Loon Watch

(h/t:Critical Dragon)

So insanely paranoid you might think it’s a parody

by Charles Johnson, LittleGreenFootballs

And now we have the definitive jump-the-shark moment for CNET’s absurdly misleading NSA story, as raving demagogue Pamela Geller puts on her hate goggles and makes the connections between NSA spying and the SEKRIT MOSLEM CONSPIRACY: OBAMA ADMIN IS LISTENING IN ON YOUR PHONECALLS “SIMPLY BASED ON AN ANALYST DECIDING THAT” – Atlas Shrugs

The silence of the despicable left is the final nail in their coffin if America is paying attention. The enemedia is covering up and ignoring the two biggest stories of the decade – Benghazi and spying.

There are serious “constitutional problems” with this approach, said Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who has litigated warrantless wiretapping cases. “It epitomizes the problem of secret laws.” Serious constitutional problems? That’s the understatement of the century.

A phone call could be accessed “simply based on an analyst deciding that.” Who are the agents? Who is vetting them? Are they tied to Hamas-CAIR? ISNA? ICNA? Do they attend the 911 mosque?

Obama has scrubbed all counter terror materials of jihad Obama has said the al qaeda is defeated. Obama called Fort Hood Jihad “workplace violence”. Whose calls are they listening to?

Everyday another bombshell. And the philo-jihadist in the White House still enjoys a 50% aprroval rating. America is in crisis.

by Sheila Musaji

Recently, American Muslims were asked to accept “How to wink at a Muslim” as a joke.

Now we are asked to believe that Jihawg Ammo is only meant as a deterrent to “radical Muslims”, or as Sheik Yer’Mami called it, a culturally-sensitive solution to dealing with sudden jihad syndrome…”.

Tom Tillison BizPac Review reports that Pork-painted bullets sure to offend Muslims in which he says: “an Idaho company has begun producing bullets coated with “pork-infused paint.  Jihawg Ammunition’s company slogan is “Peace through Pork,” as stated on its web site, which says it “is the only ammunition in the world that provides a peaceful and natural deterrent to radical Islam.”  Tillison then goes on to make stupid and incorrect statements about the meaning of halal and haram and Sharia.

The AmmoLand site announcing this product says “Now Americans can defend themselves, their families, their communities, and their country from Muslim terrorists. Jihawg Ammo is the first product that provides a natural deterrent, promotes peace and yet provides maximum protection when used in a defensive posture. So, it is clear that they are marketing the product to ordinary American civilians.

Jeff Knox of WND posted New ammo cancels free ticket to paradise in which he says Jihawg Ammo’s full line of terrorist-deterrent ammunition, and their accompanying line of apparel and accessories, featuring slogans like “Pigs Do Fly” and “Do 72 Virgins a Favor,” are available at http://www.jihawg.com/ and should soon be available at select retailers around the country. [Note:  Media Matters for America reports on Jeff Knox that he heads a fringe gun group called the Firearms Coalition which recently proposed a successful resolution at the annual National Rifle Association conference urging the NRA to oppose any future restrictions on guns.]

Guns.com promotes this product in an article titled “Jihawg Ammo” Pork-Painted Bullets to Shoot Muslims.

Note, they don’t even bother with limiting their description of the intended target of these bullets to “radical” Muslims – JUST MUSLIMS.

I had hoped that this was all just the Islamophobia echo chamber posting nonsense that allowed them to get in some anti-Muslim propaganda.  However, it seems that this product actually exists – The Jihawg Ammo site that they promote has an order form.

This joins the Bible verses on rifle scopes which were used by American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Silver Bullet gun oil in the ideas for bigoted idiots category.

As Engy Abdelkader has previously pointed out:

While the Quran renders pork impure for consumption, some Islamic scholars have opined that if changed into another form, then it can be allowed. For example, a replacement heart valve or medication derived from swine would be permitted even if other non-porcine options were available.

Claims made that any hint of swine will prohibit you from entering heaven must seem ironic to a Muslim living with a porcine heart valve.

These idiots understanding of Sharia and Fiqh is so limited and wrong that they just don’t get the fact that there are no Islamic teachings that say what they claim.  The General Pershing myth that they mention as an example of the usefulness of this “tactic” is a myth.  As Jason D. Schwartzman reported in an article debunking this particular myth:

…  The myth of Pershing’s “pork blood burial” for Muslim terrorists has never yet inspired real-world imitation, but it seems to have come close on several occasions. The e-mails circulating the fabricated story and urging that the same be done today are certainly an example, though they were no more than bombast rather than action. Police Minister Gideon Esra of Israel appeared to have heard of the myth and accepted it at face value. In 2001, he called for suicide bombers to be buried wrapped in pigskin in order to discourage future attacks. This is probably the closest that defiling dead Muslim terrorists with pig remains has come to actually being a reality.

The myth of General Pershing suppressing Muslim fanatics by defiling their bodies with pig’s blood is a complete falsehood. The legend was born out of confusion, probably accidental, between a completely fictional depiction of the Moro Rebellion in a 1939 movie and the real deeds of Pershing in 1913. Pershing actually stopped the rebellion by using a minimum of violence, deescalating situations whenever possible, and disarming the Moros entirely. The myth is no more than a bloodthirsty urban legend, and furthermore, the method described would not work, since being killed by a bullet soaked in pig’s blood has no more or less deterrence value to a devout Muslim combatant than being killed with a plain bullet has.

Read the rest…

Yitzhak Pundak

From the “most moral army in the world”: Mr. Pundak believes it wasn’t “unnecessarily cruel” to raze Palestinian villages but he drew the line with Ariel Sharon on “killing enemy fighters” in exchange for “a glass of champagne.” (h/t: Awda)

War crimes anyone?

