On Saturday I had to head west so my suggestion was that we go to Faraci’s in Ellisville. While this famous local pizzeria began in Ferguson, they now have a location on Manchester Road. Unfortunately for us, many other people had this idea, and we were told it would be more than an hour wait on a pizza. I’d heard there was a fairly new and popular place near there named Boardwalk Pizza. I drove by and saw the massive line and kept moving.

These crowds led me to a halal pizza place. For the record, my feelings on halal restaurants are mixed. I enjoy the vibrant halal scenes of NYC, Northern Virginia, Chicagoland, Detroit suburbs, the suburbs of Dallas, and other places that are known for having a lot of good halal restaurants due to the large local Muslim population. Traveling to Muslim-majority countries is even better in terms of dining. I had my first McDonalds sausage biscuit since 1991 last month in Kuala Lumpur. However, it’s not uncommon to go into these places and they are rude, unprofessional, and quite often, dirty and unhygienic. There is also the issue of quality. There are halal restaurants with an amazing level of quality and focus on fresh ingredients, food preparation, and taste. There are others who know that they have a captive audience and they can get by with being rude, dirty, and selling low-quality slop because local Muslims have no place else to go if they’re strictly halal (which most aren’t anyway). If the bathroom at the restaurant is filthy and has no soap that’s a very good sign that the kitchen is filthy and the staff are lacking in hygiene. If these are the conditions of restaurants which are visible to the public, just imagine what the situation is at the halal slaughterhouses and farms? They, more than likely, have the functionality of a masjid parking lot. Of course, I also believe that a high percentage of halal vendors are all flat-out lying. There is no real and universally recognized halal certification process like there is for Kosher food. When something has a Kosher label, I believe it’s Kosher. If it has a halal label, then it’s a maybe. Logistically, I’m skeptical. The volume that it takes to supply the halal food stands in NYC alone seems to be higher than the halal infrastructure is capable of producing. Anyway, I came up in the 90s, and we followed Uthaimeen and his opinion. If I’m hungry, I’ll eat. The important thing is there is no pork and a reasonable risk of cross contamination. For this reason, I’ve never been to famous local BBQ places like Pappy’s, but I will go down the street to Beffa’s and get a nice burger, or up the street to the Best Steak House and order a steak and chicken plate from the Greeks.

On this night I should’ve been patient. The first sign of trouble was the pile of trash outside of the business. The pizza shop is located on a street with lots of restaurants and many of them are quite busy. I didn’t see trash outside of any other restaurant. When I walked in a young man looked at me and nodded his head. He said nothing. Possibly he is autistic and non-verbal. Perhaps he was high. Could’ve been both. Eventually another young man took my order. We ended up waiting a long time for pizza that tasted like it came from the discount rack of the frozen pizza aisle. No flavor and the only benefit was in getting halal toppings. I get it, a lot of Muslims don’t know a lot about pizza and are desperate for a halal option, but the food is trash.There were also no napkins. Just buy a frozen pizza at the store and put on your own toppings. Or just say Bismillah and head to a place that actually cares about the sauce, cheese, dough, ovens, and everything that goes into making a quality pizza. Not a place that just goes to a wholesale business and purchases the absolute cheapest version of each ingredient and then slaps a halal label on it.

These are questions a thoughtful imam could ponder. Or discuss why so many young Muslim men in France and other parts of Europe think organized theft from stores and looting is perfectly halal as long as the holy amulet of the Palestinian flag is present in order to bless the occasion. Instead, I’m reading middle-aged men who are my age and older rage at one another over aqeedah issues, madhabs, and other issues that have no consequence on their daily lives. I can understand this from young people, most aren’t that smart, none of us were wiser in our twenties, but to be in your fifties raging at one another about what Abu said to Abdul 500 years ago? This is how you choose to spend your day? Surely watching the Brewers win the World Series, a boxing match, the UFC, NBA, NFL, or almost anything would be more enjoyable than arguing about religion? Then again, I’m reminded that a common denominator between most religious and political fanatics I’ve known is they hate sports. The religious fanatic thinks we should be busy praying, studying, condemning, and arguing about religion. The political fanatic thinks we should be organizing a revolution or counter-revolution. One young man I know, who is very smart and highly-educated, once said to me “who wasn’t a communist in college”. Of course, the answer to this question is, almost everyone. Other than hitting the books the main preoccupations of college kids tend to be watching sports, drinking, weed, and fornication. Statistically very few would interrupt any of those activities to join a protest. Could the rage from Muslim student activists prone to violent and over the top rhetoric, boil down to a combination of boredom and sexual frustration combined with not feeling welcome at the local masjid or MSA? .

American Hagwon Forest Park

Many read Pachinko a few years back. Min Jin Lee is an amazing author and I looked forward to her new book American Hagwon. Although I read a lot of books I seldom buy them anymore. Sometimes I feel bad about this because I like to support locally-owned independent bookstores. However, as I read more than one-hundred books a year, I save a lot of money by checking out books from the local library and using the Hoopla and Libby apps. My next step will be becoming a friend of the Washington University library. I figure paying that fee will be worth it as it will give me access to more academic books. Sometimes I order such books via the interlibrary loan system at the public library, but there are times when they’re unable to get a book.

In previous years only about 10-15% of my reading has been fiction. This year I decided to increase the amount of fiction I read and I’m up to around 30%. My preference is literary fiction and international translations. Particularly from Asia. I don’t pay attention to Booker or any other prize lists and I try to mix in some older titles and classics. Finding nonfiction to read is incredibly easy for me and my nonfiction TBR list is hundreds of books long. As I tend to be a critic of the modern American publishing industry, and the increasingly narrow and doctrinaire trends, combined with the fake diversity, and focus on the gaze in Park Slope and Ladue, I usually find myself not interested in popular titles. The storylines are predictable and the characters are avatars for the messaging of the author who is seeking to proclaim their virtue for the world to see.

BookTok and Instagram have helped me increase my fiction reading. There are a lot of really good accounts discussing both classics and newer books. Many of the books that are praised I look up and I pass on. Then there are those that really catch my attention. I’ve learned which creators to pay attention to the closest. Nearly all of these accounts are run by women. The unfortunate reality is men don’t read a lot of fiction (or much of anything) and because of that there is often a shortage of literary fiction men find interesting.

Yesterday I went to Forest Park to finish American Hagwon after I got off work. It was a beautiful day and I like to read outside sometimes. I pulled up to a spot and there were two separate families doing photo shoots. I saw a bench about fifty-feet away from where kids were lining up for photos and walked towards it. What I didn’t notice is there was a man taking a piss at the tree next to the bench. My guess is that man didn’t grow up attending a hagwon. I drove to another spot that was quite lovely.

American Hagwon is about a Korean family and it takes place over decades. Like all great books and films on family there are a lot of characters and the book makes you think of your own family. Years ago I was watching the Spike Lee film Crooklyn. It’s one of my favorite films of his. The woman I was watching it with said she didn’t really like it because it didn’t remind her of her own family. It didn’t remind me of my family either. My dad isn’t a jazz musician and he’s not Black. He was a factory worker and has no musical talent. But the themes of sibling love and rivalry, childhood mischief, parental love, parents fighting, loss, and heartbreak are universal.

This book follows a family from South Korea to Australia to Orange County, California as their lives are interrupted by scandal, the IMF crisis that rocked South Korea, and the 2007-08 US housing crash. Mixed in are stories of fierce academic competition, striving, parachute kids, loving parents, healthy sibling relationships, womanizing, and seduction.

There is a trend in Asian-American writing to highlight dysfunction and be apologetic for their success. This book critiques but doesn’t do that.What’s known is that if you have a stable and loving mother and father with strong cultural, and often religious, values, are being raised by them, they are industrious and hard workers, and you emulate their hard work by being a good student, you get good grades, you get into good colleges because of that, you delay marriage until you’re stable, you delay having kids until after marriage and owning a home, then the chances of success are near automatic. You don’t need to be a Korean immigrant to do many of these things. Muslim families, particularly Desis, tend to do most of them.

A hagwon is an evening and weekends tutoring school. They even have them for music. These are popular for Korean and other Asian immigrant families. One of the themes of this book is the hagwon owners asking if they’re needed? If hagwon culture is damaging? The mainstream white American view is that such kids are oppressed. All they do is study and have no fun. Many of these same parents helicopter their kids from practice to practice as they dedicate their lives to youth sports and getting their kid a college scholarship. I grew up playing sports at a time when it was far more fun, casual, inexpensive, and without constant parental supervision.One could argue which version of middle-class parenthood works better? A hyper focus on sports (often accompanied with religion) can lead to more socialization, physical development, fun, and scholarships to state schools and normally the lower tier of private schools. It can and does work. However, the hagwon also works. These kids, often the children of small business owners running convenience stores, laundries, and the like, are consistently getting into Ivy League and other elite schools like Washington University. Barring some anti-Asian racial bias and good ‘ole boy nepotism, which are both a reality, they’ll more than likely be the bosses of the evangelical and Catholic athletes.

One thing mentioned in the book is most of the kids actually enjoyed the hagwon experience. Perhaps it was a place where they weren’t bullied, different, picked on for being Asian, and could thrive around kids with similar backgrounds. The Korean Church was also heavily discussed in the book and plays a similar role. A character had lost his affluent life in Korea and was running a fried fish shop and later a nail salon in OC, but, at the Korean Presbyterian Church, he was respected for the elder he was and the education he had in South Korea.This is something I deeply identify with. The wider world may look at Brother Fulan and see a taxi driver or a plumber, but I look at him and know his skills, talents, background, struggles, losses, and life experience.

I particularly appreciated the depiction of John who is the father of the family whose story the book follows. These days when a dad is introduced he will most likely be dumb, lazy, or a piece of shit. John is a good dad and husband who tries his hardest until the end. The same for his wife Helen. Their kids are good kids, Not rebels. They take the blessings they’ve been given and work hard. They love their parents. Their aunt and uncle are similarly loving. They spread this love to the kids they teach and those around them. This normally doesn’t make for a good novel, and the American novel is often about rebellion, and, in recent years, about recovery from the trauma of bad parenting and religion, but, in American Hagwon, it works. We should desire Mido (who needed more options than Peter and Tek), but most of us will fall for Danbi. I’ll say less.

This book is also a matter of vantage points. I was not a good student and didn’t grow up around a culture of educational strivers. Nor do I presently live in such an environment although I certainly see such families at suburban masjids and such and have these students as passengers who I enjoy talking to. From the vantage point of a community with low levels of academic and professional success and high levels of single parenthood, family dysfunction, addiction, and criminality the complaints of hagwon kids may seem trivial. There is a spirit of lamentation you will find in second-generation literature, particularly from women, spinning sad stories about not getting to date white guys in high school, missing the wild parties, and not having cool parents who bought them beer and allowed them to use their bedroom as a fuckpad as many American parents (especially white) do. Or upset they didn’t have parents who bankrolled spring break vacations and underwrote years of gentrification slumming it while they “find themselves” in places like Brooklyn, Chicago, Austin, Tower Grove South, and any gentrified neighborhood near you.American Hagwon only has one kid, Peter, a rich spoiled kid, displaying some of this attitude, but overall is absent of this sentiment.

A theme of this book is the level of competition and status seeking that is often toxic.

Fjord

Last night I saw Fjord at the Hi-Pointe Theatre. It’s a very good film about an Evangelical Romanian father and his Norwegian wife who move to Norway and have their children taken from them over alleged abuse. What is learned throughout the film is physical abuse may not have been the issue at all. Rather there was a clash between the intense secularism of the Norwegian state, local culture, and the religious values and Romanian culture of the family in question. This issue has been a big one in Norway and Sweden with Muslim families. Due to liberal values these countries have opened their doors to migrants. What they expected is that their secular values would mold these new migrants and they would discard their faith traditions. That hasn’t happened and the secular vs. religious clash has become a major issue in Scandinavia and much of Europe. Local elites saw themselves as post-Christian and established a secular society. Muslim immigrants have yelled “not so fast”. Side note: bitter cold, bland food, frigid personalities. Haaland aside, Norway doesn’t seem very appealing. .

When the time for Jummah came, I parked outside and intentionally came in late. Whatever the Imam would say would assuredly be something totally irrelevant to my life. Whether it be admonishing the crowd for being insufficiently pious, attempting to raise money, which I have no doubt would be misappropriated or outright stolen, go into full Mehdi Hasan political mode, or remind us how awful we are compared to those pulled from the fake versions of history told and retold.

Then came typical St. Louis news. Not the typical news of murders, shootings, robberies and mayhem. All of us who grew up here are immune to these stories and the sound of gunfire doesn’t even disturb our nightly reading. We have been told this is normal. The result of poverty and the lack of opportunity and to not make a big deal of it. Those of us who have travelled internationally to areas of far greater poverty and inequality without hearing such gunfire are left with our heads scratching. No, I’m talking about news closer to people I know. Police action, criminal behavior, mischief, looniness, and more. Nothing I don’t expect.

Of course I could turn on the TV for an escape, but I seldom watch TV anymore. Maybe one or two shows a year will interest me. Scrubs and Everybody Hates Chris are the only sitcom I’ve watched post-Seinfeld. Gone are the days when I was a kid when we could eagerly look forward to The Cosby Show and Family Ties, or the A-Team and Miami Vice, and then watch reruns of Norman Lear classics like All In The Family, Sanford and Son, and The Jeffersons until we fall asleep. That’s if we weren't watching Johnny Carson and later Arsenio Hall. I haven’t watched a late-night talk show in decades other than Charlie Rose and Tavis Smiley on PBS and they both got shitcanned for sexual misconduct. When a celebrity news story comes up, I have to Google them. I had no idea who Selma Blair was until yesterday.

Books, sports, and film are my real escapes. I read over 100 books a year not because I’m in a contest or I want to brag. I read because if I don’t I feel like I’m wasting my day and not learning anything. What’s the alternative? Watching more “many engines in my factory”, hoof cleaning, candy making, comedy, nostalgia, history, book, and film reels on TikTok and Instagram? This year I have pledged to read more fiction and I’m up to around 25%. Ironically, I got most of my recs from BookTok and Instagrammers.

I also try and watch around 100 films a year. I still enjoy going to the movie theater and there are several upcoming films I really wanna see before the end of the year, but I also take advantage of Kanopy, Tubi, and other apps to see foreign films and classics. This year hasn’t been great thus far so I’m looking forward to seeing if my opinion will change after seeing these new releases and attending the St. Louis International Film Festival.

October may be one of the best months of the year to be an American sports fan. Baseball playoffs, NFL season in full swing, and college football (which I seldom watch). I’m more focused on the boxing calendar, some UFC fights, and the beginning of college wrestling season. Mentally I always associate this month with the leaves beginning to fall and the weather turning cold with shifting from playing baseball in the streets with friends and on teams to playing football on a team and with friends outside. Especially playing “kill the man with the ball” which was incredibly fun as a boy but would give the “gentle parents” of the 2020s a heart attack.

It was really this week that I began to return to a somewhat normal state of mind. Beginning with Old Town Donuts, a Monday lunch at Favazza’s on The Hill followed by Italian sweets from Vitale’s Bakery, and seeing actor Lior Raz of “Fauda” fame at the J. All three of these experiences represent classic St. Louis. North St. Louis hoosiers who after the war got their plot of suburban paradise in Florissant and needed a bag of donuts before headed to the shift at the factory or a box for church on Sunday. Immigrants from Italy who set up a neighborhood village in southwest St. Louis and learned to cook for their own people and others. St. Louis Italian and Chinese food is great not because it tastes like a meal you’d eat in Milan or Beijing. It tastes good because moneymaking Italians and Chinese learned what put butts in the seats of restaurants. Ravioli? Fry that shit. Pizza? Make that shit thin and crispy too and add some sweet sauce and weird cheese local hoosiers will love. Jews left Central and Eastern Europe, and some found out they didn’t have to live on top of one another on the Lower East Side of Manhattan or in walkups in Brooklyn and the Bronx and found their way to St. Louis. Starting downtown, moving a little north, and eventually to the western suburbs. And one day it's decided a community center is needed and maybe it should have a pool and fitness center and sports for kids. “A shul with a pool” as one writer put it.

In St. Louis we love our classics. I remarked to a friend during our lunch at Favazza’s that my dining tastes are a mix of immigrant-owned restaurants (often in suburban strip malls) and old hoosier classic spots. I remain distrustful of newer trendy places or those with overtly hipster messaging. If it is boasted about in St. Louis Magazine, or it appears servers may want to smash the patriarchy by refraining from conventional grooming and bathing routines the place probably isn’t for me. Sometimes you get a combination of the two. Mom’s Deli on Jamieson was a south city classic and very close to Ted Drewe’s Frozen Custard. I never went there because the menu was pork-heavy but south side hoosiers raved about it and it was also a favorite of police and firefighters. Moms closed the Jamieson location and moved somewhere else and now you can buy Korean fried chicken there. For me, that’s an improvement.

This weekend I will see Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother and I’m looking forward to it. For my reading journey you can follow me on Goodreads. Currently reading The Cauldron by Simon Sebag Montefiore, Children of Abraham: The 1400 Year History of Muslim-Jewish Relations by Marc David Bear, and the novel Heaven by Japanese writer Mieko Kawakami.

I recently completed a whirlwind vacation taking me to four countries, eight airports, and multiple bus and train stations in two weeks. As I write this, I’m still jetlagged and fatigued. I will do my best to give an outline of my journey in this newsletter while also encouraging you to view the photos on my Instagram highlight reels (not just the posts).

California

I stopped in LA specifically to see Brother Amin who has been doing amazing work with prisoners through his Link Outside organization. In all honesty there isn’t a lot going on in the Muslim community these days that I find exciting or interesting. Certainly not the politics, activism, literature, film depictions, online discourse, dawah bros, make believe versions of history, simple minded fundamentalists, robotic progressives, or celebrity imams. There are basically only five things I find interesting about Muslims in the US; the proliferation of the halal food industry, the fact that, as problematic as it may be, the diversity of the community, both in terms of economics and race and ethnicity, the fact that in a time of a male loneliness and friendship crisis the Muslim community is a place of deep male friendships, and the continued ability of Muslim dawah to penetrate and reach those in prisons and in the streets that few others care for and every nonprofit and government program has failed.

Few have excelled more at prison and post-prison Islamic education and mentorship than Brother Amin Eshaiker, Brother Jesse Maroney, and their California-based team and I encourage you to visit their website and support them.

Brother Amin is an interesting guy himself. Like many second-generation Muslims who grew up in the US he drifted away from the religion. His path back to faith began when he was working on a hip-hop documentary and wrote former Eazy E crew member and rapper B.G. Knocc Out who had embraced Islam in prison and encouraged Amin to get on his deen. In most of the US, particularly in places like St. Louis, there was an anti east coast bias in hip-hop. Quite simply, the New York MCs of the golden age of hip-hop were not that popular in St. Louis and most of the Midwest and South outside of a niche of rap nerds often centered around campuses and disproportionately white. LA rappers were extremely popular in St. Louis and by his relationship to Eazy E the conversion of B.G. Knocc Out (and NWA member MC Ren) are things that hold a lot of cultural weight here.

Knowing that my interests are more in the realm of history and food than music Brother Amin cut short the hip-hop tour (although a Lil’ Durk meeting was floated as was a possible Suge Knight encounter behind bars!) and instead I was taken to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Orange County, Little Saigon, a kosher Deli in Fairfax, a New York-style Halal street food spot, some California hippie eateries, established mosques and more. We also met with the young imam and scholar Nihal Khan who I hadn’t seen since he gave me a tour of Istanbul, and the beautiful Southern California beach. On the presidential libraries. Reagan, the president of my childhood brought back those eighties memories for me. Nixon, the cerebral and paranoid figure who resigned from The White House shortly before I was born, reminds me of LBJ in many ways. A complex man and legacy.

