Atlas Shrugs

DHS guidelines advise deference to pro-Shariah Islamic supremacists

I have warned of this for years and suffered the slings and arrows of a relentless smear campaign. This is unconscionable: giving preference to anti-American Muslims over law-abiding American citizens.

Stealth coup while America fitfully sleeps. Where is the vocal leadership on the right? We need a pitbull, not a puppy in the House (and Senate).

"Homeland Security guidelines advise deference to pro-Shariah Muslim supremacists" By Charles Johnson, Daily Caller, May 17, 2013 (thanks to Van)

The Department of Homeland Security, which under Secretary Janet Napolitano has shown a keen interest in monitoring and warning about outspoken conservatives, takes a very different approach in monitoring political Islamists, according to a 2011 memo on protecting the free speech rights of pro-Shariah Muslim supremacists.

In a checklist obtained by The Daily Caller entitled “Countering Violent Extremism Dos and Don’ts” the DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties notifies local and national law enforcement officials that it is Obama administration policy to consider specifically Islamic criticism of the American system of government legitimate.

This policy stands in stark contrast to the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis’ 2009 memo “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” [pdf], which warned of the dangers posed by pro-life advocates, critics of same-sex marriage and groups concerned with abiding by the U.S. Constitution, among others.

The advice of the Dos and Don’ts list is far more conciliatory. “Don’t use training that equates radical thought, religious expression, freedom to protest, or other constitutionally-protected activity, including disliking the U.S. government without being violent,” the manual’s authors write in a section on training being “sensitive to constitutional values.”

The manual, which was produced by an inter-agency working group from DHS and the National Counterterrorism Center, advises, “Trainers who equate the desire for Sharia law with criminal activity violate basic tenets of the First Amendment.”

 

Obama's Witness Protection Program lost two or more 'known or suspected terrorists'

Incompetent or intentional? "The number of terrorists lost or unaccounted for 'may not be complete and may continue to evolve.'”

First on CNN: Witness Protection Program lost two 'known or suspected terrorists'

By Jake Tapper, CNN Chief Washington Correspondent

The U.S. Marshals Service lost two former participants in the federal Witness Security Program “identified as known or suspected terrorists,” states the public summary of an interim Justice Department Inspector General’s report obtained by CNN.

The Marshals Service has concluded that “one individual was and the other individual was believed to be residing outside of the United States,” according to the summary.

Read the public summary here.

The report notes that while in the middle of an audit of the WITSEC program, also referred to as "WitSec," the IG notified the Justice Department of national security vulnerabilities, and the IG’s office “developed the interim report to help ensure that the Department promptly and sufficiently addressed the deficiencies we found.”

After its audit, the IG’s office reported “the Department did not definitively know how many known or suspected terrorists were admitted into the WITSEC program,” among other “significant issues concerning national security.”

As of March 2013, the Justice Department was reviewing more than 18,000 Witness Protection Program case files to determine whether more known or suspected terrorists have been admitted to the program, the summary notes. As such, the number of terrorists lost or unaccounted for “may not be complete and may continue to evolve.”

There's a witness protection program for terrorists?

Obama's DoJ strikes again -- incompetent or intentional?

"Justice Dept. faulted over terrorist identities" AP, May 16, 2013 (thanks to Ken M)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department failed to provide the names of some terrorists in the witness protection program to the center that maintains the government's watch list used to keep dangerous people off airline flights, the department's inspector general said in a report Thursday.

As a result of the department's failure to properly share information, some in the witness protection program who were on the "no-fly" list were allowed to travel on commercial flights, the federal watchdog said.

"It was possible for known or suspected terrorists to fly on commercial airplanes in or over the United States and evade one of the government's primary means of identifying and tracking terrorists' movements and actions," the report said.

To help protect witnesses from the people and organizations against whom they testify, the U.S. Marshals Service provides cooperating witnesses with new names and identities.

"We found that the department was not authorizing the disclosure to the Terrorist Screening Center of the new identities provided to known or suspects terrorists" in the federal Witness Security Program, known officially as WitSec. 

Holder caught lying again: No Written Recusal on AP Phone Record Seizure

Is there no accountability and punishment? Eric admits that there is nothing in writing on recusal from the AP case -- the only person told was the deputy attorney general:

Holder: No Written Recusal on AP Phone Record Grab By Matthew Boyle

During his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder said there is nothing in writing verifying he actually recused himself from the Associated Press phone records seizure scandal.

“We looked,” Holder said when being questioned by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). “I don’t think there is anything in writing with regard to my recusal.”

Lofgren was asking Holder to explain why Deputy Attorney General James Cole had the authority to authorize the subpoena to secretly seize phone records of at least 20 AP reporters and editors over a two month period when federal code requires the Attorney General himself to sign off on such a subpoena.

Holder said that upon his recusal, the power was technically delegated to Cole, who became the acting Attorney General on this investigation.

But later in the hearing, during questioning from Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Holder said he does not remember when he recused himself. “I’m not sure,” Holder answered when Smith asked him on which date he recused himself. “I think it was the beginning of – I don’t know exactly when.

Holder said the only person he told he told about his recusal was Cole. When Smith asked whether he did that “formally, or in writing,” Holder replied “no.”  

VIDEO: Eric Holder preaches tolerance of Islam to Jewish Group

Why isn't Holder addressing Muslim groups and speaking out against Islamic Jew-hatred, gender apartheid, honor killings, ethnic cleansing and jihadi wars? No, instead he admonishes the primary target of jihad. (video hat tip Armaros)

Holder warns against anti-Muslim "backlash" Jihadwatch

DHS "Trusted Traveler" program clears jihadist countries

So many jihadists come from the Saudi school of wahhabi slaughter (i.e. Osama Bin Laden). If security measures are not for them, then who? You? Me? All of the national security constructs created by the Bush administration in the wake of the 911 slaughter (i.e. DHS, TSA) have gone off the rails. These agencies are broken and need to be dismantled. This is only going to get worse. Patriots, vets, tea party people -- they are the new targets of these police-state type orgs.

There is no rhyme, no reason, no logic to Obama national security policy. Remember, Fort Hood was "workplace violence."

DHS questioned over decision to let Saudi passengers skip normal passport controls FOX News, March 20, 2013 (thanks to Jamie)

A Department of Homeland Security program intended to give "trusted traveler" status to low-risk airline passengers soon will be extended to Saudi travelers, opening the program to criticism for accommodating the country that produced 15 of the 19 hijackers behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Sources voiced concern about the decision to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, which issued a report Wednesday on the under-the-radar announcement -- which was first made by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano after meeting in January with her Saudi counterpart. According to the IPT, this would be the first time the Saudi government has been given such a direct role in fast-tracking people for entry into the United States.

"I think you have radical Wahhabism in certain elements in Saudi Arabia, and I think to be more lenient there than in other places would be a mistake," Rep. Frank Wolf told the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "There were 15 [hijackers] from that country, and there is a lot taking place in that region."

Only an exclusive handful of countries enjoy inclusion in the Global Entry program -- Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the Netherlands. According to the IPT, some officials are questioning why Saudi Arabia gets to reap the benefits of the program, when key U.S. allies like Germany and France are not enrolled; Israel has reached a deal with the U.S., but that partnership has not yet been implemented.