Brig. Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Pundak is celebrating his hundredth birthday. Pundak was the commander of the 53rd Battalion of the Givati Brigade in the War of Independence and went on to supervise the establishment of the Armored Corps. He was also Ambassador in Tanzania and a founder of Arad.

In an interview on IDF Radio, Pundak confirmed that forces under his command razed Arab villages in 1948. “My conscience is at ease with that, because if we hadn’t done so, then there would be no state by now. There would be a million more Arabs,” he said.

Asked why he still finds it so important to lecture to soldiers, at his advanced age, he explained: “Just like in 1948, the country is in a state of danger – and if the Jews do not fight as we did in the War of Independence, the state is in danger.” He predicted that if a war breaks out again, Jews will be capable of the same kind of self-sacrifice as in 1948.

“When there is a war, people unite,” he explained. “Afterward, they form parties and become divided.”

He spoke with pain of the 145 soldiers who were killed under his command over the years, and said that if they woke up miraculously and saw the divided country of today, “they would run back to their graves.”

And yet, when asked if he feels proud of his country, he said that his pride runs “as high as the rooftop.”

Pundak, who was the governor of Gaza in the early 1970s, said that the credit that is usually given to Ariel Sharon for stopping Arab terror in Gaza in 1971 is mistaken. He said that Sharon was an unnecessarily cruel commander who once said at a meeting with officers that he would offer champagne to whoever killed an enemy fighter – and whoever brings him a wounded enemy “will drink soda.”

He said: “I told him, ‘You are not my commander, I am not coming to your meetings.’”

ABC News explores, “What would you do?” when confronted by someone espousing anti-Muslim bigotry. I have to say many of the people in the video who responded are very impressive.

A disturbing trend.:

By Martin Hicks (Detroit News)

Two groups are seeking answers to what they say is a growing practice of Muslim and Arab-American groups having their bank accounts closed without cause or explanation.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations–Michigan is asking the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, to investigate the complaints and the Arab-American Civil Rights League in Dearborn is pursuing a lawsuit against major banks.

“We see a type of pattern taking place in the Muslim/Arab community,” Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR–MI, said Wednesday. “Bank accounts are being closed with no real justification … so it appears on the surface that there could be some sort of bias involved.”

One of the latest reported incidents, according to CAIR–MI, involved Alif Arabic, a business described as teaching Arabic to American citizens online. Officials there were notified May 30 by JPMorgan Chase their bank account would be terminated within 10 days. JPMorgan Chase officials did not detail why, according to the letter.

When an Alif Arabic employee asked the bank for clarification, they were told an analytical tool “alerted them that Alif’s account could pose a possible risk,” the letter read.

Walid said such a move could suggest discrimination based on religion and ethnicity. “We need answers and the bank is not giving answers,” he said.

Emily Smith, a JPMorgan Chase spokeswoman, said privacy reasons prevent the company from discussing details of its customer relationships. However, “on occasion, Chase determines it can no longer maintain a customer’s account but those decisions are not based on the customer’s religion, ethnicity or any other similar basis.”

Bryan Hubbard, a spokesman for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said: “We have just become aware of the letter and have not had a chance to review. We will look into these allegations.”

Meanwhile, the Arab-American Civil Rights League plans to file a lawsuit after nearly 50 incidents of individual and business accounts being closed.

The group earlier this year asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and launched a hotline for complaints after some area residents were notified by Huntington National Bank and other institutions their accounts were terminated without explanation.

That affected professionals and others who believed they acted lawfully, said Nabih Ayad, the league’s board chairman.

“It’s just a shame this continues to happen. It’s not fair to the community,” he said. “These sort of circumstances, they’re basically telling Arab Americans: ‘You’re not at the same level or beneath the average American and we don’t want you to bank with us.’ ”

In a statement Wednesday, Huntington spokeswoman Maureen Brown said: “As with all of our products, we periodically make required decisions to close accounts unrelated to the make-up of our communities, and consistent with all applicable regulatory requirements.”

MHicks@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2117

It’s not exactly breaking news that China has serious issues with freedom of religion and as an officially Atheist state is often very repressive against those observing religious rites.

China has once again leveled restrictions on the persecuted Uighurs when it comes to practicing Ramadan. (h/t: GF)

via. OnIslam

BEIJING – Unlike millions of Muslims around the world, Uighur students returning for summer vacations in northwestern China are banned from fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

“They are extracting guarantees from parents, promising that their children won’t fast on Ramadan,” Dilxat Raxit, Sweden-based spokesman for the exile World Uighur Congress (WUC), told Radio Free Asia on Thursday, June 13.

Chinese authorities have reportedly imposed restrictions on Uighur Muslim students returning for summer vacations in the northwestern region of Xinjiang ahead of Ramadan.

Under the restrictions, Uighur students under 18 are banned from fasting during Ramadan or taking part in religious activities.

Students defying the restrictions are being reported to authorities for punishment.

“They have also made groups of 10 households responsible for spying on each other, so that if a single child from one family fasts for Ramadan, or takes part in religious activities, then all 10 families will be fined,” Raxit said.

“It’s called a 10-household guarantee system.”

…

Religious officials have confirmed that Ramadan fasting is banned for Uighur Muslim students.

“[Fasting] is not allowed,” an official at a religious affairs bureau in Hotan’s Yutian County told Radio Free Asia.

“The students and the teachers have to report to their schools every Friday, even during the vacation.

“It’s like regular lessons,” he said, adding that the students would also be eating there.

Activists have also complained that Uighur students are being stripped off their mobile phones ahead of Ramadan.

“After the students get back to their hometowns, those with cell phones and computers must hand them in to the police for searching,” said Raxit.

“If they don’t hand them over and are reported or caught by the authorities, then they will have to bear the consequences.”

The pre-Ramadan restrictions come ahead of the fourth anniversary of deadly riots in Xinjiang, which left nearly 200 people dead.