The Philippines

Of the four countries I visited The Philippines is most like St. Louis. A decaying infrastructure, not friendly to pedestrians, massive income inequality, and visible street crime. However, Manila has a more modern airport, fancier malls, much better-looking and friendlier people, and a lot more excitement.

I wanted to visit The Philippines for a number of reasons. First and foremost is all of the friendly Filipinos and Filipinas I’ve met over the years. And, like a lot of boxing fans, the education about that country I received while following the career of Manny Pacquiao. Manila didn’t disappoint.

As it was rainy season I didn’t even mess around with trying to get to any beaches and stuck to exploring Manila. I had e very nice hotel with a view of the Manila Bay and a professional staff. The neighborhood outside was eclectic to say the least. A mixture of a diplomatic quarter, a halal food and Muslim district, a stretch of karaoke bars catering to Japanese and Korean tourists, and a red-light district. At night street kids, squatters, and vendors populated the block of the hotel. On my first night, after arriving hungry, I followed Google Maps walking directions to a Halal Turkish spot and ended up in a flooded tiny alley full of small dwellings and was greeted by a man saying, “welcome to the jungle”. Of course, a few days later I was in the wealthy BGC neighborhood which is more modern and fancy than almost any place in the US (and the mall makes Plaza Frontenac look like a Wellston flea market).

Highlights in Manila include Rizal Park, Paco Park, a tour of the Spanish colonial remnants of Intramuros, Quiapo Church, the Golden Mosque and Muslim district in Quiapo where I prayed Jummah (getting soaked after, unable to get a cab, so walking a few miles back to my room in the rain), and the National Museum of Anthropology. The Manila American Cemetery and Museum was a somber visit viewing the graves and names of the walls of both Americans and Filipinos who lost their lives in World War II, and many were veterans of the 1st Marine Division in which my grandpa served. Undoubtedly he knew some of the men who who buried there and whose names were on the walls.

Without any doubt, the highlight of The Philippines is the people. So, I met and talked to as many as possible.

Malaysia

In the early to mid 90s I had a group of Malaysia friends in St. Louis. They were students at Washington University and the University of Missouri- St. Louis and operated a small musala and ran a business I participated in. It was actually my friend Mukhtar who introduced us. At the time Mukhtar was a young Black American Muslim firebrand who had just returned from living in New Haven and Brooklyn. Raised in the Catholic Church while living in the Pruitt-Igoe projects and north side, Mukhtar would embrace Islam as would his three brothers.

Mukhtar was even tighter with the Malaysians than I was and would hang out with them constantly. We were living in separate apartment complexes in Normandy at the time that sat on opposite sides of Florissant Road. One day I was walking and heard Mukhtar being chastised by a Black neighbor informing him that “he seemed like a cool Muslim brother” but he should “keep it Black” and stop hanging out with “the ch***s”. Mukhtar explained to him these were his Muslim brothers and in Islam everyone is the same no matter their race but I don't think the message landed.

I would ride around with Mukhtar all day listening to Imam Zaid Shakir and Imam Siraj Wahhaj on cassette tapes and then at night we'd return to the Malaysians often eating the food which was spicy to me at the time. It was with the Malaysian brothers where I learned to watch soccer and watched the famous OJ Simpson Bronco chase together. Good memories.

Once the brothers graduated we lost track of one another and they all became very successful back home armed with their degrees from American universities. Dr. Mansor Ibrahim is now a leading economist in Malaysia and a very respected figure. He generously gave me a Kuala Lumpur tour, took me around the affluent Kenny Hills neighborhood, and to his campus. It was a real pleasure seeing him after all of these years.

The museums, famous mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples, the Petronas Twin Towers, and more. My short stay in KL was overloaded. Thankfully publisher Muhammad Adnaan Sattaur relocated to KL from New York with his family and hosted me to a halal hibachi dinner at the Twin Towers that night. It was interesting hearing from him on what he found appealing about living in KL. One theme that kept coming up was the safety and security of his children as opposed to raising them in New York and this is a theme I've heard from a number of Muslim families over the years who've relocated to The Gulf

Singapore

This was a brief stopover. I took the bus from KL to Singapore and got to see the magnificent skyline and pristine streets.

I first thought about Singapore in the 1990s when an American teenager was sentenced to lashes by caning for vandalism. There as an outcry in the American media at the time. St. Louis Alderman Freeman Bosley, Sr. disagreed with this popular sentiment and argued caning should be introduced in St. Louis. I agreed with Bosley then and now and those interested in exploring this topic more should read “In Defense of Flogging” by Peter Moskos. The poor in St. Louis sleep with bars on their windows, multiple locks on doors, and are afraid to go for a walk at night or sit out front. That's not the case in Singapore. Which place is delivering a higher quality of life?

I don't think Americans or Westerners in general should be exempt from local laws. If the local punishment is caning they should get caning. If the local punishment is beheading for selling drugs, as it is in Saudi Arabia, then chop chop motherfucker. In Southeast Asia there is an epidemic of misbehaving and criminal Western tourists and long-term residents (Russians, Nigerians, Israelis, and some Arabs, Indians, and East Asians also get in on the act). When one of them is caught and authorities attempt to implement local punishments there is usually an outcry from their embassy fueled by media reports and they end up getting a reduced sentence. Unfortunate. But Singapore doesn't have these problems like Bali, Thailand, Vietnam, and The Philippines. A lot of this is thanks to Lee Kuan Yew whose videos I binge watched in preparation for my visit

My room in Singapore was in Chinatown. I walked around, grabbed a meal, did some souvenir shopping, and then just sat and observed.

Japan

Before leaving for my trip I saw the new film Tony which is based on the life of a young Anthony Bourdain as he leaves high school for a summer in New England chasing a girl and working in a kitchen. Bourdain is one of those people I never met who I think of from time to time. Tupac, Norman Mailer, and Iris Chang are some others. Bourdain said something to the effect that once you visit Tokyo and you see shat human possibility can be all you wanna do is go back and everything else is a disappointment. I joked that going from Tokyo to St. Louis in a day is like going back in time thirty years. Perhaps, not quite, but it is depressing. It will take some days or even weeks for the Tokyo buzz to wear off.

I enjoy solo travel because I can design trips catering to my unique interests and this is what I did in Japan. Books, culture, shrines, inexpensive but tasty food, snacks, pro wrestling, sumo wrestling, baseball, and museums. I will tell people you've never really watched baseball until you've attended a game in Tokyo. In my case, I was at Meiji Jingu Stadium to cheer on the Tokyo Yakult Swallows with their umbrella celebration. Riding the immaculate and modern subway is an experience in and of itself as is taking a cab and having the doors open and close cof you. Japan even makes taking a shit a better experience as the toilet plays music and thoroughly washes your ass for you.

The list of books I read and films I watched in preparation for visiting Japan are in included in my Instagram posts. As Japan has one of the best, it not, the best, literary and film scenes in the world, finding interesting content was not a problem at all. In fact, as American literature and film has declined, largely due to the way the businesses operates, a lack of financial support, and the influences of politics and ideology increasingly catering to a narrow slice of the American population, Asia has increasingly become the global epicenter for quality literature and film.

Thank God it was a blessing to take this trip and I pray for many more while I still have the health and resources. I told someone yesterday that I have no desire to retire and just spend my days looking at the television, doomscrolling, and reading books. All of that in moderation is fine, but I would much rather lose my life while on an adventure than sitting on my ass. The challenge is maintaining my health so I can see as much of the world as possible and there is nowhere I don't want to see. Unfortunately, I'm not employed as a TikTok travel influencer, so I have to be strategic and economical with my trips. Where to next? That's already on my mind.

October 7th

Nearly three years ago I was driving on Delmar in University City as I began getting updates on my phone about the ongoing attacks in Israel known as the Al Aqsa Floods. I vividly remember this because I was simultaneously watching groups of Orthodox Jews walking up and down the street. Because it was Shabbat, and they weren’t using their phones or electronic devices, I knew that they would be in for a very rough time once they turned on their phones after sunset. No doubt many had friends and family that would be impacted by the tragedy and there would be a flurry of WhatsApp calls and messages to check on safety.

The initial reactions to 10-7 fit into a predictable pattern: stage one is shock and intense grief, international solidarity with Israelis and families of those who were killed, condemnation of Hamas, a call to release those kidnapped. Those dominant reactions were countered with a feel of excitement and intense celebrations among many Muslims on social media believing that the Ummah had finally delt a severe blow to Israel. This celebratory mood by Muslims and many leftist supporters of the Palestinian cause manifested not only on social media but took the form of rallies beginning on 10-8 that were both in support of the attacks on 10-7 and already denouncing a “genocide” against the Palestinian population as the result of Israeli reprisals. As we learned more about how horrific 10-7 actually was including the massacre of the elderly, children murdered in front of their families. migrant workers from Thailand, the Philippines, and Africa beaten to death and otherwise murdered, rapes, and outright brutality the rhetoric changed.

Israel, world Jewry, and many others continued to mourn, comfort, and work for the release of hostages as an Israeli military campaign in Gaza went into full force. While this was happening an international defense of the campaign of attacks on 10-7 was coalescing. This defense essentially contained three elements. The first being the old Hamas line to justify their attacks that every Israeli man, woman, and child is an occupier and thus deserving of death. While this clearly contradicts basic Islamic ethics as it pertains to combat it’s the line that Hamas has used. The second element was to evoke Frantz Fanon and the language of anti-colonial revolutionary violence. This line of argument says you cannot judge the oppressed on how they choose to fight their oppressor and that all means of resistance are justified in pursuit of the goal of liberation. What’s never clarified is how oppressed does one have to be in order to begin a campaign of murder and rape. Does the cause of French Quebec rise to the level? How about short men who are systemically discriminated against in favor of tall men on dating apps? When are they allowed to start offing the basketball team? Mixed in with this argument mirrors what we saw after 9-11, an outright denial of the atrocities committed on 10-7 combined with conspiracy theories that the Jews really did this to themselves. So, if you’re keeping track, it’s, “it wasn’t that bad, the atrocities were exaggerated, the Jews are lying, but, even if it actually happened, it was great and justified”.

When 10-7 predictably led to a long and gruesome war in Gaza creating tremendous human suffering for the Palestinian population a new popular narrative was formed that erased 10-7 nearly entirely. Few took the time to contemplate the wisdom of attacking a nuclear power with one of the best armies in the world, slaughtering civilians, and kidnapping citizens. The deviant religious Takfir-Ikhwan justifications stood, and the anti-colonial line intensified in popularity led by social media influencers and celebrities. Indeed, the justification for 10-7 no longer even seems fringe, as Democratic politicians now line up for the support of the likes of Hasan Piker. Even mainstream Muslim events like the ISNA convention now feature atheists from Muslim families and apostates sending the message that the important thing isn’t belief in God, or Islamic piety, but rather it’s being a supporter of what they refer to as the Palestinian cause and justifying 10-7. We actually don’t need ISNA to illustrate this as for three years mainstream Muslim organizations have been supporting profane and raunchy Muslim activists who are openly irreligious, have behaved badly on campus, desecrated churches, attempted to cancel Christian holidays, and revere an ideology that killed and oppressed countless Muslims in the 20th Century (communism). How being a supporter of Palestinians includes defending the Hamas campaign of terror that led to the destruction of Gaza defies logic, but we clearly aren’t dealing with the smartest people. For most, the Palestinian cause is like cheering for their favorite football team. They celebrate every attack and are angered by every loss and all of this is done from the safety and comfort of their homes. Peace would mean their favorite fighting franchise has retired and they would need to find a new form of entertainment. In 2026 being supportive of 10-7 just doesn’t appear to be the default Muslim position, as best I can tell, it appears to be in the official progressive canon of beliefs. Any disagreement won’t be tolerated, and no half-stepping is allowed (as the St. Louis to Brooklyn politician Brad Lander recently learned). If you want to be popular with the cool kids, you better put that watermelon or red triangle up next to the pronouns.

In the Muslim community if there is even a slight disagreement with the dominant narrative (Israel shouldn’t exist, there are no innocent Israelis, the attacks of 10-7 were justified, Hamas are freedom fighters and beyond reproach, the Abraham Accords are treasonous) then the response is simple. You’re a hypocrite, a deviant, even a kafir, and you’re most certainly being paid by the nefarious Zionist Jews! In my case, there is surely some mix up, because the Jews as a collective seem to be mailing all of my checks to the wrong address, as I’m still working two jobs. As I’ve stated before, if not supporting this vile movement has cost me anything in terms of friendships and relationships, so be it, I don’t want to be friends or be supported by anyone who supported 10-7. If this is true of the entire community then to hell with the community.

A number of Jewish writers in America have said that literary agents and publishers have asked them to tone down Jewish themes in books and even remove Jewish characters. Because of this, we don’t have the literary response to 10-7 we need, and I’d imagine the film industry is the same. One exception to this is Fauda on Netflix. Episodes 7 and 8 of season 5, which is now streaming, give a gripping and brutal depiction of 10-7 and the entire season deals with the aftermath. I highly recommend watching season 5 which is the best season since season 1.

The lesson indigenous Muslims in the US can draw from this is that there must be a great divorce. In the quarter of a century since 9-11 we have seen numerous Muslim organizations and imams speak against terrorism. This was indeed needed because the public perception of Islam and Muslims became associated with violence. It was also needed because among my generation many young Muslims went to prison and threw away their lives chasing Jihad fantasies that were popularized by leading Muslim thinkers at the time. However, what we now know, is that, for many, these denunciations of terrorism and violence were fake. It was all an act and about seeking good publicity. Once it became politically acceptable, thanks to the sanction of much of the Western Left, and increasingly right-wing figures like Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes, the support for campaigns of terror in the name of religious struggle restarted.

While countless Muslims in the United States worked on ourselves since 9-11, questioned things we were taught by Ikhwani and Salafi ideologues, and transformed our relationships with religion, society, and the state moving away from harmful ideologies, the bulk of Muslim leadership has attempted to reel us back into the 1990s with a caveat- Muslims will now be politically guided by atheists and the Western Left. Leaders of MAS and other organizations have made it clear that they don’t care if you’re a good Muslim or bad Muslim, an atheist or a believer, what’s important is you support the Ikhwani political project and especially the Palestinian struggle. These things are of no benefit to those accepting Islam in prison, seeking to maintain grassroots masjids in low-income areas, and seeking to use Islam as a vehicle for self-transformation and family stability. This is not within the spirit of Imam Warith-deen Mohammed and other pioneering American-Muslim leaders. A divorce is needed. We are not the same. In my reading of history, the Muslim heroes are those in Indonesia who fought and resisted a communist takeover, the Muslim martyrs of Cambodia slaughtered by Pol Pot, and those Muslims in Bosnia and the former Soviet Union who taught their children religion in private while the communist authorities sought to suppress all things faith-related. They are also those men who embraced Islam in prison and other broken places in America and found peace within the deen.

Muslims Aren’t Alone

Luigi Mangione murdered United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024 and immediately gained a huge following. Much of this support was from younger women who had a crush on Luigi and if you think a guy is attractive, I guess he gets to kill people. Others defended the act of violence due to their hatred for the health insurance industry in the US. If you don’t like how the healthcare system is operated in the US, you get to start killing people under this logic. Why start with the CEO? Surely the HR Department has some culpability? Then you have to go after those working in sales and finance. While at it, surely the receptionists, secretaries, security staff, and janitorial crew deserve their share of the wrath. They’re all part of the system. Throw in the nurses and doctors too. If being part of the system justifies ones killing, then where do you draw the line? How noble does the cause have to be before you’re allowed to start killing?

Last year Charlie Kirk was murdered at Utah Valley University by a young man from a conservative Mormon household who was in a same-sex relationship at the time and questioning his upbringing and politics. I had never paid the slightest bit of attention to Kirk when he was alive, so I didn’t have an emotional response to his death. What I did find troubling was the jokes about his death and the sanctification of his killing. The message was clear- if we don’t like someone’s political message it’s perfectly fine to kill them. This is a great departure from the American political tradition which states no idea is dangerous enough that it can’t be presented in public, debated, and refuted.

There have also been deadly attacks on American Jews in the past few years including a firebombing in Boulder, Colorado and the murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim in Washington outside of the Capital Jewish Museum. In West Bloomfield, Michigan there was a vehicular attack against a synagogue that led to the assailant’s death. Progressive politicians responded to this attack lamenting the “cycle of violence” and urged people not to conflate the actions of the Israeli government with Jews living in the US. While this message may seem comforting at face value the deeper meaning is troubling. There is no “cycle of violence” in Michigan or Colorado. There is just violence and murder. For the sake of argument, let’s say those targeted or killed are actually Israelis. Does them being Israeli negate the “don’t conflate the actions with the Israeli government with Jews living in the US” argument? An Israeli national ID card is an excuse to kill out of solidarity with Palestine?

Other groups aren’t immune from such violence. In 2019 a man drove from the Dallas area to the border town of El Paso, Texas in order to kill as many Hispanic immigrants and their supporters as possible at a local Wal-Mart. Jazmine Ulloa does an excellent job covering both this tragedy and the history of El Paso in her book. The history of America is full of violent attacks on Black Americans from lynchings, campaigns of Klan terror, race riots in Tulsa and East St. Louis, and more. All of these attacks on Black Americans were justified in the name of politics and maintaining a racial order and juries often acquitted white men out of a sense of political solidarity.

While many Muslims have been busy defending vigilante violence and groups like Hamas since 10-7 the Muslim community has often bene targeted for violence. This past May three Muslims were killed in an attack on a mosque in San Diego by two young people. There have been several other deadly attacks against Muslims since 9-11 and they’re likely to increase given the social media hysteria against Muslims and the Shariah Law and Muslim takeover conspiracies being promoted by some leading politicians. There are now right-wing social media influencers whose content is primarily denigrating Muslims and seeking to provoke attacks. Just this year there have been city council meetings in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and other states opposing the opening and expansion of mosques. The comment sections of these news articles are often full of hateful language and a call for the deportation of Muslims and violent attacks. This language is not too different from that used by the likes of Alabama Senator Tommy Tubberville . Yet, this language also isn’t so different from that of the Muslims and leftists who defend 10-7 and terrorism committed by the oppressed. If being oppressed, or, more accurately, believing one is oppressed, is a license to kill at will (and even rape at will), and there is a segment of white Christian American who see themselves as oppressed, under siege, and being demographically replaced (as bizarre as all of these sentiments may seem to me and many others) then they can make these same moral justifications when they attack Muslims and indeed they do. Anders Brevik in Norway made precisely these arguments when he justified killing 77 people in order to send a message against demographic changes in Europe and the rise in the Muslim population.

9-11

Usama bin Laden and the attacks of 9-11 didn’t come out of thin air. The ideological framework for Usama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda began with Muslim Brotherhood founded Hasan al-Banna and was later popularized by Syed Qutb (whose books most converts of my era were given). One could argue that there were periodic terroristic movements that popped up at points in Muslim history in places such as Spain, Egypt, and Iraq, and this is certainly true, but they didn't operate from the ideological framework of UBL.

What the Brotherhood and the later offshoots had in common was a belief that Muslims had declined as a civilization, were being weakened and controlled by outside powers, and the path to a political resurrection came through a return to the religion. What this return looked like varied between groups. Some believed the sole focus should be establishing a caliphate, other focused on military coups, and eventually some resigned themselves to democratic politics as a temporary tactic. Views on violence also varied. Some in what would come to be known as the Islamist camp were more enthusiastic towards violence and others and some refrained from violence after severe repression and defeats. Eventually groups like at-Takfir wal-Hijrah in Egypt disagreed with the Brotherhood and their patience and called for even more extreme and violent means. Not only had the Egyptian state apostated against Islam, but everyone employed by the state or having any relationship to the state was a legitimate target for violence. UBL and AQ would build on these ideas, and the tactics of Hamas and Islamic Jihad against Israel, by declaring all Americans as legitimate military targets. The UBL logic aligns with that of the esteemed scholars of TikTok as he saw the Ummah as oppressed by the US and therefore any means of resistance was acceptable. ISIS would later build on these concepts to target, murder, and enslave Christians, Yazidis, Shia, Alwawis, Kurds and others in Iraq and Syria. Boko Haram and various groups in West Africa continue these practices today. Apparently the biggest obstacle to popularity for ISIS and Boko Haram have is that they lack social media rizz and an associated fruit.

