Yahoo! News: Popular Websites to Go Dark Over SOPA Controversy

“Like” us on Facebook.com/TrendingNow and follow me on Twitter @Knowlesitall!

If you have anything you want to look up on Wikipedia, you’d better do it today, or you’re going to have to wait a full 24 hours to get your answer. Why? Well, Wikipedia will be leading a number of high-profile websites going dark on Wednesday to protest two controversial bills in Congress. SOPA, also known as the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House of Representatives, and PIPA, the Protect I-P Act in the Senate, are designed to crack down on the illegal sharing of movies and music on the Web. However, critics say the anti-piracy legislation is censorship and would force sites to police the online world.

On Twitter, Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, confirmed that all of Wikipedia’s 3.8 million English-language articles will be unavailable from midnight Eastern time tonight until midnight Wednesday. Anyone who visits the site will be redirected to a banner that reads “The Internet must remain free.” Also joining Wikipedia in going black are Reddit, Minecraft, Craigslist, and Boing Boing, among others. Craigslist has posted a message at the top of its city homepages with a link to “help put a stop to this madness” of SOPA and PIPA.

The Obama administration, as well as Congress, seem to be listening to the critics. In a blog post, the White House said it would not support “legislation that reduces freedom of expression … or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” And House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said a vote would not come up for SOPA until a consensus is reached. By the way, if you’re a fan of any of the sites that are planning to participate in the blackout, don’t worry: You can still tweet about it as much as you want. Twitter will still be up and running. In fact, CEO Dick Costolo tweeted this about the sites choosing to go dark: “Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish.”

More here.

Learn more:

• PJM: SOPA and Protect-IP: A Line-by-Line Analysis of the Bills We Must Kill
• Mashable: Why SOPA Is Dangerous
• Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA): Stealth tool to shut down political speech and the Counterjihad

Stop by and take a look!

As of this writing, Bare Naked Islam is at www.endtimestoday.com.

The domain name will soon be changed to barenakedislam.com (as of January 17, 2012, it is not up yet).

More here:

• HillBuzz rails against WordPress’ decision to wipe Bare Naked Islam off the web
• Hooray! You found me!

BARE NAKED ISLAM Temporary Stay of Execution

The people at WordPress were kind enough to allow BNI to stay up until January 10th, four more days past the January 6th deadline.

Due to the massive content of this website including tens of thousands of photos and videos, my future webmaster needs some extra time to get the new site at barenakedislam.com up and running.

Got Twitter?

Follow @barenakedislam for updates.

If this censorship takes effect, it would apply to everyone using Google Blogger, Google Orkut, Google+, Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube, and the other sites mentioned, whether residing in India or not.

‘Clean up your website’: Indian court orders Facebook and Google to remove ‘anti-religious’ content

(h/t: Nilk via GoV)

Social websites including Google and Facebook have been ordered by an Indian court to remove all ‘anti-religious’ and ‘anti-social’ content within six weeks.

On Saturday a Delhi Court ordered 22 social networking sites, including Yahoo and Microsoft, to wipe the objectionable and defamatory contents and file compliance reports by February 6, 2012.

The order will raise serious questions about how users’ posts and opinions will be edited, censorship and freedom of expression.

On December 22 Judge Kumar had issued summonses to the social networking sites, demanding they remove photographs, videos or texts that might offend religious sentiments, the Hindustan Times website reported.

The order comes a day after a criminal court issued summonses to the sites for facing trial for allegedly webcasting objectionable contents.

Santosh Pandey, appearing for complainant Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasmi, told The Hindu Times after the court hearing that the websites have to submit a report to the court by February 6 describing the action they had taken to remove the contents from the websites.

Representatives of Yahoo India Pvt Ltd and Microsoft told the court that they had not got copies of the order and complaint against them, but Qasmi’s counsel told the court that he would supply the relevant documents to them, according to the Hindustan Times.

The order comes at a controversial time as IT minister Kapil Sibal had recently discussed with representatives of some of the companies ways to guarantee the offensive contents are not posted.

India Today quoted him as saying: ‘There were some demeaning, degrading, clearly pornographic depictions of gods and goddesses which no reasonable, sensible person anywhere in the world would accept, on any site.

The minister insisted he was not smothering free speech but was suggesting screening possible ‘incendiary’ material.

The Hindu Times reported Facebook India, Facebook, Google India Pvt Ltd, Google Orkut, Youtube, Blogspot, Microsoft India Pvt Ltd, Microsoft, Zombie Time, Exboii, Boardreader, IMC India, My Lot, Shyni Blog and Topix were all given the order.