Chinese authorities have convicted about 200 people, mostly Uighurs, over the riots and sentenced 26 of them to death.

Read the entire article

27 year old Taylor-trash Chapman essentially ruined her life by posting a hate filled rant against two Dunkin’ Donuts employees, bizarrely threatening them with “nuking from Mars” and hurling the word “sandnigger” at one of them.

I am hoping that this was the result of some psychotic break with reality or perhaps due to a Meth addiction but it seems that she is just a plain, old-fashioned racist scumbag.

6/10 UPDATE: Meet the polite 18-year-old Dunkin’ Donuts worker who endured the rantings of crazy Dunkin’ Donuts lady.

The customer seen berating Dunkin’ Donuts employees in that viral video your friend sent you today is a 27-year-old Florida woman who has previously worked as a video spokesperson for such establishments as Happy Wok restaurant and an auto repair shop.

 For some unexplained reason, Taylor Chapman walked into a Dunkin’ Donuts Saturday morning–iPhone in hand–to record a complaint about not beingprovided a receipt for a prior purchase. “This is all being under video surveillance,” she warned one employee (who was unfailingly polite).

Chapman’s 8:09 video can be seen above.

Since she had not purportedly been given a receipt, the Broward County resident cited a store policy that supposedly guaranteed her free food as a result of the oversight. Over eight minutes, the boorish, arrogant, and cursing Chapman (seen at right) records herself berating workers and even accosting fellow customers.

As she waited for her food, Chapman remarked, “Even if they hock a loogie and shit in it I don’t even care.” She added, “‘Cause one time they pissed in my fries…literally I could smell the piss in it.”

At one point, Chapman notes that she has a “business degree” and had previously received exemplary service at the Dunkin’ Donuts. Until, of course, a “dumb bitch” female employee “completely pissed me off” and “decided to cross my fucking line.”

During the video, Chapman refers to the female worker as “a complete cunt sand nigger whore.” When she spots the woman–who is named Nithi–Chapman moves down the counter to confront the worker.

“Well, guess what? This shit’s about to go live, bitch. Right on Facebook,” Chapman announces. “‘Cause I already posted what your dumb ass did last night. So I hope you’re happy with your little fucking sand nigger self. Cause I’m about to nuke your whole fucking planet from Mars. You think ya’ll are tough big fat Arabs bombin’ the Trade Center? I’ll show you tough.”

Before ending her recording, Chapman tells another customer that her video was heading for YouTube, where she hoped it would “get a million fucking hits.” Which, as it turns out, might have been an underestimation on Chapman’s part.

Prior to her Dunkin’ Donuts production, Chapman–who attended Nova Southeastern University in Davie–appeared in several marketing videos for local Florida businesses (including, as seen above, Happy Wok in Lauderhill). While her LinkedIn page lists her current employee as a medical device firm, an employee there said Chapman has not worked for the company in over a year.

On her Twitter page, Chapman writes that, “I have my bachelor’s degree in Business & Marketing and I am working towards my JD in Law now.” She adds that she is “happily engaged” to her boyfriend, with whom she lives.

Chapman who has deleted her Facebook page, could not be reached for comment.

Bill Cosby has caused consternation amongst people in the past but this time he is sticking it to Islamophobes, including many on the Right who can’t countenance anyone saying anything positive about Muslims and rather “intentionally” misunderstand Islam and Muslims.

by BREITBART NEWS

Comedian Bill Cosby is no stranger to the culture wars.

The iconic stand-up and star of the beloved sitcom The Cosby Show routinely weighs in on cultural matters.

This past weekend, Cosby penned an op-ed for The New York Post in which he detailed some of the flaws in modern society. He also suggested we should take a page out of the Koran if we want to have healthier families, less crime and more productive people.

I’m a Christian. But Muslims are misunderstood. Intentionally misunderstood. We should all be more like them. They make sense, especially with their children. There is no other group like the Black Muslims, who put so much effort into teaching children the right things, they don’t smoke, they don’t drink or overindulge in alcohol, they protect their women, they command respect. And what do these other people do?

They complain about them, they criticize them. We’d be a better world if we emulated them. We don’t have to become black Muslims, but we can embrace the things that work.

In our present climate this is a unique statement to hear, especially in the NY Post!
Predictably, anti-Muslim bigots like Allen West were quick to cry foul, barely able to contain their hatred:

Allen West: Muslims Are All ‘Honor Killings, Beheadings, Suicide Bombings’

Former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) boiled down the entire religion of Islam to “honor killings, beheadings [and] suicide bombings” in a message tweeted Monday night in response to a column by comedian Bill Cosby.

Last week, Cosby wrote an op-ed in the New York Post encouraging African American communities to abandon apathy in an effort to better raise the next generation. In one passage, Cosby suggested that some parents could take cues from Muslims:

I’m a Christian. But Muslims are misunderstood. Intentionally misunderstood. We should all be more like them. They make sense, especially with their children. There is no other group like the Black Muslims, who put so much effort into teaching children the right things, they don’t smoke, they don’t drink or overindulge in alcohol, they protect their women, they command respect. And what do these other people do?They complain about them, they criticize them. We’d be a better world if we emulated them. We don’t have to become black Muslims, but we can embrace the things that work.

West responded in a tweet ignoring the values that Cosby had chosen to highlight. Here’s how he explained Muslim behavior instead:

West was an outspoken critic of Islam and Muslims throughout his short tenure in Congress. In 2011, a member of the Council on Islamic-American Relations questioned the tea party-backed congressman, asking him clarify an earlier claim that the Quran commands Muslims “to carry out attacks against Americans and innocent people.” West appeared upset at the man’s defense of moderate Islam, telling him not to “try to blow sunshine up my butt.” West had long contended that CAIR had ties to extremist groups.

CAIR got the last laugh earlier this year, however, when the organization auctioned off a letter written by West to its Florida chapter for more than $2,500.

