Showing posts with label Hate Crimes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hate Crimes. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Beheadings Of Infidels, Halal Sex Products And "Muslims Don't Like Dogs"

A Month of Islam in Europe: June 2014



Austria accused Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of stirring up trouble on June 19, when he urged thousands of cheering supporters in Vienna to reject "assimilation."

Erdogan was rallying support for his candidacy ahead of Turkish presidential elections in August, and expatriate Turks have become a significant bloc of voters after changes to the electoral system now allow them to cast votes abroad.
Around 268,000 people of Turkish origin live in Austria, according to government figures, of whom nearly 115,000 are Turkish citizens.
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, who had expressly warned Erdogan not to undermine efforts to integrate Turks into Austrian society, criticized the latest comments:
"These show very clearly that the Turkish premier has brought the election campaign to our country and created unrest with this. We reject this. And I can only say that respect for a host country looks clearly different."
In Graz, the second-largest city in Austria, police on June 5 arrested a 41-year-old Islamic preacher from Chechnya who is believed to be involved in efforts to send Austrians to war in the Middle East.
State prosecutor Hansjoerg Bacher said that the imam is thought to be behind the radicalization and recruitment of eight Chechens resident in Austria, four of whom have died in fighting in Syria.

In Bulgaria, the Kardjali District Court on June 16 rejected a property claim lodged by the office of the Chief Mufti, the spiritual leader of Bulgaria's Muslims, to be awarded ownership of the building housing the Regional Historical Museum. The court found that there was no basis for the claim, and ordered the representatives of the Muslim community to pay 91,062 leva ($63,000) in costs to the state.
This case was the latest in a series of lawsuits by the Chief Mufti's office, filed under the Religious Denominations Act, which allows applications by recognized religious denominations to be awarded property believed to be historically theirs.
The building was originally intended to serve as a Muslim religious school, and it was funded in part by donations from the local Muslim community in 1920s and 1930s. However, the building was never used as a madrassa. Instead, it was nationalized during Bulgaria's communist era and became a museum.
Lawyers for the Kardjali district administration argued that the Chief Mufti's office is not the heir to the local Muslim community because at the time there was no such registered legal entity.
In the southern Bulgarian town of Peshtera, residents are angry over the local mosque's powerful loudspeakers, which are blasting the Islamic call to prayer, the adhan, several times a day.
According to Radio FOCUS, the town is a model of multicultural tolerance, but residents are increasingly irritated by the adhan; the "silent discontent may escalate to petitions and protests," the radio said.

In Britain, a new television channel aimed exclusively at British Muslims, British Muslim TV (BMTV), was launched in early June. The channel, operating under the slogan "Confidently Muslim, Comfortably British," is airing on the British Sky digital platform; the programming content is being exclusively funded and made in the UK.
BMTV will compete with other channels, such as Islam Channel, one of the UK's most prominent and popular English language Muslim satellite channels; Noor TV, Peace TV and Iqra TV, all of which have a South Asian focus and are usually broadcast in Urdu or Bangladeshi; and to Shia Muslim focused channels such as Hidayat TV and Ahlebait TV.
Speaking to Al Arabiya news, the marketing director for BMTV, Wasim Akhtar, said that BMTV aims to be different from the other Muslim channels by being "inclusive of all different views and open to all different types of Muslims. So the channel isn't just about issues of faith, it's about practical Muslim life here in Britain."
In a trial at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales [Old Bailey], a jury heard how police found 38-year-old Tahira Ahmed after she was decapitated in her west London home, allegedly by her husband, 41-year-old Naveed Ahmed. Tahira had been stabbed, had both her arms broken, and her head cut off. The couple, who have two children aged six and 12, had been married for 14 years.
Also in London, police launched an investigation into the origins of a sign telling dog owners to stay out of a park because it is "an Islamic area now" and "Muslims don't like dogs."
Meanwhile, it emerged that taxpayer money could be used to help fund a new mosque for the Muslim community in Belfast, according to Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. The move came after a local pastor named James McConnell denounced Islam as "Satanic" and a "doctrine spawned in hell."
McGuinness said he and First Minister Peter Robinson, who visited the Islamic Centre in south Belfast in June, "absolutely accepted" that the 4,000-strong Muslim community "is entitled to a mosque, if a proper site can be found which is suitable for them."
McGuinness said McConnell's remarks were "shameful" and could affect investments in Belfast. "This will impact, if not handled correctly by us, on our prospects of attracting foreign direct investment," McGuinness said. "The story travelled all round the world, and I think that it was very damaging."
In a bid to reverse negative stereotypes of Muslims in the UK, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association in Devon and Cornwall in southwestern England launched an advertising campaign in June to promote "positive awareness of Islam."
The campaign involved banners displaying Muslim messages of peace on a fleet of more than 100 city buses. Under the slogan of "loyalty, freedom, equality, respect, peace" the community also launched a website: LoveForAllHatredForNone.org.
A regional president of the group, Muhammad Noman, said: "A true Muslim can never raise his voice in hatred against his fellow citizens, nor against the ruling authority or government of the time. He should remain loyal and fully abide by the laws of the land of which he is a subject."
More news about Islam in Britain during June 2014 can be found here.

