AS MORE DETAILS COME OUT ABOUT THE SEXUAL AND PHYSICAL ASSAULT
DURING NEW YEAR'S CELEBRATIONS IN GERMANY AND OTHER PARTS OF
EUROPE, WE FIND THAT SOME OF THE SUSPECTS ARE IN FACT
ASYLUM-SEEKERS, AND THE COPS ARE A LITTLE MORE HONEST ABOUT WHAT
THEY EXPERIENCED DURING THAT
NIGHT.
ACCORDING TO THE WASHINGTON POST, AUTHORITIES HAVE
REVEALED THAT AT LEAST TWENTY-ONE ASYLUM-SEEKERS
FROM THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA ARE SUSPECTS IN THE
NEW YEAR'S EVE RAMPAGE OF SEXUAL ASSAULTS AND THEFTS IN GERMANY.
WHEN WE ORIGINALLY REPORTED THIS STORY WE LET YOU KNOW THAT WOMEN
WERE EITHER BEING GROPED, THERE WERE SOME INSTANCES OF ALLEGED
RAPE, AND WHEN THE WOMEN WERE DISTRACTED BY THE FACT THAT THEY
WERE BEING VIOLATED BY THAT, THEY WERE VICTIMS OF THEFT.
THERE ARE MORE CASES COMING OUT, AT LEAST 170 VICTIMS HAVE FILED
COMPLAINTS SO FAR, INCLUDING 120
OF THEM FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT.
SOME MORE DETAILS ON WHO THE SUSPECTS ARE.
OF THE THIRTY-FOUR SUSPECTS, TWENTY-ONE OF THEM WERE
ASYLUM-SEEKERS, AND A LOT OF THEM HAD ARRIVED WITHIN THE
LAST YEAR.
THE THIRTY-FOUR ALLEGEDLY INCLUDE ALGERIANS, IRANIANS,
GERMANS, AMERICANS, SERBIAN, AND AN IRAQI, SO THEY ARE FROM ALL
SORTS OF PLACES, BUT AGAIN TWENTY-ONE OF THEM ARE
ASYLUM-SEEKERS.
IT IS UNCLEAR WHETHER OR NOT ANY OF THEM ACTUALLY DID
ANYTHING WRONG, BECAUSE THEY ARE SUSPECTS.
THEY ARE BEING INVESTIGATED, BUT RIGHT NOW THE AUTHORITIES
AND THE POLITICIANS IN GERMANY ARE TRYING TO REEVALUATE
THEIR POLICY ON ACCEPTING REFUGEES.
OVER THE LAST YEAR THEY HAVE ACCEPTED 1.1 MILLION REFUGEES,
AND ANGELA MERKEL IS NOW RECONSIDERING THE METHODS THEY
HAVE IN PLACE TO MONITOR OR VET THEM BEFORE THEY COME INTO
THE COUNTRY.
I WANT TO BE FAIR AND HONEST REPORTING THIS STORY, THESE
ARE THE FACTS THAT WE HAVE RIGHT NOW.
I REALLY WANT EVERYONE TO KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS IS NOT A
REPRESENTATION OF ALL MUSLIMS; HOWEVER, WHEN YOU COME FROM A
CULTURE OR A COUNTRY THAT BELIEVES WOMEN SHOULD BE
COVERED, AND IF THEY ARE NOT COVERED THEN THEY ARE ASKING FOR
IT, THEN SOME CHUNK OF THOSE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO CARRY OUT
ACTS OF VIOLENCE LIKE THIS.
IS A HUGE CULTURAL DIFFERENCE THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED.
TO BE CLEAR, THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT BECAUSE HE IS A MUSLIM
GUY HE IS GOING TO VIOLATE WOMEN.
IN EVERY KIND OF CRIME, PEOPLE ALL WALKS OF LIFE
HAVE COMMITTED IT.
WE ALWAYS ASSUME ñ IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A THING, I LOCK MY CAR LIVE
IN BEVERLY HILLS, I LOCKED MY CAR WHEN I AM IN INGLEWOOD, I
LOCK MY CAR WHEN I'M IN SOUTH CENTRAL, I LOCK MY CAR WHEN I'M
IN HOLLYWOOD.
SOME PEOPLE LEAVE THEIR CAR UNLOCKED IN CERTAIN AREAS
BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY ARE SAFE.