Any Saudi travelers cleared through the program will be able to bypass the normal customs line after providing passports and fingerprints. The status lasts for five years.

The decision is a turnaround, the IPT notes, from when Saudi Arabia was briefly placed on a list of countries whose U.S.-bound travelers would face higher scrutiny, in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt in 2009.

But Napolitano spoke highly of "the bond between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" when she announced the change in January.

"By enhancing collaboration with the government of Saudi Arabia, we reaffirm our commitment to more effectively secure our two countries against evolving threats while facilitating legitimate trade and travel," Napolitano said.

The Global Entry program was launched in 2008 to expedite pre-approved passengers through the airport customs and security process when they arrive in the U.S. The program is designed to weed out low-risk passengers and enable authorities to zero in on those who may be more likely to pose a threat.

 

Obama's DoJ Investigates the Wall Street Journal

Holder investigates the Wall Street Journal? The Wall Street Journal should be investigating Holder. And his boss.

It's ironic that despite the mass exodus of White House officials after Obama's re-election, the worst of the goon squad, fast and furious Eric Holder, dug his heels in. Now he's after the freedom of the press.

The WSJ is owned by Fox's Murdoch. No coincidence there, folks.

Holder investigates the Wall Street Journal via Drudge thanks to van, March 17, 2018

The Justice Department last year opened an investigation into allegations that employees at The Wall Street Journal's China news bureau bribed Chinese officials for information for news articles.

A search by the Journal's parent company found no evidence to support the claim, according to government and corporate officials familiar with the case.

The U.S. government, meanwhile, is nearing the end of a broader investigation of the Journal's owner News Corp NWSA -0.95% . stemming from allegations of phone hacking and bribery at U.K. tabloids, among other issues, according to people familiar with the case.

Obama's DoJ targets individual rights: War on Home Schooling

Obama's war on individual rights heats up.

In Germany home schooling is banned.  The Romeike family were granted political asylum in Tennessee.
US Attorney General Eric Holder has appealed the judge's ruling.
The case reveals how the US government regards individual rights and liberties.
In their argument the US Department of Justice disregards the rights of an individual and considers only collective rights of members of a group.
The implications are immense: Home School Legal Defence Association sets out threats to individual liberty that are far wider than the home schooling issue (thanks to TomS)

"German Homeschool Case May Impact U.S. Homeschool Freedom" HSLDA

Sobering Thoughts from the Romeike Case By Michael Farris, J.D., LL.M., HSLDA Founder and Chairman

Having immersed myself for about eight days in writing a brief for the Romeike family (a German homeschooling family who fled to the United States for political asylum), I wanted to share some insights I gained into the view of our own government toward the rights of homeschooling parents in general.

You will benefit from some context.

The U.S. law of asylum allows a refugee to stay in the United States permanently if he can show that he is being persecuted for one of several specific reasons. Among these are persecution for religious reasons and persecution of a “particular social group.”

In most asylum cases, there is some guesswork necessary to figure out the government’s true motive—but not in this case. The Supreme Court of Germany declared that the purpose of the German ban on homeschooling was to “counteract the development of religious and philosophically motivated parallel societies.”

This sounds elegant, perhaps, but at its core it is a frightening concept. This means that the German government wants to prohibit people who think differently from the government (on religious or philosophical grounds) from growing and developing into a force in society.

Dressed-up Totalitarianism

It is thought control. It is belief control. It is totalitarianism dressed up in politically correct lingo.

But my goal today is to not belabor the nature of German repression of homeschooling; rather I seek to reveal the view of the United States government to all of this.

The Romeikes’ case is before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The case for the government is officially in the name of the Attorney General of the United States. The case is called Romeike v. Holder. Thus, the brief filed by the U.S. Department of Justice is filed on behalf of the attorney general himself—although we can be reasonably certain he has not personally read it. Nonetheless, it is a statement of the position of our government at a very high level.

We argued that Germany is a party to many human rights treaties that contain specific provisions that protect the right of parents to provide an education that is different from the government schools. Parents have the explicit right to give their children an education according to their own philosophy.

While the United States government argued many things in their brief, there are three specific arguments that you should know about.

No Homeschooling? No Problem.

First, they argued that there was no violation of anyone’s protected rights in a law that entirely bans homeschooling. There would only be a problem if Germany banned homeschooling for some but permitted it for others.

Now in reality, Germany does permit some people to homeschool, but it is rare and in general Germany does ban homeschooling broadly—although not completely. (Germany allows exemptions from compulsory attendance for Gypsies and those whose jobs require constant travel. Those who want to stay at home and teach their own children are always denied.)

But, let’s assess the position of the United States government on the face of its argument: a nation violates no one’s rights if it bans homeschooling entirely.

There are two major portions of constitutional rights of citizens—fundamental liberties and equal protection. The U.S. Attorney General has said this about homeschooling. There is no fundamental liberty to homeschool. So long as a government bans homeschooling broadly and equally, there is no violation of your rights. This is a view which gives some acknowledgement to the principle of equal protection but which entirely jettisons the concept of fundamental liberties.

A second argument is revealing. The U.S. government contended that the Romeikes’ case failed to show that there was any discrimination based on religion because, among other reasons, the Romeikes did not prove that all homeschoolers were religious, and that not all Christians believed they had to homeschool.

Emails Expose Collusion at Highest Levels between Department of Justice and Communist SPLC

DoJ email to Morris Dees: July 23, 2012 –

“I will pick you [Morris Dees] up at the airport July 30. Would you go out to dinner with my wife and me and our two teenage daughters that first night? The girls need some inspiration from a master of inspiration.”

This is a jawdropper.

The communists over at the Southern Poverty Law Center are among the gravest threats to freedom in the United States, and are named as such in the AFDI Threats to Freedom Index. The enemedia eagerly laps up and repeats their designation of pro-freedom groups as "hate groups," and uses this designation as a propaganda tool to demonize and discredit us. But here is an excellent expose that shows what these subversives are really all about.

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the SPLC was designated as a Communist front. It was essentially run by a couple, Anne and Carl Braden, who were CPUSA members. They had been identified in sworn testimony, and they made no attempt to deny the allegations. They would be proud that their legacy remains intact -- their "heirs," that is, destroyers and America-haters -- continue the work to subvert, destroy America.

Atlas commenter Bethesda Dog: "The SPLC has been exposed as a shake-down money-raising con dreamed up by Morris Dees. The staff has inflated salaries, and they are always on the lookout for the next big thing they can target in order to continue scaring their donors. Sooner or later, their donors will die off, or realize they've been had. But then they'll just start tapping money from the Arab oil countries and their allies. Inexhaustible supply of funds to advance sharia. They should be known as the Sharia Promoting Law Center."

Isn’t the Southern Poverty Law Center the Real Hate Group? (Human Events) and this: SPLC’s hatewatch gives cover to hate

The Southern Poverty Law Center has been profiled here by Laird Wilcox.

The most troubling aspect of watchdog opportunism is their infiltration of law enforcement. Watchdog organizations feed law enforcement agencies information in order to prompt them to go after their enemies, real and imagined. By alleging “dangerousness” on the basis of mere assumed values, opinions and beliefs, they put entirely innocent citizens at risk from law enforcement error and misconduct.

