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Fake News: Washington Post Claims Jefferson Held White House Iftar Dinner to ‘Celebrate Ramadan’
Breitbart ^ | 6/25/2017

Posted on 06/26/2017 2:40:44 AM PDT by Altura Ct.

The establishment media became upset this weekend after President Donald Trump canceled the “White House Muslim Iftar Dinner tradition started by Thomas Jefferson.” But the media is wrong in every respect. Thomas Jefferson never held any Iftar dinner and only three out of 45 presidents ever hosted one, so there is no such “tradition” to cancel.

Amy B. Wang of the Washington Post led the pack with this nonsense that Thomas Jefferson held the “first Iftar dinner” with a June 24 piece entitled, “Trump just ended a long tradition of celebrating Ramadan at the White House.”

The often-used claim that Thomas Jefferson held the first Iftar dinner at the White House was trotted out by the Post’s Wang. She recounted the time when the diplomatic envoy from the Bey of Tunis, Sidi Soliman Melli Melli, visited Washington during Ramadan in 1805.

Jefferson invited the envoy to the White House for dinner at 3:30 PM—the time most Washingtonians had dinner in those days. But after he sent the invitation he was told that Melli Melli could not partake of a meal until after sunset because of Ramadan. Thomas Jefferson was faced with two choices: cancel the dinner entirely or simply have the meal later in the evening at a time when his guest could attend. As a good host and a decent person, Jefferson chose the latter.

In fact, all Jefferson did was change the time of his meal. He had no intention of honoring Islam. Jefferson simply was not honoring the religion of “the Musselmen”—as he termed Muslims at the time—when he changed the time of the meal. Also, there is no evidence that Jefferson asked Melli Melli what sort of food a “Musselman” would eat, so no special food was prepared to suit a Muslim’s religious needs.

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: iftar; ramadan; searchworks; thomasjefferson
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To: Altura Ct.

I guess they should have blamed it on the rain cause Millie Vanillie said so.


21 posted on 06/26/2017 4:20:43 AM PDT by HighSierra5
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To: Altura Ct.
I don't seem to recall ANY Christians that ever "celebrated" any mudslime pagan ritual.
22 posted on 06/26/2017 4:27:32 AM PDT by rawcatslyentist (TETELESTI Read em and weep Lucy! Yer times almost up.)
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To: shibumi
Read both carefully and ask yourself - "Who is doing the mischaracterizing here?"

I'm sorry, but for the non-biased reader, anything starting with the headline "President Trump just ended a long tradition of celebrating Ramadan at the White House" is hard to be characterized as a fairly recent and short tradition.

The article was completely misleading because of its headline and needed to be called out. Maybe it should have been done by someone with a better reputation or journalism skills, but please, it is easy to see which is mischaracterizing. WAPO should resort to just tweeting headlines.

23 posted on 06/26/2017 4:40:13 AM PDT by Religion and Politics (It's Morning in America)
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To: poconopundit

Not sure what your agenda is with Huston, but anyone can clearly see the WaPo article is a lie, this is not a LONG tradition. The title itself insinuates that it goes back to Jefferson or that it’s UP FOR A DEBATE what Jefferson did. WaPo is pure propaganda 24/7.


24 posted on 06/26/2017 4:42:10 AM PDT by snarkytart
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To: snarkytart

Jefferson has a copy of the koran only because he realized you had to “know your enemy”


25 posted on 06/26/2017 4:48:46 AM PDT by Mr. K (***THERE IS NO CONSEQUENCE OF REPEALING OBAMACARE THAT IS WORSE THAN OBAMACARE ITSELF***)
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To: 2banana
A few days ago SJackson did an excellent post on some of what your refuring too...

Check it out.... Yes, It Is All About Islam-Ibn Warraq takes on the apologists' lies.

26 posted on 06/26/2017 5:00:05 AM PDT by unread (Joe McCarthy was right.......)
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To: Altura Ct.

Jefferson also went to actual war with the Jihadists and the US ultimately prevailed. Trump should have hosted a Ramadan dinner at the end of which he announced that he was expelling all Moslems and quasi Moslems from the country. And then follow through.


27 posted on 06/26/2017 5:06:41 AM PDT by arthurus
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To: fluorescence

Yeah, for sure. If anyone wouhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_Warld read Jeffersons role in the Barbary Wars and his position in paying tribute it would be hard to believe he would have any interest in celebrating Ramadan or anything Islamic for that matter. Read this Wikipedia synopsis and you’ll understand...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War


28 posted on 06/26/2017 5:08:18 AM PDT by snoringbear (E.oGovernment is the Pimp,)
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To: 2banana

> “By even better logic - Jefferson started America’s FIRST war...”

He sent warships and Marines because the merchant shipping lanes were controlled by Muslim pirates who demanded payment of such a large amount that the only pacifistic means to keep the trade routes open was for the United States to pay from its treasury the ransom demanded.