A Google spokesperson told the website: ‘We comply with valid court orders wherever possible, consistent with our long standing policy.

‘We’re yet to receive the details of this order and can’t comment on this specific case.’

Additional Civil Judge Mukesh Kumar passed the order on a suit filed by Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasmi seeking to restrain the websites from circulating objectionable and defamatory contents.

More comments/photos here.

BNI will be on RADIO JIHAD tonight at 6:15PM EST

On Our 1/2/2012 Show our special guest will be Bonni – creator of the Bare Naked Islam website. CAIR took credit this week for causing word press to shut down her website although WordPress denies they were influenced by CAIR.

On this show Bonni will be giving The Radio Jihad Network an exclusive interview on what really happened. We will also explore who CAIR is, how small they really are, why the FBI severed ties with them, and name several of the CAIR people who have been arrested and/or deported for aiding and abetting Islamic terrorist groups or general criminal behavior.

Corey Saylor and Ibrahim Doug Hooper of CAIR always have an open invitation to call in.
Tel: 1-347-857-1380

Listen Live or get podcast here: RADIO JIHAD

HillBuzz: WordPress Shuts Down “BareNakedIslam” After the CAIR Bears Threaten Violence Against WordPress Staff

[...]
The WordPress hosting service has deleted the site “BareNakedIslam” after receiving threats of violence from CAIR, Islam’s PR wing that operates in the United States and aggressively targets anyone who speaks the truth about “the religion of peace” — which is neither religious nor peaceful, but instead is a militarized criminal enterprise at war with western civilization.

I want to give you some personal insight into what it was like to deal with WordPress when HB was a WordPress-hosted site.

At least once a week towards the end of our time on the WordPress hosting service, WordPress would lock me out of the HB account while it “investigated” some complaint submitted by Obama acolytes who were determined to shut down anyone who opposed him and what he is doing to our country. The people who run WordPress are devote Obama cultists and kept locking me out of the HB control mechanism to intimidate us to stop writing about Barack Obama.

These lockouts would also happen following nearly every article we wrote about the weaponized death cult that is Islam. I was never told who was behind it, but someone out there would file TOS (terms of service) complaints about those articles, and WordPress would suspend my access to HB while they “investigated” them.

I was forced to pay a retainer to an attorney who’d swat back against each of these suspensions; it got to a point where we’d have these things cleared up and completely removed in under a day, because we got so used to them.

What’s very interesting to me is that WordPress governs itself with a complete and obvious political agenda with these sorts of things because it does not handle TOS complaints in the same manner when it’s someone they agree with politically that is being complained about. For instance, there are several websites out there that are dedicated to attacking both HB and myself on a personal level, where the authors defame me, have organized an effort to make me unemployable, have encouraged fellow Leftists to go after my employers so clients will not hire me as a freelancer, and where these hate sites have actively directed people to come after me physically here in Chicago. I’ve filed repeated complaints against these WordPress-hosted sites with WordPress, and every time I have been given a form letter response that “WordPress does not get involved in these matters and you need to take this up with the courts”.

That’s a stark contrast with WordPress.com making the clear and distinct decision to shut down BareNakedIslam, in the same way WordPress.com repeatedly blocked my access to HB (and on several occasions, mysteriously made this site disappear for a day or two as well).

This is why I made the decision to move HB to a paid server early in 2011 so that WordPress could not delete the site whenever they wanted, like they did to BareNakedIslam. During the 2008 campaign, Google’s Blogspot hosting service was caught deleting anti-Obama sites during the Democrat primaries. They were forced to stop when too many people noticed what they were doing and put it together that a concerted effort was underway to eliminate all opposition to Obama.

The same thing is happening now, with sites targeted for standing up to Islam.

Muslims attempt to terrify people into keeping quiet about the medievalist, barbaric agenda of “the religion of peace” in much the same way that the members of the Church of Scientology have for years attempted to terrorize anyone who exposes their cult for what it truly is. Because Muslims go a step further than Scientologists and threaten gruesome death to those who speak out against Islam, entities like WordPress cave to their demands and censor anything that does not praise “the religion of peace” and apologize for its death toll.
[...]
Read it all here.

Update: BNI temporarily reinstated, but only until January 6.

Maggie’s Notebook: Bare Naked Islam Reinstated – Bare Naked Islam Support: A Suggestion for Bloggers and Commenters

A last minute update. Reader TW informed me of a Tweet that Bare Naked Islam is back up on WordPress.com but must be gone by January 6th. A tweet says WordPress claims CAIR had nothing to do with their expulsion.