Check out these 60 photos of his multi-million dollar complex. Not to mention his perversions and pedophilia (read his divorce papers). Download Morris_Dees_Divorce_Papers

Writing in a June, 1998 issue of The Nation, a leftist weekly, writer Alexander Cockburn observed:

"Morris Dees has raised an endowment of close to $100 million, with which he’s done little, by frightening elderly liberals that the heirs of Adolph Hitler are about to march down Main Street, lynching blacks and putting Jews into ovens. The fundraising of Dees and the richly rewarded efforts of terror mongers like Leonard Zeskind offer a dreadfully distorted view of American political realities."

Lots more on the SPLC here.

JW Obtains Emails Exposing Connections between DOJ and Controversial Southern Policy Law Center January 29, 2013 | (thanks to Lori Marcus)

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained nearly two dozen pages of emails from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights and Tax divisions revealing questionable behavior by agency personnel while negotiating for Sothern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) co-founder Morris Dees to appear as the featured speaker at a July 31, 2012, “Diversity Training Event.” Judicial Watch obtained the records pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) submitted to the DOJ on September 10, 2012.

The Judicial Watch FOIA request was prompted by an apparently politically motivated shooting at the Family Research Council (FRC) headquarters in August, 2012. At the time of the shooting, FRC president Tony Perkins accused the SPLC of sparking the shooting, saying the shooter “was given a license to shoot … by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labeling organizations as hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy.” On its website, the SPLC has depicted FRC as a hate group,” along with such mainstream conservative organizations as the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, and Coral Ridge Ministries.

Judicial Watch filed the FOIA requests to determine what, if any, influence the SPLC’s branding of hate groups has had on government agencies. The FOIA request specifically asked for “any and all records concerning, regarding, or relating to the Sothern Poverty Law Center” between January 1 and August 31, 2012, including the Dees’ presentation sponsored by the Civil Rights and Tax divisions of the DOJ, for which employees were instructed qualified “for mandatory annual diversity training for supervisors.” According to the emails obtained by Judicial Watch, Dees’ speech was to be “simulcast to everyone’s PC throughout the Department.”

The emails produced by the DOJ include correspondence between DOJ personnel planning the Diversity Training Event and SPLC personnel, including Dees:

• May 3, 2012 email – “We would like to tape the [Morris Dees] remarks and, at the same time, out Morris real time on the DOJ system can watch from their desks. Is that okay with Morris?”

• June 27, 2012 – “Let me know Morris’ air schedule so I can pick him up at airport and plan an evening for us if he stays over.”

• July 11, 2012 – “I will be at National in my [REDACTED] in which he has ridden before … I can arrange dinner. If he has a preference in DC where he wants to eat … tell him to let me know his druthers.”

• July 16, 2012 – “The AAG’s office want to take Morris out to lunch before the 1:30 pm July 31 remarks … I’d pick Morris up at his hotel at 11:30 am if that worked for him.”

• July 23, 2012 – “I will pick you [Morris Dees] up at the airport July 30. Would you go out to dinner with my wife and me and our two teenage daughters that first night? The girls need some inspiration from a master of inspiration.”

“The Southern Poverty Law Center has, in the past few years, taken to labeling organizations with conservative views on social issues as ‘hate groups,’” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Given these fawning emails, one would have thought that a head of state was visiting the Justice Department.  The SPLC is an attack group, and it is disturbing that it has premier access to our Department of Justice, which is charged with protecting the First Amendment rights of all Americans.  And these emails further confirm that politically-correct ‘mandatory’ diversity training programs are a waste of taxpayer money.”

According to previous documents uncovered by Judicial Watch the Obama DOJ has colluded with a number of leftist special interest groups.  For example, the DOJ worked closely with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) regarding the dismissal of the voter intimidation lawsuit filed against the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense. The DOJ also partnered with the ACORN-connected Project Vote in advance of the 2012 election on a national campaign to use the National Voting Rights Act (NVRA) to register more individuals on public assistance, widely considered an important demographic for the Obama campaign.

UPDATE: The Muslim Issue weighs in here.

Morris Dees Fact Sheet

"Til the Cash Comes Flowing Like a River...:

Full Name:

Morris Seligman Dees, Jr.

Born:

16 December, 1936 in Shorter, Macon County, Alabama

Education:

- Graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955

- Received B.A. & J.D. Law degree [1960] from University of Alabama

In an article titled

Poverty Palace

, Morris Dees told journalist John Edgerton that "I had a traditional white

Southerner's feeling for segregation." [The Progressive, July 1988 - Edgerton, John.

Poverty Palace, How the

SPLC Got Rich Fighting the Klan

]

Dees made a fortune selling cookbooks by mail in partnership with Millard Fuller [who later founded Habitat

for Humanity.] [Fuller, Millard. Bokotola. New Century Press: 1977]

Fuller has this to say about his 8 year association with Dees:

Dees and Fuller formed the law firm of Dees & Fuller in Montgomery, Alabama in 1960.

"Morris Dees and I, from the first day of our partnership, shared one overriding purpose: to make a pile of

money. We were not particular about how we did it; we just wanted to be independently rich. During the

eight years we worked together we never wavered in that resolve."

"But everything has a price. And I paid for our success in several ways. One price I paid was estrangement

from the church."

Dees served in 1958 as state campaign manager for segregationist attorney general candidate McDonald

Gallion and also worked for George C. Wallace. Fuller stated: "We wanted to be sure of having friends in

high places."

In 1961 when Freedom Riders were beaten by a white mob at a Montgomery bus station, Dees [and Fuller]

expressed openly his sympathies and support for what had happened at the bus station.

When one of the men charged with beating the Freedom Riders came to their office for legal representation,

Dees and Fuller took the case. The legal fee was paid by the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizen's Council.

[Fuller, Millard.

Love in the Mortar Joints

. New Century Press: 1980 and

The Progressive

, July 1988]

Dees founded the Southern Poverty Law Center in 1971 with Joseph Levin [who left the SPLC in 1976] and

Julian Bond [resigned late 1970's.] [Articles of Incorporation. Southern Poverty Law Center, Inc.]

Acted as Chief fundraiser for George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign in return for the campaign's

mailing list. Raised $20 million for McGovern. [

Burlington Times

, July 30, 1975.

The Progressive

, July

1988.]

Arrested and removed from court in 1975 for attempting to suborn perjury [bribing a witness] in the Joan

Little murder trial in North Carolina. Little, a black convict, was accused of killing a prison guard with an ice-

pick . The felony charge against Dees was subsequently dropped, but the presiding judge, Hamilton

Hobgood, refused to re-admit Dees to the case. The refusal was upheld on appeal after the Supreme Court of

the United States refused to hear Dees appeal. [Ibid.]

"The great untold story of the JoAnn Little trial was the role of the Communist Party, through its National

Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, in controlling the entire political movement surrounding the

case. Angela Davis, a leading figure in both organizations became the most frequently quoted movement

figure and constant companion of JoAnn Little... Party members were visible and influential on the defense

committee, and the party frequently set up rallies of support around the country." [

Columbia Journalism

Review

. Pirsky, Mark. March/April, 1976.]

