Park51

Mona Eltahawy--Writer, Talking Head, and Activist--Willingly Steps into the Crossfire

Agent Provocateur

Pamela Geller's War

Eleven years ago, Pamela Geller declared war on savages who were trying to take over the world. This November, she admits she lost.

DOC NYC Again Holds a Mirror to its Hometown

93 of the 8 million stories

F2K Presents: The Nine Worst September 11 Response Songs

Today is the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a moment in American history that was pretty horrifying for reasons that have been enumerated countless times. Their effects on pop music weren't as tragic, to be sure, but they were pretty unfortunate—artists on both sides of the aisl ... More >>

When Rightbloggers Tell You the Battle of Chick-fil-A Isn't About Gay Rights, It's About Gay Rights

In years to come, rightbloggers will tell their grandchildren many stories of the glorious summer of twenty-twelve. They'll tell 'em how they warned America about the socialist menace of the Olympics. They'll tell 'em how, in the wake of the Aurora shooting, they defended assault weapons against Dem ... More >>

Religion and Campaign Finance Reform Mix: Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf To Talk Elections

Remember the "Ground Zero mosque" that wasn't just a mosque but actually a community center but still had people enraged back in 2010 because they thought it would be a victory monument to terrorism? We hadn't really thought about it much recently, either -- until today, when we heard that Imam Fei ... More >>

Rush Limbaugh: Saved by Sandra Fluke?

When Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" on his radio show Feb. 29, it sure seemed like the end of an era might be upon us. Public outcry prompted sponsors to pull support from the show, leaving many to wonder whether the conservative stalwart would ... More >>

100 Most Powerless New Yorkers

A 'power list' for the rest of us

America’s Top Heathen

Odin himself might have had a hard time predicting Dan Halloran’s strange career on New York’s City Council

Occupy Wall Street Gains Traction With Neighbors as CB1 Passes Resolution

Zoe SchlangerMusicians at Zuccotti Park. ​Last week, sub-committees of Lower Manhattan's Community Board 1 drafted a resolution in hopes of easing tensions with their new neighbors, Occupy Wall Street. Last night, the full board passed the resolution by a large majority. Held at a public sch ... More >>

New Yorkers Reveal Their Favorite Places on I-Call-NY

Concerned New Yorkers, an artist collective responsible for "Monty Burns for Mayor" and "Park 51", have launched a new project called I-Call-NY. They've put up flyers around Manhattan asking people to call in and leave a voicemail with a story about their favorite place in the city. Each message is ... More >>

Ground Zero Tolerance

With no politician willing to take charge, the 9/11 recovery has dragged on far too long

Bob Turner To Claim Liberal Party Endorsement, Worth To Be Determined

​The once-potent Liberal Party, which lost its ballot line in 2002, has decided to back Republican Bob Turner in the tightening race to replace Anthony Weiner in the 9th Congressional District, former party chairman Henry Stern told the Voice today. Stern, the former parks commissioner, is a ... More >>

Bob Turner, Congressional Candidate: No Palestinian Chicken Next to Goldblatt's Deli?

One good nontroversy deserves another. Now that Anthony Weiner has abandoned his post representing New York's 9th Congressional District over rather silly reasons, and will soon be replaced by Democrat David Weprin or Republican Bob Turner, it seems fitting that the special election is being framed ... More >>

What Will The Big Summer Scandal Be?

​Last year, it was all that righteous fury about the Ground Zero Mosque and how it would surely end modern civilization as we know it. This year, it can't possibly be Weinergate because that already happened and all the wieners have been grilled. So what will it be? The Awl asked various Ne ... More >>

U.N. Discusses Libya Sanctions; Charlie Sheen's Meltdown Could Lose CBS $250 Million (Weekend Links)

via CNN ​A U.N. security panel is meeting today to discuss how to go about fixing the situation in Libya. They're discussing whether or not to impose international sanctions on the Libyan government, including travel bans on Muammar Qaddafi and those who are close to him. The U.S. has already clos ... More >>

"Ground Zero Mosque" Loses New Imam Already

​The so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" is once again without an imam, as Sheik Abdallah Adhami, who took over only weeks ago as the leader of Park51, the Islamic community center and mosque in Lower Manhattan, announced he would not be sticking around. Just last month, the site's developer Sharif ... More >>

Cee Lo Green and the Year of "Fuck You"

Summing up 2010 in two little words

The Dumbest Quotes of 2010

​"I am not a witch" - Senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell, who is also not employed. "It may be a blessing in disguise" - Evangelist Pat Robertson on the Haiti earthquake that killed possibly more than 100,000 people.