@barenakedislam

SHOCKER! WP has reinstated my blog and say CAIR did not pressure them. But they still want me gone by Jan 6

Read the latest BNI post here and note that while WordPress.com says CAIR did not pressure them, BNI says CAIR bragged about it all over the web.

Read it all here.

This message arrived from someone associated with Bare Naked Islam:

Of course we are looking at WordPress to tell us why, but it seems their staff is conveniently on holidays until Jan 2nd…[still were there to take her site down, we note].

I am hoping the site can be brought back with another server if this one keeps caving in to CAIR, or whichever variation is forcing the issue.

The last time BNI was taken down, CAIR was to blame.

For what it’s worth, you can email WordPress Support at support@wordpress.com.

We would suggest that counterjihad bloggers make plans to obtain independent hosting if at all possible. WordPress.com, Google Blogger, and other free hosting sites are more subject to outside manipulation.

Zilla has more details.

DeMaura and Segal: All Candidates Should Be Concerned About SOPA

During the waning days of the 2008 presidential race, there was an important but overlooked occurrence on the John McCain campaign. In mid-October, the McCain campaign awoke to find that its Web videos and online advertisements were disappearing from its YouTube page.

The culprit turned out to be a major television network claiming they owned portions of the videos and that posting the clips was a violation of copyright law. Even though the campaign, and many others in the online community, believed the content to be privileged under the “Fair Use Doctrine,” the videos were pulled down.

Fast-forward more than three years, and a new piece of legislation is making its way through Congress that would make it easier for online campaign content and websites to be taken down. Even more concerning, if passed, this bill would allow opposing campaigns or campaign committees — not just the original content provider — to pull down websites harboring “infringing content.”
[...]
Here’s a plausible campaign scenario under SOPA. Imagine you are running for Congress in a competitive House district. You give a strong interview to a local morning news show and your campaign posts the clip on your website. When your opponent’s campaign sees the video, it decides to play hardball and sends a notice to your Internet service provider alerting them to what it deems “infringing content.” It doesn’t matter if the content is actually pirated. The ISP has five days to pull down your website and the offending clip or be sued. If you don’t take the video down, even if you believe that the content is protected under fair use, your website goes dark.

Much more here.

No to Censorship – Stop SOPA!

Tue 20 Dec 2011 09:02:11 AM UTC — annaleena

Only a week ago we were happy about winning the lawsuit in Florida, and praised the courts in the US for favoring the freedom of speech. And now comes the SOPA.

SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives in October, and has awakened heated debate in the press since. The objective of the bill is to weed out piracy on the web, but the way it does it, is more than questionable. This is how Wikipedia explains it:

The bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who requests the court orders, the actions could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as PayPal from doing business with the infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites.

In practice, if the SOPA gets passed, any website operator could get blocked from ad revenue, search traffic, and web traffic in the US, if it was found to enable or facilitate copyright infringement. It doesn’t take much to do that: a few infringing links could get the whole site blocked.

Sites hosting user-generated content, such as WOT, would be at a great risk. SOPA would force them to police their users’ behavior and filter content, a task that in many cases is impossible. For example reddit, the popular social news site, has stated that SOPA would mean its end.

Even worse than losing reddit and many other wonderful sites, is what SOPA could do to the whole online ecosystem: fewer startups entering due to the legal risks, and censorship becoming the new standard for the whole web. Is that the path we want to take?

Dear community members in the US. Please contact your representatives, and ask them to oppose the SOPA. Piracy is to be fought against, but this is not the way.

Check this infographic for more information of the effects of SOPA.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Uploaded by SDAMatt2a on Dec 15, 2011

Serial litigant and Stormfront member Richard Warman launched a blizzard of lawsuits today, against The National Post and the backbone of the northern blogosphere – Ezra Levant, Kate McMillan, Kathy Shaidle and Free Dominion. He’d laid low for a few weeks, contenting himself with empty threats against McGill students, but he has now made his move. Ezra Levant lays out the legal challenge very clearly, Glenn Reynolds offers some advice, and Jay Currie adds an important point:

“Warman is betting all the marbles here. His credibility and the credibility of the CHRC are now in play. Warman was the CHRC’s creature and, I suspect the evidence will show, the CHRC became his creature as he casually crossed the line between investigator and complainant.”