In Cyprus on June 3, Turkish Cypriot mufti Talip Atalay recited a prayer at the reopening ceremony of the Taht-el kale mosque in Nicosia, which had been closed for more than 50 years. Atalay visited the mosque after an invitation from the Greek Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II as part of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process promoted by the Swedish government.

In the Czech Republic, President Miloš Zeman refused to apologize for comments he made during a speech at the Israeli Embassy in Prague on May 26 at a reception to celebrate Israel's Independence Day.
Quoting several verses from the Koran that call on Muslims to kill Jews, Zeman said that Islam was to blame for the attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels that killed four people. He also said:
"There is a term, political correctness. This term I consider to be a euphemism for political cowardice. Therefore, let me not be cowardly."
The new Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation [OIC], Iyad Ameen Madani, condemned Zeman's speech, saying, "It is only appropriate that President Miloš Zeman apologizes to the millions of Muslims worldwide for his deeply offensive and hateful anti-Islam statements."
An OIC statement said:
"The Secretary General reiterated that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance and that terrorism should not be equated to any race or religion; a stance upheld by all major UN texts on the subject of countering terrorism. He added that the OIC countries share a profound respect for all religions and condemn any message of hatred and intolerance."
On June 10, a spokesman for the Czech government said Zeman would not be apologizing for his statements. "President Zeman definitely does not intend to apologize. For the president would consider it blasphemy to apologize for the quotation of a sacred Islamic text."
The Gates of Vienna blog summed it up this way: "As far as I am aware, Miloš Zeman is the first Western head of state ever to tell the OIC to go jump in a lake. So this is an historic occasion."

In Denmark, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) revealed that at least 100 Danish jihadists (both male and female) have left Denmark to fight in Syria, and that at least 15 of them have been killed.
The information was made public during a June 23 seminar entitled, "Syria and the Danish Prevention Model," organized by the PET's Center for Terror Analysis (CTA). Some 100 representatives from the Danish police, civil society and the media attended the event.
According to the CTA, the majority of Danish jihadists are young Sunni Muslims (aged 16-25), including Danish converts to Islam. The CTA said most of the jihadists have links to Islamic communities in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense.
"Those returning from the conflict have been trained in military skills that can be used to carry out a terrorist attack in Denmark or against Danish interests abroad," CTA said. "They can also use their status to recruit new members to the group and new warriors to the conflict."
On June 14, Danish police raided a mosque in the Vibevej district of Copenhagen after a passerby allegedly saw weapons being carried into the complex. Four men were arrested during the operation.
On June 5, Denmark issued an international arrest warrant for four jihadists who were filmed shooting at effigies of six prominent Danish critics of Islam.
In the video, which was recorded in Syria and first surfaced in August 2013, the men fired their guns at effigies of former PET secret agent Morten Storm, free speech advocate Lars Hedegaard, former MP Naser Khader, the imam Ahmed Akkari, former prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.
Danish authorities said that under Danish anti-terror laws the shootings are illegal; they also conceded that some of the jihadists may already be dead.
Meanwhile, Denmark's largest mosque opened on June 19 in the Rovsingsgade district of Copenhagen after receiving a 150 million kroner (€20.1 million, $27.2 million) endowment from Qatar.
Not a single Danish politician of note attended the inauguration ceremony of the 6,700-square-meter (72,000-square-foot) complex, which houses a mosque, a cultural center, a television studio and a fitness center.

In Finland, the Security Intelligence Service (SUPO) on June 19 said it was investigating a suspected Finnish female jihadist who posed with weapons and published threats against Shia Muslims on Facebook.
The photo uploaded to Facebook shows a burqa-clad figure posing with an assault rifle, and brandishing what is claimed to be a suicide bomb. A comment on the page—written in Finnish—says the woman has come to Syria because "there are lots of Shias to kill."
On June 12, a spokesman for SUPO revealed that around 40 people have travelled from Finland to Syria to join Islamist groups there. He also said that around 200 individuals in Finland are believed to be at risk of radicalization.
On June 9, Finnish media reported the death of a 23-year-old jihadist from Espoo, the second-largest city in Finland, who had been fighting in Syria since December 2012. The man, of Somali background, had moved to Finland at the age of two. If the death is confirmed, he would be the third Finnish citizen to die in the fighting in Syria.

In France, Prime Minister Manuel Valls on June 3 increased the government's estimate of the number of French nationals fighting in Syria to 800, including about 30 who have died in the conflict.
Valls told BFMTV that these jihadists pose an unprecedented threat to France. "We have never before faced a challenge of this kind," Valls said. "It is without any doubt the most serious threat we face. We have to ensure the surveillance of hundreds and hundreds of French or European individuals who are today fighting in Syria."

In Iceland, the head of the Muslim Association of Iceland, Ibrahim Sverrir Agnarsson, on June 2 said that final preparations are being made for the design of the country's first mosque, set to be built on a plot of land in the Sogamýri district of Reykjavík.
The future of mosque has been in doubt since May 23, when the leader of the Progressive Party in Reykjavík, Sveinbjörg Birna Sveinbjörnsdóttir, said she wanted to reverse the city council's controversial decision to grant the plot of land to the Muslims free of charge. She now says the issue should be voted on in a public referendum. After her remarks, support for the Progressive Party in Reykjavík increased and the party secured two seats in municipal elections that were held on May 31.
The founder of the Muslim Association, Salman Tamimi, said he would file a lawsuit against individuals who left anti-mosque comments on an online article about the mosque controversy published by the newspaper Visir on June 1. Tamimi's lawyer, Helga Vala Helgadóttir, said it was important to take a stand against hate speech.

