In lieu of:
Under the Radar Blog: Josh Gerstein on the Courts, Transparency, & More - POLITICO.com
Feds suggest anti-Muslim speech can be punished
By BYRON TAU | 5/31/13 5:26 PM EDT
A U.S. attorney in Tennessee is reportedly vowing to use federal civil rights statutes to clamp down on offensive and inflammatory speech about Islam.
Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, was quoted by the Tullahoma News this week suggesting that some inflammatory material on Islam might run afoul of federal civil rights laws.
"We need to educate people about Muslims and their civil rights, and as long as were here, theyre going to be protected," Killian told the newspaper.
Killian, along with the FBI special agent that runs the Knoxville office, are set to speak next week to a special meeting with the local Muslim community, informing them about their rights under federal law.
"This is an educational effort with civil rights laws as they play into freedom of religion and exercising freedom of religion," Killian said about the meeting. "This is also to inform the public what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are."
Killian pointed to a recent controversy where a local Tennessee politician posted a photo of a man aiming a shotgun at the camera with the caption "How to wink at a Muslim."
"If a Muslim had posted How to Wink at a Christian, could you imagine what would have happened?" Killian asked, according to the newspaper.
The Department of Justice did not respond Friday to a question about what guidelines it draws concerning offensive speech and Islam, or whether the department believes that civil rights statutes could be used to stifle criticism of Islam.
While threats directed at individuals or small groups can lead to punishment, First Amendment experts expressed doubt that the government has any power to stop offensive material about Islam from circulating.
"Hes just wrong," said Floyd Abrams, one of the country's most respected First Amendment attorneys. "The government may, indeed, play a useful and entirely constitutional role in urging people not to engage in speech that amounts to religious discrimination. But it may not, under the First Amendment, prevent or punish speech even if it may be viewed as hostile to a religion."
"And what it most clearly may not do is to stifle political or social debate, however rambunctious or offensive some may think it is," Abrams said.
A conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch, accused the Obama administration of using federal law to specifically protect Muslims from criticism.
"In its latest effort to protect followers of Islam in the U.S. the Obama Justice Department warns against using social media to spread information considered inflammatory against Muslims, threatening that it could constitute a violation of civil rights," the group wrote in a blog post.
In recent years, the federal government has faced difficult questions about how to respond to material posted about Islam and the Prophet Muhammed especially when the content causes riots or attacks abroad.
In 2010, a Christian pastor in Florida, Terry Jones, made international news when he threatened to burn 200 copies of the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
The federal government admitted it was powerless to stop Jones, though President Barack Obama condemned the idea. Jones backed off from his September attempt, but later burned a Koran in 2012.
A similar controversy erupted when a Coptic Christian man posted the trailer for an anti-Muhammed film online causing rioting and an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
The Obama administration condemned the attack, while blasting the filmmaker for religious intolerance.
Will Muslims be allowed to continue saying such things - see the words I emphasized:
Calling for Genocide In Your Neighborhood | Human Events
Calling for Genocide In Your Neighborhood
By: Robert Spencer
1/16/2009 03:01 AM
The mainstream media has taken little notice, but at rallies in America and Europe this week protesting Israels actions in Gaza, protesters have more than once declared how happy they would be if the Jews were simply wiped out once and for all.
Los Angeles: Muslim demonstrators in front of the Israeli Consulate chanted, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" a vision that can only be realized by the total destruction of Israel. They waved the flag of the jihad terrorist group Hizballah. To cheers from other demonstrators, some shouted, "Long live Hitler! Put Jews in ovens! Jews are fossil fuel!"
Fort Lauderdale: Leftist and Muslim demonstrators chanted, "Nuke, nuke Israel!" One yelled: "Go back to the ovens! You need a big oven, thats what you need!"
Toronto: A Muslim protester complained that "Hitler didnt do a good job." Another shouted at pro-Israel counter-demonstrators: "Jewish child, youre gonna f****n die. Hamas is coming for you." Pro-jihad demonstrators berated and threatened those who came out to show support for Israel, saying: "I want the war to continue because I want Hizballah to wipe the state of terrorism [i.e., Israel] off the planet .Youre being wiped off the planet. Thats a promise." Yet another Muslim demonstrator said of Jews, "You are the brothers of pigs!" recalling the Qurans depiction of Jews who disobeyed Allah as being transformed into apes and pigs.
London: Muslim protesters, repeatedly shouting "Allahu akbar," threw traffic cones and sticks at the police and taunted them, calling them cowards, swine and "kuffar" (unbelievers).