Religious Scholarship

One of the main foes of Muslims who justify campaigns of vigilante violence and terror are religious scholars. Salafis and Sufis may disagree on nearly everything: but on these matters there is general consensus and a call away from violence and extremism. There will be very little difference between a Salafi scholar like Salih al-Fawzan or a Sufi scholar like Abdullah bin Bayyah on speaking out against a theology of revolution and indiscriminate violence. In a social media era this may seem boring when you have aggressive Dawah Bros ripping off their shirts and delivering battle rap lines in London while their counterparts in the US, such as “The Warner”, are having people physically assaulted and threatening to murder people in public parks. It may also seem boring to the campus activists who see Islam primarily as a racial and ethnic identity and a political decolonial struggle in which faith and religious practice are not needed. However, the belief that Islam is first and foremost a faith, and one that can be used to transform the life of the believer, their family, and community to positive outcomes is what Muslim Dawah in the US has traditionally been about- not a revolutionary political movement guided by the principles of white leftists for the purposes of victory in overseas conflicts. Islam was about improving life on the south side of Chicago not a conflict on the south side of Cairo and Karachi. The more Americans imams steer young Muslims away from that idea the more they'll be gravitating away from what is beneficial in favor of what is harmful.

Leaders of other faith communities have their own issues. Christian pastors are struggling with the rise of militant Christian extremism, which is often racialized, and the hateful rhetoric against Muslims and others that is increasingly finding a home in many Evangelical Churches. I emphasize Evangelicals because Catholics seem to only have these problems on the fringes while Catholic leadership has been a solid and sound voice for religious moderation and peaceful coexistence.

Perhaps the Jewish community provides the best blueprint. When Jews were slaughtered on 10-7 the answer was candlelight vigils, prayer services, and Chabad Houses globally opening their doors for those in need of spiritual comfort. There was no call to go out into the street and burn effigies or violently harass Muslim students.

The American Experience

The greatest argument against political violence is the American experience itself. The Founders laid out a system of checks and balances and citizens have ample opportunities to advocate for our beliefs by supporting candidates who most closely represent them. Freedom of speech means all ideas can be in the public sphere, but all ideas, and even religious beliefs, are open to public scrutiny. Our legal system gives us the right to forcefully advocate for our rights within the courts. Issues of morality and theology aside political violence serves no utilitarian purpose in places like North America and the UK.

What's trending and popular may not be what's best for society. What's morally correct may not get the most likes. Speaking against political violence may not lead to viral content and a celebrity may not deem the cause sexy enough for their attention. History has often glorified bad actors from Leila Khaled to Gerry Adams, but popularity isn't synonymous with goodness.

Let's hope and pray that in 25 years we have better influencers and calls to violence are replaced with calls to education, dialogue, and co-existence.

The 1990s are no different. I must admit, I’m a huge Seinfeld fan, but I never watched Friends. I also never listened to Nirvana or any grunge music and neither did any of my friends. Yet, in popular depictions of Gen X, there is an image of cynical slackers powered by Seattle bands. For New Yorkers there was an image of friend’s groups akin to those depicted in Friends. Of course, my memories of the 90s are much different. The decade beginning powered by the release of hip-hop classics from artists like Ice Cube, DJ Quik, Public Enemy, Too Short, A Tribe Called Quest, and many more. The re-emergence of an interest in Malcolm X due to Spike Lee’s biopic. John Singelton using film to show mainstream America the realities of life in South Central. The college experience in A Different World, Aresenio bringing our favorites celebrities to late night TV, and more. I didn’t really know too many slackers. Nearly all the Gen X kids I knew had plans to make money, legally or illegally. Some succeeded, some didn’t, and many are dead.

Why the discrepancy? It comes down who is allowed to create the popular narrative and who has clout in the creative industries. Few went to Woodstock, but those who did tended to be more affluent end educated and work in books, TV, film, academics, politics and the fields where popular narratives are created. Few listened to Kate Bush, but those who did flocked to those same fields. And, in the 90s, a more realistic New York sitcom would’ve featured a group of Dominican friends in Manhattan with an aging Irish neighbor who gather at a Greek diner ran by Pakistanis and Trinis and party at Chocha Beach in the Bronx on the weekends, but we know that wouldn't have been aired.

Two items in the news this week bring these thoughts to my mind.

The Tupac Trial: Tupac Played Gangster and Learned Life Isn’t a Song

The first is the Keefe D trial in Las Vegas. From my vantage point there was no one who loomed larger as a cultural figure in the 1990s than Tupac Shakur and no death hit us harder. Just as with JFK, Malcolm, and every famous assassination there have been a lot of conspiracy theories emerge over the years. People didn’t want to accept that a lone unstable man like Lee Harvey Oswald could be responsible for the death of JFK (read Case Closed by Gerald Posner and Oswald’s Tale by Norman Mailer), many wanted to attribute a fed or CIA conspiracy to the death of Malcolm when the killers openly bragged about taking out a traitor to the NOI for decades (see the work of my friend Abdur-Rahman Muhammad), and the Tupac killing was never complicated. He went to the West Coast, was signed by Suge Knight and Death Row, hung around with Bloods like Mob James, thought he could run up on a real gang banger like Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, and got clapped. End of story. Why did it take 30 years for this to come to trial? Because that’s how long it took for these old heads from Compton to get on YouTube and podcasts and snitch on themselves. And this, my friends, is why I’m not a believer in conspiracies. People aren’t good at keeping secrets.

With the wisdom of age also comes new perspectives on both Tupac and the culture of gang banging. Jeff Pearlman, who I’m honestly not the biggest fan of, did a very good job researching the life of Tupac for his biography Only God Can Judge Me. What we know now is that Tupac was a complex character born to a mother who was a Black Panther and taught literacy in the home, but his childhood was more impacted by her drug-addiction and instability than anything else. Raised in New York City, the Westchester County suburbs of New York, and Baltimore, Tupac was an east coast kid. He never even lost that accent even while cosplaying an LA gang banger. Not only was Tupac an east coast kid, but he was also a theatre kid at a performing arts school in Baltimore to be exact. As both Mob James and Keefe D stated, Tupac was hustling backwards. They were gang bangers because they were from certain neighborhoods in Compton and LA and with that came difficult choices. People around them were aspiring to leave that lifestyle via rap, athletics, education and the military. Tupac was famous, had a record deal, was on TV, and wanted to join a Compton street gang?

While Tupac definitely seems like a prototype for the troubled artist and a tragic figure from whom lessons can be derived, he may actually be a pioneer. Chris Brown was worth millions and then decided he wanted to be a Blood because his career fame wasn’t enough to make up for the perceived deficiency of not being a gang member. I don’t have to look far. Within the past few weeks, a guy I went to high school with was arrested in a major drug bust. He had become famous in recent years as the result of a TV show produced by 50 Cent (the actor playing him is from the UK and his attempt at a St. Louis accent is as cringe as the very bad attempts at Mississippi accents in Sinners), music, a book, and social media content. When I saw his photos, they were very sad. A middle-aged man with wrinkles wearing tight clothes and carrying a man-purse. With his fame there were legitimate opportunities to be had, but he couldn't let go off the lifestyle. The fame got to his head. He was looked up to and an idol for many young men and many women were lining up to have his babies (in a few years you’ll see their social media content about there being no good men, they can’t find a good man, and men aren’t brave enough to be the stepdaddy for a drug kingpin’s babies). As I look at the aging, and once feared, former gang bangers in the Tupac trial, I think of the guy I went to high school with who actually went to college on a football scholarship as a running back known for being very difficult to tackle. The only difference is Mob James and Keefe D know they’re old and knew when to walk away from that life. They just weren’t smart enough to keep their secrets and say no to Vlad. And, if you’re still in the game, it may be smart to not make music about it and be an internet celebrity. Besides, there is only one real celebrity in that organization, and he’s from Detroit, and I understand he likes talking to podcasts (and others).

Habibi City and Lil Durk

New York Magazine caused quite a stir with a recent Habibi City article and associated social media promotion. It was harmless and as corny as you’d expect any depiction of Muslims in a liberal media outlet (add TV, literature, film). It mainly focused on the small demographic of affluent Muslim transplants to New York and the types of restaurants and nightlife they’ve created. You know the demographic; secular, liberal, endless degrees often combined with no or minimal employment, men who see playing up their ethnicity may be lucrative in the sexual marketplace, women who are fiercely anti-colonialist while maintaining a strong preference for gentlemen with ancestry in the continent of Europe, no to Jummah, yes to the Free Palestine rally, and what is their Madhab? Whatever Zohran is!

This is certainly a real demographic, and their stories should be told. I just don’t happen to find them all that interesting. I do believe New York is Habibi City, but not because of them. My memories of being a young Muslim in New York are almost magical when I think of them. A completely different time and place and a Muslim community much different from the one we see today. Fulton Street in Bed-Stuy lined with Black American Muslim vendors and you could smell the combined aroma of fragrance oil as you walked the street while you listened to a mix of Islamic lectures from popular Black American imams and hip-hop in the background. Muslim cabbies who would burn incense in the car and loudly play Quran in Arabic or Ahmed Deedat dawah lectures. When it was time to pray, they simply double-parked and hit the rug. The corner stores selling the Haram, the proliferating Halal joints, late nights at Kennedy and Crown Fried Chicken, sisters in hijab and niqaab on the train at a time the site was uncommon in America, Bengali musallas in the Bronx in crowded apartment buildings, makeshift Senegalese masjids in Harlem, the big personalities, the endless beefs, the Arab girls in Brooklyn claiming Boricua when they stepped out, eccentric converts ranging from a Puerto Rican guy who changed his name to Hezbollah to a Yeshiva dropout with a Yiddish accent who went to live in the desert, veterans of the “Afghan Campaign”, and so much more. New York has long been Habibi City, but the stories are deemed uninteresting, or not politically useful, by the creative class and ascendent political forces.

Lil Durk On Trial

I don’t listen to much music, and I’ve never been a heavy consumer of music. I mostly listen to audiobooks and occasionally podcasts. I do have some saved playlists; Dark Academia Classical and a few other classical playlists to listen to in between books or when I’m driving and writing, 70s soul and rock, Outlaw Country, the blues, Latin jazz, and some of those best of the 80s and 90s playlists when I’m feeling nostalgic, but I seldom listen to any of them. I was never a real heavy hip-hop guy. I did listen to it in my youth and on and off as an adult despite never having attended a life performance or having purchased a record in decades. In fact, I don’t own a single musical cassette, album, or CD and I’ve never purchased a song for download. I also never used Napster. So, I say all of this to say that music really isn’t that important to me (but, RIP Dolly Parton). My self-diagnosis is Salafeeyah and religious fundamentalism got me out of the habit of listening to music, and I just never picked it back up. However, I most especially don’t listen to rap music containing heavy profanity and a glorification of violence (unless you’re from Philly, and your name is Freeway, Beanie or Jakk Frost and you happen to be a Muslim. I occasionally may listen to that). In St. Louis we have rappers who kill people and then make a song about it. Sell drugs and then announce the details to a beat. We may have the best pizza in St. Louis, but we don’t have the smartest criminals. This isn’t an issue of poverty as most of these boys are the product of lower middle-class single mothers. In my generation and earlier, yes, poverty was the main driver It’s something deeper now and more deeply ingrained into local culture. Something a move to a new school district or a nonprofit isn’t gonna solve.

I maintain that in 2026 Philadelphia is the real Habibi City. There is nowhere in America Muslims culturally dominate as is the case in Philly. But they’re Black, largely working-class, and religiously conservative and fundamentalist. No glowing New York Magazine cover for you akh! You may get a cover from a Nick Fuentes or Ben Shapiro, but it won’t be glowing.

Can Chicago be Habibi City? Can Lil Durk be a Habibi King?

I have to admit I have never listened to a single song from Lil Durk, and I have no desire to do so. My interest in his murder trial in LA is strictly sociological and what he represents in the Muslim community. The facts of the case are what they are and if he’s guilty, he’ll do his time like everything else. Lil Durk was led to Islam by his father who was a shot caller with the Gangster Disciples in Chicago who embraced Islam in prison. When I learned the details of Big Durk, his journey to Islam, and his sincerity, I was impressed. As a prominent imam told me, the fact that Durk was a Gangster Disciple, a gang that historically has had a hostile relationship with Islam and Muslims, lends even more authenticity to Durk’s Muslim journey. So Durk gets out of the joint and gives dawah to his son who by that time is steeped in Chicago gang and drill rap culture. Lil Durk becomes Muslim, more than 150 fellow gang members take their shahadah, and this is something lifted from the pages of the stories of the early generations of Muslims. Warriors, street tribes (as they are sometimes called in Chicago), reminiscent of the tribes who embraced the deen during the time of the Prophet, embracing Islam as a Jamaat. When these tribes entered Islam, they still had slaves, blood feuds, honor killings, were prone to robbery, and a lot more we would find objectionable today. You take some young men from the streets of Chicago and Philly and give them the deen and a Muslim identity they’re gonna naturally make some mistakes.

Whose mistakes are looked over and forgiven? Muslims as a community sure seem to be very charitable towards Muslim politicians who hold views that are very much in opposition to understood Islamic morality and ethics. A Muslim woman can run off from her Muslim husband and marry a white dude who is running a winery if she wears a scarf and has the right politics. An imam and teacher can groom and smash women in the congregation and when he gets outed the accusers go on trial. Muslim nonprofits with an international focus appear to be nearly universally fraudulent and engaged in widescale theft and emotional blackmail yet they’re invited in every Ramadan to give more fundraisers. Even Australian grifters are entering the Muslim charity racket.

Can some charity be extended for Lil Durk? OK, someone killed your friend. You have the resources and you clapped back. Is it right? But do we understand… If we can look the other way to complicated Muslim hook-up culture in Habibi City (a game of more drama and less reward) and problematic progressive politicians, we can look the other way for Lil Durk. The court case is what it is. The moral of the story remains the same. People embrace Islam in different contexts. A white guy at an Ivy League college may embrace Islam after he starts banging a wealthy hijabi he meets at a Free Palestine rally. He may not be able to let go of his philosophers, his communism, his French wine, his ribbah, whatever his shortcomings are. He’ll still be celebrated. He’s in New York Magazine smoking hookah, no problem. And why not? I probably would never want to meet such a character and if I was stuck on a plane with him, I may run and watch the Jakarta Method doc afterwards as a happy ending but let him be celebrated in his spaces. Of course, we know this encouragement isn’t needed, and he’ll be fawned over, but let’s set this aside. Can we get the same grace for Lil Durk and his friends?

The history of Islam in Chicago is deep and doesn’t begin with Durk or Lil Durk. The City of Chicago has a long history of Black Jamaats and Imams and Black gang leaders embracing Islam. The suburbs of Chicago are also booming for Muslims and have one of the best Halal scenes in the US. Yet I can see a scenario where Durk is the pioneer of something major. A transformation of Chicago street culture. A Phillyization of Chicago. Perhaps an even better version of what we see in Philly. This is a legacy that can live on whether Lil Durk is locked up or free and whether either Durk is dead or alive. Lil Durk in prison may see the best years of his life. Years he can dedicate to the study and practice of the deen and encouraging new shahadahs. It would more than likely be a cleaner and better life than he would live on the outside. I’ve met brothers like this who will tell you that prison saved them and preserved them and it was a blessing. I pray Lil Durk beats this case nonetheless.

Recent Reads and Mawlid

I didn’t attend any Mawlid celebrations in St. Louis. Turks and Bosnians are the only ones I’m aware of who do anything anyway in addition to a small suburban Jamaat. I did order a Mawlid cake and, as I’m not going on the fat shot until I return from vacation, I ate it all and got sick. Is this a sign? Consuming “biddah cakes” may be bad for your health? Should Mawlid sweets come with health warnings?

Recent reads

The Manila Poker Club- solid nonfiction account of an attempt to bring Jewish refugees to the Philippines during WWII.

Embracing Defeat: Japan In The wake of World War II- I learned a lot about post-WWII Japan in this book

The People In The Trees- an amazing and very dark and morally complicated book by Hanya Yanagihara. Loosely based on the troubling true story of Daniel Carelton Gajdusek

The Human Stain- Phillip Roth’s book on a Black man passing as a Jewish academic plagued by both sex and race scandals set during the height of the Bill Clinton impeachment drama

The People In The Trees was published in 2013 and The Human Stain in the 1990s. I’m not sure either could be published today other than by a small independent press. There is now a demand for moral complexity to be removed, a clear delineation between good guys and bad guys, readers aren’t trusted to come to their own conclusions and must be led, endings must be therapeutic, characters must serve as vehicles for the author’s politics and virtuous ideas about gender, race, religion, ethnicity, history and more, language cannot be triggering, if there is a positive male character he must not display any attitudes or behaviors viewed as traditionally male, and if he does, and wants to remain a good guy, he must be deconstructing and unlearning these things.

• Heavy gentrification fueled by college-educated white transplants. If we look at recent DSA Congressional and mayoral wins they've all been in areas with a very large and influential population of college-educated white transplants. This population, particularly urban college-educated younger white women, are the fuel that progressive politics in America runs on. New York, as an example, recently witnessed three transplant candidates defeat native New Yorkers riding on the wave of support from Mayor Zohran Mamdani (and the DSA for at least two of them). Due to St. Louis not being a major destination city for college-educated white transplants, not having the hottest job market, and not being seen as a “cool” city in the national discourse, these demographic trends are less impactful here. Yes, neighborhoods like Tower Grove South, Shaw, Benton Park, Gravois Park, and Forest Park Southeast have benefitted from elite overproduction, have been instrumental in “flipping the Board” and electing a slate of progressive candidates locally, but in a district that is mostly in St. Louis County, voters in these neighborhoods, which contain the base of Cori Bush supporters, become less important.

• An ethnic component. What we've witnessed in other cities is that while the DSA and the assortment of leftist organizations emanating from the Bernie Sanders movements are majority white they're most successful when they're able to recruit a candidate of color who can bring an added ethnic, racial, or religious voting bloc to add to the existing base of white progressive voters. Wesley Bell (Hazelwood East) and Cori Bush (Cardinal Ritter) are two black Americans who both grew-up in north St. Louis County.

• Massive Displacement. In places like New York, Chicago, and LA progressive candidates have benefitted from “reverse migration” which is the movement of black Americans back to the southern United States. In other cities, such was Washington DC, progressive candidates have benefitted from the the black population moving to suburban areas in large numbers. St. Louis City has witnessed a weakening of black political power and an ascension of white progressive voting power, but, once again, MO-1 is heavily in St. Louis County. The majority of those who have left St. Louis City in recent years are in St. Louis County and these are the kinds of local, rooted, and generational voters that DSA-backed candidates tend to struggle with regardless of their race.

• Organized Labor: As much as St. Louis City and County and the rest of the Rust Belt has been hammered by de-industrialization, bad trade deals, and a modern Democratic Party often turning its back on blue-collar workers in favor of college-educated professionals, St. Louis is still a blue-collar town and unions still matter here in Democratic primaries (Congrats to Jimmy Lappe on his State Rep win while I’m at it). Bell had big support from unions and that mattered particularly with working-class white voters in parts of south city, southwest city, south county, and north county.