Government harassment of Muslims has gone on for quite some time at the Northern border and now there is a lawsuit against the government for violation of their rights.

DETROIT (AP) -

A Detroit judge says a lawsuit can go forward against federal authorities accused of violating the rights of Muslims at U.S.-Canada border crossings.

Federal Judge Avern Cohn says he’s not ruling yet on the merits of the case. But he denied a request by the government to dismiss it Tuesday.

Some Detroit-area Muslims sued last year, saying they’ve been held at gunpoint, handcuffed and repeatedly questioned about their religion when returning to the U.S. from Canada. Some have given up on crossing the border.

Cohn says the government might come up with valid reasons for pulling Muslims aside for additional questions at the border. But he says that’s not the key issue at this stage of the litigation.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read more: http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/22566728/judge-refuses-to-dismiss-muslim-harassment-case#ixzz2W1PiEkuE

Mike Pompeo (Credit: AP)

By Hayes Brown on Jun 11, 2013 at 4:06 pm

A Republican congressman claimed on the House floor on Tuesday that members of Muslim communities in the United States have not condemned acts of Islamic extremist terrorism against the U.S. and therefore are complicit in those and any future attacks.

Noting that it has been two months since the Boston Marathon bombing, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) said the supposed silence from Muslim leaders on terrorism is “deafening,” adding that it’s “sad, but perhaps most importantly it’s dangerous.” Listing off a number terrorist acts committed by Islamic extremists, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and several more recent failed plots, Pompeo blamed the leaders of the Islamic community for not doing more to prevent these actions, hinting that they could be complicit in the deaths they’ve caused. “Instead of responding, silence has made these Islamic leaders across America potentially complicit in these acts, and more importantly still, in those that may well follow,” Pompeo accused.

“I know not all Muslims support these actions,” Pompeo said, but lamented that “the silence in the face of extremism coming from the best funded Islamic advocacy organizations and many mosques across America is deafening.”

Watch his full statements here:

But Muslim leaders in the U.S. have been anything but silent in the face of extremism. Immediately after the identity of the alleged Boston bombers was revealed, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a statement in response condemning terrorism. “As Americans, we are a united force against any form of tyranny, whether it be in the form of terrorism or otherwise,” CAIR executive director Basim Elkarra said. “Terrorism has no allegiance to faith or ethnicity, and we have been witness to that over the past few years. What happened in Boston and Watertown last week does not reflect on anyone except for those who carried it out. It is not a reflection of ethnic identity, religion, or national affiliation.”

Likewise, Muslim communities around the country have made clear their disdain for terrorism. In the aftermath of Boston, the All Dulles Area Muslim Society began organizing a workshop to prevent further Muslim youths from being radicalized on the Internet. Similarly, the Muslim Public Affairs Council partnered with the New America Foundation to work on the issue of tackling extremism and promoting moderate Islam in an age of digital radicalization. In fact, in the years since 9/11, Muslim-American leaders have condemned terrorism — from the failed Christmas Day bombing of a plane landing in Detroit to the 2005 London bombings to the very idea of terrorism — unequivocally. Pompeo’s questioning their stance against terror shows a deafness that affected his colleague Rep. Peter King (R-NY) and indeed many Americans over the last decade.

Pompeo also misses that Muslim communities have actually been instrumental in thwarting more than a dozen terrorist attacks since 2001. Across the border, in Canada, the Toronto Muslim community was key in preventing an attack on a joint U.S.-Canadian railway line. In the most recent Pew Research Center survey of the U.S. Muslim community, taken in 2011, found that 64 percent of U.S. Muslims felt there was little or no support for extremism in their communities. Instead, Muslims found themselves targets of increased violence and harassment after Boston.

“Anti-Jihadi Freedom Fighter” Michael Enright

The man who stabbed a Muslim cabbie during the height of the “Ground Zero Mosque” hysteria has plead guilty to hate crime charges.

NEW YORK (AP) – A film student has pleaded guilty to hate-crime charges in what authorities called an anti-Muslim attack on a New York City cab driver in 2010.

Michael Enright entered the plea Tuesday in state court in Manhattan. He is expected to be sentenced to 9 ½ years in prison.

Prosecutors say that during a cab ride, Enright asked the driver if was Muslim. He then told him to “consider this a checkpoint” before cutting him with a folding knife.

A defense lawyer had claimed that Enright had an alcohol problem and a post-traumatic stress condition from a trip to Afghanistan.

His arrest came amid a debate over plans for an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from ground zero.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Another day another new level of idiocy reached by Faux News host Brian Kilmeade.

Kilmeade follows Papa Roger Ailes’ instructions on Fox’s Islamophobia strategy, by endorsing neo-fascist EDL criminal Stephen-Yaxley Lennon.

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade told the leader of a violent nationalist hate group that targets British Muslims, “We got your back” and “it’s great what you’re doing.”

Kilmeade offered his endorsement to the English Defence League (EDL) and co-founder Tommy Robinson, who appeared as a guest on the June 10 edition of Kilmeade’s Fox News Radio program. Kilmeade’s support followed an interview in which Robinson railed against the immigration of Muslims into the United Kingdom, and warned of Muslims “forcefully putting us under Sharia” Law and planning a “silent takeover” to “implement Sharia” in his country and across the world.

Robinson (whose real name is Stephen Lennon) also said he didn’t regret his recent conviction for using a false identity document to enter the United States to attend an anti-Islam event with anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller. Robinson pled guilty and was jailed in January and released in February. Robinson’s offense wasnot his first brush with the law.

Fox News has previously reported on the violent and fringe nature of the EDL. On August 28, 2010, America’s News HQ anchor Gregg Jarrett noted there were “hundreds of extreme right-wing protesters rioting in northern England. Members of the so-called English Defence League tossing bottles and rocks at police in the city of Bradford. There’s the map. Police penned the group in, keeping them away from a separate rally headed by a leftist group. The English Defence League opposes what it calls the spread of Sharia Law and Islamic extremism in England. Police arrested five people, but there are no reports of any injuries.”