Copenhagen: Muslim demonstrators chanted, "Down, down Israel, down, down USA, down, down democracy, down, down Denmark." One Muslim in the crowd ostentatiously made the Nazi salute. Another shouted, "We want to kill all the Jews, all the Jews should be slain, they have no right to exist!" The crowd repeatedly chanted, "Khaybar, Khaybar, ya Yahoud, jaish Muhammad sawfa yaoud" that is, "Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return." That chant is a reference to a celebrated incident in the life of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, when he massacred a town full of Jewish farmers. Muhammad led a Muslim force against the Khaybar oasis, which was inhabited by Jews many of whom he had previously exiled from Medina.
The Muslims also chanted "Hitler! Heil Hitler! Hitler! Hitler! Hitler!" Demonstrators shouted "We must just kill all those Jews, man! Then wed be rid of them, man!," "Death to Israel," and "Kill the Jews."
Amsterdam: While Dutch parliamentarian Harry van Bommel of the Socialist Party and other Leftist useful idiots marched in a demonstration calling for an intifada against Israel, the crowd behind them chanted "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas."
While not everyone at these rallies expressed genocidal sentiments, it is noteworthy that there is no record of anyone who said these things being rebuked by his fellow demonstrators or by the authorities in the various countries where these demonstrations took place. Have American and European authorities rushed to condemn such declarations, and called upon Muslim advocacy groups and leaders to act energetically against the rampant Jew-hatred in Muslim communities in Western countries?
Not exactly. An emblematic incident took place in Duisburg, Germany, when a pro-Israel couple put an Israeli flag in their apartment window, overlooking a 10,000-strong pro-jihad demonstration on the street below. During the demonstration, German police actually broke into the couples apartment to remove the flag, explaining that they did so in order to forestall the apartment being broken into by the demonstrators themselves. When a police officer removed the flag from the window, the mob below applauded, cheered, and shouted "Allahu akbar."
That same shout has echoed through these rallies all over America and Europe in recent days the one that Muhammad Atta advised his fellow hijackers to use frequently, since hearing it, he said, struck terror into the hearts of the unbelievers.
Ugly demonstrations have been an unfortunate but recurring feature of public life in America for decades, but open calls for genocide are something new. If American and European officials dont react quickly now, the next round of demonstrations by the friends and allies of the global Islamic jihad will only be worse.
Under the Radar Blog: Josh Gerstein on the Courts, Transparency, & More - POLITICO.com
Feds suggest anti-Muslim speech can be punished
By BYRON TAU | 5/31/13 5:26 PM EDT
A U.S. attorney in Tennessee is reportedly vowing to use federal civil rights statutes to clamp down on offensive and inflammatory speech about Islam.
Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, was quoted by the Tullahoma News this week suggesting that some inflammatory material on Islam might run afoul of federal civil rights laws.
"We need to educate people about Muslims and their civil rights, and as long as were here, theyre going to be protected," Killian told the newspaper.
Killian, along with the FBI special agent that runs the Knoxville office, are set to speak next week to a special meeting with the local Muslim community, informing them about their rights under federal law.
"This is an educational effort with civil rights laws as they play into freedom of religion and exercising freedom of religion," Killian said about the meeting. "This is also to inform the public what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are."
Killian pointed to a recent controversy where a local Tennessee politician posted a photo of a man aiming a shotgun at the camera with the caption "How to wink at a Muslim."
"If a Muslim had posted How to Wink at a Christian, could you imagine what would have happened?" Killian asked, according to the newspaper.
The Department of Justice did not respond Friday to a question about what guidelines it draws concerning offensive speech and Islam, or whether the department believes that civil rights statutes could be used to stifle criticism of Islam.
While threats directed at individuals or small groups can lead to punishment, First Amendment experts expressed doubt that the government has any power to stop offensive material about Islam from circulating.
"Hes just wrong," said Floyd Abrams, one of the country's most respected First Amendment attorneys. "The government may, indeed, play a useful and entirely constitutional role in urging people not to engage in speech that amounts to religious discrimination. But it may not, under the First Amendment, prevent or punish speech even if it may be viewed as hostile to a religion."
"And what it most clearly may not do is to stifle political or social debate, however rambunctious or offensive some may think it is," Abrams said.
A conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch, accused the Obama administration of using federal law to specifically protect Muslims from criticism.
"In its latest effort to protect followers of Islam in the U.S. the Obama Justice Department warns against using social media to spread information considered inflammatory against Muslims, threatening that it could constitute a violation of civil rights," the group wrote in a blog post.