• Foreign policy. There are small groups of voters who care very deeply about foreign policy issues. Many Jewish American voters are deeply committed to the security of Israel. Muslim Americans may disagree vehemently with one another on many foreign policy issues, but there is a general commitment to the Palestinian cause. However, contrary to what you may have seen on X, TikTok, or Facebook comment sections, a very small percentage of voters in MO-1 were motivated by foreign policy concerns. Their concern was local. Who can best represent the interests of St. Louis in DC? In this case, voters clearly favored sobriety and teamworking skills over the ability to create viral social media content. This race wasn’t won or lost on any foreign policy issue.

• Maps. We will have to study the voting data to see how the changes in the MO-1 map impacted this race. My initial read was that adding Maplewood and Webster Groves would help Bush while Richmond Heights and the southern part of the district would benefit Bell. I'm not sure these suburban changes mattered all that much with Bell performing so strongly in St. Louis City this time around.

Michigan

Michigan is actually one of my favorite states along with Pennsylvania and Florida. It appears that Abdul-Rahman El-Sayed squeaked by Haley Stevens in a tight race for the Democratic nomination for US Senate. I haven't seen such a celebratory mood from Arab and Muslim voters in Michigan since 2024 when they claimed credit for being the deciding factor in electing Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States. El-Sayed will have his hands full in November against his Republican opponent Mike Rogers.

Etc.

I couldn't stop reading about Barack Obama even after the visit to the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. I'm currently in the process of finishing the massive biography Rising Star by David Garrow. After being interrupted by the World Cup my film watching has resumed. St. Louisans should take advantage of the excellent slate of films being offered at the Hi-Pointe in the coming weeks.

For someone like me. who not only opposed the wars and politics of the George W. Bush Administration but was on the brunt end of a lot of his policies in the post Patriot Act era, the rise of Obama as a presidential candidate was a breath of fresh air. He came at the right time for me and millions of others. Never in anyone’s memory had a presidential candidate excited that many people. The Democratic Primary season against Hillary Clinton went from one that was typically dull and only followed by political nerds and members of local Democratic machines to one that excited America. Obama didn’t just speak at the VFW Hall and at black churches- he filled large football stadiums. Obama didn’t just have bumper stickers with his name on it you could have an entire wardrobe and furnish your home with Obama gear. There was a store on Natural Bridge in north St. Louis County that converted from an Afrocentric store to one completely dedicated to Obama. Some local Walgreens locations even dedicated entire aisles to selling Obama merchandise.

When primary season began, I was living and working in Northern Virginia just outside of DC and Obama Fever was running very high in that area and in places I was visiting for work; Philly, NYC, Baltimore, and North Carolina. When I returned to St. Louis in the summer of 2008 there was a similar obsession. A friend of mine named Bruce struggled with homelessness and drug-addiction despite being a brilliant guy and a former teacher in the NYC public school system. He would hustle up money and rent a motel for the week but required that the motel have MSNBC in the channel lineup so he could closely follow the election. Of course, I’d had similar demands in motels regarding they have HBO so I could watch boxing.

I watched the news and read the newspaper daily even when I was five years old. When kids my age were reading comic books, I was reading the news and sports pages and reading books on history and politics meant for adults. On my 18th birthday I registered to vote so I could cast my ballot for Bill Clinton who would be running against the incumbent George H.W. Bush in a little more than two months. I had always been excited by politics, but no candidate ever excited me as much as Obama, and no candidate for president ever will.

My first effort to help the Obama campaign came by me trying to convince fellow Muslims to vote for him. In my social circles that was a tough sell. Most weren’t registered to vote, and many didn’t believe in the system. Some even held firm to the belief that voting was shirk and constituted a crime so severe that it brought the Muslim outside of the fold of Islam. This may be seen as fringe today as we’re in an era where many Muslims have what could be described as a religious devotion to figures like Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, and The Squad, but at the time these ideas were on their way out, but still within normative discourse. Obama did end up getting strong Muslim support, but I can’t say I was all that helpful. The comments section of my blog did become somewhat of a debating ground between Obama supporters, those opposed to voting, and kind of an early version of Sufi Trad Bros alleging that I only supported Obama because he was Black and I was motivated by identity politics.

The truth is race played a role in my support for Obama, and it did for millions of others. As did his relationship with Muslims and internationalism. Obama ran on a platform of “hope and change” and promised to usher in a new America and one that fundamentally changed the nation with regards to race-relations. None of that happened, and things have actually gotten worse, but it’s important to remember the positive and inspiring nature of his message. America later going off the rails doesn’t negative that initial joy and excitement Obama brought. Donald Trump may have later ran on a message rooted in grievance and fear, but the Obama message was one of hope that inspired the world.

On election night in 2008 I invited a friend over and we watched the results together culminating in the Obama victory speech from Grant Park in Chicago. I’d already got a whiff of the excitement in the air that day as I watched black elders vote in an apartment building on Euclid and Delmar with an African band playing in the lobby and I saw hundreds of Black voters lined up at the Wohl Center and wrapped around the corner just for a chance to get in the building to cast their ballots. When victory was finally announced black bars and night clubs held victory parties, celebratory gunfire could be heard throughout the city, and white liberals drove their fuel-efficient vehicles for a celebratory toast of wine with cheese. I remember thinking, can this coalition be held together?

Reality set in after election. What I learned from Obama is don’t fall too hard for a politician. You can only be let down. This is my attitude towards young Mamdani enthusiasts as well. The heartbreak will be even greater than your current enthusiasm. Any time you place unrealistic expectations on a politician there can be only one conclusion. I personally had moderate expectations for Obama. I knew one man can only do so much. I certainly wasn’t like people who thought an Obama victory was gonna immediately lead to the release from prison of criminals in their family and other such unreasonable nonsense. At times I was happy with Obama in both action and rhetoric. There were other times he angered me and nothing angered me more than his expansion of drone attacks on multiple fronts killing countless civilians. Obama as President seemed to be not that interested in foreign policy and leave the heavy lifting up to liberal interventionist hawks who became responsible for our disastrous intervention in Libya, incoherent policy in Syria, bumbling reaction to the Arab Spring, and a reproachment with Cuba that asked basically nothing from the Castro Brothers.

On the domestic front Obama was met with a ferocious and energized GOP base led by the Tea Party. They didn’t see Obama as inspiring or a force for positive change. They saw him as a Kenyan Muslim with a fake birth certificate married to a dude named Big Mike who was sent to destroy America. The refrain from Democrats and the MSNBC crowd was that “Republicans didn’t let Obama do anything”. That’s true. Also, they aren’t supposed to. President Bill Clinton sought to kill off the old blue-collar and working-class Democratic Party led by black voters, Hispanic voters, labor unions, local machines, and farmers and trade it with a heavily female, suburban, college-educated, secular, and socially liberal party that would elect moderate technocrats. Obama accelerated this trend as did Preisdent Joe Biden. The problem with that is when you need fighters in Congress (or in the streets) I’d much rather have some union guys by my side that some big city yuppies. So, yes, Obama had domestic wins, but not as many wins as he should’ve if he had some LBJ level of skills on how to negotiate and punish Congress when needed. Obama is fundamentally a pleaser and not a punisher and in politics you need to be both. If you aren’t feared, you can’t lead.

Obama is often referred to as a transformational president. In terms of identity and what he represented I believe that’s true. In terms of hope and change, unfortunately it’s not. What came after was a right-wing populist backlash led by the vulgarity and xenophobia of Trump and I believe he has changed America far more than Obama. The legacy of Trump will be very difficult to undo. American politics and our relation to the world have been permanently altered. Yet, I’m not sure a candidate like Trump wasn’t bound to emerge even if Obama hadn’t been elected president. Just as I believe a populist candidate like Bernie Sanders and an organization like the DSA may have been inevitable. In fact, Obama probably played a role in the rise of both for reasons seldom discussed.

Within weeks of Obama being elected president it was clear that mainstream media outlets were going to cover his presidency with kid gloves. Comedians refrained from making jokes and satirists like Stephen Colbert were reduced to being fanboys. To his fans any criticism of Obama on any issue was cause for a meltdown (this was slightly before the time when the theory that differing opinions constitute violence people must be protected from). Trump would go on to fill football stadiums as well, sell his own merchandise, and have a rabid base of support believing that any disagreement with their leader on any matter, no matter how trivial, virtually constitutes treason. Supporters of Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020 also exemplified this attitude. No disagreement was to be tolerated and there was no excuse not to vote for him unless you were a Nazi or Likudnik. Obama had a cult following but didn’t encourage cultish behavior. He had millions of fans but believed in reaching across the aisle. He was fundamentally a positive and upbeat person but give that same cult following to those with darker impulses and we see what happens.

The Democratic Party of Obama and Clinton is no more just as the Republican Party of the Bush Family is gone. Both parties are heading in the direction of their populist bases. With decades of bad trade deals selling out American workers, a declining standard of living for many, hollowed out communities, family disintegration, a cultural freefall and a growing gap in income and inequality we should've all saw this coming. Obama would have to fight mightily to capture the 2028 Democratic nomination. Yet, I believe there is much candidates could learn from Obama. The Obama spirit was one of patriotism and love of America while acknowledging the complexities of our history. He always opened and closed with a positive message and seldom voiced anger towards his opponents. On controversial issues Obama most often aired on the side of caution and would’ve never let ideological young staffers armed with the crackpot theories of the Great Awokening tank his presidency in a way Biden did.

Reads

I read Dreams of My Father by Barack Obama years ago when he was a candidate. Unlike most politicians, Obama is actually a good writer. But it wasn’t until I read A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother by Janny Scott that I fully appreciated the first book. Dreams of My Father was the Obama origin story and written with the idea of a political career. I found the book very moving and still had some questions. Why write a book about your absentee father? Why not write a book about the people who actually raised you and took care of you? Was this classical “mixed-kid syndrome”? A disinterest in the culture that reared them and a fascination for the culture of the deadbeat dad? We have saw a lot of this in recent years as academics and nonprofit grifters have supplanted pastors in Democratic politics.

Reading A Singular Woman made me understand why Dreams of My Father had to be written. Obama’s mother said that while she was seen as odd in America, she was able to live in freedom in Indonesia because no one expected her to behave as a normal Indonesian. This idea hits very close to home for me. Obama stated that he was thankful for his mother taking him to Indonesia and giving him international experiences, but it was his grandparents who made his education and success possible. He picked up his values from his mother and learned to have empathy and compassion, but without the stability of his grandparents he wouldn’t have been able to flourish. Obama knew that his path to success and leaving his mark was in America and this is where he needed to be. And, he had a good wife by his side in Michelle, who was thoroughly rooted in the south side of Chicago and the Black American experience, but he needed a compelling story for America. The yearning for his father was a lot more of a relatable tale for Americans than tales of a mother who dedicated her life to anthropological field work in Indonesia and helping women working in traditional Javanese crafts while leaving her son in Hawaii. Even in death, you can sense the love Obama had for his mother alongside the estrangement and complex emotions.

The Obama Presidential Center

The Obama Presidential Center is truly a magnificent addition to Hyde Park. I drove from St. Louis to Chicago yesterday through very bad weather. We were routed off the highway onto flooded roads, back streets filled with tree branches and debris, and industrial areas. Finally arriving in Chicago, we were nearly two hours late picking up our food order from Cedar’s Palestine Kitchen. We were hosted in Chicago by Dr. Thomas (Musa) Maguire and visited the Obama Center with him and his wife. I can’t really compare the Obama Center with any other presidential library I’ve visited. This is a campus featuring gardens, a lakefront, a gymnasium with basketball courts, and a public library nestled into a neighborhood. The museum itself is four floors of viewing and a Skydeck.

I was immediately gripped by emotion as I entered with my daughter next to me. Not a dark emotion as I was when I was greeted by the steel beam from the World Trade Center when I walked into the George W. Bush library in Dallas; but one of intense nostalgia. When I heard the voice of Obama being played in the background, I was immediately brought back to the summer of 2008. A time when hope and change truly seemed possible and there was a strong belief in the leadership and charisma of Obama. And now we are in 2026, in the second term of Trump, and that hope and change seems so distant and even less attainable.

I would encourage everyone to visit the Obama Center. It’s truly a special place. I’ve begun to think of these presidential libraries as sites of a secular Ziyarah. These aren’t sites powered by fairy tales of miracle cures and men so pious they didn’t have to relieve themselves or make wudu for days. These are sites honor our history giving us a chance to meditate upon these leaders and the particular era in which they served. When I was at the Obama Center, I wasn’t only thinking of him, I was thinking of everything that happen during those years of my life. It all came together.

Thanks, Obama.

More photos available on my Instagram

These are the words of Arthur Blank who is the owner of the Atlanta Falcons. His stadium hosted several World Cup matches. I don't think I've ever heard a more profound and eloquent line from any current figure in American sports, modern politician, or an Imam.

The conclusion of the World Cup is a bittersweet moment. England fell short in the semifinals, breaking my heart. It didn't come home, but the Three Lions redeemed themselves in a loose and fun match against France for third place winning 6-4. Spain’s defense completely shut down Argentina in the finals as they captured their second World Cup in history. I watched matches at home, at bars, and with Muslim friends. Wherever I was there was a spirit of joy.

For Americans, the World Cup, and soccer in general, can serve as an education and a passport to the world. As a kid, I didn't learn American geography in the classroom or the textbooks, I learned it in the sports pages and watching sports on television. This isn't unique to soccer. I've known boxing fans who use the sport as a way to learn about the different US cities boxers come from and countries they hail from. Following a fight can be accompanied by immersion via YouTube videos and even books. Fans who follow wrestling have known about Dagestan for years and boxing fans know Cinco de Mayo weekend, Mexican Independence weekend, and the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York will bring big fights.

Soccer is the most international of all sports. So, as I watched matches at The Pitch, Halftime Pub and Grill, Beffa's, and at the home of Indonesian students, I was exposed to an international crowd. This doesn't negate the special nature of uniquely local experiences, such as rooting for Cardinals baseball, but it's a time when Americans can shed our parochialism and appreciate the world. Nowhere was this more visible today than in south St. Louis where they closed the street to make room for the overflow crowd at the Amsterdam Tavern.

American news broadcasts often have no international coverage at all. Print media has scaled back international coverage dramatically and fewer and fewer Americans are reading. A large percentage of Americans don't have passports or have any interest in international travel. As a consequence of all of this, Americans tend to know very little about the world. This is true of those in red states and blue states and Democrats and Republicans. My hope is that this World Cup served not only as a tool of education for Americans, but that it also sparked curiosity in reading international translations, nonfiction about things outside of our borders, consuming social media content from creators not based in the US, and a desire for international travel.

I would also hope that this World Cup would serve as an advertisement for the American people to the world. We aren't the caricature we are made out to be in the European press. Americans are generally friendly and helpful to tourists. In this one country you can experience the beautiful beaches and sunsets of California, the national parks of the West, the BBQ of Texas, the open roads of the Midwest, and the vibrancy and diversity of our major cities. Our stadiums are second to none, the world really loves AC, and people who came here had a great time. I would hope that they leave the US with a favorable impression.

This doesn't mean we don't have serious issues. Our violent crime is the highest in the developing world, public order is often non-existent in places like St. Louis, there is a decreasing respect for elders, public transportation is lacking, and our infrastructure is crumbling. A World Cup in Saudi Arabia or Qatar will certainly be much safer and a World Cup in Europe will certainly have much better transportation options. But can hundreds of Norwegians row in Walmart in unison?

I also believe that events like the World Cup are often more educational than anything a kid will learn in school and more spiritually fulfilling than a service at a mosque, synagogue, or church. Ask a Spaniard when is the last time they left Mass as excited as they were after winning the World Cup?

This past Jummah the Imam discussed the World Cup. He generally tried to convey the message that Islam isn't against sports and he personally liked soccer; but don't let it interfere with religious and family duties or cause beefs between you and the supporters of other teams. Wise words.

My personal experience has been that most religious and political fanatics I've known have hated sports. They think it's a waste of time. People should be busy living in daily fear they're going to Hell or trying to memorize what Abu said to Abdul 700 years ago so they can argue some meaningless theological point on Facebook or in a Whatsapp group. One Imam was complaining students seemed less interested in his pay to learn religious travel scheme, because they were too busy watching the World Cup.

The political fanatic is similar. In America these can be divided into three categories. The snobby urban liberal who has a disdain for sports fans who they see as unsophisticated and unintelligent rubes. Anytime NPR or PBS has to cover a sports story this disdain is likely to come through. The second is the leftist fringe who were once fringe, but now on the cusp of changing the Democratic Party. They see sports as capitalist, hyper masculine, and interfering with people's ability to focus on the revolution. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani was very intelligent to distance himself from this sentiment as he fully embraced the New York Knicks during their championship run and gave interviews in which he professed his love of soccer and considerable knowledge of the sport. These interviews conveyed a sentiment that many Mamdani critics and supporters won't catch- you don't have to be a weirdo or a theater kid to support my political movement.

Conservatives generally show a greater interest in sports, but on the right-wing fringes there is an increasing disdain for teams or athletes of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities and what they see as the interjection of wokeness into sports.

So, as I close, I think about the wise words of Arthur Blank. How do we make every day the World Cup? Because tomorrow tens of millions will be returning to jobs they either hate or barely tolerate, economic problems, and family drama. Not every day will see a devout Catholic like Ferran Torres kick a game-winning goal and Lamine Yamal dropping to his knees in Muslim prayer for the glory of Allah and Spain.

I will try to make every day the World Cup. I've just finished a really good book and I'm reading another now. Reviews will be coming. There are films to watch and upcoming trips. And, yes, there is a pretty hot election coming up for us St. Louisans.

I don’t talk or text during Jummah even if I’m bored more often than not, but as an aging and overweight guy, whose knees are often as bad as those of Conor McGregor, I do try to find a nice piece of the wall to rest against. Because I was late and, in the back corner, I could see everyone in the crowd and the arriving latecomers. In front of me I noticed a young man wearing a track suit with an ankle monitor attached. For readers unfamiliar with ankle monitors these are devices placed on people who are going through criminal court proceedings or are still under court supervision. I noticed that the young man struggled praying his two Sunnah rakats and seemed to not know how to properly pray. I made it a point to talk to him after Jummah and direct him towards some online prayer tutorials and other resources and I then lost him in the crowd because I couldn’t remember where I’d placed my shoes. This was a reminder to me, that if you take away immigration and births, one of the few places where Islam is still vibrant and growing in the US is in prison. People will make fun of the prison Muslim and question their sincerity and I’ve done so myself. There are varying degrees of commitment, often a mixture of a street/criminal mentality with Muslim concepts, and a lack of observance once released. That cat is out of the bag, thanks Druski. Given all of those issues people are often skeptical when they see such young men, and many don’t have the time or energy. Yet some of our greatest US Muslims, Christian evangelists, artists, and community leaders served time in prison. If we turn our backs on these men and women, we may be turning our backs on our own future. This is why it’s important to support the efforts of organizations like Link Outside which work on Islamic education for prisoners and with their release plans and readjustment to society. If you don’t have the patience they do.

Being a Muslim, a Christian, an Orthodox Jew, or part of modern American religious movements such as the DSA and MAGA, doesn’t immunize anyone from the problems of life. I was reminded of this as I left the musalla and spoke with a young Muslim man who had just been involved in a shootout with robbers in which there was multiple fatalities. This is a young brother known for his charity and commitment to the community and is well-liked but also involved in a business that is questionable from a Muslim perspective and in a very high crime neighborhood. He was shot six times in the altercation, was able to shoot back and wound his robbers, and survived. The brother answered a key question in life. When something serious goes down will you run and hide? Panic? Get scared? Or will you have the courage and clear mind to engage your attackers? The brother successfully passed his test, and I would want him on my side in conflict. But, as I told him, take this as a lesson to change your friends, business, and surroundings. He may not be so fortunate in the next shoutout.