Precisely. It’s not possible to take a stand against the Canadian Human Rights Commission without also talking a stand against Richard Warman. He has been the plaintiff on half the Section 13 cases in its entire history and on all the Section 13 cases since 2002. There are 30 million Canadians yet only one of them uses this law, over and over and over again, which tells you how otherwise irrelevant it is to keeping the Queen’s peace. Section 13 is, in effect, Warman’s Law and the CHRC is Warman’s personal inquisition and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is Warman’s very own kangaroo court. Whether or not the motivations were pure and pristine when this racket got started, at some point his pals at the CHRC and the “judges” of the CHRT should have realized that the Warmanization of Section 13 doesn’t pass the smell test: Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done, and when you see what’s done at the CHRC you understand it’s a cosy and self-perpetuating romance between a corrupt bureaucracy and its favoured son.

So taking on the CHRC means taking on Richard Warman. I believe my colleague Charlie Gillis will have a piece on Warman in this week’s Maclean’s, on sale tomorrow, so the spotlight isn’t going to be dimming anytime soon. In the meantime, I hope SteynOnline readers will support Ezra, Kate, Kathy and Mark and Connie at Free Dominion. They are private citizens like Richard Warman. Unlike him, they have not been enriched by tax-free awards of significant five-figure sums for entirely mythical “pain and suffering”. So please go on over to the various websites and make a donation, as my pal Michelle Malkin did earlier today. In Kathy’s case, you might also consider buying a copy of her book Acoustic Ladyland: it’s in a good cause, but you’ll get the better end of the bargain because it’s a great read.

- Mark Steyn

Ezra Levant with Marc Lemire: freedom of speech

Click here to view the embedded video.

Uploaded by SDAMatt2a on Dec 15, 2011

Marc Lemire, the target of Canada’s speech mandarins for 8 years, joins Ezra Levent to discuss, amongst other things, the activities of federal employee Richard Warman.

Then Ezra is joined by Chris Schafer of the Canadian Constitution Foundation.

Much as I want to see Section 13 and the CHRC go down in flames, I strongly advise against strengthening any “hate propaganda” or “hate speech” provisions in the criminal code. That could result in prison sentences, rather than merely civil fines and sanctions, imposed on counterjihad activists and anyone else who violates the standards of political correctness and multiculturalism.

Also see:

• Freedomsite
• @marc_lemire on Twitter
• Canadian Constitution Foundation

The next video shows that the efforts to censor any honest discussion of immigration, multiculturalism, and the threat of Islam are not paying off. Note the silly reference to Muslims as an “ethnic group.”

Canadians take a dim view of islam: poll

Click here to view the embedded video.

Uploaded by SDAMatt2a on Dec 15, 2011

G** dammit Babs Hall! The peasants are expressing their opinion, AND IT’S THE WRONG ONE! Get in there and imprison them until they hold correct views.

Why We Blog – And How You Can Help

This is one reason why we cover so much Canadian material on the US-based 1389 Blog. One of the missions of our blog, from the get-go, was to fight for free speech for the Counterjihad. Any Canadian counterjihadists who want to make themselves heard should feel free to contact us. All we need is your knowledge and expertise. You need not use your real name!

Michael Coren with Connie Fournier of Free Dominion

Click here to view the embedded video.

Uploaded by SDAMatt2a on Dec 14, 2011

She thought somebody was playing a trick on her. When Connie Fournier tore open the letter from the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) on the afternoon of July 18–a Wednesday–she read that a complaint had been filed against her and the website she runs with her husband Mark, Free Dominion (www.freedominion.ca). The letter was dated July 16, two days before, and postmarked the 17th. It said she had until the 18th, that very day, to reply. “At first we thought it was some kind of joke because it didn’t seem right that we would be asked to respond in that kind of time frame,” Fournier says. As it turned out, it wasn’t a joke. But it still had a punch line–the letter didn’t say what the complaint was about which made it impossible to respond to, even if she had time.

Sensing that perhaps it wasn’t a joke, the next day the 41-year-old mother of four who makes her home in Kingston, Ont., called the CHRC. “It was like pulling teeth trying to get a real person on the phone,” Fournier says. When she finally did and read the complaint number to the woman on the other end, she was told it couldn’t be right because it was supposed to have one more digit in it. So maybe it was a joke? No; using the last name of the complainant in the letter, they finally determined it was in fact real. Several hours later, Fournier was able to contact someone at the CHRC who knew what was going on; he had the complaint in front of him on his computer screen, he told Fournier. But he wouldn’t tell her what it was about. He said he would have to mail it. They settled on having the CHRC fax it to Fournier’s lawyer the next day, Friday–two days past the official deadline.

When Fournier finally got to see the complaint she discovered it had been filed back in June. Marie-Line Gentes, a college teacher in Quebec, was charging that Free Dominion, a conservative discussion forum, was fostering hatred towards Muslims. Why this was of concern to Gentes was not explained because Gentes stated in the complaint that she herself was not a Muslim. On top of that, it didn’t assert that Fournier had written anything untoward. The target was something someone else had written on the site.

