Newsletter #75 – Immoral and Indecent: What it means to be a “progressive”

Used as an adjective, “progressive” suggests something positive, something good.

Used as a noun, this term has proven to mean nothing less than the absence of morality and ethical behavior.  One thing for sure though, you can always count on the community-busting-Alynskite disciples of Progressivism to think of new and creative ways to spread their disdain and disrespect for our country.

Fox News has just reported, (“Terrorists or journalists? Washington’s Newseum to honor fallen Hamas operatives”), that the Freedom Forum’s Newseum plans to honor two cameramen working for Hamas funded media Al-Aqsa Television who were killed during fighting between Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas.  The Newseum considers them “journalists killed in the line of duty” and their names will be included on the same memorial that lists Daniel Pearl.

The Newseum will accord these two men the same status of recognition as Daniel Pearl who was beheaded by Islamic jihadis in a public demonstration of their doctrinal hatred for America, Jews and non-Muslims.

The Fox report points to a 2010 report from [U.S.] Treasury that:

“the TV station [Al-Aqsa] is ‘financed and controlled by Hamas,’ and ‘airs programs and music videos designed to recruit children to become Hamas armed fighters and suicide bombers upon reaching adulthood.”

“Al Aqsa doesn’t only encourage attacks on Israelis, according to Steve Stalinsky at the Middle East Media and Research Institute, who called Al Aqsa TV ‘the microphone for Hamas’ and a ‘vehicle for spreading their propaganda.’

‘They are continually calling for the destruction of America. They are very active on social media and there’s a lot of Anti- American and Anti-West content,’ Stalinsky said.”

Palestinian media also reported that the two men were Hamas operatives, according to the Weekly Standard.” (emphasis added)

“Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said Americans should be outraged over the recognition of Al-Kumi and Salama as journalists.  ‘Hamas is a designated terrorist organization responsible for the murders of at least 26 American citizens, including children,’ Kirk said. ‘I would urge the Newseum to reconsider this decision.’”

Newsletters #63 – 68 is the series about the Freedom Forum, the parent organization of the Newseum.  Given what we know and have detailed about Charles Haynes, director of the Newseum who describes himself as coming from a “background shaped by progressive social views and Christian principles”, and his fetish for all things Islamic, it comes as no surprise that the Newseum would glorify Hamas operatives simply because they pretended to be journalists.

John Seigenthaler is the founder of the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center and self-appointed defender of First Amendment rights.  Does it bother him just a little that he is also the self-appointed defender of those who seek to destroy these rights?  He should be pilloried for not insisting, no, demanding that the Newseum accolade be reversed.  Has retirement made him morally decrepit or was this his true nature all along?

Along with all the information about the Freedom Forum, its programs and materials provided in Newsletters 63 – 68 this is one more reason to oppose allowing them anywhere near their favorite prey of schools and students.  In fact, this is one more reason to recognize that they are not credible on any issue involving Islam and the Islamist agenda.

Typical of progressives like Charles Haynes, the moral equivalences they draw are fraudulent due to the complete absence of morality.  What could possibly be their excuse?

Maybe they have no moral frame of reference from which to distinguish good from evil.

They also seem to have forgotten how the freedoms of speech, religion and press that they purport to promote and defend, have been protected and preserved for their use.  Or rather, for their perversion.

Feel free to email Charles Haynes at  chaynes@freedomforum.org and  John Seigenthaler at jseigenthaler@freedomforum.org  and let your disgust shine through.

Also please post a thank you to Senator Kirk on his wall – Sen. Kirk’s facebook.  His fax number is 202-228-4611 and his D.C. office number is 202-224-2854.

 


Newsletter #74 – and she calls us “haters”

dear haters

The “she” is Remziya Suleyman, Director of the Muslim American Center for Outreach (ACO).  The “Dear Haters” are those who disagree with her pro-Islamist, pro-political Shariah, and anti-assimilation immigration positions and advocacy.