Several other news outlets have similarly described the EDL as a violent and extreme anti-Muslim group:

• The Associated Press described the EDL as “anti-immigrant” and “a right-wing nationalist group.” The APalso reported: “The English Defense League says it is a non-racist group set up to oppose the spread of militant Islam. But at previous demonstrations its members have clashed with police, chanted anti-Muslim slogans and made Nazi salutes.”
• The Guardian reported that the EDL has “staged a number of violent protests in towns and cities across the country this year” and is “targeting some of the UK’s highest-profile Muslim communities.” The British paper reported that it “attended its demonstrations and witnessed racism, violence and virulent Islamophobia” and found “a number of known rightwing extremists who are taking an interest in the movement – from convicted football hooligans to members of violent rightwing splinter groups.”
• The New York Times’ The Lede blog described the EDL as a “virulently anti-Islam group” and noted it “sent a delegation to New York to attend a rally on Sept. 11, 2010 against the building of an Islamic cultural center and mosque in Lower Manhattan.”
• CNN has described the EDL as “a far right extremist group.”
• NPR has called the EDL “a far right anti-Muslim fringe group.”

Despite the group’s extreme ideology and violent nature, Kilmeade gave Robinson an enthusiastic and unchallenged platform for nearly 15 minutes to rail against Muslims. Among Robinson’s claims:

• “Sit and work out the demographics. Look at how our country’s changed. I think, every ten years the Islamic community doubles … Where does it stop?”
• “In the World War, we need America’s help. Now in this country, we need America’s support because we need to take our country back.”
• “In thirty years’ time, they will be forcefully putting us under Sharia. There will be a violent struggle across this country, complete civil breakdown and disorder.”
• “I don’t regret doing it at all.” — Robinson on entering the United States with improper documentation.
• “That’s the tip of the iceberg. You see, the violent jihadists — now they are a real problem and they do [inaudible] what they’re doing. But this silent jihad that’s going on. This silent takeover and planning to take over and implement Sharia, they’re the ones I’m terrified of because they’re actually sitting around tables of government. They’re actually in positions of power. They’ve infiltrated major positions across the whole entire government. And I say don’t listen to what we’re saying. Listen to what they’re saying. They’re openly telling us they want to take over the country. They’re openly committing treason. They’re openly Islamifying areas, and it has to end, and that’s what we’re saying.

At the conclusion of the interview, Kilmeade told Robinson: “Well Tommy, we got your back, and we’ll definitely look to keep in touch and I really think it’s a very — it’s great what you’re doing.” After the interview, Kilmeade tweeted: “Englishdefenseleague.org [sic] check out Tommy Robinson and his mission to rid brit ian [sic] of muslim extremists @foxandfriends.”

Media Matters has previously noted that Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor also gave Robinson a platform to push his views. Host Bill O’Reilly noted reports calling the EDL “fascist” and “racist,” and described the group’s views as militant, but didn’t cover the group’s history of violent actions.

The Guardian reported today that the BBC has been recently criticized for “giving an uncritical platform to” Robinson, “who was interviewed on the Radio 4 Today programme on Tuesday morning. … He admitted that the organisation has ‘completely questionable’ tactics and said ‘the non-Muslim working class don’t have a voice’ and warned ‘it’s not going to end pretty’.”

Kilmeade, who also co-hosts Fox & Friends, has a long history of pushing Islamophobia on Fox News. For instance, Kilmeade has (twice) claimed that “all terrorists are Muslims,” proposed bugging U.S. mosques, and said that Muslims “have to understand” they’re being profiled because of “the war that was declared on us.”

Listen to Kilmeade’s full interview with the EDL’s Tommy Robinson from the June 10 edition of Fox News Radio’s Kilmeade & Friends:

Despite calls by many citing the enforcement of the discriminatory law targeting Rohingya as a gross human rights violation some ministers in the Myanmar government have given it their enthusiastic backing.

(Reuters) – Myanmar’s Immigration Minister has expressed support for a controversial two-child limit on a Muslim minority group that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the United Nations call discriminatory and a violation of human rights.

Khin Yi, Minister of Immigration and Population, is the most senior official to publicly support the recently announced enforcement by local authorities of a two-child policy in northwestern Rakhine State for Rohingya Muslims, a stateless minority termed “Bengalis” by the Myanmar government.

“This will benefit the Bengali women,” Khin Yi said in an interview with Reuters.

His comments coincide with mounting international concern over the treatment of minority Muslims in the majority Buddhist country following outbreaks of communal violence that have killed hundreds of people since last year and made more than 140,000, mostly Muslims, homeless.

Continued religious tensions pose among the biggest challenges for the reformist government that replaced a military junta in March 2011.

Health workers say the two-child policy encourages unsafe abortions in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest regions.

Authorities in Rakhine State say they need to impose controls on Rohingya to prevent further unrest. In Sittwe, the Rakhine State capital, apartheid-like policies have segregated Buddhists from Muslims, many of whom live in prison-like ghettos, since sectarian violence in June last year.

A spokesman for the Rakhine State government last month reaffirmed a 2005 two-child regulation in two townships, Buthidaung and Maungdaw, part of a web of restrictions drawn up by the former military government to control a fast-growing Rohingya population.

“The Bengali women living in the Rakhine State have a lot of children. In some areas, one family has 10 or 12 children,” said Khin Yi. “It’s not good for child nutrition. It’s not very easy for schooling. It is not very easy to take care of the children.”

Asked whether he supported the policy, he replied: “Yes.”

“NOT IN LINE WITH HUMAN RIGHTS”

The policy has drawn worldwide condemnation and stoked a growing debate over treatment of Rohingya, who claim a centuries-old lineage in Rakhine State.

