Category Archives: USA

Suspect in Norway terrorist attacks is Geert Wilders admirer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anders Behring Breivik2As theories abounded early Saturday as to the group or person behind the deadly twin attacks in Norway a day earlier, investigators began to face the fact that they were likely dealing with a home-grown terrorist.

Key suspect Anders Behring Breivik – a blond, 6ft, 32-year-old Norwegian – was arrested after a gunman opened fire on a summer camp of students who had met to spend a long weekend discussing politics, playing football and enjoying music. The camp was organized by the Workers’ Youth League and was a meeting for young socialists.

Breivik was also believed to be linked to the explosions that ripped through Oslo earlier in the afternoon.

As police began searching the flat that he shares with his mother in a wealthy area of western Oslo a picture began to emerge of a loner with links to right-wing extremists and who had been well-educated and enjoyed hunting.

Breivik appeared to come from an affluent background, attending a middle-class secondary school in the city. Apart from a traffic conviction ten years ago he has no criminal record, according to a Norwegian newspaper. He completed a year of national service in the army.

Breivik had set up his own business, Breivik Geofarm, and a month ago had started to run an organic farm in Hedmark in eastern Norway. There he reportedly produced and stored fertilizers that he was able to use in explosives.

He was known to be active on the internet, expressing extremist Islamophobic views on forums and criticizing immigration policies.

He recently claimed that politics today was not about socialism vs. capitalism but nationalism vs. internationalism. He argued on a Swedish news website that the media were not critical enough about Islam and claimed that Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom in the Netherlands was the only “true” party of conservatives.

Newscore, 22 July 2011

A commenter at little green footballs has pointed out that Breivik is also a fan of Pamela Geller, whose blog Atlas Shrugs he has cited.

Update:  Breivik recommended other sites associated with the so-called counter-jihad movement, notably Jihad Watch, Gates of Vienna and the Brussels Journal. In December 2009 he wrote that he was working full time to promote the ideas of Islamophobes like Robert Spencer and Bat Ye’or.

He also wrote of his contacts with the English Defence League and Stop Islamisation of Europe and claimed to have given them advice on strategy. He attached importance to building “a Norwegian version” of the EDL to fight against anti-fascists and anti-racists.

Attempts to set up a Norwegian Defence League have been beset by problems, including accusations that the organisation had been “taken over by neo-Nazis“. It would be interesting to know what role if any Breivik had in this.

Fox News links terror attacks in Norway to Park51

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Friday night on The O’Reilly Factor, guest host Laura Ingraham did a brief report on the terrorist attacks that killed dozens of people in Norway. She began by saying, “In the ‘Back of the Book’ segment tonight, two deadly terror attacks in Norway, in what appears to be the work, once again, of Muslim extremists.” She went on to describe the attacks, which involved a bombing in Oslo and a mass shooting.

Ingraham then immediately transitioned into a segment on Park51, the planned Islamic community center near the World Trade Center, by saying, “In the meantime, in New York City, the Muslims who want to build the mosque at Ground Zero scored a huge legal victory. A Manhattan judge dismissed a lawsuit by former New York City firefighter Timothy Brown, who was trying to stop construction of the mosque. Bill O’Reilly spoke with a lawyer for the Muslim developers yesterday.”

Friday’s edition of The O’Reilly Factor was recorded, so, despite the fact that several outlets were already reporting at the time the show aired that the suspect in the attacks was not linked to any Islamist groups, Fox News viewers were left with that impression anyway.

Logistical constraints aside, it’s totally inappropriate to juxtapose news of a terrorist attack with a discussion of Park51 because they both purportedly have something to do with Muslims. This is an attempt to reanimate Fox’s failed strategy from last year of smearing Park51 by baselessly associating it with terrorism.

Media Matters for America, 23 July 2011

Abercrombie & Fitch to pay $20,000 in damages for discrimination against Samantha Elauf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Samantha ElaufTULSA, Okla. — A federal jury has awarded $20,000 in compensatory damages to a Muslim woman who alleged that Abercrombie & Fitch discriminated against her because she wore a head scarf.

The six-member panel deliberated more than four hours Wednesday before deciding on damages against the clothing retailer.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued on behalf of Samantha Elauf, who alleged she was denied a job at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Tulsa’s Woodland Hills Mall because she wore a hijab. The hijab is part of her religious beliefs.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell ruled last week the store violated Elauf’s civil rights when it didn’t hire her.

Store officials denied any discrimination but acknowledged having a policy that bars headwear. Abercrombie & Fitch officials couldn’t be reached after hours for comment.

Associated Press, 21 July 2011

See also News On 6 and Tulsa World.

And “Abercrombie & Fitch lawsuit winner says she sued for all Muslim girls”, News On 6, 21 July 2011

Abercrombie & Fitch to pay $20,000 in damages for discrimination against Samantha Elauf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Samantha ElaufTULSA, Okla. — A federal jury has awarded $20,000 in compensatory damages to a Muslim woman who alleged that Abercrombie & Fitch discriminated against her because she wore a head scarf.

The six-member panel deliberated more than four hours Wednesday before deciding on damages against the clothing retailer.

Continue reading →

Tulsa woman testifies in Abercrombie hijab case

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Tulsa woman testified Tuesday that she hopes her role in a lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch will set a positive example for other young Muslims. “If they’re able to shop there, they should be able to get a job there, too,” Samantha Elauf, 20, told a Tulsa federal jury.