The complaint cited comments written on Free Dominion by Saskatchewan activist Bill Whatcott. For instance, in one, Whatcott wrote, “I can’t figure out why the homosexuals I ran into are on the side of the Muslims. After all, Muslims who practice Sharia law tend to advocate beheading homosexuals.” Whatcott also posted links to another website hosting a digital version of a pamphlet he distributed in Edmonton last year that called the Muslim prophet Mohammad a “man of violence.”

- Western Standard

12/29/11 Update: BNI was taken down again.

Thanks for your help! BNI is back up!

Please note this comment:

barenakedislam
November 27, 2011 at 12:54 PM
BNI READERS: WordPress has banned me from posting new stories until the CAIR issue is resolved. Please write to WordPress in support of BNI if you can. support@wordpress.com

Terrorist Front Group CAIR attack on BARE NAKED ISLAM and its readers

or: barenakedislam | Filed under: CAIR Nazis |279 Comments »

Once again, the thugs at CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) are trying to destroy our first amendment and shut down free speech in America.

Many BNI Readers have asked how they can help fight this crusade by CAIR: Contact WordPress here: SUPPORT@WordPress.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

CAIR Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR Asks FBI to Probe Internet Threats to Mosques
Comment on anti-Islam hate site: ‘I want [Muslim] blood on my hands’

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/25/2011) — A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today called on the FBI to investigate a number of threats of violence targeting mosques posted online on an anti-Islam hate site, including the comment “I want [Muslim] blood on my hands” by an individual who claims he regularly drives past a Virginia mosque.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also urged WordPress.com to remove the hate site because its calls to violence violate the hosting company’s terms of service,” which prohibit blogs that “contain threats or incite violence towards individuals or entities.”

[NOTE: At CAIR's request, WordPress.com last year deleted a similar blog containing posts that advocated burning mosques, making false bomb threats implicating Muslims, desecrating Muslim graves, and that recommended the "proper way to shoot a muslim [sic].”]

CAIR said articles and comments posted on the anonymous blog “Bare Naked Islam” (BNI) routinely urge attacks on and desecration of American and European mosques.

[NOTE: Grammatical errors have been maintained for all posts and comments below.]

“Keith Mahone (aka Charles Martel),” who states that he regularly drives by a Virginia mosque, wrote: “[I]f you see a Muslim licking an ice cream cone in the park and you blow his head off you are technically committing an act of self defense. . .Muslims must learn they they are not safe anywhere outside a Muslim country. . .My heart does a back flip to see a mosque “desecrated”. . .Burn every mosque to the ground in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and kill every Muslim twice. . .I want their blood on my hands as a matter of principle.”

SEE: Keith Mahone (aka Charles Martel)

In a November 23 post headlined “Ready the Pigs’ Blood,” the blog’s author and commenters on the article urged violence and religious desecration to prevent the construction of a New York mosque.

SEE: Ready the Pigs’ Blood

BNI’s author wrote: “The mosque may go up, but it will never stay up.”

Commenter “angel” wrote: “I hope the tough Russians will burn this mosque to the ground many times over until the a**lifters get the message.”

“Sarastro” wrote: “Ban all mosques, blow up those that exist, and do not let another inch of sacred American soil be designated to be desecrated by Islamic buildings. Let’s hope the Russian Mafia will find the right remedy for this outrage.”

“Carl Tapp” wrote: “Bay people must contaminate the ground, buildings, and Muslims with the blood, urine and guts of pigs.”

“Kenneth Schustereit” commented, “Fill this hole with pig’s blood!” while “perry” wrote: “a lil pigs blood applied here and there.”

In reply to these threats “barenakedislam” suggested: “Perry, pouring [pig blood] in the cement would be better. They couldn’t wash it away.” The blog’s author later wrote: “I sincerely doubt that mosque will ever get to the point where they are blaring the Call to Prayer at 5AM. Mr. BNI has a Russian Jewish business associate from that neighborhood. He will know what they are going to do but I doubt if he will tell us. Probably better that way.”

Another BNI November 23 post headlined “WOO HOO! Yet ANOTHER anti-Muslim attack on a French mosque” asks, “Will the Muslims ever get a clue that they are not welcome in France?”

SEE: WOO HOO! Yet ANOTHER anti-Muslim attack on a French mosque

A comment to that post by “Sarastro” stated: “What’s all this pussy-footing??? Throw 10 Molotov cocktails into these mosques and burn them down even with a**-lifters in them, especially with a**-lifters in them.”