In Italy, authorities on June 17 said the Italian Navy had rescued almost 600 migrants from boats in the Strait of Sicily between Italy and Africa as part of the Mare Nostrum ["Our Sea"] search and rescue operation, launched in October 2013.
On June 9, roughly 1,300 migrants were ushered to safety at the merchant port of Taranto after being rescued at sea off the coast of Sicily.
More than 50,000 migrants crossed to Italy during the first six months of 2014, more than the total for the whole of 2013.

A jihadist from Luxembourg who died in Syria in December 2013 was claimed as a martyr for ISIS on June 17. A tweet from ISIS described a man identified as "Luxembourg national Abu Huthaifa" as the "first martyr for ISIS from the second richest country in the world."
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn confirmed in May 2014 that two people from the Grand Duchy had joined militants in Syria. One of them was originally from Kosovo, and another was of North African origin. Both were killed, including Abu Huthaifa. Why ISIS was just now claiming his martyrdom remains unclear.

In the Netherlands, the Dutch intelligence service AIVD on June 30 released a new report entitled, "Transformation of Jihadism in the Netherlands," which states that about 130 Dutch jihadists have travelled to Syria, and that nearly 30 have since returned. Approximately 14 Dutch jihadists have died on the battlefield. Most of the Dutch jihadists have joined up with ISIS.

The Dutch-Turkish jihadist known as Yilmaz is one of about 130 Dutch jihadists who have traveled to Syria.
On June 21, the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, accused the government of being "asleep" and "naïve" for failing to understand the size of the threat posed by Muslim radicals in the Netherlands. "The threat to the Netherlands is now greater than ever, even more than ten years ago with the Hofstad Group [an Islamist terrorist organization of mostly young Dutch Muslims of mainly North African ancestry], Wilders said. "We now have hundreds of jihadists and thousands of sympathizers. This naïve Cabinet's inaction is inviting an attack in the Netherlands."
Foreign Affairs Minister Frans Timmermans on June 16 told the Dutch Parliament that the government was taking "various measures," both in terms of criminal law and administrative law, to prevent Dutch nationals joining up with groups such as ISIS.
Also on June 16, the newspaper Volkskrant reported that AIVD had given the Turkish government the names of more than 100 young men and women who Dutch authorities believe may be planning on going to Syria. The paper said Turkey has agreed to detain and deport them if they attempt to cross the Turkish border en route to Syria.
On June 19, Abdoe Khoulani, a member of the Party of Unity (PvdE), a fundamentalist Muslim political party based in The Hague, expressed support for ISIS on his Facebook page. He wrote: "Long Live ISIS. And insha'Allah [Allah willing] on to Baghdad to fight the riff-raff there."
Khoulani's message was spread on Twitter by Arnoud van Doorn, a former member of the Dutch Freedom Party who converted to Islam and is now a member of the PvdE. Van Doorn said Khoulani was—like John the Baptist quoting the words of Isaiah—a "voice of one crying out in the wilderness" [to prepare the way for the Messiah].
In response to the backlash, Khoulani said his words were simply a call to justice. He added that ISIS is not a terrorist group, but a resistance organization.
Meanwhile, a Dutch company selling halal sex products on June 4 announced an alliance with Europe's largest erotic retailer in an effort to tap into the lucrative Muslim market, potentially worth billions of euros.
The founder of Amsterdam-based El Asira, Abdelaziz Aouragh, said the deal with Frankfurt-listed Beate Uhse came four years after his company first launched a range of erotic products that do not contravene Sharia law.
El Asira, which means "Society" in Arabic, launched its range of products in 2010 to massive acclaim from the local Muslim community. Beate Uhse, based in Flensburg, Germany, approached El Asira in 2012 with a business proposal to sell products jointly in Muslim markets.
"We will take 18 of our Islamic branded products to the market through Beate Uhse," Aouragh told Agence France-Presse. "Considering we're targeting a global market of around 1.8 billion people, the potential is huge."
The two companies are also looking into the possibility of opening a store for halal sex products in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, the holiest place in Islam, Aouragh said.

In Norway, the country's first-ever Shia Muslim mosque was inaugurated in Oslo on June 1. One of the main purposes of the Tauheed Islamic Center is "to provide an opportunity to non-Muslims to learn about the universal teachings of Islam." The first official event held at the mosque was a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the death of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian revolution.
Separately, Nemat Ali Shah, the Pakistani imam of the Central Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat mosque, the main Sunni Muslim mosque in Oslo, was recuperating in the hospital after a masked assailant repeatedly hacked him with a small axe or knife in the center of the Norwegian capital on the evening of June 16. Muslims were quick to condemn the attack as an Islamophobic hate crime, but on June 30, Oslo police arrested a fellow Pakistani who allegedly attacked the imam due to a power struggle within the mosque, which has more than 5,000 members mainly of Pakistani origin.
In Slovenia, the local Islamic Community on June 4 announced that construction work on the first Slovenian mosque was about to begin in the capital of city of Ljubljana, nearly ten months after the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony took place in September 2013.
Mufti Nedžad Grabus confirmed that Qatar would cover 70% of the cost of the project. "Without Qatar, the Islamic community [of Slovenia] would not be able to continue with the project," Grabus said.
The mosque and Muslim cultural center, 44 years in the making, will be built north of the city center, on a plot of land that the Muslim community bought from the City of Ljubljana, at a projected cost of €21 million ($28.5 million).

