David Simon blasts President Trump’s ‘Muslim Ban’

Author and the man behind HBO’s ‘The Wire’ David Simon hosted a rally Monday at the Beth Am Synagogue in Baltimore to protest against President Donald Trump’s travel ban

One of Trump’s first executive orders barred entry into the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries. It was successfully challenged in federal court. Now, the Trump administration, at press time, is requesting the full appellant court of the 9th Judicial Circuit to hear the case.

David Simon

Another one of the Executive Orders from Trump would de-fund “sanctuary cities.” (Baltimore, however, under Mayor Catherine Pugh, has declined to take on that role.)

Simon’s production company will “donate up to $100,000 in matching funds” to further this cause. Simon has repeatedly made know his strong opposition to Trump’s executive orders.

Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement agents (ICE) have arrested hundreds in a nationwide sweep, since Trump’s orders were made public. The agency said its conduct is only “routine” and focused on “undocumented immigrants who have criminal records or pending deportation orders.”

Beau Willimon

Critics sharply disagree with ICE’s conduct.

Stephen Miller, a key Trump advisor addressed this ongoing dispute. He said that it all comes down to an “ideological disagreement between those who believe we (the United State) should have borders and those who believe there should be no borders and no controls.”

Speaking at the rally, before a near capacity audience of about 650, besides Simon were 12 other notables. Three of them are very well known to the local community. They include Beau Willimon, the creator of the Netflix series, “House of Cards,” Internet- activist, DeRay Mckesson, who also ran for mayor on the Democratic ticket in 2016 and finished in sixth place, and author Taylor Branch. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his “King Era Trilogy.”

DeRay Mckesson

Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg of Beth Am Synagogue gave the welcoming remarks. Musical entertainment was provided by American rock, country & folk singer/songwriter, Steve Earle.

In his remarks, Simon praised the community for quickly raising close to $50,000, most of it online. He said he got “mad” when he was watching the recent scenes of distress at our nation’s airports as a result of Trump’s executive orders. He brought up the fact that “ten of his relatives” could not escape from Europe during that horrific Nazi era.

The idea of “America First” was derided by Simon. He said that today, unlike in the past, that he’s confident that we as a people “can do more.”

Steve Earle

3 thoughts on “David Simon blasts President Trump’s ‘Muslim Ban’

  • February 14, 2017 at 8:56 AM
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    Contrary to the corporate media spin, Trump did not issue a “Muslim ban.” He imposed a 90-day travel moratorium on 7 countries until better vetting is in place. Title 8 USC grants the President the authority to impose restrictions on aliens or classes of aliens coming to this country for security reasons. 72 people charged with planning terrorism in the United States came form those countries. All five prior Presidents used Title 8 authority to block classes of aliens from entering the nation and nobody complained about it back then!

    If you are trying to get to the United States from one of those counties, it doesn’t matter if you are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Atheist, Pastafarian, or Scientologist, you will have the same degree of difficulty getting in.

    • February 14, 2017 at 10:30 AM
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      need i present you with the numerous quotes and sound bites where trump said in fact he was calling for a muslim ban ? that an exemption was being made for christians ? that there is no evidence of a single terrorist attack by any one from those 7 countries, 6 of 7 of which happened to be on bush’s overthrow list after the u.s. attack on iraq ?
      better vetting ? the u.s is considered to have one of the strictest vetting procedure in the world.
      and speaking of vetting–how come saudi arabia is not on the list, home to 15 of the 19 alleged hijackers ? could it be because unlike the 7 muslim banned countries, where trump has no investments, he’s got bucks in saudi arabia ?

      • February 14, 2017 at 10:49 AM
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        8 U.S. Code § 1182 (f) – Inadmissible aliens

        Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate. Whenever the Attorney General finds that a commercial airline has failed to comply with regulations of the Attorney General relating to requirements of airlines for the detection of fraudulent documents used by passengers traveling to the United States (including the training of personnel in such detection), the Attorney General may suspend the entry of some or all aliens transported to the United States by such airline.

        BTW, Trump did not create that list, it was created during the Bush administration and affirmed by the Obama administration.

        As for Saudi Arabia, they are being framed for 9-11. One of the named Saudis, Saeed Al-Ghamdi, turned out to be a pilot for the Saudi National Airline, still alive after 9-11, who successfully sued the US for defamation.

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