Not that one has to be doing anything wrong to get shot and lose their life in St. Louis. Life can be very cheap here. My mother was asleep in her home in Meacham Park when she lost her life. This past week a local man named Rashad Rice was on a Metrobus on St. Charles Rock Road in north St. Louis County. Rashad was minding his own business and coming home from work. Didn’t matter. There was a disturbance, guns started going off, and Rashad lost his life (along with one other person). It just so happens that Rashad was a good friend of my brother and friend Anthony (who is in our local brotherhood class). The family is collecting donations.

When I left Jummah I headed to a bar. You can think of it as going from the Halal to the Haram, but I prefer to think of it as going from one place of community gathering to another. Beffa’s has been open since 1898 and was founded by an immigrant from Switzerland. In those days St. Louis was a very attractive place in the US to land. The city was booming and among the most important places in America. We would host the World’s Fair and Olympics a few years later in 1904. Perhaps St. Louis was akin to what Dallas or Atlanta are today in terms of the national consciousness. What I know is that if we don’t support local businesses, they will disappear. What will replace them? Vacancy, a dog park, an overpriced luxury apartment building, or a chain restaurant? Beffas has touted itself as one of the places to watch World Cup games locally and I sat next to a family from Japan (on their way to KC for Argentina-Switzerland) for the beginning of Spain beating Belgium. Of course, that experience was minor compared to the absolutely raucous crowd I was with on Saturday to witness England (the team I always root for) defeat Norway and fan-favorite Erling Haaland. Halftime Pub and Grill in St. Peters is one of a handful of local establishments dedicated to watching soccer and is serving as a hub for England fans. Most of the crowd appeared to be from England based on their accents. Why the St. Louis Metro has so many people here from England, I have no idea, but watching the Three Lions roar to victory along with them was a blast.

We are not having as much fun in St. Louis as our friends in Kansas City who have actually hosted matches at Arrowhead Stadium, but we are having our share of it and even getting some tourists on road trips. Many of us are also visiting KC for the festivities. Friends of mine actually went to KC this past weekend to strictly watch from the FIFA Fanfest and ended up scoring cheap tickets and were able to watch Argentina defeat Switzerland. This was a father taking his son and a memory was created that will never be forgotten. A blessed memory that billions would’ve loved to have had for themselves, but only so many people can fit into a stadium. The weekend was not as great for others. A longtime Unites States Senator passed away. I’m old school, and I don’t speak ill of the dead, nor do a heap false praise and accolades over someone I wasn’t fond of, so I’ll leave it at that. I do find the joking and snarky humor towards this death to be very distasteful, and a further example of the cultural problems urban progressives have at coming off as likeable and trustworthy outside of their bubble. Who did leave a positive record that I can speak highly of is Yahya Emerick. I didn’t know him personally and only knew of him through his writings and translations. I do know that he greatly contributed to the availability of readable and accessible English language literature for those seeking to study Islam. Brother Yahya passed away and was buried yesterday in New York. إِنَّا لِلّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

Etc.

My reading and film viewing has really slowed down during the World Cup. My America 250 reading has transitioned to Japanese and Southeast Asian history and literature, but I did watch the 1969 comedy Putney Swope yesterday which was hilarious. The film even contained an utterance of the shahadah in Arabic which had to be one of the first times in American film.

Independence Day this year comes during the World Cup which has totally wrecked my book reading schedule and essentially taken my film viewing time to zero. July 4th was essentially a breather, and not a full one at that, from viewing soccer on TV.

The day began in Ferguson. I’d read on social media that Americans are in a bad mood and don’t feel like celebrating, that Black Americans are boycotting Independence Day, that fireworks will not be shot off this year. St. Louis didn’t get these memos. Residents lined up Florissant Road in Ferguson for the annual parade. The firetrucks came first throwing candy to children and were followed by a procession of drummers, dancers, church groups, youth sports teams, and a variety of community organizations. Most joined firefighters and threw candy at kids who collected their loot in bags and sacks.

These parades are also a time for politicians to ask for votes. Several candidates and campaigns were on hand including that of my friend John Bowman, his opponent, and a number running for county offices and seats in the state legislature. Reggie Jones, who is the mayor of neighboring Dellwood, was on hand as well. Going onto glory doesn’t even stop politicians in St. Louis from showing up at parades as the Hazel Erby Foundation was there with a large delegation led by a beautifully painted portrait of the late member of the St. Louis County Council. One of the largest contingents belonged to the campaign of Cori Bush who is running to get her old seat back from Congressman Wesley Bell. An elderly white man walking with the assistance of a cane screamed at the top of his lungs admonishing the crowd to help Bush save America for their grandchildren. He had the youthful enthusiasm common among supporters of Bush, The Squad, and even the vibes and TikTok voters in St. Louis enthralled by the Mayor of New York. He didn’t appear to only be asking for our vote- he was inviting us to follow a prophetic and divine figure who could lead us and our children to salvation. To vote for her is to be among the Rightly-Guided, “The Elect”, and to oppose her renders one an Infidel. This enthusiasm aside, I’m expecting a close race, but favor the incumbent to win. More than likely the seat becomes a victim of Republican redistricting, so, no matter who wins, it’s unlikely they’ll hold the seat long.

In 2014-15 Ferguson made national headlines and I was even part of some of those headlines. Ferguson has moved on after national and international media have left and local media has returned to not caring about north county. The media remains tied to an old city-centric narrative and reality, while ignoring the very real stories and issues of places like Ferguson where the vast majority of metro residents actually live.

What does one eat on July 4th? What’s the most American thing one can consume? BBQ, hot dogs, and burgers are common on the 4th, but I don’t have a place to grill. Despite really wanting Chinese food or a Pirrone’s Pizza, I decided to eat in the spirit of the day (no disrespect to my Chinese and Italian friends) and grab a burger in Florissant. Henke’s was closed so we opted for Florissant City Diner. The exact spot we ate in is where my sisters and I used to walk to purchase penny candy as kids. The thought of kids having that freedom today is unthinkable. Parents have even been jailed for allowing their kids to walk the neighborhood unsupervised, ride public transit alone, and be at home by themselves. I'm very fortunate to not have grown up in such an era and in one where I was allowed to play outside alone and with friends, adventure, day dream, get cuts, scratches, and bruises, and learn how to navigate away from uncomfortable situations without the assistance of an adult.

The Florissant City Diner has an excellent burger and it was served to me by a South Asian waitress, dressed in a decorative patriotic hat for the holiday, and speaking in accented English. Even in Old Town Florissant, which ranks among most quintessential and classic of old school American places to visit, we see the positive imprint of recent waves of immigration. We topped the burgers off with Fritz’s Frozen Custard, but, in the interest of health, opted not to head across the street to Old Town Donuts.

That evening we joined Indonesian friends (a recent Wash U PhD recipient and her husband who is in the same program along with their young son) and watched France defeat Paraguay in a foul-filled match. I know France aided us in the Revolution and them winning on July 4th makes sense, but I shall remain a hater of the French National Team! At least Morocco knocked Canada out of the World Cup earlier in the day. A hater of Morocco, I'm not, and, if I was, I’d be in trouble with my local Moroccan friends in Pagedale and University City, and they were the first nation to recognize our independence. Is Morocco still the official team of the Muslim Ummah? Or has Mo Salah and Egypt snatched that distinction from them?

The night ended going downtown and watching fireworks. It was so peaceful it was almost surreal. Perhaps the calm had something to do with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department doing ID checks and enforcing curfew laws on youth. I did see some groups of young men slip in sporting the hoodie in 100 degree weather, purse, and backpack look, but not many. What I did see was a lot of families and children and a very diverse crowd for St. Louis standards. A crowd much more diverse than I can recall in all of my years going downtown to see the fireworks. Our party included a Wash U law student from Indonesia who was experiencing her first 4th of July in the US. Next to us I chatted with a Mexican and Colombian couple and introduced myself to a Korean family and a Filipino couple. We saw several Muslim families, identified by women in hijab, walking by us. The drone and fireworks show itself was amazing and worth the wait. I think we made a good decision staying in St. Louis.

America declared independence on July 4th, just as Indonesia declared independence on August 17th, but, in both cases, there were many battles still to fight and be won and, perhaps, even more importantly, treaties to be negotiated. 250 years on from that day in Philadelphia, when our nation declared independence, I found myself on the edge of my seat cheering for England to defeat Mexico. Anyone who missed this match did themselves a real disservice as it will go down as an instant classic and a winning experience English fans will never forget. Why do I cheer for England? Especially on the day after we commemorated our independence from England?

The foundation of why I cheer England begins with the fact I don't particularly care for American soccer culture and our team has historically been bad and not had many stars (and the US still doesn't have stars despite the media hype). I just don't take US soccer that seriously. Football in England is everything US soccer isn't. History, tradition, spirit, passion, and a sport that can unite all racial and social classes. England is hated by the world and doesn’t have the benefit of a President ordering FIFA to remove a red card suspension. When England plays (and when the US plays Belgium tonight, thanks to Trump) the world is united in supporting the opponent. So, in this sense, supporting England is also about being for the underdog. I also happen to really like England and the United Kingdom in general so there is that as well (stay tuned for an update on an event I’m trying to plan across the pond).

We must also add the element of human relations and history. One could say that the US and England began our relationship in warfare and in a fight. That version of history is a myth. The Revolutionary War was a Civil War fought between Englishmen. The war divided families and sometimes there were siblings on opposite sides and even fathers and sons opposing one another. The relationship began in England- not on the battlefield. The long arc of history shows us that after a few decades of quarreling and fighting we went back to being brothers and when we have needed one another the most we've always been there for each other. If one doubts this they are more than free to visit the American cemeteries in France, Belgium, and throughout Europe (including Cambridge and Brookwood in England). Or visit The Iraq and Afghanistan Memorial located in the Victoria Embankment Gardens in London which honors the British troops who unfortunately lost their lives in those unnecessary US- led misadventures. Like marriages, friendships are complicated, and have their highs and lows. The US is now an incredibly diverse nation and we've fought with almost everyone in the world. If there was a World Cup of wars we would hoist the participation trophy routinely. We're in conflict with Iran now, but in a generation perhaps we can become great friends? Think this is crazy? My grandfather fought in the bloodiest battles for the US in WWII against Japanese forces and today we are the best of friends. Same here for South Korea and increasingly Vietnam.

The American Revolution began an experiment both in self-government, by the people, and a new era of international relations. Both have evolved over time. America is an experiment and we are all part of it. The pessimistic only point to America’s flaws. They look in the history books and find nothing to praise. They see American excellence, innovation, sports, music, and film and see dark sinister conspiracies. They don't see that America is complicated and flawed because we are humans and our nature is complicated and flawed. A government by the people means you will have the problems of the people and you cannot place the blame on a monarchy or divine forces. We must celebrate our successes and take accountability for our shortcomings- but the framers gave us all the tools needed to innovate and address our issues. Above all we must not take the blessing of American citizenship for granted.

In the ultimate scheme of things winning the World Cup means nothing to the US- it would mean everything in England. So, fresh off the excitement of last night's viewing, I'll finish with these words “It's Coming Home”. Then, once the smoke clears, I will give my energy to the upcoming playoff run of the St. Louis Cardinals!

A news reporter in Texas recently got into trouble for saying she couldn't find Bosnia on the map and didn't wanna learn. She was later forced to do one of those fake HR mandated apologies. Unfortunately most Americans cannot identify Japan, the United Kingdom, and France on a map and a sizable percentage struggle to find their own states or the US. She isn't unique, but not within the spirit of the World Cup.Being the most international of all team sports soccer often connects people across continents. You'll find that many players on European squads in the World Cup are eligible to play for 2-3 nations and this is true of roughly half of the Team USA squad as well. Much of this is due to migration patterns and history. St. Louisans should understand this well as Team USA faces Bosnia today. Bosnians are no strangers to us.

The roots of soccer run deep in St. Louis. In 1882 there is a record of a soccer match being played at Sportsman's Park in north St. Louis before 2,000 spectators. The city is widely credited with both creating the first professional soccer league in the United States in 1915 and popularizing the usage of the word soccer (FTR in my household I code switch between soccer and football depending on who I'm talking to). There are more than 30 players with St. Louis roots in the Soccer Hall of Fame. The storied US team that beat England in 1950? Five starting players from St. Louis. Four were Italian-American kids from The Hill and the fifth was the Irish kid from Carondelet named Harry Keough. As a taxi driver I had the pleasure of picking up Harry (R.I.P.) and his son Ty (also a Hall of Fame player and former US Men's World Team player). The first ever player drafted in the MLS was a kid named Matt Mckeon from Florissant. More recent stars out of the St. Louis have included Taylor Twellman (Gen X people should remember Twellman Soccer, Norco, Scott Gallagher, Kutis, and others) and the captain of the US squad in the 2026 is a St. Louis area kid named Tim Ream (St. Dominic High School). Josh Sargent (a St. Charles County kid with north county family roots) played in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for Team USA and currently plays for Toronto in the MLS. There are so many more stories I can add in including the ten NCAA national championships won by St. Louis University in men's soccer and their recent deep runs. Long before the MLS expanded to St. Louis this town has been a hotbed for American soccer and produced more soccer talent per capita than perhaps anywhere in the US.

Soccer was a popular pastime for immigrants in the late 19th Century with immigrants from the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ireland and in the early to mid 20th Century with immigrants from Spain in Carondelet, Italians on The Hill and north of downtown, Irish in Dogtown and north St. Louis, Lebanese, Croatians, Czechs, Bohemians, Serbs, Greeks and others. The love of soccer traveled with families. These families would later be instrumental in the development of soccer leagues and clubs in St. Louis County and St. Charles County in the post-WWII years thanks to the suburban housing boom and westward shift in population.

These days immigrant families from East Africa and Latin America can be seen playing soccer regularly in parks just north of downtown where immigrant Italian and Irish families once played and can also be found in northwest St. Louis County and other parts of the region.

The largest immigrant wave to St. Louis in recent years has been from Bosnia. This population influx began in the 1990s as Bosnians fled the atrocities and brutality of the civil war that occurred after the break-up of Yugoslavia. Bosnian Muslims were targeted for removal and there was a coordinated effort to prevent the existence of a majority-Muslim state in Europe. While Bosnians settled in cities throughout the United States, St. Louis has the largest population. When Bosnians first arrived in the 1990s they largely settled in south city neighborhoods like Bevo and Dutchtown. The vast majority of local Bosnians now live in south county with large concentrations in the Mehlville, Bayless, Affton, and Hancock school districts.

Bosnians have been remarkably successful in St. Louis and are having a major impact having established restaurants, mosques, construction businesses, and much more. However, Bosnians didn't just bring Cevapi to St. Louis- they brought a love of soccer and would go on to play for local schools and clubs. A few like Vedad Ibišević would play professionally and even for the Bosnian national team.

This match will be viewed with special interest from St. Louis given our connection to Bosnia and I'm sure our local bars and Ballpark Village will be packed. I know I'll be picking up a Yapi Burger tomorrow before settling in.

I'm sharing these photos of my visit to Bosnia. It's a beautiful mountainous region with Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and other influences. Mosques, Catholic Churches, and Orthodox Churches sit in close proximity to one another. I even visited the Jewish cemetery of Sarajevo which is a reflection of the historical diversity of the city. Many my age may recall that the 1984 Winter Olympics took place in Sarajevo. The US-Bosnia match may be the biggest sporting event since then. Just 30 years ago forces tried to erase Bosnia- and the Bosnian people, from the map. Today Bosnia stands on center stage for all of the world to see. Interestingly enough, US star Christian Pulisic has family roots in the former Yugoslavia himself as his grandfather was born in what is now Croatia.

I'll be tuning in.

“BJ's Bar in Florissant will be closing today after 70 years in business. Although it was a bar and a popular hangout with a distinctly blue-collar vibe it may have been most famous for pizza which generations of north St. Louis County residents grew up eating.

Closings are always sad and make us yearn for earlier times. BJ's opened in 1955 when Florissant was transitioning from a mostly rural community and small town to a booming post-war suburb. BJ's reflected the working-class nature of the community as it was a popular hangout for union members and a place where union officials would sometimes even conduct business informally. Mostly it was just a place for people who worked hard to have a cold drink with friends or by themselves and enjoy a pizza.

The signs on the wall are reflective of something increasingly uncommon in the United States. A respect for the flag and military service, labor unions, and Democratic politics. An old kind of Democrat that more than likely jumped ship after crossing the Missouri River. This is a reminder of a Democratic Party that was once much more labor and much less latte. More Stag than Silicon Valley. A party of hard workers, hard drinkers, and big eaters who would be up for Sunday Mass at Scared Heart, North America Martyrs, St. Dismas , St. Thomas The Apostle, and other surrounding parishes.

[Instagram=

BJ's will surely be missed. I hope the site is repurposed and remains open and isn't turned into another grill, discount store, or something the community already has an endless supply of. The population has shifted and along with that many things close. When I was growing up Florissant was a national powerhouse in soccer. The first ever MLS draftee is from Florissant. Wrestling, hockey, baseball, and JFL football kept young people busy in addition to the CYC. Most of that is now gone. Jamestown Mall, Village Square, and Northwest Plaza were all short drives. As were Northland and Riverroads. All closed, as have the local movie theaters such as Grandview, Cross Keys, Paddock, and the 270 Drive-In.

Nothing remains the same forever. Across the street from BJ'S newer businesses like Mann Meats and Big Belly Deli are succeeding as is Helfer's Pastries. Old Town Donuts have once again been voted the best donuts in the US. Fritz's in Florissant can still give Ted Drewes a run for their money. You can still get the best St. Louis Style Pizza in the metro area at Pirrone's and Angelo's and newer options like Costello's have good pizza as well. You also have options in Florissant and the surrounding areas that once seemed unthinkable. Halal restaurants, Mediterranean, Thai, Ghanian, authentic Mexican, and more. So, while we mourn the past, there is still much to celebrate today, and things to look forward to in the future. If you want to eat good you can certainly do so in Florissant. If you wanna lose weight you may be in trouble.

Political junkies and those interested in history may enjoy some of these signs. They include signs for the presidential campaigns of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and John Kerry. As well as signs for countless Democratic candidates in Florissant, St. Louis County, and St. Louis City over the decades.

As a sign of the continued life and energy in a changing Florissant there is currently an Hispanic Festival going on just down the street from BJ's. I've attended this wonderful event in previous years, but will not this year due to the rain.”

I wrote this while sitting in my car. I then drove to Old Town Donuts and bought a vanilla long John and an old fashioned, grabbed my wife from her job, and picked up two Imo’s pizzas on the way to a friend's house to watch the World Cup. They added some halal fried chicken. It wasn't exactly a health food day.

After the matches of the day I began thinking of places like BJ’s that are disappearing and what they mean to a community. It's not just traditional family bars and working-class establishments that are closing. Restaurants, churches, synagogues, and places people gather are struggling in the age of app deliveries, legalized marijuana, and many young people being seemingly unable to speak to others and function in public spaces.

People need third spaces and they need sacred spaces. Sometimes the lines may be blurred between the two especially in a state of intoxication. We have a loneliness crisis in America, especially with men, and, in addition to secularism and the rise of the Nones feeding it, so has the closing of family-owned bars and restaurants.

Places close for many reasons. For a place like BJ'S, I suspect the changing racial demographics of Florissant played a major role. Most of their traditional customer base has moved to St. Charles County and further west. Someone also mentioned on social media that they're older, had left the Democratic Party, and were turned off by the signage and labor Dem vibe of BJ’s.

In an era of increased secularism Americans are finding meaning in place and politics. People just don't live in St. Louis City, as opposed to Chesterfield or Florissant, living in the city is their entire personality and identity. One is just not leftist or MAGA, but they proselytize at every opportunity with the fanaticism of a young missionary. They wear the MAGA hat and mask like a hijab, kippah, or crucifix. Those who disagree with them on politics aren't just wrong. They're infidels and love or friendship is impossible with those on the other side. Family members aren't even excluded from this dynamic as it's a badge of honor, particularly on the Left, to brag about cutting off family members in the name of politics.