“GrouchyFogie” wrote: “Bomb the things to the ground, THEN burn them.”

“Burnerjack” wrote: “THAT’S not an attack. An attack is boarding the doors while the mosque is full and then fire bombing it. THAT’S an attack. I’m just saying.”

“Calls to violence and desecration targeting an American religious minority should never be tolerated and must be investigated by the FBI and other relevant law enforcement authorities,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. “Too many American mosques have already been targeted by those who share the extremist views expressed on this hate site.”

He noted that in the past year, mosques or mosque construction sites in Massachusetts, Oregon, Ohio, New York, Iowa, Maine, Georgia, Missouri, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, California, and Michigan have been targeted by arson, vandalism or threats.

In May of last year, a bomb exploded at a Florida mosque. A recent fire at a Kansas mosque is still under investigation.

Hooper said a number of recent reports have documented the growth and promotion of Islamophobia nationwide.

CAIR: Same Hate, New Target
Center for American Progress: Fear, Inc.
Southern Poverty Law Center: Jihad Against Islam
People for the American Way: The Right-Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism

CAIR is again urging members of the Muslim community to review security procedures using advice contained in its “Muslim Community Safety Kit.”

SEE: CAIR Muslim Community Safety Kit

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

Become a Fan of CAIR on Facebook
Subscribe to CAIR’s E-Mail List
Subscribe to CAIR’s Twitter Feed
Subscribe to CAIR’s YouTube Channel

– END –

CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

FYI to BNI READERS: new-law-cuts-ties-between-fbi-and-terror-linked-islamist-groups

Creeping Sharia  How bad are things when we need a law to ban the FBI from partnering with Islamic groups with known links to Islamic terrorist groups who plot to kill us? Anyway, a little side dish with your Thanksgiving dinner. via Patrick Poole at PJ Media » PJM Exclusive: New Law Cuts Ties Between FBI and Terror-Tied Groups.

When Barack Obama signed the continuing resolution this past weekend averting another potential government shutdown, it’s doubtful that he was aware that tucked into the bill, which funds several federal agencies through the fiscal year and extends the continuing resolution for the rest of the government until December 16, is a provision that may dramatically impact what Islamic groups and leaders the FBI and other law enforcement agencies can continue to work with.

Under Division B, Title II of the bill, under the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Salaries and Expenses section, is the following provision:

Liaison partnerships- The conferees support the FBI’s policy prohibiting any formal non-investigative cooperation with unindicted co-conspirators in terrorism cases. The conferees expect the FBI to insist on full compliance with this policy by FBI field offices and to report to the Committees on Appropriations regarding any violation of the policy.

The most obvious group that this will impact is the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was named unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case — the largest terrorism-finance trial in American history. During the trial, FBI Dallas Agent Lara Burns testified that CAIR was a front for the terrorist group Hamas.

Following the trial, which resulted in guilty verdicts on all counts and lengthy prison terms for all five Holy Land executives, the FBI was forced to cut ties with CAIR – a decision that CAIR claimed would hurt local communities and that prompted other Muslim groups, like the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), to threaten to stop cooperation with the FBI unless CAIR was reinstated. In a February 2010 letter to members of Congress, Assistant Attorney General Robert Weich forwarded evidence submitted by federal prosecutors in the trial and court testimony concerning CAIR’s ties to the Hamas-controlled Palestine Committee and that committee’s role in supporting Hamas.

Stung by their loss of access to federal law enforcement agencies, some of the Islamic organizations named as unindicted co-conspirators in the case unsuccessfully sued to have their names removed from the list. In a 2009 unsealed decision by federal Judge Jorge Solis, the court found that the government should have submitted the unindicted co-conspirators list under seal, and ordered the list resealed (a hollow victory since the list is readily available), but declined to remove the groups and individuals named.

In fact, in his decision Judge Solis recounted the evidence submitted by the government that justified CAIR’s being named unindicted co-conspirator in the case…

But it wasn’t just CAIR among the unindicted co-conspirators that Solis focused on, but also the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which bills itself as the largest Muslim umbrella group in the country, and the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), which owns the property to more than one-quarter of all mosques in North America. Solis wrote that the government had “produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (‘IAP’), and with Hamas.” He also wrote: “The Muslim Brotherhood supervised the creation of the ‘Palestine Committee,’ which was put in charge of other organizations, such as HLF, IAP, UASR, and ISNA.” And also: “During the [1993 Philadelphia] conference, Palestine Committee members discussed using ISNA as official cover for their activities.”

What impact this new legislation will have remains to be seen, but it is clearly intended to roll back the Obama administration’s penchant for relying on groups identified by government prosecutors as fronts for designated terrorist organizations as partners for “outreach.”