In Spain, the Union of Islamic Communities in Spain (UCIE), a Madrid-based Muslim umbrella group, and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Education (ISESCO), a Morocco-based arm of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held a four-day conference in Madrid aimed at promoting the development of Koran institutes in non-Muslim countries. The event, which was held from June 18-21, was attended by Muslim leaders from Europe and North Africa.
On June 17, the Halal Institute of the Junta Islámica de España, a competing Muslim umbrella group based in Córdoba, held a conference aimed at promoting the "normalization of halal" in European countries. The official conference title was: "Possible Similarities and Differences between European Standards Compared with Halal Standards Demanded by the Arab Countries."
Conference attendees called on the Spanish government to sponsor an official study aimed at finding ways to bring European food standards into compliance with Islamic Sharia law.
Meanwhile, municipal officials in Barcelona denied reports that Qatar had offered to pay €2.2 billion ($3 billion) to convert the city's La Monumental bullring into a forty thousand capacity mosque. The building would include a 300-meter (985-foot) minaret. The mosque would be the third largest in the world, after those in Mecca and Medina.
On June 16, Spanish police in Madrid arrested ten individuals (eight Moroccans, one Argentine and one Bulgarian) on allegations that they were members of an international network that recruited jihadists for ISIS.
The ringleader was a 47-year-old Moroccan national named Lahcen Ikassrien, who was arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 and released after three-and-a-half years in Guantánamo. In July 2005, the U.S. government handed him over to Spain, where he faced charges of cooperating with al-Qaeda. In October 2006, the Spanish High Court acquitted him on the grounds that no firm evidence existed of his ties to the terrorist group.
Ikassrien, who lives in Madrid, was part of a cell led by Abu Dahdah, a Syrian-born Spaniard who was sentenced to a 27-year prison term in Spain for his part in the September 11, 2001 attacks, and for being one of the founders of al-Qaeda in Spain. In February 2006, the Spanish Supreme Court reduced the Abu Dahdah's penalty to 12 years because it considered that his participation in the 9/11 conspiracy was not proven. He was released in May 2013.

In Sweden, government health inspectors said they found some 60 cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Norrköping in eastern Sweden since March, with all 30 girls in one school class found to have undergone the procedure.
FGM has been illegal in Sweden since 1982 and can be punished with up to ten years in prison. Since 1999 it is also a criminal offense under Swedish law if the procedure is performed in a different country.
Most girls who undergo the procedure are between the ages of 4-14 years, but the operation is also carried out on infants. There are no official statistics detailing the extent of FGM in Sweden, or of how many girls are taken to have the procedure conducted abroad.
Meanwhile, the Swedish Parliament on June 17 approved changes to the country's immigration law to "facilitate moving to and from Sweden." The changes reduce the requirements for obtaining permanent residence for students and workers. In addition, individuals whose application for asylum has been rejected now need to wait only four months to become eligible for a work permit. Moreover, immigrants who have already obtained permanent residence in Sweden can retain that status for up to two years after they leave the country.
The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD) rejected the proposal. "We should have mobility, but these suggestions give evidence that the government has dropped all reason when it comes to immigration policy," David Lång (SD) wrote in the party's motion.

In Switzerland, the Islamic Cultural Center in Lausanne received a $140,000 donation from the Government of Kuwait to fund the construction of a center for raising awareness about Islam. On June 20, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported that the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Switzerland, Bader Al-Tunaib, presented the donation to head of the Complex Culturel des Musulmans de Lausanne (CCML), Dr. Mohammad Karmous. A Tunisian with a French passport, Karmous has multiple ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Vatican failed in an attempt to cover up the contents of a prayer by a Muslim cleric at an interfaith "Prayer for Peace" service held in the Vatican garden on June 8. Departing from a pre-approved script, the imam recited verses 284-286 of Sura 2 from the Koran, the latter part of which calls on Allah to grant Muslims victory over non-Muslims.
Most non-Muslims non-Arabic speakers did not understand what the imam had said, but that changed when a former Muslim who speaks Arabic translated the full prayer on the indispensable blog, Gates of Vienna. The Vatican initially denied that the imam had said what he said, but then it doctored the video to edit out last part of Verse 2:286.
Gates of Vienna posted a complete video of the imam's prayer, which does indeed (3m54s into the video) ask Allah to "make us victorious over the tribe of the unbelievers." In an interview with Radio Vatican, a German-speaking Jesuit priest named Felix Körner remained unbowed.
Körner defended the imam, saying Verse 2:286 fully accords with Roman Catholic doctrine and is wholly peaceful in intent. "If one hears something in a skewed manner, one is going to have a mistaken understanding of it," he said.
Meanwhile, the Vatican partnered with the Emir of Sharjah (one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates) to present an "unprecedented" art exhibition entitled, "So That You Might Know Each Other," a verse from the Koran. The four month exhibit, which ended on June 14, was designed to serve as a "sign of openness and cooperation between religions."
The 70 exhibits on display at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization included textiles, musical instruments, jewelry, rudimentary weapons, books and manuscripts, many of which were on loan from the Ethnological Museum of the Vatican.
The German broadcaster Deutsche Welle summed it up this way: "The fact that Rome is lending its works for the first time is an act of diplomacy in line with Pope Francis's current policies. While Pope Benedict XVI had distanced himself from other religions, his successor is pursuing a different policy."