Suleyman admitted to knowing nothing about Shariah law but demonizes anyone who objects to its insertion into American public life.  Did she also fail to read the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood Memorandum before speaking at the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s ancestral U.S. home in Indiana?  When she brought CAIR to Tennessee to work with her opposing the anti-terrorism bill did it matter to her that “ample evidence” exists tying CAIR to Hamas?

Neither Suleyman nor her promoter at the Tennessean, religion editor Bob Smietana, include objective analysis of original source documents as part of any discussion involving Islam or Islamists.  Seems there is no room for this in their propaganda.

Only a narcissist would think that this provocative message to her “Dear Haters” makes any difference to US.

 

 

 

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Newsletter #73 – Public enemy #1,2,3 – TN legislators and lobbyists

The Tennessee legislative session has a unique way of showing the citizens and taxpayers of Tennessee who isn’t protecting their rights.  It makes that old saying – “with friends like these, who needs enemies”, particularly meaningful.  Some of these individuals are elected officials and some are those hired to influence the elected:

I. Sen. Brian Kelsey– newly appointed Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Kelsey worked tirelessly as committee chair to defeat 2nd amendment rights bill SB250.   The 10th Amendment Center’s response to Sen. Kelsey’s first efforts is worth reading. 

Sen. Kelsey saved the real show for his follow-up 22 minute monologue during the next hearing on this bill.  His efforts generated a number of newspaper ads in the Germantown News, Bartlett Express and Shelby Sun Times:

kelsey ad

Earlier in the year he lent his support to the Muslim Brotherhood organizations in Memphis as a speaker at the “Advocating for TN Muslims – Memphis fundraiser”.

kelsey

He is up for re-election in 2014 – or not.

II. The next biggest showman at the Tennessee legislature this session was Rep. Bill Sanderson’s performance in the House State Government Committee as he passionately spoke against a bill that would have helped the state of Tennessee figure out how much the federal government’s refugee resettlement program costs the state.  Guess he missed the lesson about the 10th amendment and the federal government not being allowed to raid state budgets.

He is up for re-election in 2014 – or not.

III. But the award for one of the most offensive remarks made this year goes to liberal Democrat Rep. Johnny Shaw who said that only “bona fide citizens” (aka non-conservatives) have the right to bring their concerns to state representatives.

No one shouldn even consider him for re-election.

Here come the lobbyists…. 

It’s pretty amazing how a red state’s legislature is flooded with lobbyists representing every known liberal/socialist/progressive agenda.

I.  ACLU-TN (reported revenue for most recent publicly available 990 from 2010, was $501,868 with total gifts, grants and contributions from 2006 – 2010 totaling $1,211,336), director Hedy Weinberg[1] has been a fixture at the Tennessee legislature for a long time.  She is now joined by her daughter Hannah Cornfield, a “Civic Engagement Fellow” with the Muslim American Center for Outreach (ACO), Remziya Suleyman’s organization.

II. Staying true to the roots of political shariah, Ms. Suleyman recently spoke at the birthplace of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.  On Saturday, April 6, 2013, Suleyman was part of the Muslim Brotherhood Student Association, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign campus, Spring Camp 2013.  This MSA was the very first U.S. Muslim Brotherhood established organization.  MSAs across the country have become the training ground for Suleyman’s jihad generation.

III. Nathan Ridley, lobbyist for the TN Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) just happens to be married to the legislature’s Director of Legislative Administration, Connie Ridley, who is  probably a great source of insider information and an asset to Mr. Ridley’s activities as a lobbyist.  Not surprising though that TIRRC can afford a highbrow firm lobbyist given that in 2011 (last 990 available), they reported $1,169,811 in total revenue.  Lobbying expenditures since 2008 total $556,506 with $160,881 spent in 2011.  Total gifts, grants and contributions since 2007 reported total $3,901,899.

Ridley also represents Conexion Americas, an organization with reported revenue of $1,013,483 for 2010-2011.  This organization advocates for and represents Latino families in Middle Tennessee.