Paying the demanded ransoms by the Muslim pirates only encouraged the demands to increase to enormous amounts, so much that the ransoms consumed 25% of the US Treasury.

After a long debate in Congress, it became clear that military action was preferable in terms of economics. It was less costly to commit military forces than to pay the ever increasing ransoms.


29 posted on 06/26/2017 5:28:51 AM PDT by Hostage (Article V)
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To: Altura Ct.
Liberals are America's Taliban

Tearing down Historical monuments and rewriting history.

Taliban Destroys 1,700-year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan Monuments (2001)

New Orleans Removes Statues Of Gen. Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard (2017)


30 posted on 06/26/2017 5:32:17 AM PDT by Vlad The Inhaler (Best Long Term Prepper Tactic: Beat The Muslim Demographic Tsnami - Have Big Families)
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To: Religion and Politics

I’m not going to get caught up in trying to debate he meaning of the word “long.”
(That’s way too Clinntonesque, as in the meaning of “is.”)

I will simply note that for a sigificant number of the people who voted
in the last national election, that “tradition” has been going on
longer than they’ve been alive.


31 posted on 06/26/2017 5:34:44 AM PDT by shibumi (Cover it with gas and set it on fire.)
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To: Altura Ct.

Oh, but I thought Jefferson was really evil, for his affair with Sally Hemmings!


32 posted on 06/26/2017 5:42:13 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Le Pen: "Islamism is a totalitarian ideology that has declared war on our nation, on civilization.")
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To: snarkytart
It is propaganda. I'll grant you that. But the Breitbart piece -- written by a confirmed Free Republic hater -- magnifies the mild propaganda in the original WaPo story.
33 posted on 06/26/2017 5:43:23 AM PDT by poconopundit (FR: Self-Reliant Lovers of Liberty who can't stop the Chatter)
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To: Altura Ct.

This was being run in a number of newspaper today. They got their facts wrong (again). The newspapers were stating Trump abolished “centuries” old tradition when it should have been “decades”. This dinner for Ramadan was started by Bill and Hillary Clinton, continued with Bush and Obama.

I told my wife that this just illustrates how hateful the left is since, if they would have given two seconds of thought, they would have realized Thomas Jefferson did not host parties for Muslims. It would be absolutely laughable if it wasn’t so sad at the ignorance and hated of the left.


34 posted on 06/26/2017 5:47:56 AM PDT by HarleyD
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To: Altura Ct.

The lying msm will make up any story to get their agenda out there.


35 posted on 06/26/2017 6:08:57 AM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: Altura Ct.

She “sure” knows history, doesn’t she !


36 posted on 06/26/2017 6:33:39 AM PDT by tillacum (I'm still a Deplorable.)
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To: Altura Ct.

They should celebrate it with a nice ham roast and some BBQ baby back ribs. All washed down with a tall cold beer.


37 posted on 06/26/2017 6:38:11 AM PDT by nhbob1
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To: Altura Ct.
As for that 200 year old invite from Jefferson – there wasn’t much accomodation made at all . . .certainly no mention of Ramadan.

Look up "Dealings with Mellimelli, Colorful Envoy from Tunis"

May as well remember this muhammedan cretin as “smelli-smelli” since ” guards had to be posted outside his lodgings to turn away the curious” due to his “generous use of scented rose oil “ olfactory masque easing fulfillment of his “. . .request for “concubines” as a part of his accommodations . . .”

As for the sunset dinner with Jefferson . . .

Jefferson’s invitation to the President’s House on December 9 changed the time of dinner from the usual “half after three” to “precisely at sunset.” Northeast ‘Dec. 7th Earliest Sunset Of The Year’

This would put the time of sunset, on December 9th, 1805 at 4:46pm, a total of one hour sixteen minutes later than usual. Hardly a remarkable alteration considering the lack of technology for travel, preparation and presentation of a state sponsored dinner.

Regardless, Jefferson eventually came to his senses and took care of business at Tripoli

38 posted on 06/26/2017 6:42:19 AM PDT by wtd
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To: Altura Ct.

Thomas Jefferson had possibly the best wine cellar in the US. I doubt very seriously that he would observe a Muslim fast if he had to abstain from alcohol.


39 posted on 06/26/2017 9:21:33 AM PDT by Nicholas Sharpe (An old Sea Dog)
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To: shibumi
"Historians have cited the meal as the first time an iftar took place in the White House — and it has been referenced in recent White House celebrations of Ramadan as an embodiment of the Founding Father’s respect for religious freedom. Meanwhile, critics on the far right have taken issue with the characterization of Jefferson’s Dec. 9, 1805, dinner as an iftar."


This whole paragraph has a dishonest air about it. Historians is mentioned in a positive light, kind of with a halo over the word historian, where "critics of the far right" is dismissed with a disapproval of critical neanderthals.

Whomever wrote this article is a propagandist, and not an honest reporter.

40 posted on 06/26/2017 9:52:14 AM PDT by The_Media_never_lie (Is it not too late to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hillary's crimes?z)
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