The 10 Best Rightblogger Rants of 2010: Obama vs. Jesus, The Sperm Donor Menace, And More!

What a horrible year it's been. There's been something to annoy everyone, and everyone took full advantage: The health care bill, the Tea Party, the BP spill, the Ground Zero Mosque, the Glenn Beck and Jon Stewart rallies, the Republican Comeback, the enhanced TSA patdowns, WikiLeaks -- and every bi ... More >>

"Ground Zero Mosque" Moving to St. Vincent's?

​King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia may purchase the closed-down St. Vincent Medical Center and would consider housing the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" at the West Village location, according to an exclusive report in the New York Post. The King would also reopen some of the medical units at St. ... More >>

The 20 Worst Songs of 2010, #17: Trade Martin, "We've Got To Stop The Mosque At Ground Zero"

F2K10 is a countdown of the 20 worst songs of 2010. Track our progress here. Screenshot via Mediaite​If there are history books 100 years from now, they will no doubt portray 2010 as a time when hysteria took over American discourse in fits and hiccups. During the summer's most scorching days ... More >>

Is National Opt-Out Day Going to Wreak Havoc With Your Wednesday?

​In recent weeks, we've seen the TSA dispute catalyze and erupt from what started as a few accounts of bad behavior into a national uproar deemed worthy of a boycott, plus T-shirts and even body-scanner proof underwear. But here's the problem with an ethical issue that surfaces by way of mains ... More >>

Park51 Developers Apply for Federal Grant

​Remember that whole Park51/"Ground Zero Mosque" thing people were getting really upset/crazy/stupid/bigoted about a while back? The Daily Beast says the developers have applied for $5 million from a $20 million federal grant designated for post-9/11 redevelopment. On your mark, pundits. [SH]

Andrew Cuomo Goes to Albany, Where Lobbyists Are Waiting

10 NYC Hotels Better Fitted for Charlie Sheen to Do Blow in Than the Plaza

​Home Alone 2. North by Northwest. Crocodile Dundee. Arthur. Eloise and her motherfucking Pet Turtle!* New York City's landmark The Plaza Hotel has been home to many famous scenes over its 103-year history. Yet Charlie Sheen has managed to sully it, as it is now also home to the famous scene that ... More >>

Stuff Crazy White People Like: 3 Ways Rightbloggers Deal (or Don't) With Race

You may have noticed the controversy over last week's Voice cover story, "White America Has Lost Its Mind" by Steven Thrasher. The story has drawn at this writing more than a thousand comments, many of them devoted to proving Thrasher's proposition by example. Among the more choice reader contribu ... More >>

White America Has Lost Its Mind

The white brain, beset with worries, finally goes haywire in spectacular fashion

This Week in the Voice: White America Has Lost Its Mind

​From Glenn Beck to Breitbart, Sarah Palin to Rush Limbaugh, from sea to shining sea, from their mere followers to their Kool-Aid drinkers, the rage, motives, and manners all lend themselves to a certain composite picture developing quite neatly in this country, that's really, more than anythi ... More >>

Our 10 Best Spots to Eat Near the 'Ground Zero Mosque' -- A Restaurant Guide

​The superlative "upside-down" Sicilian slice at Majestic Picture this: You've been demonstrating all day, either for or against the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque." (Really, it's just a community center -- get over it right-wing fanatics!) You develop a ferocious hunger and a burning thirst, ... More >>

Posts of the Week

It's Friday afternoon, and thus time to look back at the week that was: Nikki Cascone talked about selling 24 Prince, celebrity chef crushes, and keeping things kosher. We ranked Our 10 Best Spots to Eat Near the 'Ground Zero Mosque.' Summit's Greg Seider talked about his bar's first anniversary, ... More >>

Tomorrow: Our 10 Best Spots to Eat Near the 'Ground Zero Mosque' -- A Restaurant Guide

​The sidewalk in front of 45-51 Park Place is relatively quiet at the moment, but a new demo -- pro or con -- may break out at any moment. Our colleagues at Runnin' Scared have done a wonderful job cataloging the ins and outs of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, while Fork in the Road just sa ... More >>

This Week in the Voice: The Endless Bummer of Staten Island

​All the way out on the south shore of Staten Island lies a quiet, tucked-away community called the Cedar Grove Beach Club, a "poor man's Bermuda" for the few Staten Islanders who knew about it and summered there. That's all over now, as the city's Parks Department plans to turn the 200-acre p ... More >>

The "Ground Zero Victory Mosque" Attack Ad (Video)

​It only took psychopaths from outside of New York City what, a month? The inevitable "Ground Zero Victory Mosque" attack ad has finally arrived. Via The Atlantic, it comes from a conservative PAC from Iowa, and yes, it's as gross as you imagined it to be.