IV. Who even knew that Jennifer Murphy was Catholic Charities Tennessee lobbyist?  Some may be surprised to see that the lobbyist positions don’t follow the Catholic doctrine.  In fact, a recent disclosure was made that the University of TN educated Florida Planned Parenthood lobbyist who testified in support of infanticide, was on the board of Florida Catholic Charities!

Seems like liberal/socialist/progressive causes are well-funded and well represented in the Tennessee state house.


[1] TCPJ is planning to publish an extensive background piece on Ms. Weinberg.


Newsletter #72 – TN Imams and the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA)

The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America website (AMJA) states that it is a non-profit organization,

“. . . established in response to the growing need of an Islamic jurisprudence specific to Muslims in the West. Its main goal is to uphold authentic standards using high academic standards, moderate approach and a rejection of extremism.”

The AMJA issues fatwas and “declarations” which are the “decisions and recommendations” intended to advise Muslims living in the West.  AMJA also hosts the annual Imams training conference.  (Yasir Qadhi, Memphis Islamic Center Imam, spoke at the 2012 AMJA Imams Conference in Los Angeles comparing Jewish and Islamic requirements for animal slaughter. )

The Muslim Observer notes that the list of AMJA scholars “stretches from Al-Azhar University to Virginia’s Open University, and back across the ocean to the professors at Saudi universities.” (plenty of fundamentalist sharia law to go around).

Here are some examples of AMJA fatwas posted at the website:

Building bridges with people of other religious communities

“To have shared religious services or the like would be crossing the lines. Also, we do not need to sanction their religion to show friendliness,…”

“It is important to understand that for a religious minority, the notions of “All religions are equal” or “Religions are different paths leading to the same end” are dangerous and their acceptance is a commitment of communal suicide. That is because there is always enormous pressure to assimilate into the mainstream.”

Dealing with non-Muslims

“AMJA asserts that dealing with non-Muslims who desire to live in peace with Muslims is based on justice and kindness. This covers many forms of dealings such as responding to their invitations, inviting them to Muslims homes, allowing them to enter mosques in order to introduce Islam to them and make it closer to their hearts, exchanging gifts with them in other than their religious celebrations….

AMJA asserts that participating in non-Muslim religious celebrations or congratulating them for these occasions is prohibited, as this implies endorsement for rituals and doctrines that are not part of the Islamic creed.”

Is Islam expandable enough to tolerate political parties

“Tenth: There is no problem in making alliances with moderate secular trends in the stage of pursuance of establishing the Islamic State, on condition that the subject of alliance is legal, and that it must not comprise any bindings that would harm the message of the religion, or that would tie the hands of the people who are involved in the Da`wa works and prevent them from spreading the truth and from marching towards the objective of establishing the Islamic State.”

Tennessee Imam and AMJA say halal products may not be necessary

Recommendations of AMJA’s 4th imams workshop -

“12. Kindness and justice are the basis for dealing with both Muslims and non-Muslims, and among them, the People of the Book have a special place. Examples of this can be found in Shari`ah—that their slaughtered meat is permissible for us and that their women are permissible for Muslim men to marry—two privileges other religions do not share.”

(note – “People of the book” refers to Jews.  This recommendation is AMJA’s ruling confirmed by Yasir Qadhi in his 2012 AMJA presentation that Muslims may purchase kosher meat and other kosher marked products.[1] So it seems that demands for halal food are made in pursuance of political objectives.)

Do not become “pleased with a legal system that does not come from allah” – the 22 page AMJA paper issued in Arabic has been translated into English and is consistent with the more abbreviated declaration from the AMJA 5th annual convention.  With regard to working as a police officer, the longer paper recognizes that this can be helpful to the Muslim community in some ways but cautions that they could potentially be “required to enforce laws contrary to the sharia…”

Perhaps Remziya Suleyman, head of the Muslim American Center for Outreach (ACO) who recently criticized  police and prosecutorial action against the Kurdish Pride Gang, whose brother recently graduated from the Police Academy, and who has been briefed by Tennessee imams on sharia, will explain to us what sharia laws are contrary to ours.