Fund-raised for Jimmy Carter in 1976 hoping to be named Attorney-General, but was unenthused by the

campaign for its middle of the road appeal " You've got to have a candidate who is way out on the extremes!"

[

The Progressive

, July 1988.]

Acted as a fundraiser for both Ted Kennedy's 1980 and Gary Hart's 1984 presidential campaigns and received

their mailing lists as reward. [Ibid.]

Perhaps explaining the SPLC's 'Gay' rights activism, Dees was cited in 1979 by his ex-wife with a

homosexual encounter during their marriage. She also cited numerous affairs with women including his

daughter-in-law and underage stepdaughter. [Alabama Court of Civil Appeals CIV 2114, 1979]

The SPLC's fundraising practices have provoked the disapproval of watchdog groups that monitor charities:

In 1993, the American Institute of Philanthropy assigned the SPLC a 'D' grade on a scale of A to F.

[American Institute of Philanthropy xxxx 1993

Charity Watchdog Report

]

"By frequently mailing out such persuasive appeals, Dees and his associates have drawn financial support

from about half a million Americans [by 1988.] The number of contributors and the amount they have given

are probably greater than any left-of-center group has recorded in a comparable period in the history of

American philanthropy." [

The Progressive>

, July 1988.]

Randall Williams who formed Klanwatch in 1981 as part of the SPLC's said in 1988: "We were sharing

information with the FBI, the police, undercover agents. Instead of defending clients and victims we were

more of a super snoop outfit, an arm of law enforcement. Randall and four staff attorney's resigned from the

Center in 1986. [Ibid.]

In 1994 the Montgomery Advertiser won a journalism award for a series of incisive and penetrating

investigative articles exposing the unethical fundraising practices of Dees and the Southern Poverty Law

Center including:

Since August 1, 1984, the Law Center has taken in about $62 million in contributions and yet only spent

about $21 million on actual programs, according to federal tax records.

In a series of fund-raising letters the Law Center implied it forced the United Klan's of American to pay $7

million to the mother of lynching victim Michael Donald in 1987. Beulah Mae Donald actually received only

$51,874.70 from the Klansmen. The Law Center collected millions as the result of fund-raising letters about

the case.

The Montgomery Advertiser

conducted a "random sampling of donors - people who receive a steady stream

of fund-raising letters and newsletters - showed they had no idea the Law Center was so wealthy."

"They're drowning in their own affluence," Pamela Summers, a former SPLC legal fellow told

The

Montgomery Advertiser

. "What they are doing in the legal department is not done for the best interest of

everybody [but] is done as though the sole, overriding goal is to make money.""I think people associate the

SPLC with going to court. And that's why they get the money. And they don't go to court." There have only

been a handful of court cases over the years, many of which remain unresolved.

The SPLC which has crusaded for the rights of blacks for 23 years, is controlled by whites. It has hired only

two black staff attorneys in its history, both of whom left unhappy. 12 of 13 former Black employees

interviewed by the Montgomery Advertiser complained they experienced or observed racial problems during

their employment. Several said the SPLC was "more like a plantation." [

The Montgomery Advertiser

. Feb. 13-

14, 1994.]

In 1986 the entire SPLC legal staff resigned in protest of Dees refusal to address issues such as poverty,

homelessness, voter registration and other issues they considered more pertinent to poor minorities rather

than to get rich fighting a Klan chimera. [Harpers Magazine. Silverstein, Ken.

The Church of Morris Dees.

November 2000.]

The Birmingham News has also investigated Dees and the SPLC in 1994 and found the following:

Christine Lee, a Harvard Law School alumnus who interned at the Center in 1989, "I would definitely say

that there was not a single black employee with whom I spoke who was happy to be working there." "As I

was told [at the SPLC,] they don't need Black people telling them how to handle Black issues," Lee said.

Dees responded by saying, "We don't have black slots and white slots. Probably the most discriminated

people in American today are white men when it comes to jobs because there are more of those who had

more education opportunities and who the test scores show are scoring better and on paper look more

qualified. That's why you have so many reverse discrimination cases around." [ Birmingham News Feb. 17, 1994.] USA Today reported in 1996 that Dees' Southern Poverty Law Center was the "nations richest civil rightsorganization" with $68 million in assets. [USA Today. Aug. 3, 1996] Today it is closer to its stated goal of a $100 million endowment.

In the same article Stephen Bright, one of Dees numerous former associates told a reporter that Dees is "a

fraud who has milked a lot of very wonderful, well intentioned people." [Ibid.]

At a news conference in Washington in April 1996, Dees announced that "Those [black] churches that have

been burned in the South were certainly burned by racists." After subsequent investigation revealed there was

no rash of black church burnings, many newspapers, including

The Charlotte Observer

, concluded that Dees

"misinformed" the press. [Charlotte Observer October 10, 1996.]

Dees has actively campaigned for for laws in which "associations of two or more persons" who train in the

use of firearms for defensive purposes are declared "illegal militias." [Selected Speeches and Writings of

Morris Dees.]

Dees is well known for putting 'Hate on Trial' in the 1990 Portland. Oregon civil trial of extremist Tom

Metzger. One of the witnesses in that trial, Greg Withrow, now accuses Dees of suborning perjury by paying

witnesses [and then hush money for another 5 years] for their testimony. [San Diego Times Union

. August 25, 2002.]

Dees & the SPLC defames the entire Southern Heritage Community by labeling them 'Neo-Confederates.'

[SPLC Intelligence Update. Summer 2000]

Dees assaulted an elderly journalist at a symposium sponsored by the University of West Florida, Pensacola,

Florida on January 12, 2002. The journalist had asked Dees a 'bad question.' Dees then had the journalist

physically hauled out of the building by two policemen. [The First Freedom February, 2002.]

Pamela Geller WND Column: OBAMA'S DOJ TARGETS JEWISH GENIUS

My Wednesday column is up at WND -- read the whole thing. Even those of us who saw Obama's power grab coming are surprised at the speed of our descent. History does not give us an easy answer for these circumstances. The Constitutional checks and balances relied on a moral population -- and the left has all but routed that. A friend of mine said, "Liberty is being backed into a corner and has fewer adherents – and everyone else in the world it is worse except maybe Eastern Europe, places like Estonia and Poland."

 

DEFENDING THE WEST

OBAMA'S DOJ TARGETS JEWISH GENIUS

Exclusive: Pamela Geller hammers Holder for 'persecution' of young suicide victim

 by PAMELA GELLER Email | Archive

Aaron Swartz, 26-year-old genius, computer prodigy, co-creator of RSS and Reddit, is dead.

Swartz committed suicide in the wake of relentless bullying and persecution/prosecution by Eric Holder’s Department of Justice. Swartz was “driven to the edge” by the government’s aggressive prosecution of a non-existent legal case. Swartz made public documents available to everyone – this was his crime. “It’s like trying to put someone in jail for allegedly checking too many books out of the library.”

Harvard University Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig explained: “We need a better sense of justice, and shame. For the outrageousness in this story is not just Aaron. It is also the absurdity of the prosecutor’s behavior. [Aaron] was brilliant, and funny. A kid genius. A soul, a conscience, the source of a question I have asked myself a million times: What would Aaron think? That person is gone today, driven to the edge by what a decent society would only call bullying.”