Breaking: Koran-Burning Pastor Terry Jones Cancels Koran-Burning in Exchange for Reported Promise to Move 'Ground Zero Mosque'

​Damien Cave, the New York Times' Miami bureau chief, has just Tweeted out that at a press conference, the potential Koran-Burning Pastor Terry Jones of Florida has decided to cancel his Koran-burning. He supposedly got a promise from the Feisel Abdul Rauf, the imam behind Park 51 (AKA the "Gr ... More >>

Donald Trump Offers $6 Million Cash for Site of Mosque Near Ground Zero; Gets Shut Down

​Runnin' Scared theme of the day: ridiculous religious intolerance. Providing an "exit strategy" for Islamic Center investors, New York's most famous billionaire offered Hisham Elzanaty 25 percent more than what he paid for the site of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero, making the $6 millio ... More >>

The Ongoing Improvement of Sonny Rollins

Chatting with the Saxophone Colossus, who still insists music can help

Abe Foxman is Confusing Us by Being Sensible, Admirable, and Nuanced

​We've noted Abe Foxman -- the Anti-Defamation League's very public, very loud, very condemnation-happy public face -- as an "known racist" and egomaniacal asshole" here. We're not the only ones who aren't fans of his: one ADL award-winner, Fareed Zakaria, recently returned a $10,000, five yea ... More >>

The Soft Pack

7 in 10 New Yorkers Think the Mosque Near Ground Zero Should Be Moved, Regardless of Rights

​According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, 54% of people agree that the developers of Park51 have the right to build a mosque near Ground Zero. However, almost that same percentage (53%) thinks that they should not be able to build the mosque there due to the sensitivities of 9/11 re ... More >>

More Mosque Violence: Fire at Tennessee Islamic Center Ruled Arson

​To many, the stabbing of a New York City taxi driver by a deranged passenger who first asked if the driver was a Muslim seemed like a culmination of weeks of irrational debate about the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque." Now, federal officials are calling a fire at an Islamic center in Tennessee ... More >>

Bloomberg Vows to Fight Sliced Bagel Tax

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Dear Rest-of-America: Your "Ground Zero Mosque" Perspective of the Day

​For those of you not in New York City who've decided to weigh in on the debate over Park 51, the proposed Islamic Community Center in downtown New York City -- or as some of you like to incorrectly label it, the "Ground Zero Mosque" -- here's a little bit of perspective just to remind on this ... More >>

More Muslim Hate Crime: Drunk Man Pees on Mosque's Prayer Rugs

​Proving the stupidity and downright nastiness of bigots (did we need proof?), an apparently drunk man named Omar Rivera decided to pee on prayer rugs at the Al-Iman Mosque in Astoria last night. Beer bottle in hand, he also allegedly shouted anti-Muslim slurs, called the worshippers terrorist ... More >>

Was the Muslim Cab Driver Slashing the First "Ground Zero Mosque" Hate Crime? (Updated)

​A cab driver picked up a 21-year-old fare yesterday in Murray Hill on 24th and Second around 6 p.m. The fare -- "visibly drunk" -- gets in the cab, and reportedly asks the driver: "Are you a Muslim?" The driver answers that he is. And what happens next? The fare, as we've now heard, stabs the ... More >>

Park 51-Associated Initiative Releases Statement on Accused Muslim Cabbie Stabber

​Earlier, we pointed out that the guy who stabbed a cab driver after asking him if he was a Muslim last night, Michael Enright, might look like a guy who works for Intersections International, an interfaith initiative who recently announced their support of Park 51 (also known to many as the " ... More >>

Apple to Announce New and Improved Version of Now-Outdated Thing You Just Purchased on September 1st

​Does Apple really have to throw themselves a whole big event party thing every time they roll out a product? It's not that they aren't informative -- they are -- it's more that they feel like a company who just sold you a $500 piece of electronics which now makes you more available to people ... More >>

Infographic: It's a Muslim World, America's Just Living in It

​Apropos of nothing -- except the whole Islamaphobia talking point inspired by that community center downtown (or as people who aren't from New York/are directionally impaired/are reality-impaired call it, the "Ground Zero Mosque") has inspired over the last week or two -- here's a nice way to ... More >>

The Downtown Mosque Plan Riles the Loons

And tugs at the heart