[1] But admits that the reverse does not apply because kosher standards are stricter than halal.


Newsletter #71 – Are Tennessee’s Islamists Any Different from the Ones “over there”?


Political shariah foot soldiers like Charles Haynes and Remziya Suleyman promote the “American Muslim” propaganda by claiming that Muslims in the US are somehow different from Muslims “over there”.  They do not explain, however, whether “over there” includes other Western nations such as England and France.

Muslims “over there” like those in England and France have made it very clear that they want more not less shariah in their lives, they want shariah no-go zones and they want to ultimately have these countries ruled by shariah law, here and here.

We have yet to hear Ms. Suleyman or any of the other Islamists in Tennessee deny their desire to advance political shariah into the public square.  Who knows, maybe a “Halal hamburger Day” could be the start of eliminating all pork products from school cafeterias and  prisons.

This past June, Ms. Suleyman’s Muslim community elders were satisfied with the amended 20011 anti-terrorism bill but she told them that her political activism demanded she move forward, that it was not about religion anymore.  She said she was adamant about continuing political opposition.

With this rallying cry, Ms. Suleyman works to radicalize the Islamists of her generation.  Has Ms. Suleyman read the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood Memorandum?  If she did, would she still be able to deny that she and her fellow Tennessee Islamists, are actually more like the “Muslims over there” than not?

The Islamic Center of Tennessee (ICT) models Muslim Brotherhood socialism

One of Nashville’s Muslim Brotherhood mainstays, Awadh Binhazim (featured in the  “Losing Our Sons” documentary and Newsletters 11,  12, and 13), has honestly expressed Islam’s disdain for our First Amendment right to freedom of speech and Islam’s capital punishment for homosexuality.

A publicly recognized spokesman for the Islamice Center of Tennessee (ICT), Binhazim and Ms. Suleyman have served on speakers’ panels together.  They both also share a working relationship with CAIR.

Binhazim served as the CAIR[1] Austin chapter president when he lived in Texas.[2]  He’s now with the ICT, a mosque that is readying to emulate what the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt did to make “Islam the solution.”  By providing social services “like health care and education to the 40% of Egyptians who live under the poverty line” (CNN, “The Muslim Brotherhood Comes to America”), the Muslim Brotherhood was able to translate their ideology into political reality.

The ICT will start its social services endeavors with health care and legal services.  On Febrary 8, 2013, Mohammad Ali Syed of the Syed Law Firm offered the following:

“Free legal advice seminar” at the ICT:   (“Helping the Muslim Community of Nashville and Middle Tennessee in legal and business matters.  Immigration, litigation, insurance, real estate, contracts, business law and general practice. If you need an advocate/counselor for your legal matters, please call me.  Please call with any questions or send an email.”)

 On February 10, 2013, the ICT held a “Medical Clinic Proposal Presentation”:

“As you may already know we are conducting a study for the purpose of establishing a permanent medical clinic in the back of the ICT building. We have been in contact with Umma Clinic in California and they have sent us detailed presentation about how to set up such a clinic.

Expertise needed:

Medical, legal, Public relations, business management & financial planning, fundraising / grants, IT, architecture & interior design, and religious advice.”

This is the same political template that the Muslim Brotherhood has used in the mid-east.

The Muslim Brotherhood has come to power in Egypt, bringing with it imposition of fundamentalist shariah law including Islam’s blasphemy laws.  The result for Coptic Christians under these laws has literally been deadly.  While the mainstream media has failed to report the destruction of churches and religious persecution, these incidents have been documented and are being reported by alternative media.  Morsi’s virulent Islamic doctrine driven anti-Semitism has also been exposed. (See Newsletter #60).