Thursday, January 12, 2012

New Jersey Synagogue Firebombed



Once again the ugly head of anti-Semitism has risen its head.  The 4th attack in a month, this one nearly killed 7 people.
Several Molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices were thrown at a northern New Jersey synagogue early Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.

A fire was ignited in the second-floor bedroom of the rabbi’s residence, the report said. Police are treating the attack both a bias crime and attempted murder.

AP noted that Wednesday’s attack on Congregation Beth El in Rutherford was the fourth bias incident within a month against a Jewish religious institution or center in northern New Jersey. Within the last three weeks, a fire was intentionally set at a synagogue in Paramus and anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered at synagogues in Hackensack and Maywood.

However, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said there was no evidence yet linking the four incidents, though police haven’t ruled out that they might be connected. Molinelli urged residents to be vigilant, but not afraid.

He told AP Wednesday’s intentionally set early-morning fire was possibly the work of more than one person. The incident occurred at about 4:30 a.m., when incendiary devices were thrown at various parts of the large Victorian-style home that houses Congregation Beth El on its ground floor, and the rabbi’s living quarters on the second level.

The rabbi, his wife, five children and the rabbi’s parents were sleeping when the fire occurred. No one was seriously hurt. Police said the device thrown through the rabbi’s bedroom window did not explode, but ignited, and the rabbi suffered minor burns putting it out.

“The manner in which this heinous crime has been committed has brought our office to really raise consciousness on this,” Molinelli told AP. “This is certainly a hate crime, this is certainly a bias crime, this is aggravated arson, but most importantly, we are now looking on this as an attempted homicide.”

He said there was nothing to suggest that the rabbi had been personally targeted, but added nothing had been ruled out so far as the investigation was continuing.

A wide coalition of law enforcement agencies, including the Newark office of the FBI, is participating in the investigation.

Etzion Neuer of the Anti-Defamation League told AP the League was very concerned that there had been four bias incidents in such a short period of time.

“We view these as part of a deeply troubling continuum that we pray will end now,” he said.

The League has offered a $2,500 award for the arrest and conviction of a suspect.

Source
The police refuse to link all the attacks together.  Some have even expressed the opinion that the Jewish community is doing these attacks themselves to garner pity.  And the Main Lame Stream Media just ignore this and other attacks.  I suppose that until someone is extremely injured or even better to them killed then the LSM will report on the incident.  Now if this was a Mosque, the Media would be giving out hourly reports, condemning the attacks, and demanding a full investigation into the Islamophobia prevalent in New Jersey.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Police In California Are Now Treating Burned Qur'an Case As A Hate Crime

Cross Posted by Holger Awakens


Give me a damn break. This story came out a few days ago but it's now been updated in the police eyes as a "hate crime." Burning a Qur'an is now a hate crime?!!! WTF?

From CBS2:


Police say they are investigating a burnt Quran found outside an Orange County mosque as a hate crime.

The Orange County Register reported Friday that Costa Mesa police Sgt. Phil Meyers said elements of the incident have led authorities to believe it was a crime of hate. A congregant of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County found the torched Quran in the parking lot on New Year's Day. The incident upset congregants who gasped when they saw the burned book.
Okay, before I blow a gasket here, let me just say that this whole incident, in my view, is bogus as hell. This member of this mosque just happens upon a burned Qur'an in the mosque parking lot ...while everyone else is inside, of course...so he runs into the mosque and delivers the scorched word of the moongod to the imam in front of the whole "congregation" and of course, they all groan and moan and scream in anguish. I'd say that Haji pretty much burned the damn thing himself and decided to get the whole place all riled up, don't you?

But, looking past that...what does this all mean? If burning a Qur'an is a hate crime, then what does it mean to place a Crucifix in a vile of human urine? Oh, I forgot, that's "art." So let me ask the question...can I go into a bookstore, buy a Qur'an, sit on my front porch and burn said Qur'an or will the police come arrest me? Let me ask another question - if an islamist in Dearborn, Michigan joined a protest in the middle of main street and proceeded to burn a Holy Bible for all to see, do you think he'd be arrested for a hate crime?

I, personally, detest the very invention of "hate crime." I'm of belief that crime is crime - it is a violation of laws on the books. If I burn a Qur'an, how can you possibly prove that I did it out of "hate" ? If I'm a white man and walk into a convenience store and shoot dead the Hispanic clerk and don't take a thing from the store, did I kill out of hate? Who gives a shit. I broke the law of murdering or manslaughtering a human being. That's my crime and I face the punishment.

Part of the freedoms in this country are not to be criminalized for expression - if I want to burn a U.S. flag, I can do that. If I want to burn a Qur'an, I can do that. If I want to paint a swastika, I can do that. If I burn a cross on another man's property, I've committed a crime of endangerment and trespassing. If I paint a swastika on a community center wall, I'm guilty of vandalism and trespassing. But the islamists will push this hate crime issue to the limit...it is, after all, part of the soft jihad in America which is hellbent on altering the freedoms of Americans in regards to the treatment of muslims.

