Tag: The United States

Rage and puzzlement over Muslim woman in hijab chosen for Swedish municipality’s welcome sign

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A Swedish municipality is facing backlash after selecting a local Muslim woman wearing a headscarf to be the ‘poster girl’ for its roadside ‘welcome’ sign. Her past ties to a controversial local imam were also discovered.

The municipality said it was a gesture celebrating the diversity of its community, which counts over 100,000 people of various origins and cultures. But some saw it as a signal of support for suppressing women’s freedoms.

“One should think what this is signaling. Some indeed use this garment, the hijab, voluntarily. But not everyone. This a garment that for millions of women around the world represents a lack of freedom,” said Sweden Democrats MP Roger Hedlund, a member of the municipality council, as quoted by the news website Nyheter Idag.

The Sweden Democrats party has an anti-immigration platform and currently holds 62 seats in the 349-seat Swedish parliament. Samhallsnytt, an online publication reportedly close to the party, was quick to dig Hindi’s past ties to a controversial local imam, who was accused of preaching radical ideas and collecting money for terrorists in Iraq and Syria.

Indeed, in 2009 the woman, who called herself Nizam Hindi at the time, was featured in a story by the left-leaning tabloid Arbetarbladet about the opening of a mosque in Gavle. She explained how having their own prayer house was good for the Swedish municipality’s Muslim community, how aid from Saudi Arabia and Qatar helped to buy and furnish the building, and how listening to the imam is important during the prayer.

The Al-rashideen mosque and its imam, Abu Raad, were involved in a scandal a few years ago, after the leading local newspaper Gefle Dagblad accused him of spreading radical Salafist ideas and collecting money for terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.

The editor-in-chef received death threats over the criticism. The man who issued the threats was sentenced to two months in jail.

It was not immediately clear whether Hindi is still associated with the mosque.

Gavle itself was the scene of a national scandal in Sweden two years ago, when six people were tried for the abduction and murder of 23-year-old Afghan man Ramin Sherzaj over an extramarital affair. Five received life sentences for the crime, while one got a 14-year jail term.

The woman involved in the affair, who was a relative of the defendants, left her husband for a brief relationship with Sherzaj. It apparently ended badly, since the man then sent photos of him kissing the woman to her husband’s family members. This led to them banding together to carry out the honor killing.

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MSNBC ANALYST: ‘ANTI-AMERICAN’ TO DENY U.S. RE-ENTRY TO ISIS TERRORIST

MSNBC Analyst: ‘Anti-American’ to Deny U.S. Re-Entry to ISIS Terrorist

“If she’s willing to come back and face whatever consequences she faces for being a part of a terrorist organization that’s declared war on the United States, that’s perfectly fine.”

Newsbusters – FEBRUARY 23, 2019

Appearing on MSNBC Live With Stephanie Ruhle Friday morning, analyst Jason Johnson, Politics Editor for The Root, blasted the Trump administration for refusing to allow ISIS terrorist Hoda Muthana from returning to the U.S. after she left to join the violent death cult. The left-wing contributor even argued it was “anti-American” to deny her re-entry to the nation she declared war against.

After a clip ran of an exclusive NBC News interview with Muthana, Ruhle turned to her panel of guests for reaction. Real Clear Politics Associate Editor A.B. Stoddard agreed with the Trump administration: “This country is a gift and I think she’s relinquished her privilege and I’m kind of in agreement with the President that she, you know, may not be allowed – shouldn’t be allowed to come back here.”

https://www.infowars.com/msnbc-analyst-anti-american-to-deny-u-s-re-entry-to-isis-terrorist/

Moments later, Johnson chimed in to complain: “There are white domestic terrorists who get radicalized online all the time in America who are out shooting people, threatening to kill people….And we’re not deporting them. They’re allowed to be here.” He argued that Muthana was “an American citizen” and that any attempt to block her return was somehow antithetical to American values:

If she’s willing to come back and face whatever consequences she faces for being a part of a terrorist organization that’s declared war on the United States, that’s perfectly fine. But this idea that this administration has been promoting that we can pick and choose who citizens are and determine citizenship based on if we like somebody and their ideology is anti-American. She is still an American citizen, she should be allowed to come back.

Even Philippe Reines, a former State Department official under Hillary Clinton, was wary of allowing Muthana back in country:

So, yes, if she wants to come back, I think she should be allowed to come back. I would feel a hell of a lot better if she were facing charges before she came back….she should know that she is facing X charges in X jurisdiction, X felony for X amount of years….But it can’t be this vacuum of everyone gets to come back no matter what they do to our country.

Johnson defended his argument by seeming to downplay her involvement with ISIS: “And just being a part of ISIS, we need to determine exactly – we’ve had people flee and join ISIS. Before you had somebody do that a couple years ago. We need to – ”

Ruhle interrupted him: “Let’s not give ISIS excuses, okay?”

Johnson insisted:

I’m not giving ISIS excuses. What I’m saying is, people have left and joined these kinds of terrorist organizations before….And just because she was a part of ISIS, I would like to know, similar to you, look, “Did you help in any bombing? Did you help in any planning? Did you give people information about America?” Because that determines what kind of punishment you should receive.

He reiterated: “But again, she’s an American citizen. And if there’s anybody that should punish her, it should be us back here because she’s an American citizen.”

The U.S. State Department has adamantly refuted that assertion. “Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States. She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Wednesday.

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YOUTUBE DEMONITIZES ANTI-VAX CHANNELS AFTER BUZZFEED CONTACTS ADVERTISERS

YouTube Demonitizes Anti-Vax Channels After BuzzFeed Contacts Advertisers

BuzzFeed’s journalistic activism is reminiscent of CNN – which hounded advertisers to ‘unperson’ InfoWars founder Alex Jones last year

Zero Hedge – FEBRUARY 23, 2019

YouTube on Friday demonetized channels which promote anti-vax content, after BuzzFeed notified a spate of advertisers that their ads were being run alongside anti-vax videos, reports BuzzFeed. YouTube said that such videos fall under its policy prohibiting videos with “dangerous and harmful” content to be monetized. 

“We have strict policies that govern what videos we allow ads to appear on, and videos that promote anti-vaccination content are a violation of those policies. We enforce these policies vigorously, and if we find a video that violates them, we immediately take action and remove ads,” reads an emailed statement from YouTube to BuzzFeed.

Seven different advertisers said they weren’t aware their ads were appearing on videos like “Mom Researches Vaccines, Discovers Vaccination Horrors and Goes Vaccine Free,” which advocates against vaccinating children, and reached out to YouTube to pull the programmatic placements.

Their ads appeared on videos from channels including VAXXED TV, LarryCook333 (a proponent of StopMandatoryVaccinations.com), and iHealthTube, all of which YouTube has since demonetized, or prevented from running ads. –BuzzFeed

One health tech company, Nomad Health, told BuzzFeed News that it “does not support the anti-vaccination movement,” and was “not aware of our ads running alongside anti-vaccination videos.” The company said it would “take action to prevent it from happening in the future.”

Another such advertiser – discount vitamin company Vitacost, said it pulled all of its advertising on Tuesday after a blogger made a viral video highlighting a “soft-core pedo ring” operating on the platform.

“We pulled all YouTube advertising on Tuesday morning when we noticed content issues. We had strict rules to prevent our ads from serving on sensitive content and they were not effective as promised,” said a VitaCost spokesperson via email, who added. “We will continue to remain off of the platform until those changes are made and are proven to be effective by other advertisers.”

The advertisers contacted by BuzzFeed said they were unaware that their algorithmically dictated “programmic ads” were appearing alongside anti-vax videos.

“When we purchase programmatic media, we specify parameters that restrict the placement of our ads from association with certain content. Even so, however, sometimes ads get served in places that we don’t approve of. This is one of those cases,” said a Retail Me Not spokesperson. “We’re working to exclude this placement now.”

A spokesman for software company Grammarly said the company also took immediate action.

“Upon learning of this, we immediately contacted YouTube to pull our ads from appearing not only on this channel but also to ensure related content that promulgates conspiracy theories is completely excluded,” they said, adding “We have stringent exclusion filters in place with YouTube that we believed would exclude such channels. We’ve asked YouTube to ensure this does not happen again.”

Grammarly was one of several companies which asked YouTube to pull its ads from sexually suggestive children’s videos. AT&T, Hasbro, Kellogg, Epic Games and Nestle were among the other brands who did the same.

“Any content – including comments – that endangers minors is abhorrent, and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube. We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities, and disabling comments on tens of millions of videos that include minors,” YouTube said in a Thursday statement to USA Today. “There’s more to be done, and we continue to work to improve and catch abuse more quickly.”

According to BuzzFeed, “Other companies that asked YouTube to stop their ads from appearing alongside anti-vax content include:

  • Brilliant Earth, a jewelry company, which said it has “made internal adjustments to our ad settings and will also follow up with our advertising partners to prevent our ads from appearing next to this content.”
  • CWCBExpo, a marijuana trade show, which said it would be “implementing strict guidelines on content placement and is eliminating hundreds of YouTube channels/videos and negative keywords.”
  • XTIVIA, which said it was “reviewing the ad placement,” which was “not [its] requested target.”
  • SolarWinds, a software company, which said the placement was unintentional and that it had “adjusted [its] filters to further refine the targeting of our ads on YouTube to better align with our targeted audience, MSPs and technology professionals.”

YouTube responded earlier this week to another controversy after Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) demanded that Facebook and YouTube parent company Google address anti-vax information on their platforms.

BuzzFeed‘s journalistic activism is reminiscent of CNN – which hounded advertisersto ‘unperson’ InfoWars founder Alex Jones last year. The result? “Many of the brands — including Nike, Moen, Expedia, Acer, ClassPass, Honey, Alibaba and OneFamily — have suspended ads on InfoWars’ channels after being contacted by CNN for comment.”

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CNN’s Symone Sanders in Denial over Jussie: ‘Very Concerning’ Police Leaked Smollett Was ‘Staunchly Believable’

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By Tony Lee

CNN commentator Symone Sanders insisted on Thursday that things are still not adding up in the Jussie Smollett case, saying that his story was “staunchly believable” as of two days ago.

She said it is “very concerning” that the leaks all came from the Chicago Police Department and insisted that Smollett’s claim that he was attacked by two President Donald Trump supporters in near sub-zero temperatures in Chicago who were yelling “this is MAGA country” and hurling racial and homophobic slurs was “staunchly believable” as of two days days ago.

On February 19, when Sanders said she thought Smollett’s story was still “staunchly believable,” news reports had already surfaced that indicated that Smollett had paid two Nigerian-American brothers to orchestrate the attack after the the hate letter that he allegedly mailed to himself on the Empire set did not get enough attention. Celebrities such as Snoop Dogg and Dave Chappelle had already mocked Smollett for his alleged hoax while Cardi B had declared that Smollett “f*cked up Black History Month.”
“I have spoken with Jussie Smollett’s team. I’ve heard Jussie tell his account in his own words. And I want to tell  you… When I had this conversation about two days ago, I believed him,” she insisted. “It was staunchly believable.”

Sanders said she only changed her mind when the video of the two Nigerian-American brothers buying ski masks and a red cap surfaced. Smollett reportedly paid the brothers $3,500 to stage the attack and gave them an additional $100 to buy supplies.

“When the video came out today of the two gentlemen buying what I’ve referred to as a hate crime starter pack, I, like everyone else, had questions,” Sanders said. “At this point, my thoughts are…. we need to see some of the evidence… I think it’s very concerning that all of these leaks came from the Chicago Police Department… So frankly all we have is leaks from the Chicago Police Department… now what they’ve said at this press conference and what Jussie Smollett and his team have said.”

Sanders insisted that “things do not add up here” and “this just doesn’t seem right” because, in reference to the $3,500 that Smollett reportedly paid to the brothers to stage the attack, “$3,500 won’t even buy a round-trip ticket to Nigeria.”

“So I, like many people in America, are confused… even though I’ve heard, I’ve seen what the police department’s said,” she said. “So at the very least I think we should see the police report.”

Sanders said Smollett has lost in the court of public opinion, adding that “this is not a good day for Jussie Smollet” and “frankly it’s a terrible day for folks who have not come forward who have experienced hate crimes and who now are maybe hesitant to come forward if something does actually happen to them because of this.”

“So it’s just not a good day,” Sanders said. “It’s still a terrible Black History Month.”

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HILARIOUS! CHARLES BARKLEY SAVAGELY MOCKS JUSSIE SMOLLETT, TRIGGERS ESQUIRE

Hilarious! Charles Barkley Savagely Mocks Jussie Smollett, Triggers Esquire

Esquire Magazine ratioed on Twitter after calling Barkley’s rant ‘bizarre’

 | Infowars.com – FEBRUARY 22, 2019

NBA legend Charles Barkley, who is known for refusing to bow to political correctness, went off on Jussie Smollett for hoaxing a hate crime during a Thursday night segment on TNT.

“America, let me just tell you something. Do not commit crimes with checks. If you’re going to break the law, do not write a check,” Barkley said, mocking Smollett for leaving a paper trail.

Barkley also poked fun at Hollywood actor Liam Neeson who recently admitted an urge to kill a “black bastard” after learning his friend was raped by an African American.

“Jussie, you wasted all that damn time and money. You know what you should have did? Just went up to Liam Neeson’s neighborhood. That would have solved all your damn problems,” chuckled Barkley.

Barkley’s co-host Shaquille O’Neil couldn’t stop laughing during the segment as Barkley relentlessly slammed Smollett’s poorly planned hoax.

Esquire Magazine called the rant “bizarre” and said the Liam Neeson joke was “turrible,” a shot at Barkley’s pronunciation of the word.

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“In a word, it’s brutal. In a few more? It’s random, weird, and will make you uncomfortable,” Esquire wrote.

When Esquire posted the article to their Twitter account, the post was ratioed by users who slammed the fashion magazine.

Check out a sample of reactions from Twitter users below:

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MSNBC Guest Suggests Trump-Loving Cops Entrapped Jussie Smollett

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson speaks during a press conference at Chicago police headquarters about the arrest of “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett on February 21, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois.

“Chicago has a deep history of openly lying to citizens.”

By PAUL BOIS

With all the mounting evidence indicating that “Empire” star Jussie Smollett staged a “hate crime” hoax allegedly to negotiate a better salary, some of the actor’s defenders have now moved into the realm of the perfect conspiracy: Law enforcement has framed Jussie Smollett.

Over at MSNBC, Zach Stafford, Editor-in-Chief for the LGBTQ magazine The Advocate, went so far as to accuse Trump-loving cops in the Chicago P.D. of rigging the investigation in order to deal maximum damage to the disgraced actor.

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According to Stafford, the Chicago P.D. intentionally leaked information pertaining to the investigation in order to destroy Smollett, alleging that the police called “it a racist and homophobic attack” even though it initially understood Smollett to be lying. Stafford claims this was all just a part of a broader setup.

“Personally, it was incredibly shocking on day one to see the police department call it a racist and homophobic attack. Their first statement — they exclusively said that, said they’re investigating it as a victim case,” Stafford said, according to Fox News. “As someone that has been investigating these for years in Chicago, that was really unprecedented before.”

Stafford went on to say that the Chicago P.D. essentially played into the victim narrative against Smollett in order to spring a trap on him.

“And a lot of the time people in the background were worried they were leaning into this victim part of the story because they didn’t believe him and they wanted to use it against him at the end when they were able to prove that he was lying,” Stafford continued.

The LGBTQ magazine editor went on to throw dirt at the Chicago P.D.’s past record of leaking information, saying they have a history of lying to the population.

“The police were openly confirming and not confirming certain reports and not doing it to other parts of the story, and so, due to the vocal nature in this case, it was really peculiar,” Stafford said. “Chicago has a deep history of openly lying to citizens. This police department did in 2016, openly through their union, support Donald Trump.”

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