms, taking her to a military base in Oklahoma, now forever \u201clost in the system\u201d and never to be seen by her mother again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I go to bed tonight, as I lay my head down to fall asleep, I will try not to think about the potential millions suffering from cancer some 30 years from now who might\u2019ve lived had this little girl not been seen as a threat to our national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God help us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And God bless America \u2014 and Steve Jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who\u2019s really being removed by ICE tonight? The child who would\u2019ve discovered the cure for cancer in 2046? The 9th grade nerd who would\u2019ve stopped that Astroid that\u2019s gonna hit us in 2032? Do we care? MICHAEL MOORE FEB 25, 2025 70 years ago today in San Francisco, California, a son… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39850"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39851,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39850\/revisions\/39851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}