The politics of BJ'S is increasingly dead in America. Those evoking an old school labor Dem vibe, such as State Rep candidate Jimmy Lappe or State Senator Doug Beck, are extremely rare. What's left is identity. I'm not sure Sam Page, Cara Spencer, or any progressive members of the Board of Aldermen, world be comfortable in a working-class family bar like BJ’s. (Of course, those living in glass houses can't throw bricks, I can go and eat a pizza or order a burger, but as soon as someone recognizes me as the “Muslim radical” who tried to bring down the monument of King Louis IX, I may need to resort to my grappling skills). The Royale on the south side emerged as a political bar of sorts for Gen X urban liberals and I believe that's what owner Steve Smith had in mind. Different crowd for a different era and place.

To their fans, the new generation of St. Louis Dems, check the right beliefs and identity boxes; urban, secular, liberal on social issues, signal the right way on the environment, college educated, a certain aura of cosmopolitanism and sophistication. The difference is in economics and layers of commitment to identity politics and nonprofits. Cara comes off as the boss, Megan as HR, but where is a shop steward like Dick Gephardt? Cori Bush, for many, comes off as a great avatar for their piety and virtue. A Bush sign in the lawn isn't a political sign- it's a testimony of faith. In previous generations that symbol of piety was more likely to be the union sign in the window next to the American flag.

Many St. Charles County Republicans sound a lot more like Wallace Democrats, or even Charles Lindbergh, than anything from the era of Reagan and the Bush family. But I'm sure they could eat or drink at a place like BJ'S just fine.

The bar as an institution has been a secular sanctuary of sorts for many Americans. I first began to think about this while living in New York. The city may be freezing in the winter and hot in the summer, and you may be stressed out at your job and at home, but the traditional bar offered a removal from the world. Places like the old Burke’s in Maspeth or any number of old Irish pubs in Bay Ridge Brooklyn or the Woodlawn section of the Bronx. I told a friend these bars reminded me of the mosque. The intoxication of prayer and dhikr is replaced by an intoxication of the mind from alcohol. The regulars at the bar are like those in the prayer lines with you. There may be little to no communication between you and them, but you're united in purpose. You are seeking a removal from the world, an often quiet time, and time to contemplate what is going on in your life. Not quite ready to come home after dealing with all the bullshit at work and not ready for the drama and arguments at home. As these types of bars were closed and sold they were reimagined and became brighter, louder, more expensive, and less about appealing to working-class adults and more about attracting horny young people. Then apps came where you can find dates and order drinks and food and that was a wrap.

The speed of Catholic churches closing in the St. Louis area is staggering and I'm sure even more Protestant churches are closing. Muslims offer a newer, younger, and often more vibrant community. Mosques are so packed you have to game plan parking in advance. Yet, as congregations age, they'll have the same problems. Thus the need for Halal “third spaces”. So far the celebrated third spaces in the Muslim community have been exclusively targeted to affluent young professionals. That tracks as young Muslims are typically educated, upwardly mobile, and seek distance from working-class neighbors (despite the affinity many may have for DSA-style candidates they are just as uncomfortable around a bunch of construction workers as your typical white urban progressive is).

The only places I've personally witnessed that differ from this trend are Salaam Square in Atlanta and our Monday Night Brotherhood class in St. Louis and both are rooted in the Black American Muslim tradition. My friend Mohammed Shargzadeh, who is my favorite Iranain Ayatollah, recently lamented the fact the Diyanet Center of America in PG County, Maryland is showing World Cup matches. I actually love the idea and immediately contacted a board member of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis and requested the matches be shown at a local masjid when I found out what they were doing. I personally prefer watching sports alone or with a small number of close friends and family. However, for many, watching sports with a large group of friends is an important communal bonding experience. Imagine being inside BJ'S when Bob Gibson mowed down batters in the 1964 and 1967 World Series, when Bruce Sutter threw the final strike of the 1982 World Series, and when David Freese sent the 2011 World Series to game seven.

“Both the mosque and the tavern remove a person from ordinary worldly concerns, but they do so in opposite directions. The tavern seeks forgetfulness through intoxication; the mosque seeks presence through remembrance (dhikr). Both respond to the human desire to transcend daily burdens, yet one achieves this by dulling awareness while the other intensifies it.

“The taverns are full of every class of people—janissaries, sailors, merchants, poets, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, and Muslims—laughing, singing, forgetting their cares.”

- Evliya Celebi

Bosnia Takes on America

Thirty years ago Serbian (and to a lesser extent Croatian) forces were bound and determined to prevent the emergence of a Muslim-majority state in Europe. A campaign of mass murder, starvation, and sexual violence began. St. Louis became home to the largest Bosnian refugee community in the US in the aftermath. They first settled on the south side and have now largely migrated to south county. Many Bosnians came not knowing how to pray and very little about Islam due to the communist repression of religion, but asked local mosques to teach their children how to pray and read Quran. Today there are four Bosnian-majority mosques, restaurants, bars, and countless businesses. Bosnians have been incredibly successful in St. Louis and left the city for the suburbs before they could make a real political impact. While there are now countless Bosnian police officers and public employees, Mirhad Hasanovic is seeking to be the first Bosnian in the Missouri State Legislature as he runs in the Republican primary in a south county district this August.

I have no delusions that the US is going to win the World Cup, but they should beat Bosnia. For many Bosnians just making it this far gives them tremendous pride and a sense of accomplishment. Not only did Bosnia survive an attempt at genocide- they've shown they can thrive.

Here are my picks for the round of 32

World Cup Tourists Go Crazy For America

One of the stories I'm enjoying most from this World Cup is how crazy tourists are going for many of the real cool things in America. BBQ, pizza, Buc-ee’s, fast food, ranch dressing, huge portions, AC, and that most glorious of all American offerings- free refills! Many of these things are stuff a certain class of snobby Americans are embarrassed by and wish we could be more like Europeans. Turns out many Europeans are wishing they could be more like us.

[YouTube=

Boots Ennis Survives a Scare in Brooklyn

A sold win for Boots Ennis over Xander Zayas. We know the Philadelphia fighter has the speed and power to be at the top of the game. Does he have the chin and the defense? After last night's fight, and especially the third round, I'm still not convinced. If that's Terence Crawford or Vergil Ortiz in round three, or perhaps even Sebastian Fundora, Ennis ends the fight on his back.

Before I give my review of this book I will note a recent video exchange I viewed between comedian Hasan Minhaj and a Catholic. For the record, I don't find Minhaj funny, and I don't listen to any of these comedians from Muslim backgrounds. In fact, I've never been to a comedy show. I've been tempted to see Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Bill Burr, Jiaoying Summers, Ali Wong, Russell Peters, and others, but don't have a plus-one interested in such things.

Hasan asks the question why do Catholics make conversion so hard and notes you can become Muslim by simply saying the Shahadah in front of two witnesses. Of course, Hasan is right, this is how you convert. But, is it the only way to convert? Is it how you should convert? Once you convert the Shariah and what is binding in terms of Halal and Haram is mandatory on the Muslim. Is it fair to convert someone who doesn't even know the basics of Muslim practices and obligations? What are the results of these quickie conversions? What are the retention rates? Where are the programs to nurture them? Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to put them through a year or so of study and practice as Catholics and both Orthodox Jews and Christians do? Give them time to learn theology, basic Fiqh, how to pray and fast, what is Halal and Haram, and socialize with Muslims? Instead of criticism of the Catholic RICA program for converts I actually think it's a very good program and one Muslims should emulate (I've also argued in favor of a sponsorship Mawali program for converts as was practiced in the Umayyad period).

Now to the book review. Note: Being a US Senator before being VP has its perks. J.D. Vance was able to convert to Catholicism without going through the RICA. Under my scenario Muslims could still have the same grace for celebrity converts like Giancarlo Esposito and Rae Lil' Black.

I found the faith journey part and criticism of modern American values, priorities, and lifestyles compelling. Vance is part of a growing trend of Catholic and Orthodox Christian converts attracted to the faith by history, intellectualism, ritual, and continuity with the early Church. This is a rejection of the emotionalism, often thin theology, and ahistorical nature of Evangelical Protestantism and liberalism of Mainline Protestantism in addition to being a rejection of elite secular Western norms. The more I read about these Catholic and Orthodox converts the more they remind me of Neo-Trad (conservative Sufi) converts and the newly religious (those from Muslim families attracted to Neo-Trad Sufism in their adult lives). Or even Baal Teshuva newly observant Jews. There is clearly a yearning for a deeper meaning, tradition, moral guidelines, and a connection to history that transcends religious lines.

Vance is making an argument for a specific type of Catholic appeal. One that often leads to the Latin Mass. Not the cultural Catholicism of places like my hometown of St. Louis where fish fries, CYC sports, and Catholic schools with secular outcomes are the norm. The natural alternative for Vance is Orthodox Christianity or Reformed Protestantism. The problem of Orthodoxy often being a problem familiar to Muslim converts- you may lack the ethnic component to truly fit into your new faith home despite their efforts to welcome you. The problem with Reformed Theology is the Protestant problem- it’s only so deep and only goes back so far. Thus Catholicism, even with its decline in status in the US and the West, and a history of serious institutional corruption.

Vance quoting St. Augustine is something no Catholic I grew up with would do and I was surrounded by them. At my Southern Baptist Church very few, including the teachers, had more than a rudimentary understanding of theology and Church history. I’ve seen this with Muslims too. Converts obsessively arguing over Madhabs and Fatwas and small issues of Aqeedah and Fiqh. These are issues few born Muslims know or care about. Go and ask a random Muslim on the street what their Madhab is or if they’re Ashari, Maturidi, or Athari. You’ll be greeted with blank stares 90% of the time. These theological arguments aren’t important to them and they historically have not been issues many Muslims have cared about as most believers were illiterate until the last few generations. Islam is and has been for the vast majority of Muslims what is taught to the believers by their families and in their community. In modern times this often involves public schools in Muslim-majority societies.

Vance is seeking to take this Catholic worldview and make the argument that secularization has been bad for the West (which I wholeheartedly agree with) and the Church provides much of the antidote (which I also generally agree with).

This should be familiar to Muslims of my generation influenced by Islamic Revivalist politics and the Ikhwan- religion as a political tool as the answer to what ails society and an alternative political system. However, what we learned was that Muslim political parties were often the source for the decline of religion in the society (Morsi in Egypt, Khamanei in Iran, etc) and that Muslim political actors, most notably the Ikhwan, were willing to sacrifice religion in pursuit of political power (and in the US and UK this means an alliance with the Left). The model that is perhaps more compelling is one such as you have in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and other Gulf states. Rulers who are generally influenced by religion, but not so rigidly they can’t work towards progress and the national interest, and a public who are informed by faith as inherent to their culture without making it into a revolutionary political ideology. I see this understanding of faith as close to the role Christianity played in the US and most of the West until the last few generations. More of a guardrail to ensure people and society doesn’t get too crazy than a theocratic political system.

How does the US and the West arrive at such a point as Vance argues for? Or return? I’m afraid Vance didn’t answer these questions. I will say that no modern figure has embodied my political vision more than Pope John Paul II and I’ve also been a fan of Pope Francis and our current American Pope. I just remarked to some friends the other day how Pope Leo is current and addressing the true issues of modern society and our imams seldom talk about anything relevant to our lives and when they attempt to it’s normally an idiotic political diatribe.

When Vance attempts to weave Trump Administration policies into the narrative and fawns over his wife Usha at every opportunity (which I’m sure comes off sweet to some romantics) I find the book a chore. Vance is clearly still working out some things in this book, as he did in Hillbilly Elegy, and has some unresolved issues from his childhood like many of us do without the benefit of such a platform.

Vance applies Christian ethics to ideas of economics. One of the beautiful things about the Muslim community is there are brothers at the mosque that I’ve been seeing for decades. I don’t know what their job is and I don’t care. We are praying together as brothers and there is no need for them to share their CV with me. This is contrast to modern American professional norms. In settings of educated (usually secular) professions people often rattle off their resumes within seconds of meeting them. Our phones go off constantly with emails from work. After work we are invited to work happy hours and parties. Our work has become central to our identities in a very unhealthy way. Work should just be a means to spend more time with your family and do the things you enjoy. Not the end. I agree with Vance when he makes these arguments. I haven’t seen the administration he serves in do much about it.

I see quite the opposite from most Republicans. The same can be said for a host of issues Vance mentioned. We shouldn’t worship the GDP, we should see children as a blessing and not a burden, we should reject workist culture, we should care for our elders and treasure them, we should not succumb to a pessimistic view of America, we should not measure success in terms of consumption. Family, values, quality of food, children, learning, travel, and so many things are more important than contributing to the GDP and making Wall Street and Big Tech happy. So, yes, I agree with the words of Vance in this book, but where are the policies that will enable more Americans to have affordable housing, to have more children and give them a decent home, to not be forced to put elders in nursing homes, and not have to work insane hours and multiple jobs to just survive?

Another value Pope Francis and Leo have been emphasizing is empathy and love for fellow humans. Of course toxic empathy is bad. Having empathy for the murderer, robber, and sex offender and not the victims (and future victims) isn’t an admirable trait.But striving to be empathetic humans in general is a good trait. Sober empathy. We cannot help everyone at all times but we can help many. This seems difficult to reconcile with Haitians are eating dogs and cats in Ohio and Muslims are attempting to turn Texas and Oklahoma into Caliphates governed by Shariah Law. One cannot make an appeal to Christian ethics while being engaged in crude, otherizing, and hateful language towards political opponents, ethnic and religious minorities, and those in foreign lands.

As we all know 2028 will see Vance in the ring against Marco Rubio I would like to see a similar book on faith from Marco. Unlike Vance, he never fell away from faith, and didn’t go through a period of atheism. Marco has had an interesting faith journey, has a devout wife, and raised Christian children, but he is a Catholic who often attended an Evangelical church, and was a Mormon for part of his childhood. That’s an interesting story I wanna hear about..

Books I Want Scholars of Islam in America to Write

I've often noted that scholars of Islam in America don't seem to like Muslims in America that much. They're like white jazz aficionados. They have an idealized vision of what they love and most of the men they praise are dead while largely holding a disdain for the living. I was reminded of this last week as I read a writer who is popular in Muslim academic circles trash the pre-911 Muslim community in the US. I was actually offended by this. The community was a little too idealistic, overzealous at times, and rowdy, but I have very fond memories of the 1990s Muslim community. There was a warmth then that disappeared after 9-11.

There are so many interesting Muslim stories to write, but when we do get a book, it's usually boring and about a small number of rebel Muslims who the faculty lounge at an Ivy League university would find attractive. The real stories are ignored. I attempted to ask this question to a Muslim academic at Washington University in St. Louis a few years ago. She responded that she isn't opposed to writing about converts. I never mentioned converts. So here are some interesting titles in case y'all need some help.

1. From Genocide to Southern California: Cambodian Muslims in The Inland Empire

2. West Africa in The New Harlem: Little Senegal and Gentrification

3. Arab Cool: Arab Boys Growing Up in Metro Detroit

4. Coney Island Zindabad: How Little Pakistan Was Formed in Brooklyn

5. Sarajevo to St. Louis: From Genocide to Middle Class Suburbia

6. The Philadelphia Muslim: How a Small Group of Sunni Teachers Mainstreamed Islam in Black Philliy and Created a Subculture

7. Makkah and Madinah: Sunni Black Harlem and Brooklyn in the 1970s (Focus on the Dar)

8. Muslim Organized Crime: How Black Muslims Operated Crime Families in Philadelphia, Kansas City, and St. Louis

9. Zohran: How a Privileged Ugandan Immigrant United New York Muslims and Became a National Figure

10. Al Fuqra: How a Pakistani Mystic Created a Controversial Black Sufi Sect

11. Khomeini and Saud in DC: How the Iranain Revolution and Salafis Erupted in Violence

12. Come With Me: The American Muslims Who Responded to Abdullah Azzam's Call to Jihad

13. Paintballers: Northern Virginia and the Post-911 Hysteria

14. NYPD Green: The Muslims of The New York Police Department

15. The Rise of the Latino Muslim: Case Studies in NYC, Chicago, and Houston

16. MegaMosque Islam: How The Muslim Prosperity Dawah Found a Home in the Dallas Suburbs

17. The Hijrah Babies Return: American Salafi Children Raised in Muslim Lands and Their Adult Lives in the US

18. Bernie at Home and Islamist Abroad: The Political Conundrum of The Muslim Activist

19. The Hood Store: Arab American Muslims Slanging Pork, Liquor and Weave in The Hood

20. The Muslim in Popular Culture: From Chappele to The NBA

21. Ramadan in Prison: Fasting While Incarcerated in America

When I removed the absurdities of the event from my mind I saw where he was coming from. The backdrop of The White House and monuments, fighters warming up inside surrounded by artwork and splendor, doing octagon walks escorted by decorated veterans and first responders, jets from our armed forces flying overhead, some amazing singers and musicians from a military orchestra, and more. Paramount+ and CBS Sports are veterans of broadcasting major sporting events such as the Super Bowl and March Madness. Dana White and the UFC organization have also excelled at pacing PPV events even before arriving at Paramount+. Boxing fans often suffer through endless talking and vignettes between fights. DAZN, in particular, seems to believe boxing fans need a dozen or so commentators and half a day on their broadcasts. ESPN+ was just as bad before Top Rank was axed.

The fights themselves were outstanding. Diego Lopes, who was been training in Stillwater with Oklahoma State Wrestling Coach David “Magic Man” Taylor, scored a knockout win over Steve Garcia. In a battle of Pennsylvania residents, 3X Penn State Wrestling national champion Bo Nickal, a favorite of President Trump, scored a KO over Kyle Daukaus. St. Louis area resident and former Mizzou wrestler Michael Chandler got roughed up by Mauricio Ruffy. Fresh off victory, Ruffy proposed marriage to his girlfriend in the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. In a battle between two non-Americans Ciryl Gane overpowered Alex Pereira.

Sociopolitical observers have much to chew on with regards to the remaining fights. Sean O’Malley is a fan favorite due to his social media celebrity and appeal to young people. This particularly makes him an asset for Trump’s base of young male voters who have been turned off by the messaging of progressives and many in the Democratic Party. A Charlie Kirk or Franklin Graham, O’Malley is not. A professed swinger with a tattooed body and hair that looks like it has been dipped in a Kool Aid packet he is. This, of course, is much of the new right in the US. Not that religious, and not that traditional, but vaguely in opposition to what has been presented to them as wokeness. None of that matters in the octagon and O’Malley scored a KO over Aiemann Zahabi (even if the stoppage was quick).

Josh Hokit perhaps more closely resembles the average male Trump voter. He toyed with fan-favorite Derrick Lewis, who gave the impression he’d rather be anywhere, but in the octagon, before stopping him. Hokit, another heavily tatted fighter, is a former college football player, California native, and known for making crass remarks. The majesty of The White House in the background didn’t seem to temper his remarks. Hokit praised Jesus in his post-fight interview while stopping short of quoting scripture as Bo Nickal did (which is common in the ultra-Christian world of US wrestling). Hokit then repeatedly racked up the profane language before asserting that Michelle Obama is a man.

The juvenile and incredibly stupid slander that Michelle Obama is a man is popular in conservative social media outlets. It stems from the same otherizing of the Obamas as the birther conspiracies and alleging Barack was a crypto-Muslim. The Michelle slander is by many times more ridiculous and yet social media rewards this kind of language and people like Candace Owens can even build successful podcasts over such foolishness. No professional sports league other than the UFC would tolerate such language. On no boxing event would such language be imaginable. Not that the worlds of boxing and the UFC aren’t growing closer with Zuffa Boxing and Dana White in the mix. Tyson Fury, Terence Crawford, Conor Benn, Jai Opetaia, and other boxers were in attendance. Fury even wore a “Donald Trump for Prime Minster” hat for the event.