What's next? If I draw a cartoon of Mohammed fucking a goat in my notebook at college, I'll be arrested for a hate crime?


Police Probe Burned Quran At Mosque As Hate Crime

COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) Police say they are investigating a burnt Quran found outside an Orange County mosque as a hate crime.

The Orange County Register reported Friday that Costa Mesa police Sgt. Phil Meyers said elements of the incident have led authorities to believe it was a crime of hate.

A congregant of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County found the torched Quran in the parking lot on New Year's Day. The incident upset congregants who gasped when they saw the burned book.

That same day, the Muslim component of a holiday display was defaced in the Orange County city of Mission Viejo. Authorities do not believe the two incidents are linked.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Double Jeopardy in the New Hate Crimes Legislation?

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

A few days ago, Hans Bader writing for Stop the ACLU reported on the hate crimes legislation Bill. This article is intended to be a further discussion of what is behind the language in the Bill. The question is, is double jeopardy a factor in this new legislative language?





Dual Sovereignty


The answer is kinda-sorta. It's really more about The Dual Sovereignty Doctrine negating the double jeopardy clause in the 5th Amendment.

The government now does have the right to try hate crime suspects after they have been tried by the state, and even if already tried and found guilty by the state. This position is confirmed by a letter from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to members of the U.S. Senate. Read it at NationaReviewOnLine. So how does it happen a person can be tried twice for the same crime?

Here is a portion that I believe gives the DOJ the opportunity to retry a hate crime: (The text of the Bill is here).

(b) (1) IN GENERAL - No prosecution of any offense described in the subsection may be undertaken by the United States, except under the certification in writing of the Attorney General, or his designee, that- (C) the verdict or sentence obtained pursuant to State charges left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence; or (D) a prosecution by the United States is in the public interest and necessary to secure substantial justice.

(b) (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION- Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit the authority of Federal officers, or a Federal grand jury, to investigate possible violations of this section.

This gives the DOJ the right to try any case on behalf of a victim they feel has not received justice, while also eliminating "the badges...and relics of slavery and involuntary servitude."

 A quick reading of the Bill might lead you to think it will simply "support" state's with money, but it goes much deeper than the $5 million to be given to states in each of the years 2010 and 2011. If a state can "certify" the need for government assistance to "investigate or prosecute the hate crime," then that state will get that assistance. But read about the"sham and cover" exception a few paragraphs below. We have to ask why this administration believes this legislation is necessary.

The Dual Sovereignty Doctrine expects those administering under the Doctrine to "limit" their actions. This from TheFreeLibrary:
The court did not, however, fully eliminate the double jeopardy prohibition from this context. The dual sovereignty doctrine continues to be limited by what is referred to as the "sham" exception, which was described by the Bartkus Court.

The sham exception provides that a prosecution by one sovereign cannot be used as a "sham and a cover" for another sovereign's re-prosecution of the same defendant.

This doctrine would operate to prevent, on double jeopardy grounds, a prosecution brought by one sovereign with the encouragement and support of another sovereign that has already failed in its attempt to prosecute the same defendant.

The doctrine is founded on the rationale that the two sovereigns are acting as one. Unfortunately, this exception has been construed so narrowly as to make it difficult to be utilized successfully.
Apparently, this DOJ and Barack Obama believe that justice is not done often enough, and courts do not punish, often enough, those who commit hate crimes? So the question remains: is it possible for any violent crime to be classified as a “hate crime” when it is perpetrated against a Jewish or a white person?

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Isabel Garcia-Deputy Pima County Public Defender-Needs to Go

Cross posted from Miss Beth's Victory Dance

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has a new book out. It's called "Joe's Law", and the good sheriff was in town Thursday, July 10, 2008, for a book signing and radio show. He has also been a guest on 104.1 The Truth with Jon Justice Monday, July 7, 2008, to discuss his book and his views of law enforcement.

Jon Justice has become a voice for Tucson, particularly in the areas of ILLEGAL immigration, city council corruption, corrupt school board issues (one school board member is backed by her US Congressman father in forcing things onto the taxpayer--said father is a former school board member as well) and things concerning the legal taxpayers of Tucson.

Isabel Garcia is a Deputy Pima County Public Defender. She is also co-chair of the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, an alleged border rights group which is actually a group specializing in helping illegals cross the border, "Reconquista" and Aztlan and indulging in violence against those who disagree with them. While she is an attorney sworn to uphold the law, she deliberately breaks it and flaunts her conflicts of interest with impunity from Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckleberry (520/740-8661; Chuckelberry@co.pima.az.us; chh@pima.gov).

Tucson is a relatively laid back town. We pretty much let people be, and if they want to protest something, well, as long as it's peaceful, we let them protest. That doesn't mean there won't be a counter protest, but generally both sides are cool about having their voices heard and doing it within the confines of the law.

Unless Garcia is involved. Protests involving Garcia often involve escalating hate and walk very closely to the edge of breaking the law. She is responsible for encouraging high school students to leave their classrooms and protest police action on campus (when an illegal was discovered after being arrested for allegedly possessing drugs and his family was deported), responsible for encouraging violence against the police, influencing politicians through intimidation, encouraging the La Raza hate studies and the attendant protest when the State School Superintendant spoke against funding them with taxpayer dollars--in short, she is complete bad news.