Attempting to counteract the harsh reality of a Muslim Brotherhood ruled Egypt and to “raise the morale of the Eygptian people”, the government launched its new social services campaign called “Mother Egypt – Your Children Matter” providing medical assistance and clean drinking water to towns and villages.

************

Free or low-cost social services for the every -day Egyptian has brought success in the polls for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  If the ICT sticks with it long enough, the same might be true for the Muslim Brotherhood in Antioch and Davidson County.


[1] Recall that CAIR’s parent organization, the Islamic Association for Palestine a front organization for Hamas is the reason CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial.

[2] Coincidentally during the same time as the Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial was ongoing in Texas.


Newsletter #70 – TN Dept. Homeland Security working with TN Islamists

Working together since at least June 5, 2011

dhs1


Newsletter #69 – Freedom Forum Part VII – “Facts: A Biased Media & their Friends”

 

When Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today retired as Chairman of the Gannett Company, he took over the Gannett Foundation, sold the foundation’s Gannett stock back to the company, and returned its name. He used the $650 million stock sale proceeds to invest in the Freedom Forum.

Many of the so-called scholars and experts claimed by the Freedom Forum are blatant leftist journalists and media professionals.  This may explain why the strands of their bias are threaded through both its off-shoots, the First Amendment Center and the Religious Freedom Education Project.

One might even argue that they have been bought and paid for by the left’s mega corporate dollars. The Freedom Forum’s Newseum recently hosted Obama’s “grass-roots” mega dollar corporate-based “Organizing for Action” (OfA) money-pitching meeting.  “An OfA spokeswoman declined to comment on the group’s presentation at the Newseum, its fundraising or relationship with other deep-pocketed liberal groups.”

Support for the meeting was provided by a “White House-allied trade association called Business Forward, which is funded by major corporations including Microsoft, Walmart and PG&E…”

“Distributed action” was discussed by panelists representing a troika of Common Purpose Project, the self-described anti-conservative progressive Media Matters, and the Soros funded Center for American Progress.

Newseum + mega money + insider politics + anti-conservative progressive agenda ≠ unbiased media.

It may also explain why the Freedom Forum, the First Amendment Center and Religious Freedom Education Project walk in lockstep with the progressive socialists’ agenda.  Certainly they are serious about President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships report recommendation to: “Utilize the expertise of faith-and community-based organizations to train education and media professionals on Islam and Muslim communities.”

But in their haste, the scholars and experts of the Freedom Forum failed to fully vet their Islamist partners.

The First Amendment Center and an unbiased free press – an oxymoron

Claiming that journalists, particularly those in the South, find reporting about Islam and Muslims “increasingly challenging”, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) School of Journalism along with the First Amendment Center hosted a three-day conference in August 2011.  It was funded by the McCormick Foundation and titled “Covering Islam in the Bible Belt”.

The conference promised to feature “veteran reporters and experts in Islamic history and culture.”  One of the reporters that led a workshop titled “Crafting the Story” was Osama Siblani from Dearborn Michigan.  He is the publisher of The Arab American News.  In 2006 Siblani was a speaker at a pro-Hezbollah rally in Dearborn, Michigan sponsored by the Congress of Arab American Organizations. During his talk, Siblani asked all those in attendance to observe a moment of silence “for the martyrs.”

Butch Ward, managing director of the Poynter Institute led a workshop titled “Acknowledge Your Bias and Improve Your Coverage.”  Subsequent to the conference, the Poynter Institute posted a free on-line course on Islam for journalists.  This course was promoted as a way to help journalists “remain accurate and balanced in their coverage of the Muslim community in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which changed the way Islam is viewed by the public.”

It is precisely because of 9/11 that the public has started to wake up, take notice and get educated about what Islamists and the Muslim Brotherhood are working to institute in the United States.

