Following in the New York Times’ footsteps, National Public Radio rallied around the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the discredited, Hamas-linked Islamic pressure group gilded as a Muslim “civil rights organization” by its allies in the elitist press. Andrew Schneider, senior reporter for politics and government at Houston Public Media, penned a blandished defense for Houston public media on Monday, a version of which aired on NPR itself Tuesday. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has launched a campaign against the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), declaring the Muslim civil rights organization a foreign terrorist organization. What's unclear is whether that will hold up under a legal challenge from CAIR, either with respect to federal law or even Texas' own statutes. Schneider's handpicked sources naturally disagreed. Syed al-Ferdous immigrated to the Houston area from Bangladesh more than 20 years ago. He now attends services at the Maryam Islamic Center in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, every evening. He said Abbott's calling CAIR a terrorist organization shows a lack of education about Islam. "I think it’s very juvenile to say the least," al-Ferdous said. "It’s very immature, and it just doesn’t hold any water whatsoever." The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also designated CAIR a terrorist group, and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer has also linked it to terrorism. Are they also immature? In addition, its executive director leader Nihad Awad in 2023 declared himself happy about the October 7 massacre. None of those facts, of course, penetrated the NPR bubble. "What does a civil rights organization in the United States, incorporated in the United States, run by American citizens, got to do with a foreign entity?" al-Ferdous asked. Neither Schneider nor his exclusively pro-CAIR talking heads ever broached the many reasons why Abbott made his decisions, although Gov. Abbott’s official proclamation provided details of CAIR’s extremism and that of a related group, Muslim Brotherhood. Instead he searched for reasons why Abbott’s claim was invalid: There's also the question of whether the statute violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which holds that when state and federal laws conflict, federal law is paramount. Declaring an entity a foreign terrorist organization is exclusively the purview of the U.S. State Department, which does not include CAIR on its list. He spoke with CAIR's national deputy director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, who supplied the paranoia against the hypothetical threat of Christian violence. CAIR’s silence in the face of previous Islamic attacks, or even support for them (see Awad above) for terrorism renders that argument ridiculous. Mitchell says Abbott's actions are increasing the risk of violence against CAIR's employees and Texas Muslims in general. "Greg Abbott’s anti-Muslim bigotry now turned into government policy is endangering the safety of Texas Muslims," Mitchell said. "Just yesterday, our staff in Texas had to receive security protection from Texas law enforcement because an anti-Muslim extremist showed up at a public hearing and demanded to know where the CAIR officials were. He was hunting down CAIR officials." Even the justification for Gov. Abbott’s move reeked of condescension, portraying conservative Christians as defending religious intolerance. Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University's Baker Institute, says Abbott is responding to pressure from some Texas Republicans concerned about the growth of Islam in the state. "They look to places like Minneapolis, where a growing Muslim population has resulted in prayers, calls to prayer being broadcast on loud speakers, and where what they view as a Christian way of life is being eroded," Jones said. .... "I suspect that it’s part of a broader concern that some Republicans have regarding Islam, in general, gaining popularity in Texas and encroaching and affecting what they believe should be a Judeo-Christian state, rather than an ecumenically pluralist state," Jones said. A version of the story broadcast on NPR the next day made similar slanted points.