She is the Mexican equivalent of Jackson, Sharpton and Farrakhan. Worse, while those three racist hate mongers are bad news, she also encourages the overthrow--violently--of the legitimate United States Government through Derechos.

Yet, Huckelberry refuses to discipline her. Why? Allegedly, she is engaging in these activities on her own time.

Chuck, we have news for you.

As an attorney, Isabel Garcia is on duty 24/7. As a County Attorney, she is a representative of the public 24/7. And her salary (as well as yours) is paid for by the LEGAL taxpayers of this county.

Now, how did Garcia cross the line?

She showed up with her gang of racist hate mongers to Sheriff Joe's book signing. Okay, they have a right to protest the fact he is doing his job and enforcing the law of the land.

They don't have a right to incite a riot, contribute to the delinquency of minors, and engage in blatant violence, encouraging said minors to engage in violence as well.

They brought along a pinata (effigy) of Sheriff Joe. While Garcia stood on the sidelines, she encouraged the minors to beat the pinata to a pulp, severing the head of it in the process. She then took the head and delightedly paraded around the parking lot, holding the head aloft. Against a lawfully elected law enforcement officer.



From left, Leilani Clark holds a piñata representing Sheriff Joe Arpaio as Dallely Hernandez, 17, and Crystal Terriquez, 16, take whacks at it. This picture was the front page of the Arizona Daily Star on July 11, 2008 (from the Arizona Daily Star July 11, 2008 article located here).

Edgar Toledo, 14, of Tucson, holds a pinata of Joe Arpaio with the head cut off during a protest Thursday night. About 75 people gathered at the Barnes & Noble bookstore, 5130 E. Broadway, in Tucson to protest a visit by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. (this picture is from the July 11, 2008 Tucson Citizen article located here).

There were several videos taken of this event as well: KGUN 9 News has video here; KMSB 11 has video here; KOLD 13 (which also has a news hotline 520-744-6397) here; KVOA 4 apparently didn't cover this incident, although they have covered many protests against Sheriff Joe in the past, the most recent being a disruption of the Pima county Republican Women's Club by (guess who) January 25, 2008 and linked here. Jon Justice also has video (as well as contact links for the news outlets and Huckelberry) at 104.1 The Truth here and on YouTube here, here and here.

The outrage over Garcia's action has been long in coming, but it's time she was put out of our misery. She has committed crimes against the county; she has committed crimes against fellow law enforcement officers; she has committed crimes against this country. It is time. She has to go--and she has to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for her activities.

Below is the letter I wrote to Huckelberry; I encourage everyone to copy it and use it. It is because of people like Garcia we have the problems with illegals we have.
Dear Mr. Huckleberry:

I am part of the legal community in Tucson. I am sick to death of the antics of Isabel Garcia. Her actions the night of Thursday, July 10, 2008, at the Borders Book Store, crossed the line.

My taxes are paying her salary and as her employer, I want her fired. There is a fine line between the right of public protest--PEACEFUL PROTEST--and Incite to Riot. She has crossed that line, seemingly with impunity from you, many times.


You state nothing can be done because she does these things in her own time. I beg to differ. She is a public employee and is held to a higher standard of behavior than an ordinary citizen. She can be fired for the mere APPEARANCE of POSSIBLE wrongdoing as a public employee, even on her own time.


Further, according to Rule 8.4 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Maintaining the Integrity of the Profession):


It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:

(a) violate or attempt to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct, knowingly assist or induce another to do so, or do so through the acts of another;

(b) commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects;

(c) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation;

(d) engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice;

(e) state or imply an ability to influence improperly a government agency or official or to achieve results by means that violate the Rules of Professional Conduct or other law; or

(f) knowingly assist a judge or judicial officer in conduct that is a violation of applicable rules of judicial conduct or other law.


Miss Garcia blatantly violates Rule 8.4 (specifically sections a, b, d, e), and her incite to riot by her activities the night of Thursday, July 10 2008, in which she encouraged onlookers to violently assault an effigy of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, which was caught on video (including her holding the "severed head" of Arpaio aloft), is ample proof of that violation.


She is in violation of Rule 41, Ariz. R. Civ. P., which states:


The duties and obligations of members shall be:


(a) Those prescribed by the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct adopted as rule 42 of these rules.


(b) To support the constitution and the laws of the United States and of this state.

TEXT (c)

(c) To maintain the respect due to courts of justice and judicial officers.


(d) To counsel or maintain no other action, proceeding or defense than those which appear to him legal and just, excepting the defense of a person charged with a public offense.


(e) To employ for the purpose of maintaining causes confided to him such means only as are consistent with truth, and never seek to mislead the judges by any artifice or false statement of fact or law.


(f) To maintain inviolate the confidences and preserve the secrets of a client.


(g) To abstain from all offensive personality and to advance no fact prejudicial to the honor or reputation of a party or a witness unless required by the justice of the cause with which he is charged.


(h) Not to encourage either the commencement or continuation of an action or proceeding from any corrupt motive of passion or interest, and never to reject for any consideration personal to himself the cause of the defenseless or oppressed.


She is in further violation of Federal Statute U.S. Code, Title 8, Section 1325, which states in relevant part:

A person (including a group of persons, business, organization or local government) commits a federal felony when he:

* assists an alien whom he should reasonably know is illegally in the U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by transporting, sheltering, or assisting him to obtain employment,
* encourages that alien to remain in the U.S., by referring him to an employer, by acting as employer or agent for an employer in any way, or
* knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions.