Some participating journalists took issue with the way in which the course minimized the act and meaning of 9/11.  In “Jihad is Not Just Murder, Motive Matters”, Judith Miller writes ,“This is a course in political correctness for reporters assigned to cover Islam in America who have slept through the past decade.”  She also notes that the course “barely mentions the proliferation of such ‘home-grown’ Islamist terrorism in its discussion of important trends and facts about Islam.”

Reporters Judson Berger and Iris Somberg revealed here and here that the groups behind the Poytner course are all funded by the notorious billionaire George Soros which may explain the course comments that accuse conservatives of bigotry. One of the Soros groups involved is the Center for American Progress which supports Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood.  Muslim Brotherhood supporter Egyptian President Morsi was recently quoted as saying that “we must nurse our children and grandchildren on hatred for Jews”.

Contradicting their own stated mission, the Poynter website only posts articles consistent with the narrative and agenda of the pro-Islamist U.S. press.

Media Bias: the Tennessean abets Islamists

Tennessean reporter Bob Smietana also led a workshop at the MTSU conference discussing all he discovered about individuals leading the anti-jihadist movement in the U.S.  He told the Arab American News that he has nothing but “contempt” for them.  Of course, Smietana is ignorant about Islamic political doctrine and its supremacist theocratic sharia law, which is what the anti-jihadists protest.  Neither Smietana nor The Tennessean was willing to acknowledge or correct confirmed inaccuracies in his reporting.

Moreover, showing no regard for the danger of speaking out about Islamists, Bob Smietana published the identities of anti-jihadist activists who had to use pseudonyms for security purposes.

Tennessee writer and political analyst Rebecca Bynum addresses this and more about Bob Smietana’s bias in her article “Peculiar Bias: How the Tennessean Became a Fellow Traveler with CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood”.

Feel free to contact Bob at his home and let him know how you feel about his credibility as the religion writer for The Tennessean:

Robert Smietana,  2712 Cash Court,  Thompson Station, TN  37179    615-595-2365

The Islamist resource list for journalists and the Freedom Forum

The conference resource list for journalists just like the resource list compiled by the Freedom Forum, the Religious Freedom Education Project and the recent publication “What is the Truth About American Muslims” is threaded throughout with anti-American Islamists committed to the Muslim Brotherhood ideology of political sharia.

The Poynter website directs journalists to Muslim Brotherhood organizations such as CAIR, ISNA, ICNA and MPAC.  Is Poynter ignorant about the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memo on a global government takeover or about CAIR’s ties to Hamas?  Obviously or else they sympathize with the Islamists.  Either is inexcusable.

Experts on the resource lists include Zaid Shakir, Sherman Abdul Hakeem Jackson and Muqtedar Khan.  Shakir and Jackson are both featured in this article about the 2010 Toronto Muslim convention.  Shakir is quoted as telling his audience that Allah destroyed the Soviet Union because it invaded Afghanistan and the same thing could happen to the U.S.

It was reported that Sherman Jackson told his audience that “Muhammad redefined the society in which he lived, and today nothing less than the future of the Ummah (“community” or “nation” in Arabic) in Western cultures was at stake. Muhammad’s vision was not just for Arabia, but for all humanity, including, presumably, the modern Western world. To a cheering audience, he said that his primary commitment was to Allah, not to America. His speech was a call to battle. It had little to do with peaceful co-existence with the West, but was an exhortation for Islam to dominate the West.”

Both Jackson and Khan sit on the Muslim Brotherhood’s U.S. Council of Scholars.  In 2009 the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) formed this council.  The IIIT is one of the 29 named organization “of our friends” in the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood Memorandum on the General Strategic Goals for North America.  The IIIT was raided by federal authorities as part of a terror financing investigation.

Islamist agents who work for the demise of our civilization and our government are the allies of journalists such as Bob Smietana and Butch Ward, and organizations like the Freedom Forum and First Amendment Center.  The very media that should be educating the American people about the dangers of political sharia to our way of life is busy currying favor with Islamists and propagating leftist propaganda.

The Freedom Forum.  An unbiased forum for freedom?  You tell me.

 

 


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