THE RESPONSE TO THIS IS ñ WHICH I UNDERSTAND, AS FAR AS ANGELA
MERKEL'S PERSPECTIVE, YOU HAVE
TO WORRY ABOUT THE PERCEPTION IN WHICH YOUR CITIZENS THINK YOU
ARE DOING SOMETHING TO CREATE AN UNSAFE ENVIRONMENT ñ BUT YOU
ALSO HAVE TO NOT CONVEY THAT BECAUSE OF WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE,
THAT THIS IS WHY IT IS HAPPENING.
I'M SURE THERE HAVE BEEN PLENTY OF ASSAULTS IN GERMANY
BEFORE THIS.
YOU CANNOT JUST ASSUME THAT JUST BECAUSE THIS HAPPENED HERE,
THIS WILL END THE PROBLEM.
I WANT TO ELABORATE ON WHAT I SAID EARLIER.
I APOLOGIZE, BECAUSE I FORGET WHICH EUROPEAN COUNTRY IT WAS,
BUT THERE WAS A EUROPEAN COUNTRY BE REPORTED ON FAIRLY RECENTLY
THAT IS OF COURSE ALLOWING SYRIAN REFUGEES TO COME IN, BUT
WHEN THEY COME IN THERE IS A
VERY ñ I THINK FAIR ñ
EDUCATION PROGRAM THAT THEY HAVE TO GO THROUGH.
THAT IS BASICALLY GETTING THEM ACCUSTOMED TO THE DIFFERENT
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THIS EUROPEAN COUNTRY.
THE WAY YOU TREAT WOMEN IN OUR COUNTRY IS VERY DIFFERENT
FROM HOW YOU TREAT WOMEN IN YOUR COUNTRY.
NOT TO VIOLATE YOUR BELIEFS, BUT THESE ARE OUR LAWS AND YOU NEED
TO FOLLOW THEM.
I DO THINK IS THAT YOU HAVE TO RECOGNIZE THAT OF COURSE A
COUNTRY LIKE GERMANY WELCOMING REFUGEES DOES NOT HAVE TO
WELCOME ANY SORT OF OPPRESSIVE
RHETORIC, OR IDEOLOGY AROUND TREATMENT OF WOMEN.
THEY WERE SAYING THAT IT WAS ABOUT 1000
MEN, ROWDY MEN, AND IT WAS A HOT MESS.
WHERE WERE THE GERMAN POLICE ON THIS QUESTION.
IN TERMS OF THE MEDIA, THEY DID NOT ADDITIONALLY ñ
INITIALLY REPORT IT.
PEOPLE WERE UPSET ABOUT THAT, THEY PROTESTED THAT.
ALSO, ON JANUARY 1, POLICE OFFICIALS RELEASED A STATEMENT
ABOUT THE NEW YEAR'S EVE CELEBRATIONS IN AREAS LIKE
COLOGNE, AND HEADLINE SAID, "FESTIVE ATMOSPHERE,
CELEBRATIONS LARGELY PEACEFUL."
THEY WEREN'T, I DON'T KNOW WHY THEY FELT ñ
THEY DID NOT WANT TO ADMIT THEIR OWN IMPOTENCE.
THERE IS AN UNIDENTIFIED COP SAYING THAT THEY WEREN'T READY.
HE SAID THERE WERE TOO MANY HAPPENING AT THE SAME TIME.
ANGELA MERKEL HAS BEEN VERY RESISTANT TO ALL THE FEAR
MONGERING AND ALARMIST COMMENTS ABOUT REFUGEES, BUT NOW SHE IS
SAYING THAT WE MUST EXAMINE AGAIN AND AGAIN WHETHER OR NOT
WE HAVE ALREADY DONE WHAT IS
NECESSARY IN TERMS OF DEPORTATIONS FROM GERMANY
IN ORDER TO SEND A CLEAR SIGNAL TO THOSE WHO ARE NOT
PREPARED TO ABIDE BY OUR LEGAL ORDER.
CERTAIN REGULATIONS ARE NOW BEING THROWN AROUND, MAYBE
RANDOM CHECKS ON SOME OF THESE REFUGEES.
BUT IT IS A COMPLEX, NUANCED ISSUE.