DoJ's Office of Public Affairs -- Department of Justice has become an arm of Soros' Media Matters and the DNC.

J. Christian Adams has been reporting on the "corrupt press shop" inside the Department of Justice. According to documents relaesed under FOIA act, the collusion between the subversive Media Matters and the DoJ is criminal.

More on Eric Holder’s Flying Monkeys at Media Matters, Christian Adams, PJ Media

The unit is headed by Press Harpy Tracy Schmaler. We broke a story in July about this relationship after a PJ Media public records request revealed communications between Media Matters’ Matt Gertz and Schmaler about Fast and Furious. (More on the corrupt DOJ press shop: “Tracy Schmaler’s (and Eric Holder’s) Trip to the Tropics,” “DOJ Leaks to TPM Muckraker Florida Will Be Sued Over Voter Rolls,” “Tracy Schmaler – DOJ Shrieker in Chief.“)

Today, Matthew Boyle blows the lid off of the relationship between the United States Department of Justice press shop and the leftist activists at Media Matters, particularly flying monkey Matt Gertz.

Boyle first documents Schmaler’s work with the Soros-funded Media Matters to attack former DOJ officials, including me!  Boyle writes:

Emails sent in September and November 2010 show Schmaler working with Media Matters staffer Jeremy Holden on attacking news coverage of the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation scandal.

Holden attacked former DOJ Civil Rights Division attorneys J. Christian Adams and Hans von Spakovsky on Sept. 20, 2010 for what he called an attempt “to reignite the phony New Black Panther Party scandal.” . . .

Before Holden posted his article at 7:52 p.m., Schmaler sent him several emails with information helping him attack both former DOJ oficials.

Holden attacked Adams again, and Christopher Coates — another now-former DOJ  attorney.

After Holden published that piece, Schmaler sent him an email titled “Great  piece…” and continuing in the body of the message, “On USCCR investigation.’” One minute later, Holden responded, writing, “Thanks!”

But DOJ’s wicked attack operative moves onto other targets, such as those exposing the bloody Fast and Furious program, this time aided by Media Matters’ flying monkey Matt Gertz:

Schmaler reached out to Gertz on March 12, 2012 seemingly to suggest an article attacking Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips for his public comments about Operation Fast and Furious. At the time, Phillips was pressing GOP leadership to take action on the gunwalking scandal. During a Fox News interview, Phillips said Fast and Furious “should be investigated, but we also have to remember the program itself was a partisan program.”

Schmaler obtained a transcript of Phillips’ whole broadcast segment and sent it to Gertz in an 11:55 a.m. email on March 12, asking, “You see this?”

“[C]ompletely false,” Schmaler wrote of Phillips’ allegation. “[W]ide receiver and Hernandez put this to a lie. There’s been lots of coverage on previous bush operations…”

“Thanks,” Gertz responded one minute later. . . .

At 4:05 p.m. the same day Gertz and Schmaler were emailing about Judson Phillips, Media Matters’ Chris Brown wrote a blog entry attacking Phillips for his televised appearance.

Notice how Gertz is at Schmaler’s beck and call.  As I wrote previously, he responds obediently and quickly to Schmaler.

Gertz’s email forwards his attack on Pavlich to Schmaler. He wanted to make sure Schmaler at central command saw his good work. . . . Gertz sends this email a mere “1 minute” after his piece posted.  A good monkey promptly alerts Master.

Gertz also provided quick reports to Schmaler about his attacks on PJ Media’s Andy McCarthy, Town Hall’s Katie Pavlich, Breitbart’s Joel Pollack, and Megyn Kelly of Fox News.

All of this raises an important question: how did the United States Department of Justice become so intertwined with one of the most venomous, dishonest, and radical Websites? Back in 2008, we heard so much empty rhetoric from one campaign about how they would take politics out of the Justice Department. Like so much from that camp, time reveals it was all projection.  They have engaged in a level of raw politics that their GOP opponents couldn’t even conceive of.

And where are the once outraged reporters like Greg Gordon, so quick to cover any whiff of skullduggery or politics at the Bush Justice Department? Of course they are nowhere to be found, because they agree with what is happening.

Sharia: Justice Department official repeatedly refuses to answer whether DoJ will advance proposal to criminalize speech against any religion

Of all the terrible, horrible, frightening things to come out of this rogue administration, nothing is as shocking as this exchange. Obviously Obama's Department of Justice has plans to impose the blasphemy laws under the sharia and criminalize criticism of Islam in some manner or form.

My confidential source tells me that Thomas Perez, the Department of Justice official in this video, "has been present at Muslim conventions both as a panelist and as a speaker. During a question and answer session a Muslim audience member was hostile, and Perez literally cringed and promised that the DOJ would do better. He also asked that more Muslims join the DOJ - that he would look forward to working with them."

Justice Department official refuses to promise that DoJ will never advance proposal to criminalize speech against any religion Jihadwatch

Clearly this exchange indicates that the Obama Administration is indeed contemplating ways to circumvent the First Amendment and outlaw criticism of Islam: blasphemy laws would, if they succeed, be coming to the U.S. If this, happens, it's all over. If the U.S. adopts blasphemy laws, that would be the end of any resistance to jihad, as we will be rendered mute and thus defenseless against its advance. (I hope one of you will bake a cake with a file in it and come visit me in prison.)

Surely the First Amendment will prevent this, you say? The First Amendment does not automatically enforce itself. And if those charged with guarding and protecting it are determined to do away with it, they can hedge it around with nuances and exceptions that will render it as toothless and essentially void as the Second Amendment already is in some areas of the U.S.

"DOJ official refuses to promise that DOJ will NEVER advance an anti-blasphemy law," by Patrick Poole at PJ Media, July 26:

A stunning exchange took place today when Assistant AG Tom Perez of the DOJ Civil Rights Division refused to commit to the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution that it would never advance a law criminalizing the right to criticize any religion.

The non-commital answer by Perez was in response to a question asked by Rep. Trent Frank (R-AZ): “Will you tell us here today that this Administration’s Department of Justice will never entertain or advance a proposal that criminalizes speech against any religion?”

Read it all.

Pamela Geller, WND weekly column: AP's war on national security

Don't miss my weekly column at WND today:

AP's war on national security WND

Exclusive: Pamela Geller rips DOJ for 'engaging in collusion' with jihadist groups

The Associated Press, in a crushing violation of journalistic integrity, has filed suit against law enforcement to disarm the greatest counter-terrorism unit in the world, the New York Police Department (NYPD). It is bent on shutting down a counter-terror program that is entirely legal and legitimate, because it involves surveillance of Islamic supremacists such as the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Muslim Students Association.

Even New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has never met an Islamic supremacist he didn’t bow to, has stood by this program and defended it, but that is not good enough for AP.

Decades ago, we cringed when any news story of corruption and collusion broke about our long-venerated, trusted newsmen. We trusted those powerful subversives like Walter Cronkite, Mike Wallace, etc. These men had enormous power and they abused it; they perpetrated one of the world’s great campaigns of anti-American disinformation and propaganda. We remember Walter Cronkite as a grandfather figure, a trusted icon, when in fact he did the country incalculable harm.