The United Nations has called on Myanmar to “to remove such policies or practices”. New York-based Human Rights Watch said the law was “violating international human rights protections and endangering women’s physical and mental health”.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi has called the policy “discrimination” that is “not in line with human rights”.

The government says the Rohingya are Muslim migrants from Bangladesh who arrived during British colonial rule between 1824 and 1948.

The term “Bengali” suggests they are illegal immigrants from northern neighbor Bangladesh.

A 1982 Citizenship Act excluded Rohingya from Myanmar’s 135 recognized ethnic groups, effectively rendering them stateless. Bangladesh also disowns them and has refused to grant them refugee status since 1992.

Khin Yi put their number at 1.33 million in the country of 60 million people, above past estimates of 800,000. He said 1.08 million are in Rakhine State. Only about 40,000 had citizenship, he said.

He said the two-child policy appears to have been implemented on a grass-roots level by the local authorities. “The order is not issued by the central government. It is not issued by the state government,” he said.

He said the policy would help reduce problems caused by large impoverished families.

“Almost all of the Bengali women are very poor, uneducated. It is not easy to take care of the children. The two-child policy or three-child policy is enough for these people. That is my point of view,” he said.

“UNSAFE ABORTIONS”

To avoid paying fines or being arrested, some pregnant Rohingya have resorted to illegal abortions, say health workers.

“We see women coming into our clinics with infections and medical complications because they have had unsafe abortions,” said Vickie Hawkins, deputy head of mission in Myanmar at international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, which has been operating in Rakhine State since 1994.

“We have concluded over the years that women are having unsafe abortions because of the restrictive policies.”

Hawkins said the two-child limit was “a public reinforcement of policies that have already been in place for decades”.

Doctors Without Borders runs clinics in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, home to Rakhine State’s largest Rohingya populations. The government does not allow foreign journalists to visit either area.

Human Rights Watch said some Rohingya women pay bribes to evade the regulations and register their children with other legally married adults.

Others keep their children hidden or unregistered to avoid fines or jail, it said. When authorities learn of families with more than two children, the children are sometimes placed on a government blacklist, making them vulnerable to arbitrary arrest.

The two-child policy threatens to fuel wider anti-Muslim sentiment at a time of high communal tension across Myanmar.

In early June, hundreds of Rakhines marched in support of the policy through the Rakhine capital Sittwe and the towns of Mrauk U and Minbya, reported the Yangon-based publication The Voice Weekly.

Led by Buddhist monks, the rallies carried echoes of nationwide protests against the Organisation of Islamic Conference that preceded last October’s violence.

(Editing by Alex Richardson)

(Via. New York Times)

Mr. Snowden, a native of North Carolina, told The Guardian that he signed up in 2003 for an Army Special Forces training program because he wanted to fight in Iraq.

“I felt like I had an obligation as a human being to help free people from oppression,” he said.

But he said he had quickly become disillusioned with the military.

“Most of the people training us seemed pumped up about killing Arabs, not helping anyone,” he said.

After breaking his legs during a training accident, Mr. Snowden was discharged from the Army and took a job as a security guard at an N.S.A. secret facility on the University of Maryland’s campus, according to The Guardian, which said it had confirmed his story.

Despite not having a high school degree, he was later hired by the C.I.A. to work on information technology security, serving in Geneva. In 2009, he joined the N.S.A. as a contractor at a facility in Japan, where, he said, he watched “as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be reined in.”

Most recently, Mr. Snowden has been part of a Booz Allen team working at an N.S.A. facility in Hawaii. Three weeks ago, he made final preparations to disclose the classified documents, The Guardian said. It said he had copied the documents and told a supervisor that he needed to take a few weeks off to deal with medical problems. He then flew to Hong Kong.

By Matt Duss (ThinkProgress)

Last week, the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin hailed the arrival of “a strong new player in the pro-Israel community,” Concerned Women for America. It’s “music to the ears of Israel and her friends,” Rubin wrote, “that a 500,000-strong conservative group that has mostly focused on social and economic issues has adopted defense of Israel as part of its core mission.”

What Rubin doesn’t mention is that, in addition to a number of other very right-wing causes, CWFA has a history of anti-Muslim activism. In particular, the group pushes the “creeping sharia” conspiracy theory, which holds that Islamic religious law represents an imminent threat to the United States, and which my colleague Wajahat Ali and I debunked in a 2011 brief.

An announcement for a CWFA event in Iowa last November claimed, “Islam is more than a religion; it is a military strategy and a political and socio-economic system,” and asked, “Would you recognize Sharia Law in your community? Can we coexist like the bumper stickers suggest? Can true freedom survive if Islam thrives?”

A recent CWFA podcast on “Confronting the threat of Islam” — not “Islamism” or “Islamic extremism,” but Islam itself — featured Tom Lynch, Director of Mission Advancement for the Thomas More Law Center, another organization with a history of anti-Muslim activism.

“Today the Trojan horse is Islam,” said Lynch. “It’s entered America disguised as a religion. It’s ultimate objective is political, and that’s to destroy America and establish an Islamic nation under Allah and sharia law.” Thanks to “unprincipled career politicians that are corrupting our government,” Lynch warns, Islam threatens to corrupt America’s vital essence. “If you expect to remain free, it’s out duty as Americans, and the duty of everyone, to become informed about the threat of Islam within our gates.”

CWFA has been at active in lobbying for anti-sharia legislation, most recently in North Carolina, where they promoted “American Laws for American Courts,” template legislation created by attorney David Yerushalmi, who has advocated making it “a felony punishable by 20 years in prison to knowingly act in furtherance of, or to support the, adherence to Islam.”