The main event was truly a great fight. Ilia Topuria from the Republic of Georgia had looked unstoppable in recent bouts. Elite striking skills and fight IQ. And through the first two rounds it looked like the Georgian was on his way to another win as Justin Gaethje (another former college wrestler) appeared to be completely overmatched. Things changed in the third round as Gaethje landed a big sot and turned the fight around. After a bumbled doctoral intervention in between the third and fourth rounds, which featured Topuria telling his corner he was unable to see, the fight continued, before the Georgian retired on his stool after the fourth.

An outstanding fight and victory for Gaethje. Leading up to the fight, Gaethje had been feuding with UFC Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland. Earlier in his career Strickland was known as a MAGA guy and supporter of Trump. Not anymore. Strickland has accused Trump of being under Israeli and Jewish control and has increasingly used antisemitic language on his social media platforms. Strickland accused Gaethje of being a “good goy” and happily eating up his “goy slop”. Reportedly barred from attending the White House event. Strikcland showed up nonetheless, wearing a t-shirt reading “Trump is in the Epstein Files”. It should be noted that Strickland also has a history of making anti-Muslim remarks and has a neo-nazi past.

After the main event Trump and his family filled the ring surrounding a giddy Dana White and Gaethje family. It was past 1:00 in the morning, and Trump was wide-awake, that’s how you know it was a good card.

RAF in St. Louis Ends With a Chechen Brawl

I was unable to watch most of game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night because I attended Real American Freestyle Wrestling in St. Louis. I had a great time and encourage everyone to tune into Fox Nation if you want to see some entertaining wrestling. The model Eric Bischoff and the wrestling minds at RAF are using is a hybrid of matches featuring wrestlers from elite NCAA and international backgrounds with stars from the UFC who can bring in casual and non-wrestling fans.

RAF 10 in St. Louis featured NCAA champions such as Keegan O’Toole (Mizzou) and Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado), All-Americans like Ausin Desanto (Iowa), and a number of international wrestlers (six Muslims from the former Soviet Union in particular). Former youth wrestling standout and now UFC fighter Aaron Pico looked sensational in his mat return and in a battle of UFC stars Arman Tsarukyan delighted Armenian fans by easily getting past Tony Ferguson.

The main event featured Chechen Muslim Khamzat Chimaev who is a former UFC champion and recently lost his belt to Sean Strickland. Khamzat faced Dilon Danis who is perhaps best known for getting pounced on by Khabib after the Conor McGregor fight. Danis has a history of post-match brawls and this night proved to be no exception. After Khamzat pinned Danis in 44 seconds the two men exchanged kicks and then all hell broke loose with dozens of people rushing onto the mat to fight. Khamzat was dragged off by the ref, but I personally saw several people punch and kick Danis. The Chechens came ready to fight. Wrestling purists be damned, I was entertained. It would be helpful to remember that Final X this week, which will feature better matches than the NCAA Championships, will be contested before a crowd you can fit into a high school gymnasium. Wrestling has not grown and with wrestling alone RAF will have limited appeal outside to a tiny and hardcore audience. UFC stars, other crossover athletes, and a little shit talking and brawling creates the needed buzz. I would personally like to see modified battle royals, tag teams, handicap matches, and figured from pro wrestling added. Chaifetz Arena was sold out for this event, and I expect RAF to be back in St. Louis. Possibly local guys like Tyron Woodley and Luke Lilledahl competing?

I did manage to see the ending of the Knicks-Spurs game in my car after the event. Congrats to Spike Lee. Larry David, and all Knicks fans.

Philly Masjid Fighting and Criminal Culture

I will say what I have to say in this video. The situation with violence and criminality among segments of the US Muslim community is the talk of Muslim social media right now, but I believe that most have been too broad, and conversely narrow-minded, in their assessments. This video and commentary doesn’t even fit the theme of this week’s newsletter and since Muslims are generally not big fans of reading I made a video which you can view here . Neglected in the video is my failure to mention that is a masjid or organization begins with a violent takeover that will probably be the cultural ethos in which it operates.

New York is the exact opposite. The whole world paid attention to the NYC mayoral race. People who have never been to NYC say, “Zohran is my mayor”. Coincidentally this is one reason I believe his election will ultimately make the city more expensive for working-class families in the city. His popularity will create an even larger wave of affluent (mostly white, but some second-generation daughters of immigrants) transplants to the city. But that’s a discussion for another time. Regardless, it isn’t unique to Zohran. Hipsters were flooding New York under Rudy and Bloomberg and neither of them were viral on TikTok.

The fact is people care about New York. Often, they care too much. It’s an interesting place and most of us live in places that are only mildly interesting or not interesting at all. New York is a city of romance and dreams and just when you think you know New York it changes. Some people are in love with the art scene, the glitz and glamour of Manhattan, the elite social status of liberal Brooklynites in gentrified neighborhoods, midwestern creatives in Queens, Wall Street, the international wealth scene, Broadway, culture, museums, endless entertainment options, the night life, lightly stepped on coke, high-end prostitution, and the list goes on. That’s at the high-dollar end.

Those things never interested me much. Not that I had money to hang out on Wall Street anyway or could’ve spent five minutes around Park Slope dogs and their moms without wanting to jump into the East River. The thing about New York is there isn’t just one New York. There isn’t even one-hundred versions of the city. There are endless. Yes, you can be a rich kid from Ladue inspired by Sex in the City and seek that version of New York; but you can also be a Jewish kid from Chesterfield, not quite bold enough to move to Jerusalem, but confident enough to move to Flatbush to see what it’s like to live in a place where you aren’t socially isolated.

They say Miami is the Capitol of Latin America, and it seems that way, when you visit, but if Miami is DC, New York has to at least be Falls Church. From Dominicans Uptown and in the Bronx to the fading Puerto Rican population to newer waves of Mexicans, Colombians, Ecuadorians, Venezuelans, and others the streets of New York are alive with a vibrant Latin culture.

I’m nostalgic for the Black New York in the 80s and 90s that gave us hip-hop, Spike Lee, and so much more. There are expressions in the Muslim community about “the Philly Muslim”. All of that began in Brooklyn and Harlem. Pre-gentrification New York was one where Black Sunnis were out and visible- especially in Brooklyn. That flavor is gone in New York thanks to reverse-migration to the South. You no longer walk up and down Fulton Street in Bed-Stuy giving Salaams, smell the incense burning, and hear the mixture of Quran recitations, Islamic lectures, and the adhan mixed in with Biggie and Nas. That’s gone. If you weren’t there you missed it. Because New York is the city it is means that the loss of this community means the arrival of something else interesting. West African Muslims with their unique traditions. Becky with her massive dog, not interesting. You have to take the good with the bad.

Some come to New York to shop and eat in Chinatown. The city now has several Chinatown areas with the one in Manhattan perhaps being the least vibrant and most touristy. If you go to Queens, you can also find Koreatown, basically anything from the continent of Asia from Nepalese minority groups to Uyghur Muslims fleeing China to Afghans. Can’t make it to Pakistan then go to Coney Island for lunch and Kazakhstan for dessert. If, like me, you find the future yuppies of Williamsburg and Bushwick odd, boring, and not interesting, you can literally stay in those same neighborhoods and go to established neighborhood Italian, Jewish, and Puerto Rican restaurants and shops. People used to come to Bensonhurst to get Italian food and a whiff of the mob, and some of that is still there, but you can now get Halal food and authentic Chinese food there as well. Neighboring Bay Ridge is similar. No longer Irish in the way Woodlawn is in the Bronx, but Irish enough if you just wanna have a few, and you can sober up with Yemeni coffee.

That international city has come together to cheer on the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. It’s really something amazing to watch from afar and it has to be magical in person. Yes, there are some bad scenes of New Yorkers beating up Spurs fans. That’s unfortunate; but America is very often a violent and unruly place. That wouldn’t happen in St. Louis, but not everyone has our home training. Our youth just riot at Six Flags and 6-7 parties for no apparent reason. Those negative incidents shouldn’t take away from the fact that this is an overwhelmingly positive experience bonding New Yorkers across racial, ethnic, religious, and class lines in a way that only sports can.

The scenes of fans dancing together in the street cannot be duplicated in any other city in the world. Hasidic Jews dancing with Puerto Ricans and Jamaicans, Palestinian Muslims dancing with white transplants who just became a Knicks fan last week, and diehard fans bursting with enthusiasm in the streets. The Knicks last won a championship the year before I was born and I’m old. It’s been a long time. Patrick Ewing never got his ring. Will Jalen Brunson? Everyone wants in on the action. Madison Square Garden, that magical arena in Manhattan where I have been blessed to see so many boxing matches, was full of celebrities and the powerful to watch game three. Of course, other than sugar babies, no working-class person could afford to get into The Garden. President Donald Trump, who is a longtime fan of the New York Knicks, and has attended many games over the years, even flew in for game three. He appeared to be a little sleepy as the Knicks lost in their first finals game at home.

When New York sports teams are winning the world takes notice. They sell Yankees caps all over the world. Good luck getting a Diamondbacks or Nationals cap in Brighton, Lyon, or Singapore. The closest city to New York in global cultural significance is London (although I believe the Gulf cities are catching up and will perhaps surpass London). London is diverse, global in nature, and has a rabid sports culture, but they could never repeat what we’re seeing in New York. The city has numerous football clubs, and the city isn’t united in cheering for one team. Not only is New York united in wanting to see the Knicks win- it appears the world is united. No pressure, guys. Sorry, San Antonio and Phill Collins, Forget The Alamo.

A Knicks victory would also help dispel the junk theories of the Great Awokening. There is nothing more New York than working-class immigrant communities clawing their way into American prosperity through faith, family stability, hard work, education, and finding a good marriage partner. Yet, as with race in America, things are often fluid both within families and in generations (despite the rantings of nitwits like Robin DiAngelo). Along with the beer and wine flowing in celebration after a Knicks win semen will be shot throughout the five boroughs like a fire hydrant on a hot day in Brownsville. In nine months, little babies will be born named Brunson, Karl-Anthony, Landry, and Josh. Their future Instagram bios will contain multiple flags representing their ethnicities. That’s another thing that is so New York. Combining the flavors like a Baskin Robbins cone.

The World Cup Comes to North America

The excitement for the NBA Finals can’t make us forget that the biggest sporting event in the world is starting this week. I didn’t grow up watching the World Cup of soccer. In fact, I’d never witnessed soccer being played in person at any level until I visited London in 2022 and saw West Ham play Manchester City live at London Stadium. When I was growing up, I viewed soccer as a sport for affluent white Catholic kids who were scared to play football. There was some truth to this as a lot of soccer moms didn’t want their little boys playing against Black kids on teams such as Matthews-Dickey, the Royal Knights, Herbert Hoover, NYA, Jennings, Normandy, U City, ABC, and Florissant in the old St. Louis JFL. I played football growing up while waiting on wrestling season and never thought of playing soccer. Also, my dad had told me when I’d been handed a flier from a soccer team given to me at Desmet Elementary (now senior housing), “son, soccer is for p*****s”.

In 1994 I was introduced to watching soccer on TV by some Malaysian friends living in Dogtown who were attending Washington University. I knew them both from the mosque and our complex, yet legal, baby formula hustle. That year the World Cup was also in the US, and we were introduced to the likes of Alexi Lalas. who didn’t do a lot to endear me to American soccer culture. He looked a lot like the middle-class “grunge” kids who were cosplaying blue-collar grandfathers despite never working a hard day in their lives. So, I rooted for Brazil and other Latin American teams. If I didn’t know a lot about the sport, I might as well root for the teams with the best-looking fans. I additionally cheered for all of the teams representing majority-Muslim countries.

In 1998 I watched the World Cup in Northern Virginia with a Saudi friend, and we had a string of Muslims in and out of the apartment watching the games. In 2002 I was broke and reeling from the post-911 trauma and all of the heat we were facing and wasn’t able to watch many games, but I would slip into some crowded New York bars and watch some games without ordering anything. In 2006 I think I watched nearly every game of the World Cup from my apartment in Maspeth, Queens (where I’d just moved from Brownsville Brooklyn and it seemed like being in Beverly Hills in comparison). I would often visit restaurants and bars associated with the various teams playing in the World Cup and mingle with their fans. I recommended this to anyone of you if really wanna catch the spirit of the tournament. In 2010 I found myself back in a personal mess and in St. Louis. Without a TV I forced my friend Mukhtar, a Black American convert who grew-up in the old Pruitt-Igoe projects, to watch the games with me, despite him having no interest in soccer. He had the TV and his wife was gone for the summer to Morocco. I think he enjoyed watching the games in the end even if he was perplexed by the sound of the vuvuzelas in South Africa. The two of us still have a tradition of watching the NBA Finals together and of course we’ve also watched many Cardinals baseball games, boxing matches, and Super Bowls together over the years. In 2014 my heart was broken watching Germany crush Brazil at home. At least I was watching in comfort from my apartment in Old North St. Louis. I honestly don’t remember where I watched the 2018 World Cup, but as someone who has never cared much for France, I remember being upset by the result.

2022 I remember very well. Let’s start with the pompous shitheads on American and British TV networks refusing to broadcast the opening ceremony in Qatar in the name of human rights. These same networks had jizzed all over themselves broadcasting opening ceremonies in China and Russia so the concern over human rights is situational and heightened when they can point a finger at Muslims. It was a beautiful ceremony (as opposed to the filth we saw to begin the 2024 Paris Olympics). Unfortunately, I had to watch it online. My wife roots for Argentina and is a big fan of Lionel Messi. Indonesia has only played in one World Cup despite being the fourth-largest nation the world and being fanatical about soccer (she blames the average height). Like every Muslim I know we enjoyed watching Morocco make their run and how the players carried themselves. The Ummah adopted Morocco. And we enjoyed the ending and seeing Messi finally lead Argentina to victory. More than anything else we enjoyed Qatar and what it represented during the World Cup. Arab and Muslim excellence, games with no alcohol, law and order, no drunk hooligans in the stands, and a family-friendly environment. This is a model Saudi Arabia will replicate and exceed when they host the tournament. I decided right then that I wanted to visit Qatar and I was blessed to do so last year and left very impressed with that small nation.

I will be watching the 2026 games here in St. Louis and am saddened that despite our outsized role in American soccer history we will not be hosting any matches. Kansas City will. Perhaps FIFA organizers are into the BBQ and meth combo. Ticket prices are absurdly high, many fans can’t even get into the country to begin with, regular fans have been priced out, tickets remain unsold on the secondary market, the booze will be flowing, fans will be fighting, and I expect at least a few fatalities. Not from brawling. I’m reading World Cup Fever by Simon Kuper now and he has reminded readers no fans have died in World Cup brawls. I expect fatalities from driving and walking. If there are two thing Americans care very little for it’s pedestrian safety and drunk-driving laws.

Over the years I have continued to cheer for Brazil and Muslim countries, but I shifted to being a fan of England years ago. Being from St. Louis perhaps leaves me attracted to faded powers who typically fall short of expectations.

Andrew Tate and UFC Freedom 250

The New Yorker has an excellent and thoroughly researched article from Heidi Blake on the violent pimp and all-around degenerate Andrew Tate who attracted so many young Muslim men and was even schmoozed by social media imams in Dubai. He has since been surpassed in convert popularity by the activist grifter Shaun King, the quasi-Nazi Dan Blizerian, and, by far, my favorite, former adult performer Rae Lil’Black.

Tate is even worse than I imagined. His popularity with Muslims still confuses me. I know that anyone who says Free Palestine will get supported by Muslims. Doesn’t matter if they’re a racist, a fascist, or a communist. That alone will win Muslim fans. I didn’t know pimping and abuse would be so endearing to so many young Muslim men. I haven’t heard a single khutbah address this issue. Nor have I heard one address the rise in fatal drug overdoses, drunk driving deaths, suicides, and murders I keep getting Janazah notifications about. Just keep reminding us of when the next fundraiser is.

The other major upcoming sporting event is UFC Freedom 250 this Sunday. It’s ridiculous, of course. But many of us will be tuned in. I will probably not watch live as there are World Cup games slotted for that time. Or I may catch it on my phone. Hopefully the President will be able to stay awake for the entirety of the evening as it’s a pretty solid card.

“If God doesn’t exist, anything is permissible” …

Dostoyevsky

These days my social media feed often gets flooded with fight videos or people in public displaying antisocial behavior. Several recent videos have gone viral on St. Louis social media including young women fighting at Six Flags, more young women fighting in Carr Square leading to shootings and homicides, kids fighting each other and staff at a local entertainment venue (thus wrecking the “our kids don’t have anything to do” argument), and a good ‘ole brawl to ignite race-based comments on social media at a carnival at Mid Rivers Mall (another “thing to do”).

The Mid Rivers Mall fight was pretty tame for my Gen X eyes. As a teenager I pretty much saw something similar every weekend and have been both on the giving and receiving end. That said, this isn’t the 90s (even if I’m still mentally in that decade), the behavior was certainly bad, and of course the parents of the kids beaten will be upset. It’s also an example of why local malls were struggling way before online shopping became popular. Malls became the place for teens to fight and that doesn’t make for a pleasant shopping experience. The refrain, “where are their parents?”, assumes their parents don’t support or participate in bad behavior themselves. Or even care.

Mosques aren’t immune from brawls either. I cannot be judgmental in this matter as I’ve personally been involved in some masjid brawls. Mostly in the wild wild west of the Muslim 90s, but a couple many years later. There is currently a viral video of a Muslim man, who was recently released from prison, entering a Philadelphia mosque, receiving what appear to be instructions from Imam Anwar Wright, praying, and then walking over to a brother and punching him in his face. In the musalla!

There is a time and a place for everything and Six Flags, the carnival, and the masjid aren’t the place for fighting. The Philadelphia fight has led to people blaming the violence on the Salafi Dawah or on the Black American Muslim community of Philly in general. The fight, which is far from the first in a Philly masjid, can be blamed on neither. If this behavior was something peculiar to the Salafi Dawah, then Uthman ibn Farooq, Yaser Birjas, and Faris al Hammadi lectures would routinely be followed by fistfights and gunplay. If this was something normalized in the Black American Muslim community of Philly, then it would be occurring at masjids in the community the late Imam W.D. Mohammed as well.

The blame for masjid violence is not on the Salafi Dawah or the BAM of Philly. Violence occurs inside the masjid because it happens in the community outside of the masjid. If this is how disputes are settled in Germantown Philly and there has been no counseling, education, and lifestyle alteration, and only a list of do’s and dont’s, and lists of biddah and sunnah given, then the behavior will continue. If your only method of correcting behavior is relying on the wisdom of people from an entirely different culture and family structure in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, or Egypt then the behaviors will persist.

Incidents such as those mentioned above are why people often check out of masjds in working-class neighborhoods. Why go to a masjid full of ankle monitors that has the vibe of a prison break room or a craphouse when you can just go and pray on the comfortable carpet of a suburban Islamic Center where the only thing you have to worry about is the bad parking and boring (often political) khutbahs?

Not that all fights involve brawls. The City of St. Louis is currently locked in a battle with the State of Missouri and police board over pay increases. The money police are asking for would bankrupt the city. Maybe that’s the point? All sensible people believe police are needed and deserve fair pay like everyone else. The era of “defund the police” is over, never really happened to begin with, and has returned to being a talking point among privileged young people on college campuses, a collection of oddballs in gentrified neighborhoods, and the septum piercing brigade on TikTok. In real life we know what happens when police throw in the towel. We’ve seen it in St. Louis. The most vulnerable are preyed upon, suffer, and even lose their lives. Not that anyone beginning a talk with a land acknowledgement is paying attention to suffering they can’t virtue-signal off of.

