Free Republic

The House of Representatives has passed a bill which seeks to eradicate blasphemy against Islam. The bill, H.R. 5665, is truly remarkable as it amounts to Congress making a law respecting the establishment of Islam and reducing the United States government into a tool of the world’s ayatollahs. The actual text of the bill not only seeks to eradicate blasphemy against Islam around the world – and solely against Islam at that – but even requires the federal government to reorganize some portions of the State Department along the lines of an Islamic religious institution which will be responsible for...

Alliance of Democracies Summit: The Glass House Where the Power Elite Gather to Throw Stones WRITTEN BY: ALAN MACLEOD PUBLISHED ON: MAY 15, 2021 The lineup of presidents, generals and CEOs makes it clear that what was stated is effectively the collective view of the world’s elite and a window into their thinking and the debates they are having. What they decide will affect all of us, whether we realize it or not. COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — The United States is the nation that most threatens democracy worldwide, far more than Russia or even China. That is the headline finding from...

Screenshot from CBS interview in Dallas, May, 2019, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- In Garland, Texas, on 3 May 2015, Gregory Stevens, a veteran police officer with the Garland Police Department, was working off duty as armed security for the “Draw the Prophet” cartoon contest event.Pamela Geller organized the Draw the Prophet event as a response to Islamic demands that Western Civilization submits to Islamic censorship.The particular demand was no one would be allowed to draw images of the Prophet Mohammed or to mock him or make fun of him.The infamous attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices...

SAN JOSE DE GUANIPA, Venezuela (Reuters) - Francisco Belisario, a Venezuelan mayor, retired general and member of the ruling Socialist party, had enough. His loudest local critic had accused him of bungling the response to the coronavirus outbreak and other big problems. In August, he wrote a state prosecutor and requested an “exhaustive investigation” of his nemesis, Giovanni Urbaneja, a former lawmaker who had become a gadfly to the mayor and other Socialist officeholders. Urbaneja, Belisario wrote in a letter reviewed by Reuters, was conducting a “ferocious smear campaign” on Facebook and elsewhere. Urbaneja not only defamed him and President...

Moscow, December 11, Interfax - Russian President Vladimir Putin has given the Foreign Ministry until March 1, 2021 to initiate discussions on international forums concerning measures to prevent actions insulting religious feelings of believers and fomenting interfaith enmity and conflicts. The presidential instruction was published on the Kremlin's official website on Friday, following Putin's recent meeting with representatives of religious groups. The Foreign Ministry has also been told "to consider the possible conclusion of international agreements and (or) the adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution on such matters." Ismail Berdiyev, the head of the Coordinating Center of Muslims of...

Moscow, November 5, Interfax - A ban on insulting the feelings of the faithful should be enshrined in international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. At his meeting with representatives from religious organizations on the National Unity Day on Wednesday, one attendee, Ismail Berdiyev, head of the North Caucasus Muslims' Coordinating Center, suggested that the president present to the UN Security Council an idea that all countries introduce a law making it unacceptable to offend religious feelings. "It is a good proposal. I don't understand, who could be against a ban on insulting the feelings of the faithful in any...

Asia BibiBritain has rejected an appeal for asylum from Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian acquitted of blasphemy last week who is under the threat of death from Islamic leaders who struck a deal with her government to block her exit. The British government said allowing Bibi to enter the U.K. would cause unrest among Muslims, according to an advocate, the Huffington Post reported. Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, said he’s been led to believe that the British government “had concerns that her moving to the UK would cause security concerns and unrest among certain sections...

Ireland has likely voted to remove a reference to blasphemy as a punishable offense from the country’s constitution, paving the way for repeal of a law that criminalizes public utterances judged offensive to religious sensibilities. The decision in a referendum on Friday is the latest signal reflecting the country’s weakening adherence to the Catholic Church, which had itself described the constitutional reference as “obsolete.” According to an exit poll conducted on behalf of state-owned broadcaster RTE, 71.1% of voters backed the removal of the blasphemy reference, a larger proportion than backed a May proposal to remove a ban on abortion...

UCLA recently hosted a "Muslim American Workshop" where attendees proposed a list of policy suggestions intended to help Muslim Americans. Suggestions included “ban anti-shariah [sic] laws," "eliminate 1st Amendment protections against hate speech," and "ban anti-Muslim President." A recent academic conference on Muslim Americans at UCLA featured calls for “banning anti-sharia laws” and “eliminating First Amendment protections against hate speech.” The University of California, Los Angeles’ Luskin School of Public Affairs hosted the Muslim American Workshop on December 15, where professors from around the country shared research papers and policy ideas. University of Washington-Bothell Professor Karam Dana led the Policy/Hybrid...

How Google's Jigsaw is fighting the darkest parts of the internet BY KERRY FLYNN JUL 20, 2017 Fake news, terrorist propaganda, hateful comments — the internet is not the nicest place in the world. Jigsaw is trying to change that. Formerly under Google, Jigsaw now is a subsidiary within Alphabet. The company, under the direction of Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt and Google Ideas founder Jared Cohen who serves as founder and CEO of Jigsaw, focuses on researching some of the darkest corners of the internet and implementing ways to address them. Yasmin Green, director of research and development at Jigsaw,...

When Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin returned to Earth after becoming the first person to travel into outer space in 1961, the then-officially atheist Kremlin heralded his historic journey as “proof” of the non-existence of God. Fast-forward to today’s Russia and such pro-atheist sentiments could land you behind bars. In a court case now underway in southern Russia, 38-year-old blogger Viktor Krasnov faces up to a year in prison after writing, “There is no God” on VKontakte, the Facebook of the former Soviet states. In a heated online exchange that took place in October 2014, Mr. Krasnov also described the Bible...

December 17, 2015 ought henceforth to be a date which will live in infamy, as that was the day that some of the leading Democrats in the House of Representatives came out in favor of the destruction of the First Amendment. Sponsored by among others, Muslim Congressmen Keith Ellison and Andre Carson, as well as Eleanor Holmes Norton, Loretta Sanchez, Charles Rangel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Joe Kennedy, Al Green, Judy Chu, Debbie Dingell, Niki Tsongas, John Conyers, José Serrano, Hank Johnson, and many others, House Resolution 569 condemns "violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States." The...

Four Egyptian kids who dared make fun of ISIS in a harmless video are headed for trial along with their teacher on charges of “insulting Islam,” after their Muslim neighbors got hold of the footage and went to police. Aged between 15 and 16, the youths could face up to five years in a youth detention center—while the teacher would serve any sentence he receives in prison—if the court finds them guilty of violating Egypt’s blasphemy law, Egypt-focused activists say. Egyptian Christian and civil rights groups are leading calls for their release, but the five—members of the Coptic community that...

The elderly man’s troubles started when two young men milling inside his homeopathic clinic casually asked him about his religion. He thought they were merely curious. In fact, they belonged to an outlawed militant group and were carrying hidden tape recorders. Within hours, police officers showed up at Masood Ahmad’s clinic and played back the tape in which he explained the tenets of the minority Ahmadiyya sect, rejected by mainstream Muslims because it disputes the basic tenet of their faith that Muhammad is Islam’s last prophet. […] The Pakistani representative of RescueChristians, speaking on condition of anonymity for his personal...

A bill imposing jail terms of up to three years on those who offend religious believers is set to become law in Russia. The new blasphemy law was approved by the State Duma in Moscow on Tuesday, June 11. According to the bill, “public actions expressing clear disrespect for society and committed with the goal of offending religious feelings of the faithful” would be punishable with jail terms of up to one year and fines of up to 300,000 rubles ($9,200). While “publicly expressing clear disrespect to believers, including actions undertaken at places of worship,” would be punishable by up...

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Police in Bangladesh's capital fired rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing Islamic activists Sunday during a protest to demand that the government enact an anti-blasphemy law. The activists were among thousands demonstrating around Dhaka, blocking roads and cutting off the city from the rest of the country. ... Thousands of activists from Hefatjat-e-Islam, a newly formed group, gathered in Dhaka's Motijheel commercial district to press for their demands. The group says some Internet users have recently used their blogs to spread atheism and lies about Islam. The government in this Muslim-majority nation has rejected the groups' demands, saying...

Prominent Egyptian activist Ahmed Douma was arrested and immediately referred to trial for allegedly insulting the country’s president in a TV interview, a prosecutor said Thursday. Douma is to stand trial on Sunday—less than a week after being arrested. He is the first prominent opposition activist to be tried on charges of insulting Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. There have been a myriad of complaints levied against journalists and TV personalities, including well-known satirist Bassem Youssef, for insulting Morsi. Rights groups say such charges restrict freedom of expression. …

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, (or Mark Basseley Youssef) the American Coptic filmmaker partly responsible for the film clip that President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice initially and incorrectly blamed for inciting the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that killed the American Ambassador and three other Americans, was recently sentenced to a one year prison term for violating his probation.On September 27, in the midst of the tumult in the Muslim world, Nakoula was arrested in the middle of the night from his home in the Los Angeles area for violating his...

State Dept. Official to Attend OIC Meeting Today on Banning ‘Defamation of Islam’ UPDATE: OIC Scrubs Website, Screenshot Added, Cover-Up Begins byPatrick PooleBio November 18, 2012 - 11:18 pm UPDATE: Well, that didn’t last long. Earlier this morning before I posted this item the OIC press release noted that U.S. Consul General in Jeddah Anne Casper would be attending the OIC’s meeting: The Session will be attended by Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the OIC Secretary General. It will be chaired by Ambassador Ahmad Taib , Director General of the Branch of the Saudi Foreign Ministry, Makkah Al-Mukarrammah region. It will...

But a recent news report from the region suggests a more direct connection between the violence in Benghazi and the video that sparked the protests, and sources at the State Department and in the Pentagon, speaking to Fox News on the condition of anonymity, say investigators are still determining if there is a legitimate link. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/16/state-department-hasnt-ruled-out-role-anti-islam-video-in-libya-strike-sources/#ixzz29bCvQKzR