Twenty years of the Cronkite legacy and we have gone that much further off the deep end. The media today is a propagandist arm whose one goal is to shape the news, change the message, even lie about the news to advance a collectivist, pro-Shariah agenda. How else could an unqualified, bitter America-hater hold the seat in the Oval Office?

The Department of Justice should be defending the NYPD, but the DOJ is finished. Corrupt. Destroyed. The House of Representatives will soon vote on contempt charges against Eric Holder. The Justice Department refuses to uphold rule of law. It’s now a center of red and green madness, where collectivists and Islamic supremacists have the run of the place. Where is our society’s first, most critical line of defense? The DOJ is AWOL. The Department of Justice is engaging in collusion with the country’s most dangerous and subversive jihadist groups.

And this is not just Department of Justice policy. It’s the policy of the Obama administration.

They are out of control. And it is only a matter of time before the Davids in the blogosphere rip these haters’ masks off and reveal how monstrous they really are. And for their flagrant violation of the public trust, they shall rot in prison.

The hardcore Hamas groups in the U.S. – Hamas-CAIR, MSU, MSA, ICNA – are doing a Hitlerian stomping jig to get these counter-terrorism measures removed, so that devout Muslims can roam free to plan the next 911.

For years Atlas Shrugs readers wanted to know why there were no indictments and prosecutions of the Muslim Brotherhood co-conspirators (CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, MAS) named in the largest terror funding trial in U.S. history (here, for example). Obama and Holder have scuttled them, much the same way they dropped the voter-intimidation charges against the New Black Panthers (a case that was, by and large, already won).

Finally, lawmakers in Washington are pursuing justice and demanding answers from an AWOL Department of Justice. According to the Blaze, “Members of the House Judiciary Committee on oversight on Thursday [June 7] called on [the] U.S. attorney general to provide documents and evidence relating to the landmark Holy Land Foundation trial – the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history.”

Read the rest.

Obama's DOJ Secretly Drops Terrorism Charges In Taliban Case

The Obama administration is at war with America. These jihadists should be doing time for aiding and abetting the enemy. The mosque should be demolished.

Instead, the charges are dropped?

DOJ Secretly Drops Terrorism Charges In Taliban Case Judicial Watch

The Department of Justice (DOJ) refuses to explain why it has abruptly dropped terrorism charges against a member of a Middle Eastern family indicted in south Florida last year with providing material support for the Pakistani Taliban.

In all, six people were charged with sending tens of thousands of dollars to the terrorist organization, which is associated with Al-Qaeda and has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against American interests, including a 2009 suicide bombing at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan. The ringleader in this case is a Pakistani imam (Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan) who ran a mosque in Miami. The others include his sons, daughter and grandson.

Khan founded an Islamic school that supports the Taliban’s jihad while living in Pakistan and continued controlling and funding it as an imam in Miami, according to a federal indictment. He used the school to provide shelter and support for Taliban soldiers and to train children how to kill Americans in Afghanistan, the indictment says. The rest of the family helped create a network that flowed money from the U.S. to Pakistan to purchase guns for the Taliban, according to the feds.

The story made headlines nationally because the FBI raided the mosque with terrorist ties in a manner that assured cultural sensitivity towards Islam. Federal agents actually waited for prayer service to end before moving in out of respect for Muslims and they took their shoes off prior to entering the mosque as per Islamic tradition. It made for “kindlier, gentler arrests,” under the Obama Administration’s new rules of engagement to assure more sensitivity toward religious practices.

A few days ago the feds secretly dismissed the terrorism charges against the imam’s 39-year-old son, Irfan Khan, in custody for nearly a year and facing up to a decade and a half in jail. Charges against Khan’s dad and younger brother stand and both have pleaded not guilty and remain in custody in south Florida.  A local newspaper says the three other defendants are fugitives believed to be in Pakistan. Federal prosecutors did not provide any explanation in a mysterious, one-graph filing dismissing the charges against Khan.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office handling the case in the Southern District of Florida confirmed that the court has granted the request for dismissal, but refused to elaborate. “We are unable to comment on the internal deliberations that led to our decision. However, the charges against his co-defendants remain in place and trial is pending for those defendants in U.S. custody,” the spokeswoman told the local paper in a written statement.

House to vote on contempt charge against Eric Holder‎

Finally. Long, long overdue. What took them so long? Boehner has been hugely disappointing in this. Fast and furious implicates them all -- including the fraud in the White House.

I hope the scope of the charges against the increasingly lawless DoJ will include Holder's refusal to answer the congressional inquiry concerning their collusion with Muslim Brotherhood groups (CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, MSU, MSA) named in the largest terrorism funding trial in our nation's history.

House GOP Plans First Vote on Holding Eric Holder in Contempt WSJ blog

House lawmakers are moving toward their first vote on whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt in a dispute over documents lawmakers have subpoenaed in the Fast and Furious botched gun probe.

California Republican Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who has helped lead the congressional investigation into Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Operation Fast and Furious, announced Monday that his committee will take up a  contempt report on June 20.

Last month, Mr. Issa’s staff produced the report, including a draft contempt resolution, which accuses the Justice Department of obstructing the congressional investigation by failing to produced subpoenaed documents. The report further alleges that the Justice Department has been slow to hold senior officials accountable, and has retaliated against whistleblowers who testified to Congress about the operation.

Mr. Issa said in a statement that “Congress has an obligation to investigate unanswered questions about attempts to smear whistleblowers, failures by Justice Department officials to be truthful and candid with the congressional investigation, and the reasons for the significant delay in acknowledging reckless conduct in Operation Fast and Furious.” Mr. Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) have spent more than a year leading the congressional probe.

If the contempt resolution wins a majority vote in the committee, it then may move to the full House for consideration. In a statement Monday, House Speaker John Boehner warned that “Either the Justice Department turns over the information requested, or Congress will have no choice but to move forward with holding the Attorney General in contempt for obstructing an ongoing investigation.”

The latest confrontation comes amid indications top House Republicans and the Justice Department are working to resolve the dispute. Mr.  Boehner and other Republican leaders  said in a May 18 letter that they hoped “a mutually acceptable resolution to this matter may yet be achieved.” The letter appeared to scale back the broader subpoena request from Mr. Issa.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole, responded to the letter, saying the Justice Department “remains committed to addressing your two key questions and to continuing to work cooperatively with you and your staffs.”

As part of the 2009-2010 operation, ATF agents allowed suspected smugglers to buy about 2,000 firearms. Some of the guns have turned up in crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S., including at a December 2010 shootout in Arizona where a U.S. border agent was killed. Mr. Holder has denounced the tactics used by the agents as “bad law enforcement,” but has said the department won’t turn over documents that could harm ongoing criminal investigations.

The department says it has turned over nearly 8,000 documents to lawmakers. Mr. Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) have spent more than a year leading the congressional probe.

Obama's DoJ: Holder refuses to answer Congressional inquiry about evidence in scuttled prosecutions of jihadist groups, CAIR, ISNA, ICNA in America's largest terrorism financing trial

The Department of Justice is engaging in collusion with the country's most dangerous and subversive jihadist groups.

And this is not just Department of Justice (DoJ) policy. It's the policy of the Obama administration.