That said, all cities run on more than one department. There are multiple needs. The trash has to be picked up, the water must stay clean, trees trimmed, buildings inspected, potholes fixed, and the list goes on. No one department can bankrupt the rest of the city. Unless that’s the plan? The arguments have been getting heated and they’re far from over.

For those who enjoy this spirit of conflict President Donald Trump has your back. Gone is the East Wing of the White House and in comes a UFC Octagon. Again, there is a time and a place for everything, and the White House Lawn certainly isn’t the time or place for such an event. Perhaps it will make for a great 60 Minutes feature in the upcoming weeks from new correspondent ThatMMABro8662. Who needs award-winning journalists anyway!

250 Reads

I’m lining up my June, and early July reads to coincide with America 250. Starting with a book on the American Revolution, I will then backtrack to the founding of Virginia, and then presidential biographies of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson or Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and either Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagen, we’ll see how I’m doing with time. In July I’ll need to transition to readings corresponding with my international travels this autumn which will also include literary fiction.

Reads and Films Thus Far

I’ve had a great year of reading and film thus far.

Recommendations

Books Nonfiction

The Last of The Old Breed

Rasputin and The Downfall of the Romanovs

Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and The Christian Roots of North Korea’s Personality Cult

The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1948-1957

Heartland: A Forgotten Place, An Impossible Dream, and the Miracle of Larry Bird

A Kim Jong-Il Production

The Rise of Marco Rubio

London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth

Killing The Messiah: The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth

El Paso: Five Families and One-Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory

The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China

Volga Blues: A Journey Into the Heart of Russia

Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture

The War that made The Middle East: WWI and The End of The Ottoman Empire

Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes

Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer The Future

Books-Fiction

Forbidden City by Vanessa Hua

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen

Back to Blood by Tom Wolfe

Bernard Malamud: The Complete Stories

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

The Feast of The Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa

A Map for The Missing by Belinda Huijjuan Tang

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano

James by Percival Everett

Film

A Foggy Tale (Taiwan)

Bugonia

Maborosi (Japan)

Mr. Nobody Against Putin (Russia)

Cloud (Japan)

A Sun (Taiwan)

Stagecoach (1939)

12 Angry Men (1957)

The Promised Land (Denmark)

Falling Down (1993)

Free and Easy (China)

Raging Bull (1980)

No Other Choice (South Korea)

Mountains May Depart (China)

Good Will Hunting

The Nightingale (China)

Marty Supreme

Pop Aye (Thailand)

Mean Streets (1973)

In The Mood for Love (Hong Kong)

Manila In the Claws of Light (Philippines)

Back to The Future (1985)

Grandma and Grandpa

On Memorial Day I visited my grandparents, great-grandparents, and two of my uncles graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. I was thinking of my grandpa over the weekend after watching the new WWII film Pressure and beginning to read The Last Of the Old Breed. I left this review for the book on Goodreads and Fable:

“Like many people I read this book thinking of a family member and after reading the Old Breed books by E.B. Sledge. For me this person was my grandpa whose name was Ivan Loyal Lee (who raised me along with my grandma). At the age of 17 he went to a Marine recruiting office in St. Louis and volunteered. He was in the 1st Marine Division and worked in communications helping with the Navajo code talkers and running and laying lines in the battlefields and such. He had wanted to be a machine gunner and he relayed the story several times that all of his friends who became machine gunners were killed in action.

Many of the testimonies in this book tracks with things he mentioned to the family. He had a great time in Australia and was a big hit with the local ladies, Peleliu was gruesome, brutal, and the worst action he saw in the war, and Okinawa was also very bloody and intense. He didn't talk all that much about the war but I vividly remember a story about him finding a Japanese soldier in a cave.

One thing no one in the book really mentioned in depth was the time the 1st Marine Division spent in Tientsin (Tianjin) after the war. He described China as a place that was very impoverished and devastated from the Japanese occupation.

I also appreciate the way this book closed out talking about adjustments after the war. Some were more fortunate than others. My grandpa had a job waiting for him at the St. Louis Dairy (where the soccer stadium is now) when he returned and met my grandma there. At the beginning of the Korean War, he attempted to volunteer for the Marines once again and the recruiter told him, "go home to your wife and son, old man". Years later, by then working as a pipefitter at the old Chevrolet plant in north St. Louis, his son was serving in the Army in Vietnam. I can only imagine the stress that put him through after seeing what he saw.

These testimonials are very important. For some reason I didn't think to record my grandparents' testimonials (although I do have some audio recordings of a lower quality). Perhaps many of us neglected that, thus making the work of Scott Davis all the more important as he interviewed The Last of The Old Breed.”

Today would’ve been my grandma’s 93rd birthday. Thinking of you on this day “Just Over in the Glory Land”. You will forever be missed.

Many American sports fans don’t share my view. Some never leave the US because they have no desire to do so. The St. Louis mentality is, if you’re any good, why are you in St. Louis? The attitude of American sports fans is often, if you’re any good, why aren’t you competing in the US? Two recent events bring this home.

Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani

Naoya Inoue has been listed by The Ring Magazine as the number one pound for pound boxer in the world. The Japanese “monster” solidified that position last weekend by defeating the rising Japanese star Junto Nakatani. The reaction from many American fans? If he’s that great, he would be fighting in America. Never mind the fact that Inoue is undefeated, a multi weight-class world champion, and knocked out the previously undefeated Philly fighter Stephen Fulton, the question remains.

What makes this question even more bizarre is that Inoue fights before huge crowds in Japan. The fight with Nakatani drew 55,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome. Tyson Fury fought his last fight in London in front of over 60,000 fans. The biggest stars in the US often struggle to draw more than 10,000 fans and most boxing matches are contested within venues full of empty seats. An America isn’t even sniffing at a heavyweight title at the moment.

Here are the current Ring Magazine Rankings and number of Americans in each division. Note- in the previous century most of these divisions were dominated by Americans. Most of the top-ten in these divisions were from America and in some cases the entire top-ten:

Number of Americans in The Top-Ten:

Heavyweight: 1

Cruiserweight: 0

Light Heavyweight: 1

Super Middle: 2

Middleweight: 3 (one being a Cuben defector)

Junior Middle: 4 (including the top two)

Welterweight: 5 (including 4 of the top 5)

Junior Welter: 5 (including the champion, Shakur Stevenson, and 5 out of the top 7)

Lightweight: 4 (4 out of the top 6)

Quite simply, the era of the US dominating boxing is over. One could argue that this may be true but if fighters still want to become global superstars and make a lot of money they need to fight in the US. That is no longer the case. In 2000 Asia accounted for roughly 25-30% of global GDP. Today Asia accounts for roughly 45-50% of Global GDP. That economic power eventually turns into political, cultural, tech, and sports power. The Korean show Squid Game is the most streamed TV show of the past few years, K-Drams regularly crack the Netflix global top-ten, K-Pop has become a global success creating some of the biggest pop stars of our era, Japanese Anima and Manga have developed into a global industry creating billions of dollars in revenue annually, Japanese wrestlers kicked ass at the 2024 Olympics, Shohei Ohtani is the best player in baseball, China dominates with social media tech, and the best films of the 21st Century aren’t being made in Hollywood, London, or Paris- they’re being made in Asia.

Moral to the story? Inoue is the best fighter in the world, and he has no need to leave Japan to fight at an arena in Las Vegas or New York with thousands of empty seats.

Sharing the Inoue fight with Fulton for American fans who need a reminder.

Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland

Few Americans knew anything about Chechnya until we began reading about their war for independence against Russia in the late 1990s. Round one went to the Chechens, dysfunction and chaos followed, and Valdimir Putin rallied Russia to a brutal win in the rematch. There have been many wars in the Caucasus over the centuries involving a myriad of combatants. The region is mountainous, rugged, and difficult to govern. The majority Muslim population often has a less-than-ideal relationship with the Christian (or post-Christian and post-Communist) Russians to the north.

People who follow international wrestling always knew about this region because it produces the most wrestling talent of any place on Earth. Especially Dagestan. Khabib Nurmagomedov took the UFC by storm and became a global Muslim icon after defeating Conor McGregor. Since that time there has been a flood of Muslim fighters from the Caucus region earning MMA stardom. Most notably Islam Makhachev and Khamzat Chimaev.

These fighters often draw the ire of American combat sports fans because of their wrestling. They claim wrestling is boring. The reality is their favorite fighters cannot handle high-level wrestling and they’re upset. Many of these same fans who claim they just want to see stand-up and striking refuse to watch boxing. Go figure!

Conversely, I believe these fighters filled a needed void for Muslim men. Post-911 Muslims were heavily pushing a narrative of the wimpy and non-threatening Muslim male (think of the corny comedians and writers) in order to present the image of Muslims as harmless and non-threatening. That PR message didn’t land in Dagestan and Chechnya and quite frankly it didn’t land with a lot of Muslim men globally. The success of these Muslim men seems to have led to a rise of Muslim youth in the US and UK entering wrestling, boxing, martial arts, and other combat sports programs. This is a positive development and a definite improvement from the days Muslim men in the US were discouraged from playing basketball together because it seemed too threatening. However, I still wouldn’t advise Muslim public figures to adopt Khamzat’s patented “I kill everyone, Allahu Akbar” line.

Khamzat is no Khabib. While they both grew-up wrestling and in an environment of combat sports, Khamzat moved, along with his mother and brother, from Chechnya to Sweden when he was 18. While Khamzat has the conservative Muslim look of Khabib, and by all accounts he is a serious Muslim, he isn’t quite as traditional as Khabib. Landing in Sweden as a teenager probably has something to do with that. He is the current UFC middleweight champion.

Sean Strickland has a reputation. A bad one. He is known for making racially insensitive jokes, promoting gross stereotypes, saying offensive things about Muslims, and generally being a jerk. Strickland was hardcore MAGA but has since questioned Donald Trump due to his support of Israel.

This Saturday the two men will meet at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Security better be tight. To add to the already tense atmosphere of this fight it is rumored that Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, a rabid combat sports fan, may actually be working Khamzat’s corner!

The way the global MMA economy is structured means that the best of the best come to America and fight. Inoue can make a fortune fighting in Japan. Khamzat cannot do that in Chechnya or Sweden. I’ll be tuning in.

Growing up in St. Louis I didn't know any college-educated liberal-minded white residents. If I did, they kept it to themselves. Most people I'd encounter could care less about politics. Others were Black Dems, white labor Dems, or religiously-minded Reagan Republicans. I'm sure many are MAGA today.

When Donnybrook debuted in St. Louis I was twelve years-old and I would watch it weekly with my grandma. Ann Keefe seemed familiar because she had been on KMOX for years. Martin Duggan came off like a grandpa. Not my grandpa, who said of Duggan “he's always trying to start shit and get everyone arguing”, but someone's grandpa. Mark Vittert reminded me of my Uncle Jim. Rich Koster reminded me of a principal at school. Bill McClellan reminded me of a slightly fancier version of half the dads I knew. I didn't know anyone like Ray Hartmann.

Ray was young, articulate, loud, and still had his long and dark mullet. He advocated for civil-rights, improved race-relations, historic preservation, police accountability, and more. I'd really never been exposed to a white St. Louisan who talked like this.

At some point I began reading the Riverfront Times. It was kind of a subversive read. Happy ending massage and escort ads in the back, columns in the front, and serious journalism in the middle. Years later I was even published in the RFT on a couple of occasions when Sarah Fenske was at the helm. Ray had started the RFT to fill a void in the local journalism scene. A paper that could be hard-hitting and do serious investigate work, provide a voice to more progressive voices, but also review shows and eateries that the Post-Dispatch may overlook. It was our version of the Village Voice even if our village seemed to be a difficult one at times.

Over the years Ray further established himself as a St. Louis media legend. Nearly forty years on Donnybrook, buying into St. Louis Magazine, a radio career, and a return to the RFT for a spell after selling it. We won't see a career like that again in St. Louis.

Ray joined beloved local media figures like the late Mike Shannon and Frank Cusumano. Local guys, born and raised, who loved St. Louis, and that feeling oozed out of them with everything they did. He also represented an older era of progressive St. Louisans. Ray loved St. Louis and loved St. Louisans even while being a fierce critic when the need arose. Unlike our current crop of progressive St. Louisans who often isolate themselves in a select handful of neighborhoods, limit interactions with anyone outside of their bubble, and generally seem to disdain the majority of people living in our metro, Ray embraced the whole region and could sit down and have a reasonable conversation even with those he passionately disagreed with.

Ray Hartmann will definitely be missed and we all owe him a debt of gratitude. I’m thankful for Ray and what I learned from him. Perhaps it was due to being the son of a Holocaust survivor, perhaps it was something that he experienced growing up in St. Louis, whatever it was, Ray most often was looking out for the little guy and weary of corporate and establishment power.

I looked for Ray last week at Donnybash and didn't see him. Little did I know he would lose his life a week later .

If there is anyone today who reminds me of Ray Hartmann, it would be Jason Rosenbaum. Fortunately he is also a semi-regular panelist on Donnybrook in addition to his podcasting and radio duties at St. Louis Public Radio. In fairness, he's a suburban Chicago native and a fan of the White Sox.

Michael

I have many pet peeves with TV and film depictions of 1980s childhoods. There is no Cosby Show, no kids playing sports in the streets, all athletes are jerks, no pro wrestling, no baseball card collecting, no religion, and limited financial struggles. Then there is the music. I can assure younger people that all St. Louisans weren't listening to punk rock or stuff like Kate Bush. There is no artist from that decade who had more fans than Michael Jackson. Revisionist history can't erase that just like it can't erase Cosby.

When talking with my daughter in preparation for us going to see Michael I had difficulty putting into words just how huge he was. No matter what happened later, no matter what uncomfortable truths we may have learned, at the moment in history, we loved Michael. Every kid wanted a Beat It and Thriller jacket, we all wanted to moonwalk, and we all looked forward to his videos on MTV.

I enjoyed the film even if I didn't take it all that seriously. For my wife and daughter they were learning things they didn't know about Michael. With a more critical lense I saw important details were often spun or erased to present Michael Jackson the saint. Of course, we've seen this before with the Malcolm X autobiography and film and many other works. People (and family members and estates in this case) are seldom honest, or even good, narrators of their own story, and scholars and investigate writers and filmmakers need to fill in the gaps later.

That criticism aside, it was just an amazing experience to hear the music of Michael Jackson on the big screen and share that moment.

The Booming Sun Belt

I spent last week in the city of Miami and in the Dallas suburbs.

Miami was a great time. With only three days there I had to make the most of my time. Staying in a working-class Latino neighborhood near Little Havana I was able to explore Little Havana and Miami Beach on walking tours, take a citywide tour and a boat tour, and visit several local museums (the National Museum of the Cuban Diaspora was my favorite). Beautiful weather, beautiful people, and good food. We ate good too. Cuban, Honduran, Turkish, and Indonesian. My foot didn't touch the water.

I've lived in Dallas before and only visit for family reasons. I'm not really a fan. Perhaps it's like Miami with less seasoning, excitement, beaches, and good weather. What Dallas does share with Miami is that both of these booming and growing metros have been transformed by international immigration and transplants. In the case of the Miami metro, over three-million residents with roots in Latin America, with the largest demographic being from Cuba. In Dallas we went to Chinatown, which is in suburban Richardson, which itself is down the street from a heavily Muslim area, and not that far from KoreaTown, Little Laos and Vietnam.

I had Halal Thai, an American style Halal breakfast, and prayed Jummah at Al Ansar Society. This organization was created as a place for Muslim converts and their families and it's located within a shopping and business development with numerous Muslim-owned businesses. The guest imam was a Puerto Rican convert from New Jersey. I met a friend who is a Black American convert from Wichita.

St. Louis was once such a vibrant place. I doubt it will ever be again. We have to be thankful for what we have and improve where we can. Each generation will need voices like Ray Hartmann to keep us honest.

Additional reads:

I listed my Florida reads in my Instagram post above. I mixed fiction and nonfiction. Other reads from this week I recommend.

• London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe

• A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer

Rest assured the President was in a more devout mood. On Easter morning he woke up, threatened Iran with great harm in a post filled with profanities, and topped it all with praising Allah. Has Trump converted to Islam? His threat to obliterate Iran not the rantings of a narcissistic old man with dictatorial impulses and a cult following? Rather, Trump is upon the dawah now and pledging to wipe out the rafidah from their Persian perch? The more likely scenario is Trump was watching old Mike Tyson fights.

My prayers are for peace between Iran and all of her neighbors in the region and against warmongers. Trump has threatened to “end Iranian civilization” this evening if they don’t comply to his demands. What this means is anyone’s guess. Committing war crimes by taking out Iranian civilian infrastructure? Nukes? We don’t know. What we do know is that Trump, Pete Hegseth, and the gang have no commitment to international law or American post-war norms. We can also now categorically say that anyone who encouraged Muslims to vote for the likes of Jill Stein is a complete idiot and should never be taken seriously again.

Iran is home to a great and historic civilization which cannot be destroyed by rogues like Trump or anyone else. That this war was ever about “liberating” Iran or in solidarity with the human-rights efforts of Iranian protesters becomes even more laughable with these threats from Trump.

I have been a critic of Iran and their negative influence on the region. Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, and others have legitimate grievances and security concerns with regards to Iran. Yet Trump and Netanyahu are offering nothing of substance in terms of achieving regional peace and stability. What Trump is promising is essentially state-collapse. What happened in Syria, Libya, and Iraq after such collapses (with Iran played a negative role in all)? Civil conflicts and the rise of ISIS. What is the track-record of US involvement? Have we left places better or worse off? I can’t think of any example of us leaving a place better off. Trump had promised to keep us out of such conflicts and when he ran for President largely did so criticizing the Iraq War and the role of George W. Bush. Americans are often immune to these negative consequences of our foreign disasters. The Real Housewives, sports, and social media will continue to consume us while regional neighbors will be flooded with refugees and security concerns that will even extend into Europe. We can obliterate Iran and only a minority of Americans would care. High gas prices, inflation. and American casualties are what Americans care about, and we may very well be headed for all three.

Trouble at Home

I’m also troubled by the hateful and violent rhetoric coming from many Iranian diaspora groups in the US. Even mild criticism of Pahlavi or the war in Iran elicits a hateful response. My friend Muhammad Ali Mojarradi has faced a constant campaign of hate and harassment for speaking out against the war. I suggest you support his free speech by buying his book on Persian poetry.

The unhinged behavior of the Los Angeles based Iranian diaspora was highlighted this week when an Iranian “model” filmed herself committing a hate crime against a man dressed in the clothing of a Shia cleric (some believe the event may have been staged). If this event was real, and not a skit, she should be prosecuted.

My suggestion for the Tehrangeles crowd is to show as much enthusiasm for joining the US military or forming a US-backed militia to actually fight, and not just post unhinged content on social media, as you do for nose jobs, cosmetic surgery, developing the “OnlyFans Chic” look, and leasing a white BMW.

St. Louis Empty

There is nothing more triggering and offensive to St. Louisans as the truth. While in town to play the Cardinals announcers for the New York Mets, including former Cardinals player Todd Zeile, remarked that the streets of downtown St. Louis were always empty. Of course, this obvious truth, outraged St. Louisans. Local commenters and media outlets said the remarks were “bizarre”. If you want to know why there is never any progress in St. Louis, its precisely this attitude. If there isn’t a game, a convention, or a special event then the streets of downtown are dead. On most blocks there is close to no pedestrian traffic. That’s not bizarre, that’s reality. The road to improvement begins with recognition of the present condition. That condition is we have a sleepy downtown and efforts at revitalization have largely failed. There is good news in some St. Louis neighborhoods, but downtown, like much of our region, is struggling. Media outlets can play dumb to make St. Louisans feel good about ourselves; but our eyes don’t lie.