In an op-ed in North Carolina’s News Observer last week, Faiza Patel and Amos Toh of the Brennan Center for Justice wrote that the measure would “create a series of damaging, unintended consequences for North Carolinians of all faiths.” (Patel, Toh and I examined some of these consequences in a recent report. A 2011 Center for American Progress report Fear, Inc: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America, also detailed the various groups and individuals pushing anti-Islam measures.)

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon recently vetoed a nearly identical measure, saying it “seeks to solve a problem that does not exist.” Christian and Jewish groups have also opposed the measures on the grounds that they infringe religious liberty, particularly for religious minorities.

Supporters of Israel might want to think twice before embracing a group with this sort of extremist agenda. They might also want to ask why Rubin didn’t think it worth mentioning.

I urge everyone to check out Imagine 2050′s latest issue that tackles Islamophobia.:

Imagine 2050 released its latest magazine today – Islamophobia, the New Nativism – an issue devoted to the continuation of uncovering the confluence of the Islamophobia movement with the anti-immigrant movement in the United States.

Where last year’s issue, “This Rhetoric is not Cost-Free:” Islamophobia & Nativism in the US, addressed what was becoming an increasingly close relationship among key anti-immigrant activists, far-right legislators, and proponents of Islamophobia, this issue reveals that those relationships have developed into a fully organized and effective, in some cases, effort to legitimize and politicize racism and xenophobia against Muslim, Arab and South Asian Americans, or those perceived as such, in the mainstream.

The magazine includes in-depth commentary on some of the biggest stories over the past year that were either the direct result of Islamophobia, like the Sikh temple shootings in Wisconsin last August, or induced it, such as motions following the recent Boston bombings in April.

Despite calls for acceptance, reason, and calm during moments of crisis, opportunistic peddlers of Islamophobia use unfortunate incidents like the bombings in Boston and most recently, the attack in London, to push their brand of hate.

This magazine issue, and the research and analysis published daily at Imagine 2050, reveals the bigoted nature of the Islamophobia and anti-immigrant movements – a bigotry their agents often mask as a concern for the United States.

The magazine is accompanied by a reference guide that examines some of the major players in the Islamophobia movement such as Pamela Geller, Richard Spencer, David Yerushalmi, Brigitte Gabriel, and the organizations they run—ACT! for America, Jihad Watch, Stop! Islamization of America, and Society for Americans for National Existence. It also examines Islamophobic rhetoric that has been a staple within the John Tanton Network for many years.

The focus of Imagine 2050 continues to be America’s changing demographics, including discussions on how to shape a truly democratic America. Before the year 2050, one out of five Americans will be foreign born. Latino and Asian communities will increase significantly. There will be no clear racial or ethnic majority. Today’s perceptions of foreignness will challenge how Americans identify themselves over the coming years.

In light of these challenges,  Imagine 2050 believes the continued promotion of candid conversations around Islamophobia and immigration will become increasingly necessary if America’s democracy is to flourish - an equitable and inclusive democracy where people can live safely and freely across religious, racial, and ethnic identities.

An Islamic boarding school was set alight by ‘intruders’ in a suspected arson attack, just days after an Islamic centre was burnt to the ground in London.

About 130 children and staff were evacuated from Darul Uloom, a Muslim madrassa or religious school, in Chislehurst, Kent, just before midnight on Saturday.

School principal Mustafa Musa said today the fire was started in the teaching area and damaged about 10 per cent of the building.

Two boys had to be treated for smoke inhalation and police said they are treating the blaze as suspicious.

Mr Musa said they are ‘deeply saddened’ by the attack and called for calm.

He said: ‘We are part of the British community and are deeply saddened by the events that have taken place.

‘We urge the community to stay firm and united and bring the people responsible to justice.

‘The community at large have to come together for a safe and peaceful life in Britain.’

The school principal thanked the emergency services and ‘well-wishers’ who have offered help.

He added: ‘The parents should rest assured that the students are safe and have been well looked after.

‘The academic department of the school was set alight just before midnight by intruders.

‘Initially the staff extinguished the fire and evacuated the students to safety.

‘The fire and ambulance services responded rapidly and ensured no one was seriously injured.

‘Two boys suffered smoke inhalation injuries but thank God they are recovering.’

Police are treating a fire at an Islamic school as suspected arson just days after an Islamic centre was burnt to the ground in London.

Read the rest…

A shop was also targeted by arsonists Liverpool in what is being treated as a hate crime.:

Police in Liverpool are treating an arson attack at a shop in Anfield as a hate crime.

Officers were called to Robinson News on Priory Road last night.

It was after two men, with their faces covered entered, the shop and verbably abused the shopkeeper.

They then threw what’s thought to be an accelerant into the premises.

The 48 year old shopkeeper received serious injuries to his hands and arms trying to put out the blaze.

A resident from the flat above managed to escape unhurt.

The governor of Afghanistan’s Kunar Province has reported a US drone strike against the Manogi District has killed at least three civilians, all children, and wounding seven others.

A survivor of the explosion says that the drone hit their house, knocking him unconscious. He reported seven members of his family were hospitalized, and denied that they had done anything wrong.

NATO was quick to deny the report, saying that they took allegations “very seriously,” but that their own reports on operations in the area didn’t confirm any such incidents in the province.

Civilian deaths in NATO air strikes have been a huge problem throughout the war, with the US often promising an “investigation” that never seems to actually conclude into exactly what happened.

It is redundant to point out that Fox News has essentially adopted Islamophobia as a cornerstone theme that it seeks to widely disseminate into mainstream American culture. What is different is that the propagandizing of Islamophobia has only accelerated since the Boston Bombings and has reached levels that are reminiscent to the worst of post-9/11 coverage on Islam.

There is perhaps not a single major Fox News presenter who is immune from this tact with the possible exception of Shepherd Smith. A detailed analysis of the past few months is necessary but let us say that Bill O’Reilly giving voice to the fascist, criminal, hooligan thug-in-chief of the EDL, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is not exactly surprising.

via. Media Matters

Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly provided a platform for Tommy Robinson, head of the English Defence League, a violent, extremist anti-Muslim hate group in Great Britain.