In recent years, the federal government has faced difficult questions about how to respond to material posted about Islam and the Prophet Muhammed especially when the content causes riots or attacks abroad.
In 2010, a Christian pastor in Florida, Terry Jones, made international news when he threatened to burn 200 copies of the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
The federal government admitted it was powerless to stop Jones, though President Barack Obama condemned the idea. Jones backed off from his September attempt, but later burned a Koran in 2012.
A similar controversy erupted when a Coptic Christian man posted the trailer for an anti-Muhammed film online causing rioting and an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
The Obama administration condemned the attack, while blasting the filmmaker for religious intolerance.
Will Muslims be allowed to continue saying such things - see the words I emphasized:
Calling for Genocide In Your Neighborhood | Human Events
Calling for Genocide In Your Neighborhood
By: Robert Spencer
1/16/2009 03:01 AM
The mainstream media has taken little notice, but at rallies in America and Europe this week protesting Israels actions in Gaza, protesters have more than once declared how happy they would be if the Jews were simply wiped out once and for all.
Los Angeles: Muslim demonstrators in front of the Israeli Consulate chanted, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" a vision that can only be realized by the total destruction of Israel. They waved the flag of the jihad terrorist group Hizballah. To cheers from other demonstrators, some shouted, "Long live Hitler! Put Jews in ovens! Jews are fossil fuel!"
Fort Lauderdale: Leftist and Muslim demonstrators chanted, "Nuke, nuke Israel!" One yelled: "Go back to the ovens! You need a big oven, thats what you need!"
Toronto: A Muslim protester complained that "Hitler didnt do a good job." Another shouted at pro-Israel counter-demonstrators: "Jewish child, youre gonna f****n die. Hamas is coming for you." Pro-jihad demonstrators berated and threatened those who came out to show support for Israel, saying: "I want the war to continue because I want Hizballah to wipe the state of terrorism [i.e., Israel] off the planet .Youre being wiped off the planet. Thats a promise." Yet another Muslim demonstrator said of Jews, "You are the brothers of pigs!" recalling the Qurans depiction of Jews who disobeyed Allah as being transformed into apes and pigs.
London: Muslim protesters, repeatedly shouting "Allahu akbar," threw traffic cones and sticks at the police and taunted them, calling them cowards, swine and "kuffar" (unbelievers).
Copenhagen: Muslim demonstrators chanted, "Down, down Israel, down, down USA, down, down democracy, down, down Denmark." One Muslim in the crowd ostentatiously made the Nazi salute. Another shouted, "We want to kill all the Jews, all the Jews should be slain, they have no right to exist!" The crowd repeatedly chanted, "Khaybar, Khaybar, ya Yahoud, jaish Muhammad sawfa yaoud" that is, "Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return." That chant is a reference to a celebrated incident in the life of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, when he massacred a town full of Jewish farmers. Muhammad led a Muslim force against the Khaybar oasis, which was inhabited by Jews many of whom he had previously exiled from Medina.
The Muslims also chanted "Hitler! Heil Hitler! Hitler! Hitler! Hitler!" Demonstrators shouted "We must just kill all those Jews, man! Then wed be rid of them, man!," "Death to Israel," and "Kill the Jews."
Amsterdam: While Dutch parliamentarian Harry van Bommel of the Socialist Party and other Leftist useful idiots marched in a demonstration calling for an intifada against Israel, the crowd behind them chanted "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas."
While not everyone at these rallies expressed genocidal sentiments, it is noteworthy that there is no record of anyone who said these things being rebuked by his fellow demonstrators or by the authorities in the various countries where these demonstrations took place. Have American and European authorities rushed to condemn such declarations, and called upon Muslim advocacy groups and leaders to act energetically against the rampant Jew-hatred in Muslim communities in Western countries?
Not exactly. An emblematic incident took place in Duisburg, Germany, when a pro-Israel couple put an Israeli flag in their apartment window, overlooking a 10,000-strong pro-jihad demonstration on the street below. During the demonstration, German police actually broke into the couples apartment to remove the flag, explaining that they did so in order to forestall the apartment being broken into by the demonstrators themselves. When a police officer removed the flag from the window, the mob below applauded, cheered, and shouted "Allahu akbar."
That same shout has echoed through these rallies all over America and Europe in recent days the one that Muhammad Atta advised his fellow hijackers to use frequently, since hearing it, he said, struck terror into the hearts of the unbelievers.
Ugly demonstrations have been an unfortunate but recurring feature of public life in America for decades, but open calls for genocide are something new. If American and European officials dont react quickly now, the next round of demonstrations by the friends and allies of the global Islamic jihad will only be worse.