PLEASE DON'T FALL VICTIM TO A SIMPLISTIC WAY OF THINKING.
I'M NOT A SOCIOLOGIST, BUT ALL I KNOW IS THAT SEXUAL
ASSAULT IS PRETTY PREVALENT IN ALL SOCIETIES.
LOOK AT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, RAPING KIDS AND COVERING UP
ñ AT THE VERY TOP, AND THESE ARE JUST MORONS ON A STREET AT
NEW YEAR'S EVE.
SO, IN FACT, THE KAISER FOUNDATION SAID THAT THEY
DID A SURVEY, ONE IN FIVE WOMEN WILL BE RAPED OR ATTEMPTED
RAPES WHILE THEY ARE IN COLLEGE.
IT IS AN EPIDEMIC ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES.
WE HAVE A BIG RAPE CULTURE PROBLEM HERE IN THE UNITED
STATES.
THE SAME PEOPLE WHO DEMONIZE ALL MUSLIMS ARE THE SAME PEOPLE
WHO LOOK AT RATE ISSUES IN THIS
COUNTRY AND THEY DENY IT.
THERE WAS THAT STORY IN ROLLING STONE.
THAT STORY MAKES ME LIVID.
WITH ONE IN FIVE SAYING THEY HAD BEEN ASSAULTED OR RAPED
WHILE THEY ARE IN COLLEGE, MOST OF THE ASSAULTS THEY SAY A
LOT OF THEM GO UNREPORTED.
PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO REPORT IT BECAUSE THEY WILL BE
DEMONIZED AND THEY WILL BE ASHAMED BY IT.
THERE IS REALLY NO WAY TO GAUGE, THERE IS CONTROVERSY OVER
WHAT THE RAPE STATISTICS ARE IN THE UNITED STATES, BUT IT
IS OBVIOUS THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM.
PEOPLE WANT TO POINT AT A CULTURE, BUT I DON'T KNOW ENOUGH
ABOUT THEIR CULTURE TO PUSH BACK BUT I DO KNOW ABOUT MY CULTURE.
I DON'T THINK THAT THEIR CULTURE IS RAPEY.
IT IS
INDISPUTABLE THAT THERE ARE CERTAIN EXPECTATIONS FOR WOMEN,
AND THE EXPECTATION IS BE MODEST, COVER UP BECAUSE IF YOU
ARE NOT COVERED YOU ARE ASKING
FOR IT.
WHEN YOU HAVE THAT KIND OF THOUGHT PROCESS, YOU NEED
TO LEARN REALLY QUICK WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO GO TO A
DIFFERENT COUNTRY THAT HAS DIFFERENT VALUES, BECAUSE
THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE.
THAT MANTRA, COVER UP, BE MODEST ñ THAT IS SAID HERE.
BUT EVERY TIME IT IS SAID HERE IT IS CONDEMNED TO
SPECIFICALLY BY PEOPLE LIKE ME.
IF I AM GOING TO CONDEMN IT BY PEOPLE WHO HAVE AN IDEOLOGY IN
MY OWN COUNTRY, I'M GOING TO
CONDEMN IT FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE THAT IDEOLOGY IN A DIFFERENT
COUNTRY.
WOMEN ARE NOT ASKING FOR IT BECAUSE THEY ARE WEARING
REVEALING CLOTHING, AND IF YOU THINK THAT WAY THEN YOU ARE
MISINFORMED.
YOU BELIEVE IN VERY VIOLENT ACTIONS TOWARDS WOMEN WHO
JUST WANT TO LIVE THEIR LIVES AS FREE INDIVIDUALS, AND I AM
AGAINST YOU.
WE'RE TALKING A GLOBAL PATRIARCHY ISSUE, WHERE WOMEN
ARE TREATED LIKE PROPERTY, AND DEPENDING ON WHAT THEY ARE
WEARING THERE ARE ALL TYPES OF JUDGMENTS MADE ABOUT WHAT THEY
ARE INVITING, SEXUALLY.
THIS STORY IS SO FRUSTRATING BECAUSE IT IS GOING TO BE USED
AS A CUDGEL TO BEAT THE SAME OLD DRUM OF RACISM AND BIGOTRY ABOUT
THE PEOPLE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST
THAT ARE THESE REFUGEES, AND TALK ABOUT WHAT THEIR
CULTURES SAY AND DON'T SAY.