For years Atlas and Atlas readers wanted to know why there were no indictments and prosecutions of the Muslim Brotherhood co-conspirators (CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, MAS) named in the largest terror funding trial in US history (here, for example).  Obama and Holder have scuttled them, much the same way as they dropped the voter intimidation charges against the Black Panthers (a case that was, by and large, already won).

The joke is that a number of leaders of Islamic organizations (all of whom publicly opposed the King hearings on Muslim radicalization) were about to be indicted on terror finance support charges by the U.S. attorney’s office in Dallas, which had been investigating the case for most of the past decade.

But those indictments were scuttled last year at the direction of top-level political appointees within the Department of Justice (DOJ) — and possibly even the White House.

Included in those indictments was at least one of the co-founders of CAIR, based on “Declination of Prosecution of Omar Ahmad,” a March 31 DOJ legal memo from Assistant Attorney General David Kris to Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler. A second DOJ official familiar with the investigation independently confirmed these details. Omar Ahmad is one of CAIR’s co-founders and its chairman emeritus. He was personally named, along with CAIR itself, as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror finance trial in 2007 and 2008. During the trial FBI Agent Lara Burns testified that both Omar Ahmad and current CAIR executive director Nihad Awad were caught on FBI wiretaps attending a 1993 meeting of Hamas leaders in Philadelphia.

Finally, lawmakers in Washington are pursuing justice and demanding answers from an AWOL Departmetn of Justice. Last Thursday, members of the House Judiciary Committee on oversight called on the Attorney General to provide documents and evidence relating to the landmark Holy Land Foundation trial – the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history.

This is the second request. The first was ignored, much the way Obama's DoJ ignores the rule of law.

I am still waiting on an explosive FOIA, a year and a half and counting --Nelson D. Hermilla, Chief
FOI/PA Branch, Civil Rights DivisionDoJ has been stalling and pushing back my request to an indeterminate time due to "backlog." This is why. Read the whole thing.

Eric Holder Ducks Congress’s Questions About Massive Terrorism Financing Trial The Blaze

Members of the House Judiciary Committee on oversight on Thursday called on U.S. Attorney General to provide documents and evidence relating to the landmark Holy Land Foundation trial – the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history.

The committee made a nearly identical request more than a year ago, however, the documents were never made available by Holder or his department, lawmakers say.

Following court proceedings, the Holy Land Foundation was found guilty of providing millions of dollars in funding to Hamas and other Islamic terrorist organizations in 2008. Named as “unindicted co-conspirators” in the trial were the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Both have documented ties to the radical Muslim Brotherhood…which then have ties to the Obama administration, but I digress.

Lawmakers, like Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), are again asking to see the evidence presented in that trial, a request that Holder does not seem to be in a hurry to fulfill. In an impassioned speech, the congressman challenged Holder to uphold his oath to “justice.”

“When I hear an attorney general of the United States come before us and say, somewhat cavalierly, there is a political aspect to this office, it offends me beyond belief. Your job is justice, Mr. Attorney General, Gohmert told Holder.

He went on, “When we made a request a year ago – here – for the documents that your department has produced to people who were convicted of supporting terrorism. They are terrorists, and we wanted the documents you gave to the terrorists. We are a year later, and we still don’t have them.”

As he spoke, the cameras showed Holder looking away and down at a stack of papers, seemingly refusing to make eye contact with him.

Gohmert added that it made ‘no sense“ that the United States Attorney General would be more ”considerate” to supporters of terrorism than to members of Congress.

“I am asking for the documents your department produced to the terrorist supporters convicted in the Holy Land Foundation trial. Can we get those documents?” he asked.

“Well, certainly you can have access to those things that are on the public record and that were used in the trial. I was also a judge I sat in this Washington, D.C. …” Holder began.

“So, is that a yes or a no that we will get those documents?” Gohmert said, cutting him off.

Holder again ignored the question, and never got back around to providing a firm answer stating whether he would produce the requested documents.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) also pleaded with Holder to provide Congress with the documents from the Holy Land case. Once again, the attorney general would not budge or make a firm commitment.

“On April 27, 2011, members of this committee asked you to give us information surrounding the decision by a justice to forgo prosecution of the unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case. This is the largest terrorism finance case, of course, in U.S. history. You’ve refused to comply with this request,” Franks said to Holder.

You’ve still not prosecuted despite there being what many consider to be a mountain of evidence against these jihadist groups, at least one of which now says it is working inside your agency to help advise on the purge of counter-terrorism training materials,” he continued, seemingly referring to CAIR and ISNA.

(Related: Want to Know Just How Close the Muslim Brotherhood is to the Obama Administration?)

Franks argued that evidence outlines the jihadist network within the U.S. and amounts to roughly 80 “bankers boxes” full of documents. Just like his colleague, Franks informed Holder that the defense lawyers in the Holy Land Foundation trial were given access to the evidence, therefore Congress should be given the same courtesy.

“Members of this committee and other committees would like to review this evidence, whether it has to be on a classified basis or not,” Franks said. He continued and asked that Holder give his word he would provide the documents to Congress.

“It’s hard for me to answer that question – ” Holder started.

“No it’s not. It’s not hard to answer. It’s will you or will you not,” Franks interrupted.

What was Holder’s ultimate response? He eventually replied, “I can certainly take your request and we can check to see what the nature of the evidence is and make a determination about whether it’s appropriate for that material to be reviewed. I just don’t know.”

It was later reiterated that it was seemingly appropriate for defense lawyers for convicted terrorism supporters to view the “material” but somehow not for members of United States Congress.

But Franks didn’t stop there. He also formally requested the names of the outside groups that Holder admitted were working with his department and the FBI to remove certain information from counter-terrorism training material. While Franks called it “purging,” Holder argued it was just the process of removing inaccurate information.

“It’s been reported that multiple agencies including the FBI are now purging counter-terrorism material of information outside groups might fight offensive, including discussion of things as fundamental as that quote, ‘al Qaeda is a group that endorses violent ideology that should be examined,’unquote,” he said to Holder. “This strikes many as the sacrificing of vital national security… on the alter of political correctness.”

Holder again confirmed later in the conversation that “outsiders” were coordinating with the federal government in the process of redrafting counter-terrorism training materials, but that the measure was only to remove information was was determined to be “simply not true,” and not motivated by political correctness.

Franks then requested that Holder reveal who the outside groups were – Holder named none of them. This is the answer he got:

“This is something that is being run primarily out of the FBI. I mean, to the extent that there are outsiders who are involved that we are trying to interact with – we could perhaps try to get you those names,” said Holder.

A few moments later, Franks told Holder point-blank that there was a specific jihadist group that claimed they were helping with the purging process – he declined to name that group.

“I don‘t think that’s accurate, but I will relay that request to the FBI, Holder replied.

The Dallas Morning News provides more background on the Holy Land Foundation trial:

 

Department of Justice Expected to Cut Ties with Hamas-CAIR

All government agencies should sever ties with unindicted co-conspirator Hamas-CAIR. Their terror ties are well documented. The subversive group's head beekeeper, Ibrahim Hooper, is trotting out the Muslim victimhood myth, jihadophobia and the rest of the manufactured distractions designed to shift blame onto the very lawmakers protecting the American people.

We need a vigorous campaign to purge Muslim Brotherhood groups from the centers of power of all three branches of the US government. But Brotherhood infiltration is particularly bad at the Department of Justice, which has, in effect, become the defacto legal arm of Muslim Brotherhood groups like CAIR in America. If you missed my expose on how the DOJ kowtows to the Muslim Brotherhood, read this. I received hundreds of documents in response to my FOIA request, which I filed well over to a year ago. Specifically, I asked for "records relating to the meeting of the 'Monthly Outreach Meeting' with Muslim and Arab groups at the Civil Rights Division. Specifically, include lists of attendees at each monthly meeting, the agenda of each meeting including the meetings at which the Attorney General of the United States attended.

The principal impact of reading through the material was the sheer bulk of it. Hundreds and hundreds of pages of emails, documenting nearly daily and friendly contact, consultation, cooperation and collaboration between the DOJ and Hamas-linked Muslim Brotherhood groups. One thing is clear, the Muslim Brotherhood has fully infiltrated command and control at the Department of Justice civil rights division.

Accountability is long overdue.

DOJ Expected to Formalize Policy on Contacts with Muslim Advocacy Group Main Justice May 16, 2012

The Justice Department is expected to formalize a policy governing its relationship with the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations, a House aide says — a move the FBI took in 2009.

The House passed a Commerce, Justice and science appropriations bill for fiscal year 2013 on Wednesday, with an accompanying committee report that encourages Attorney General Eric Holder to follow the FBI and formally ban official contacts with the Muslim advocacy group.

“The Committee understands that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has an existing policy prohibiting its employees from engaging in any formal non-investigative cooperation with CAIR,” the report states. “The Committee encourages the Attorney General to adopt a similar policy for all Department officials.”

Daniel Scandling, a spokesman for Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), who chairs the appropriations subcommittee, told Main Justice: “The expectation is that they’ll follow” the recommendation.

In a 2008 federal trial in Texas, members of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, an Islamic charity, were convicted of supporting Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorism group.

Evidence at trial revealed that CAIR was formed by members of a U.S.-based support network for the militant Palestinian group, which conducted a campaign of suicide bombings against Israel in the 1990s. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

The U.S.-based founders of CAIR also were part of a wider network based in the Washington, D.C., suburbs before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that maintained ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and later, through the Dar al Hijrah mosque in Virginia, where Anwar al-Awlaki once preached, al Qaeda off shoots. Among the Islamist leaders circulating in that ’90s milieu was Mousa Abu Marzook, now Hamas’s No. 2 leader.

After the 9/11 attacks, when knowledge of Islamist networks in the U.S. was still developing, Bush administration officials frequently met with CAIR and other Muslim advocacy groups with questionable ties, sparking controversy. Wolf was a critic of such contacts during the Bush administration as well.

In a February House Appropriations Committee hearing, Holder said he was unsure whether a formal policy existed today governing Department of Justice contacts with CAIR, but he confirmed that he has refused to go to meetings where CAIR members were slated to attend.

“I myself, I have refused to go to particular meetings knowing that CAIR was going to be there,” Holder said.

CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper suggested anti-Muslim bias motivates some lawmakers.

“It’s unfortunate that some members of Congress abuse their positions to carry out personal vendettas against religious minorities,” he told Main Justice.

Hooper said CAIR works with the FBI and Justice Department “on a daily basis on a number of civil rights issues.” He said law enforcement outreach to the Muslim community is hampered when lawmakers “pander to Islamophobes in this way.”

During the February hearing, Wolf asked Holder to later provide to the committee the department’s policy for U.S. Attorneys attending meetings with members of CAIR. The department responded, saying it does not maintain any formal policy.

“The Department of Justice has no formal policy governing the engagement of the United States Attorneys’ Offices with CAIR representatives or members,” the department wrote the committee. “The U.S. Attorney community, however, is well aware of the FBI’s policy regarding its own interaction with CAIR and, as a result, before engaging with CAIR, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices usually consult with their respective FBI districts.”

A Justice Department spokesman wrote in an email that he could not comment on the committee’s request for a formal policy. He did say in the email that “the Department understands that there are times when people who have some affiliation with CAIR may be present at community meetings and other events across the country that include DOJ officials.”

He continued: “As law enforcement officials, we engage with a range of community groups, but we always do what is necessary to preserve the integrity of our investigations and our cases to ensure public safety and our national security.”

House report urges Justice Dept. to cut ties with Hamas-CAIR

We need a vigorous campaign to purge Muslim Brotherhood groups from the centers of power of all three branches of the US government. But Brotherhood infiltration is particularly bad at the Department of Justice, which has, in effect, become the defacto legal arm of Muslim Brotherhood groups like CAIR in America.

If you missed my expose on how the DOJ kowtows to the Muslim Brotherhood, read this. I received hundreds of documents in response to my FOIA request, which I filed well over to a year ago. Specifically, I asked for "records relating to the meeting of the 'Monthly Outreach Meeting' with Muslim and Arab groups at the Civil Rights Division. Specifically, include lists of attendees at each monthly meeting, the agenda of each meeting and any minutes or summary prepared subsequent to each meeting. Please also specifically note the meetings at which the Attorney General of the United States attended."

The principal impact of reading through the material was the sheer bulk of it. Hundreds and hundreds of pages of emails, documenting nearly daily and friendly contact, consultation, cooperation and collaboration between the DOJ and Hamas-linked Muslim Brotherhood groups. One thing is clear, the Muslim Brotherhood has fully infiltrated command and control at the Department of Justice civil rights division.

In a rational society, these Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups would be marginalized. Instead, the DOJ is playing stepin fetchit for them. They're using the DOJ as their legal arm.

House report urges Justice Dept. to cut ties with CAIR Daily Caller

The Department of Justice is being encouraged to follow in the footsteps of the FBI in cutting off all non-investigative ties to the country’s largest Muslim advocacy organization, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

The Fiscal Year 2013 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill, which passed the House on Wednesday, contains in its Committee Report (a separate public document that spells out how agencies are expected to spend the money allocated to them) a recommendation that Attorney General Eric Holder follow in the FBI’s footsteps and sever ties with CAIR:

Liaison partnerships.—The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in a case in which the Holy Land Foundation was found guilty of material support of a terrorist organization. The committee acknowledges the attorney general’s refusal to attend certain meetings knowing that CAIR officials would be present, as indicated in testimony before the committee on February 28, 2012. The committee understands that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has an existing policy prohibiting its employees from engaging in any formal non-investigative cooperation with CAIR. The committee encourages the attorney general to adopt a similar policy for all department officials.

In January 2009, the FBI ended its relationship with CAIR and its affiliates across the country due to the conviction of those involved in the Holy Land Foundation terrorist funding trial, in which CAIR was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Virginia Republican Rep. Frank Wolf, the bill’s sponsor, explained to The Daily Caller that with the FBI’s policy already in place it makes sense for DOJ to follow suit.

“The FBI has that policy now, and I think it’s a good policy — they were an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case. We also commend the attorney general for not meeting with them,” Wolf said. “We think it ought to be a policy. If the FBI has that policy, I think the entire Justice Department should have it.”

The DOJ declined to comment about the recommendation, though Wolf explained that they will likely apply the policy. (RELATED: Full coverage of the Justice Department)

“I expect they will comply [with the recommendation],” Wolf said. “I’d be surprised if they didn’t comply.”