O’Reilly hosted Robinson on The O’Reilly Factor to discuss the EDL’s efforts to, as Robinson described, “fight for Christianity, fight for our children’s future, fight for our culture, and fight for our country’s identity, which is completely under attack.” Robinson went on to claim that British politicians aren’t doing enough to suppress the growth of Muslim communities in the United Kingdom, adding “actions speak a lot louder than words.”

Although O’Reilly mentioned press reports describing the EDL as “fascist” and “racist” and described the group’s views as “militant” at the beginning of the segment, he failed to note the EDL’s history of incendiary and often violent actions. A 2010 “undercover investigation” by The Guardian found that the organization planned protests against Muslim communities in “a blatant attempt to provoke mayhem and disorder”:

MPs said the group’s decision to target some of the UK’s most prominent Muslim communities was a blatant attempt to provoke mayhem and disorder. “This group has no positive agenda,” said the Bradford South MP, Gerry Sutcliffe. “It is an agenda of hate that is designed to divide people and communities. We support legitimate protest but this is not legitimate, it is designed to stir up trouble. The people of Bradford will want no part of it.”

The English Defence League, which started in Luton last year, has become the most significant far-right street movement in the UK since the National Front in the 1970s. A Guardian investigation has identified a number of known rightwing extremists who are taking an interest in the movement – from convicted football hooligans to members of violent rightwing splinter groups.

Thousands of people have attended its protests – many of which have descended into violence and racist and Islamophobic chanting. Supporters are split into “divisions” spread across the UK and as many as 3,000 people are attracted to its protests.

[...]

The EDL claims it is a peaceful and non-racist organisation only concerned with protesting against “militant Islam”. However, over the last four months the Guardian has attended its demonstrations and witnessed racism, violence and virulent Islamophobia.

A post on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch blog described the video that accompanied the Guardian post as revealing “the group’s defining features: street intimidation and violent rhetoric”:

In the video, EDL activists are heard issuing targeted threats and speaking of upcoming “murders” and “stampings”. Among the British groups that have attached themselves to the EDL are violent neo-Nazi outfits such as Combat 18 and far-right racist parties like the National Front. Because of the increasingly ominous atmosphere surrounding its public gatherings, the EDL’s founder and leader Tommy Robinson was stopped last week by authorities at JFK Airport on a tip from British police and sent back to England.

According to the narrator of the Guardian video, a reporter who spent months inside the movement, the EDL is not “simply a rerun of previous far-right organizations.” Rather, “it has acted like a lightning rod with people with a range of grievances who appear to be coalescing around a rampant Islamaphobia.”

A study on the English Defense League by Faith Matters, a U.K.-based nonprofit that “works to reduce extremism and interfaith and intra-faith tensions,” found that ”It is hard to escape the conclusion that, on the ground, the EDL is a violent organization.” The study concluded by writing:

Should the EDL adopt increasingly intimidating tactics against local Muslim communities and opposition groups, it will become even more difficult to avoid a downward spiral of violence that will not only feed the EDL’s toxic narrative but also radicalize Muslim communities, encouraging deeper divisions within our communities. A further aggravating factor is economic austerity and the possibility that this could intensify resentment towards Muslims. When it comes to the level of threat that the EDL currently poses to our country, our communities and our values, there is certainly no room for complacency.

Robinson touted the EDL’s “Jewish division” on The O’Reilly Factor, but made no mention of Roberta Moore, who resigned as head of the EDL’s Jewish division in 2011 because of what she claimed were Nazi elements within the group.

O’Reilly is not the first right-wing media figure to highlight the EDL or its leader. Ann Coulter defended the organization from critics after a protest against the slaying of a British soldier by two Muslim men in Woolwich turned violent last month.

Pamela Geller, an Islamophobic blogger and activist, has repeatedly expressed her support for the EDL in the past. She wrote at the conservative American Thinker that “Free people should support the English Defence League in its efforts to stand for England and the West against the belligerent invaders and Islamic imperialists.” This past January, she defended Robinson after he was arrested for illegally entering the United States. Geller and Robinson sit together on the President’s Council of Stop Islamization of Nations, which claims to be ”the first activist leadership team uniting counter-jihadists in Europe, the U.S., and Australia.”

Watch the video below. Rumsfeld was invited to speak at an event hosted by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. David Horowitz of course is the kooky, conspiracy theorist, racist, anti-Muslim bigot who uses money from wealthy donors to perpetuate the Islamophobia network.

Rumsfeld is knowingly pandering to a certain fear that President Obama is not American enough, a “secret-Mooslim” by saying that he can’t tell if Obama has switched sides in the so-called “war on terror.”

Really, what does the Drone President have to do to prove himself, nuke a Muslim-majority country!?

Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein.
It looks like he has switched sides too!

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says that he “can’t tell” if President Obama has switched sides in the “War on Terror,” because the President is “unwilling to identify the enemy.”

“As you go around the country, do you have any sense or the same sort of sinking feeling that the rest of us have that [Obama has] actually switched sides in the War on Terror?” Rumsfeld was asked at a recent event.

“You know, I just don’t feel competent to answer,” Rumsfeld said. “I can’t tell.” He continued: “It bothers me greatly that he’s unwilling to identify the enemy. I don’t see how you win if you don’t.”

Rumsfeld was speaking at a recent event hosted by the David Horowtiz Freedom Center – a notable venue because Horowitz, the anti-Islam editor of the conservative FrontPage Magazine, has, among other things, accused everyone from Huma Abedin to Grover Norquist to CPAC to teachers unions of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood or allowing the “infiltration of Islamic Jihadist doctrines.”

Here’s the video, via TPM:

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com