…

This new law will also curtail relations with the administration’s favorite “outreach” partner, ISNA, which, despite being named unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land trial, was last month included in a top-level meeting with the Department of Justice where Muslim groups demanded a formal declaration by the DOJ that any criticism of Islam constituted religious and racial discrimination. ISNA’s president, Mohamed Magid, is also a regular at White House functions and has been appointed to several government positions, including advising the Department of Homeland Security.

Congressional sources I spoke with on Monday said that this common-sense legislation was necessitated by the continued practice — in open defiance of the stated FBI policy — of dealing with and legitimizing individuals and groups that federal prosecutors had gone into federal court and identified as assisting terrorist groups.

…

Congressional officials expressed skepticism that the new legislation would permanently stop the schizophrenic government policy of engaging groups and individuals that the government itself has said are tied to terrorist groups, but it puts the Obama administration on notice that the days of the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” outreach policies are drawing to a close.

The FBI has skirted the CAIR ban from the beginning so color us skeptical too. And do note, Congress: you are the schizophrenic government policy! Most of you should be fired immediately and lose any taxpayer benefits you receive.

My own suggestion to BNI and to all counterjihad bloggers who do not have independent hosting:

@barenakedislam,

I suggest that you try GoDaddy.com for your web hosting. GoDaddy does not censor our content at 1389 Blog. Their server space is fairly affordable and you can still download the WordPress software into your server space and migrate your WordPress database into it. GoDaddy also handles domain registration.

You can start out with shared hosting, but if you have fairly heavy traffic on your blog, you probably want a dedicated server.

You should be taking regular backups of your WordPress database and of any customization that you have made to your WordPress template.

1389AD

This is what I wrote:

From: 1389AD
To: WordPress.com <support@wordpress.com>
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2011 12:41 PM
Subject: It’s wrong for WordPress.com to capitulate to pressure from CAIR!

Your attention, please:

CAIR is an affiliate of the terrorist group Hamas. They are seditious and are the instrument of our foreign enemies. Any press release from CAIR should go directly to the trash can with no further action taken.

This type of censorship is why I cannot recommend that any serious blogger use WordPress.com, Blogspot, or any “free” hosting service.

Blog admin 1389AD

Disgraceful verdict today Downunder.

Others have said far worse. Bolt was stating facts. One of the plaintiffs said much worse about another Aboriginal woman:

More offensive than ‘sex with a horse’: Larissa Behrendt’s Twitter slur against Bess Price

My fears of a totalitarian government are getting more and more real.

The Australian: Andrew Bolt loses racial vilification court case

HERALD Sun columnist Andrew Bolt has lost an action brought in the Federal Court in which the columnist was accused of breaching the Racial Discrimination Act.

Bolt was found to have contravened Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Nine aboriginal applicants brought a class-action against Bolt and the Herald and Weekly Times claiming Bolt wrote they sought professional advantage from the colour of their skin.

There were cheers and applause in the court when Justice Mordecai Bromberg read out his verdict.

He ordered no settlement on the parties, who will negotiate between them what measures Bolt and the Herald Sun will take.

In the judgment, the Justice said he was satisfied that the fair skin Aborigines were “offended, assaulted, humiliated or intimidated by the imputations conveyed by the newspaper articles”.

The Justice ruled that Bolt could not use fair comment or public interest to defence those particular articles.

At issue was Bolt’s assertion that the nine applicants had chosen to identify themselves as “Aboriginal” and consequently win grants, prizes and career advancement, despite their apparently fair skin and mixed heritage.

The nine applicants were led by activist Pat Eatock and included artist Bindi Cole, NSW Australian of the Year Larissa Behrendt, author Anita Heiss and former ATSIC chief Geoff Clark.

Four articles published by the Herald Sun columnist in the newspaper and his blog were “a head-on assault on a group of highly successful and high-achieving” Aborigines, Ron Merkel QC told the court during proceedings in late March and early April.

The nine people sought an apology from the Herald & Weekly Times and an order against republishing, but no compensation.

In an occasionally explosive case, Bolt’s writings about Aboriginal identity were painted as being akin to a “eugenics approach” and similar to writings that led to the Holocaust.

Bolt subsequently protested the slurs in court as “an unforgivable travesty.”

In concluding the eight day proceedings, counsel for the plaintiffs conceded Bolt’s writings did not incite “racial vilification or racial hatred”, rather they “constituted highly personal, highly derogatory and highly offensive attacks” on the nine individuals.