Penalties upon conviction include criminal fines, imprisonment, and forfeiture of vehicles and real property used to commit the crime.

Further: (this part would authorize the the civilian arrest that is authorized by the State of Arizona)

State and local law enforcement officials have the general power to investigate and arrest violators of federal immigration statutes without prior INS knowledge or approval, as long as they are authorized to do so by state law. There is “no extant federal limitation” on this authority. The 1996 immigration control legislation passed by Congress was intended to encourage states and local agencies to participate in the process of enforcing federal immigration laws.


This is not the first time Garcia has blatantly violated the law, apparently with your approval. As a member of the law enforcement community herself, she positions herself both as a US citizen (which of course she is) but also as someone who wishes to overthrow the legal boundaries of the United States with her ongoing and increasingly violent promotion of Aztlan.


Her activities ARE becoming increasingly violent; this is a significant warning sign, a "red flag" of an unstable mental acuity, a "red flag" used by prison psychologists to evaluate the stability, to project the escalation of violent offenders and a benchmark used to profile violent offenders (such as sex offenders and serial killers). Due to this public exhibition of her increasing instability, she needs to be removed from office. By her very actions of delighting in the beating and beheading of an effigy figure, she shows a distinct lack of professional judgment. Her sanity is questionable at this stage.


By allowing her to continue her post as a Deputy Pima County Defender, you are allowing her to violate state and federal laws. You are allowing her to violate the oaths she took in her chosen profession to uphold the laws. You are allowing her to escalate her personal agenda at the expense of taxpayers. You are allowing her to continue to flaunt her conflict of interest as an attorney of the United States while promoting the overthrow of the United States.


You state these activities take place during her personal time. I'm sorry, but the county works a standard 8-5, Monday through Friday schedule. She is often participating in riots and protests during those times. Whether or not she has this time as sick or vacation time, she is still paid for her time to incite riots, promote violence, promote illegal activity, etc. on county time at taxpayer expense.


This MUST end and it must end now. The legal citizens of this county are fed up with Isabel Garcia's nonsense and we are fed up with you shielding her. Get rid of her. This story is already going viral, and it will soon be nationwide news. Your political career is in the sling with hers and, as previously stated, the LEGAL, TAXPAYING citizens are fed up. We will not hesitate to vote you out of office and have her fired by your successor if you do not do it yourself. And, I am filing a formal complaint with the State Bar of Arizona, including a copy of this letter, regarding Garcia and her activities. What Garcia did amounted to committing a hate crime. Just because she is Mexican and Arpaio is White is no excuse--hate crime is hate crime. I demand she be prosecuted appropriately, under the federal hate crime laws.


Do the right thing by your employers–Pima County Taxpayers–and remove this person from the payroll. Immediately, if not sooner.


Sincerely,

Kateri E. Jordan, PLS, PNPA

PS...Did I happen to mention I'm part of a coalition of bloggers? We plan to get this out and HELP it go "viral". We ARE fed up.

The quicker we get people like Garcia out of office, and those who cover for them, such as Huckelberry, the quicker we can see some progress on the illegal issue.

Had a white person done what Garcia did, the news would have been splashed across the headlines for days as a hate crime. As it is, it's being buried. Isabel Garcia committed a hate crime. Her sanity is questionable. Her judgment is questionable.

Remove her from office. Arrest her. Prosecute her. Now.


While I was preparing this post, Miss Beth sent me this development:

Dear Mr. Huckelberry:

As promised, I have blogged Isabel Garcia's activities and spread the article far and wide, along with contact information for you and various media outlets (which I have also copied on this email).

It's time you--and she--understood the legal taxpaying citizens of this county will no longer tolerate the corruption within our government, nor will we continue to tolerate the appeasement and accomodation of illegal border crossers and their activities. This includes the continuation of teaching the so-called ethnic studies at TUSD, also funded by our tax dollars and at our expense, which are nothing more than racist, hate mongering, riot inciting indoctrination.

I hope to hear some resolution from you regarding this situation and I hope said resolution is the termination, arrest and prosecution of Isabel Garcia. I also hope said resolution involves cutting the funding to TUSD for such studies and the elimination of those studies forthwith.

The corruption in the county government needs to cease and cease now. We are tired of Tucson becoming a third world country while we are forced to pay for the devolution of our city into third world status through our taxes.

This is the link to my article (rest assured it has been cross posted to no less than eight separate sites as well as blog enhancing sites such as Digg! and Real Clear Politics):

http://missbethsvictorydance.blogspot.com/2008/07/isabel-garcia-deputy-pima-county-public.html

Sincerely,
Kateri E. Jordan, PLS, PNPA
aka Miss Beth

From Monkey in the Middle:

An official elected or appointed, has the right to attend and yes even speak at an event. That is a right that all citizens are guaranteed under the US Constitution. But they do not have the right to call for the overthrow of the US Government and the setting up of a new government in territories or states of the US the way "Reconquista" and Aztlan both are advocating. Nor can that person resort or encourage violence as a form of silencing his or her opponents.

Monkey in the Middle joins with other voices calling for a full investigation of Isabel Garcia, Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, "Reconquista" and Aztlan by local, State and/or Federal officials.