Elauf was not hired to work at an Abercrombie Kids store at Woodland Hills Mall in June 2008 after she wore a hijab – or religiously mandated headscarf – to her job interview. She testified Tuesday that she felt insulted and disrespected after she discovered that she was not hired because of the headscarf. “It was shocking to me,” Elauf said. “I thought I was like everybody else.”

Continue reading →

Southern California mosque vandalised

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The vandalism of a La Mirada Muslim place of worship is being investigated as a hate crime, mosque officials said Tuesday.

According to Dr. Rezaur Rahman, Muslim Community Services Inc. president, between the hours of 2 to 6 p.m. Monday a rock was thrown through the mosque’s newly installed rear doors.

The congregation finished prayer at 2 p.m. Monday and Rahman did not return until later in the evening prior to the evening’s prayer session.

“Everything was fine before I left the mosque yesterday afternoon and when I returned later that evening, I noticed shattered glass on the floor near our newly installed doors,” Rahman said. “I found a rock lying among the shattered glass and was very surprised that it could have broken through our very strong, double-layered doors,” he said.

The mosque opened on Feb. 16 after an eight-month renovation that began in July 2010.

“This is something that motivates me to create a peace rally,” Rahman said. Rahman said he contacted Rabbi Mark Goldfarb of Temple Beth Ohr and the Rev. Bill Miller of United Methodist Church, relaying the news regarding the incident and his interest in organizing a community peace rally.

A similar incident took place on March 19, one month after the mosque opened.

“Luckily no one was here when the incident took place because someone could have been hurt,” Rahman said. Police are investigating the incident.

Whittier Daily News, 19 July 2011

Group plans on spreading fear about Islam to high school students

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Defend Christians is an organization headed by Gary Cass, a minister who says that Christians are being attacked and losing their religious freedom in America. During the week of September 11, Cass’ organization, together with Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment and The Way TV, plan on handing out flyers condemning Islam.

According to Cass’ press release, “Christians across the US will be outside strategic high schools located near mosques with known links to terrorism. They will be handing out literature that tells students the truth about Islam and Mohammad and their violent, and oppressive policies towards non-Muslims, especially women and blacks.” His release does not reveal the basis for “known links to terrorism.”

In January, the Citizens for the First Amendment held a similar demonstration at a high school in Fallbrook, California. [And again in May at Murrieta Valley High School.]

“Like all patriotic Americans we cherish our liberties and our God-given rights and are committed to defending these principles,” said Steve Klein of Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment. “Fourteen hundred violent years of history prove that Islam is incompatible with America. Muslims believe they are superior and arrogantly reject our Christian principles of equality, minority rights and equal justice. We are going to the schools to protect students, and especially our young women, from the oppression Islam threatens to impose.”

“We are fed up with political correctness that refuses warn the next generation of Americans about the clear and present danger of Islam in America. It’s cultural suicide to stay silent,” said Dr. Gary Cass of Defend Christians.Org. “Muslims are trying to convert and radicalize our young people. By telling them the truth about the dangerous doctrines of Islam and the and wicked practices of Mohammad we are protecting our children.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center notes in its Summer 2011 Intelligence Report:

Rarely has the United States seen a more reckless and bare-knuckled campaign to vilify a distinct class of people and compromise their fundamental civil and human rights than the recent rhetoric against Muslims.

It would also be hard to imagine a more successful campaign. In the span of the two years since the start of Barack Obama’s presidency in early 2009, an astonishing number of people have turned into a kind of political wolf pack, convinced that 0.6% of the U.S. population is on the verge of trampling the Constitution and imposing an Islamic, Shariah-guided caliphate in its place. Like the communists that an earlier generation believed to be hiding behind every rock, infiltrated “Islamist” operatives today are said to be diabolically preparing for a forcible takeover.

Ironically, the Constitution seems more threatened by certain Americans who, prodded into paranoia by clever activists, opportunistic politicians and guileful media players, seem downright eager to deny Muslims the guarantees of religious freedom and the presumption of innocence.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked a spike in hate crimes against Muslim Americans.

God Discussion, 19 July 2011

Radio talk show host warns Georgia Tea Party of global Islamic agenda

Posted on by Bob Pitt

More than 130 people filled the meeting room at The Carnegie in Newnan July 12 to hear radio talk show host and former pastor Dr. Jody Hice explain that Islam, far from being only a religion, is actually a totalitarian way of life that stands in opposition to the freedoms guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution.

From one perspective and to some Muslims, said “Let Freedom Ring” radio show host Jody Hice, Islam is a religion where Allah is worshiped. But Islam is much more than a religion. It is a complete way of life that encompasses financial, judicial (through Sharia law), political, military and religious aspects of life, he said. That way of life, said Hice, stands in diametric opposition to the American belief in human rights based on Judeo-Christian concepts and the U.S. Constitution.

“Most people think Islam is a religion, It’s not. It’s a totalitarian way of life with a religious component. But it’s much larger. It’s a geo-political system that has governmental, financial, military, legal and religious components. And it’s a totalitarian system that encompasses every aspect of life and it should not be protected (under U.S. law),” Hice said.

The Citizen, 17 July 2011