Andrew Bolt says on his blog:

I am very grateful to all the readers who have offered me support and sympathy. I’m afraid I cannot respond or comment further for now. But I can’t tell how moved I am. And how sad, but not just for myself.

UPDATE

I am sorry to the hundreds of people who’ve responded on this thread. I am extremely touched by your support, but the moderators obviously need to get guidance on what we dare publish. Such are the times.

More here.

Make no mistake.

This government in coalition with the Greens cannot handle any criticism whatsoever, and even though most of the media here has a demonstrably left-wing bias this isn’t enough for them.

The Greens are a Marxist/Totalitarian party, who support BDS in Australia – even though some deny it.

The Labor Party is showing its true totalitarian/Fabian Socialist roots.

Not only are they introducing a National Broadband Network that will be obsolete by the time it is completed – read ‘censorship’, but now they want to censor our media.

Of course it goes without saying that this is an attempt to censor any conservative-leaning writers and bloggers.

Their disregard for democracy knows no bounds.

I have often wondered if I will ever see another election in this country, and the USA as well.

These people must know they will be thrown out of government and yet it doesn’t bother them one bit!

Both have very low approval figures.

Maybe they know something they don’t want to let us in on.

Note as mentioned in the article below, this also gives them an excuse to go after the Murdoch press Downunder.

The Australian: Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has floated a government-funded media regulator

NEWSPAPERS could face scrutiny from a government-funded regulator as a result of a new media probe, but they would not fall under government control, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said today.

Senator Conroy confirmed a single media regulator overseeing all print, online and broadcast media could be one of the changes to flow from the government’s independent media inquiry launched yesterday.

He agreed the days of the Australian Press Council, which he called a “toothless tiger”, could be numbered

But he rejected the suggestion a single regulator would hand the government control of newspapers.

“That’s absurd. The government doesn’t have any more control or reach about how Channel Nine or Channel Ten or Channel Seven or even the ABC under the existing laws today,” he told the ABC.

“To suggest that because the Press Council might become a more professional organisation of part of a merged entity that suddenly the government has got more control is just wrong.”

Senator Conroy said the inquiry covered a specific area not covered by a separate review looking at the convergence of media types.

He said Labor had set the terms of reference, staring down Greens Leader Bob Brown who wanted to use the inquiry to further his campaign against News Limited, publisher of The Australian.

Senator Brown continued his attack News Limited today, accusing it of mixing news with opinion and of conducting “witch hunts”.

“This (inquiry) is in the public interest,” he said.

“It’s the public that absorbs the information and that depends upon the media for information in a healthy and functioning democracy and we need the media and it’s a very important part of our lives.

“The Murdoch empire is relentless about wanting inquiries into politics and politicians, and that’s how it should be, but they don’t like it when it’s the other way around.”

And furthermore it seems that bloggers and tweeters could also be at risk.

From the press conference yesterday of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy:

Journalist:

But you’d also have to define who could be complained about and what the penalities would be once they were complained about? A tweeter, a blogger, a…

Conroy:

Well, as you said. Now you’re canvassing areas that I think will be richly canvassed in the inquiry, and these are the sort of… these are, the questions is… you’re asking all the legitimate questions.

Further reading:

Andrew Bolt’s take.

Bonus questions for perspicacious viewers:

• What finally happens when ‘gay rights’ and ‘Muslim rights’ come into conflict?
• Who’s the Brigitte Bardot of Canada – and who’s the Brigitte Bardot of Melbourne?
• Should Mark Steyn become a disco singer?

Mark Steyn on Free Speech

Click here to view the embedded video.

Uploaded by MuggedVideos2 on Jun 25, 2011

Appallingly, that fine and prominent Australian journalist Andrew Bolt is being prosecuted in an Australian court for racial discrimination. Nine people are suing Bolt and the Herald-Sun over Bolt’s suggestion that some people choose to assert Aboriginal ancestry in order to advance their careers.

Prosecuted for racial discrimination. Over saying that. Just think about that for a moment. Mark Steyn, who himself went through a similar experience in Canada, delivered this priceless presentation in support of Bolt at an event the other day. The event was attended by nearly 600 people deeply concerned — as well they might be — by this most sinister threat to western freedom. Truly the light is going out in the west.

http://www.melaniephillips.com/the-steady-eclipse-of-the-western-mind

Mark Steyn’s specially recorded video message for the Institute of Public Affairs’ Free Speech event, with guest of honour Andrew Bolt. Melbourne, 20 June 2011
http://vimeo.com/25438650

Also see:

Mark Steyn: Free Speech in Australia

This is a particular danger to counterjihad bloggers and journalists.

Blazing Cat Fur has the story.