BELMAR'S LINE AROUND THIS IS THAT LIBERALS WON'T ADMIT THE
TRUTH ABOUT ISLAM.
JESUS CHRIST.
RIGHT.
WHEN I WAS READING THIS, AND MAYBE BELMAR HAS ARTIE COMMENTED
ON IT, WHAT WOULD HIS TAKE ON THIS BE KNOWING HIS
PERSPECTIVE ABOUT IT.
WHICH, OBVIOUSLY JIMMY, YOU ARE UNINTERESTED.
THAT'S WHAT IT IS, WE ARE APOLOGISTS FOR FUCKING RAPERS.
WE ARE APOLOGISTS FOR RELIGION.
WE COULDN'T HATE RELIGION MORE.
WHAT WE ARE IS PROGRESSIVES.
WHAT DO PROGRESSIVES DO?
WE LOOK TO SEE WHO IS BEING OPPRESSED, AND WHOEVER IS
BEING OPPRESSED, THAT IS WHO I AM IN FAVOR OF.
I AM FOR WHOEVER IS BEING OPPRESSED IN ANY SITUATION.
THIS IDEA THOUGH ñ
THE WHOLE IDEA IS THAT THESE GUYS ARE DIRTY, MUSLIMS ARE
DIRTIER, THEY ARE WORSE, THEY ARE NOT REFORMED.
ALL OF THAT STUFF.
IT IS THAT, IT IS OKAY TO BE RACIST TOWARDS THEM.
YOU GET A BLANK CHECK FOR IT.
BY THE WAY, I KNOW A LOT OF RACISTS, I COME FROM A
RACIST PART OF CHICAGO, AND WHAT RACISTS THINK IS THAT THEY
JUST HAVE THE COURAGE TO SAY THE TRUTH.
THEY DON'T THINK THEY ARE BIGOTS, THEY JUST THINK THEY
HAVE THE GUTS TO TELL THE TRUTH
ABOUT THOSE DIRTY FUCKING MUSLIMS.
I AM NOT A SOCIOLOGIST,
AGAIN, I DON'T KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THEIR CULTURE, BUT I KNOW THAT
PEOPLE WHO DO KNOW ABOUT IT HAVE
TOLD ME THAT ISLAM IN AMERICA HAS BEEN REFORMED.
HOW ABOUT WHEN THEY WENT WITH THE BIBLE AND THEY SAID IT
WAS THE KORAN?
AND ALL THOSE PEOPLE, THEY TRICKED THEM, SO THE BOOKS ARE
JUST AS BAD.
IS IMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN
FUNDAMENTALISTS AND MAINSTREAM MUSLIMS, MAINSTREAM CHRISTIANS.
I WOULD NEVER USE FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIANS AS THE REPRESENTATION
OF ALL CHRISTIANS.
MY MOM IS CHRISTIAN, MY MOM IS DEEPLY CHRISTIAN, BUT SHE
IS A GOOD PERSON.
SHE WOULD NOT WANT YOU TO CARRY A RATE BABY TO TERM
IF YOU ARE TEN YEARS OLD?
LIKE MIKE HUCKABEE?
TO USE THE MOST EXTREME
EXAMPLES AS A
REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF THE ENTIRE RELIGION I THINK IS
BEYOND UNFAIR, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE RELIGION IS.
IT IS JUST NOT THE REALITY.
THERE IS NUANCED.
FOR SOME REASON, PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY IN THE UNITED
STATES, ARE ALLERGIC TO NUANCE.
BY THE WAY, THEY ONLY HAVE AN ALLERGIC REACTION TO
CERTAIN RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE, AND ONLY CERTAIN RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE.
OTHER RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE, LIKE IN COLORADO, THEY ARE
PERFECTLY OKAY WITH.
THE IRAQ WAR, THEY ARE PERFECTLY OKAY WITH IT.
THEY ARE VERY SELECTIVE IN THEIR OUTRAGE AGAINST VIOLENCE.
I THINK AS A PROGRESSIVE I AM CONSISTENT.
I AM CONSISTENT IN MY ALLERGIC REACTION TO VIOLENCE OF ALL
KINDS, I JUST DON'T HAVE A
THAT IS FOR CERTAIN RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE.