[ May 13, 2024 ]
The U.S. Justice Department under President Donald Trump has been engaged in some hefty battles in recent months to help Muslims fight local zoning ordinances and build their mosques and places of worship.
That would be expected under the previous administration. But now?
Apparently, the Justice Department is still filled with enough Obama hold-overs that the same type of activism is continuing.
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The American Spectator has the story:
Justice Department activism on behalf of mosques and Muslims has been ramping up for years. Under President Obama, ideological activists inside the Department leveraged federal power to help mosques fight local zoning boards. Under President Trump, there are disturbing signs that the activist lawyers pushing these polices are yet to be reined in.
A federal judge recently dismissed a Trump Justice Department discrimination case, United States v. County of Culpeper, originally brought by the Obama Justice Department. In settlement proceedings, the mosque accepted expense money and a “pump and haul” permit to conduct sewage disposal. But this was not enough for Justice Department lawyers and they ramped up investigations of Virginia county officials and local citizens.
The Trump Justice Department lawyers sought to shake down Christian pastors and regular citizens by serving subpoenas on them. The subpoenas forced them to give depositions to DOJ lawyers under oath about their views on Islam. These summons allowed just over a week to produce “any documents that mention, concern, record, or otherwise relate to Islam.”
The lawyers on the subpoena documents are listed as Onjil McEachin and Sameena Shina Majeed.
The Civil Rights Division was so intent upon predicting that Culpeper County government would stray from the DOJ way in the future that it was also suing, in spite of attorney client protections, to open the county attorney’s files.
After the efforts to force Christian pastors to testify received wide attention, United States District Court Judge Norman Moon, a Clinton appointee, dismissed the case. But the fact that the Justice Department continued to pursue the testimony of citizens and pastors about their views on Islam reveals a dangerous problem that persists inside the Deep State even with Attorney General Jeff Sessions heading the DOJ.
This case was not a glitch in DOJ’s enforcement, it was a feature.
Why was the Justice Department so obsessed that it refused to drop the lawsuit, even after the mosque had settled its case with the county? DOJ lawyers answered that they had a higher duty than just ensuring compliance. The ideological lawyers on the case were on a mission to press “broader claims.”
The radical lawyers working on the case sought to take any politically incorrect views on Islam and attach them to the county government. This departs wildly from the law. Worse, this approach allows activist DOJ lawyers to ferret out ideas with which they disagree using the power of the government to inflict hardship on third parties.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has been meddling in mosque land use cases for years to the great disadvantage of local planning commissions.
The DOJ pushed a Muslim-favored agenda during the Obama years as it engaged in an affirmative action like program. Outreach to Muslim groups, with no vetting for Muslim Brotherhood ties, gave Muslim activists a sense of entitlement.
Justice’s Civil Rights Division lawyers, under the guidance of the Special Counsel for Religious Discrimination Eric Treene, have long worked to link community complaints about Muslims and mosque applications to municipal officials. Government lawyers borrowed from racial and civil rights legal theories to argue that a negative response to a mosque application must be based in discrimination. Indeed, the Justice Department has characterized even relevant inquiries about the size of the facility, traffic, and parking as veiled bigotry.
When DOJ tips the scales in favor of mosque applications, the underlying zoning concerns become secondary. The settlement is the goal and negotiation is the means to reach the goal; not the expected regulatory proceeding that invites community input. Zoning authorities that would limit parking, traffic, hours of operation, scope of operations, and that would assess suitability of the use to the zone are pushed to the sidelines. The final agreement is presented to the community as a “done deal.”
In an escalation of Justice Department overreach, the “deal” done with a Basking Ridge, New Jersey township included a broad city code revision to allow religious use with streamlined standards virtually anywhere in the town. In Sterling Heights, Michigan, the settlement agreement only required parking spaces for a small percentage of a 28,000 square foot building. Dire traffic conditions were not recognized even though the road on which the mosque would be sited is already rated as one of the most dangerous in the city.
The pages of settlement instructions devoted to discrimination remedies and compliance demands illustrate the high priority assigned by DOJ to its social justice agenda. The attention devoted to local resident concerns and important zoning prerogatives pales in comparison.
The Justice Department mandates a laundry list of “we don’t discriminate” signs, internet disclosures, disclaimers, and staff legal training.
The Justice Department has even required that municipalities collect data on area residents that complain about the activities or the congregants at the mosque.
It is not surprising then that settlements have also dictated, in a clear violation of the First Amendment, what words local residents may not use when discussing the settlement terms at community meetings.
The federal religious land use statute, RLUIPA, requires that religious assemblies are treated equally with secular applicants and that religious institutions are not discriminated against. This is all meant to give religious land uses equal footing. But the statute explicitly says that local officials are not required to “adopt a federally prescribed zoning scheme.” The Justice Department needs to read the memo.
The full array of DOJ coercion tactics tells any community that the Justice Department Civil Rights Division will stop at nothing to impose its own social justice agenda. Every example tells citizens and town halls alike that mosque approvals will be done the DOJ’s way and citizen speakers will mind the federally dictated speech code.
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52 Comments
6 years ago
which one better ….building mosques …or …casinos ????
6 years ago
Reply to
Mrs. Ramsay
casinos and gay clubs are perfect investment ……..
they contribute to Trump’s wealth for sure …
6 years ago
Reply to
Thomas Faddis
yep …thats the perfect places for me to market my new product : GayProLube ..
you can also order it soon in Amazon/ebay
This new product will bring more happiness to western gay life …
6 years ago
Reply to
SemurJengkolMaknyus
The Indonesian muslum monkey seems to have a few latency issues, he can’t stop writing about homosexuality!
6 years ago
Reply to
SemurJengkolMaknyus
What about Bacha Bazi boy dance clubs Semen? Don’t those make you stand at, um, attention?
6 years ago
Reply to
SemurJengkolMaknyus
In mosques you know your have lost everything, right down to and including your soul.
6 years ago
If President Trump isn’t aware of this. Hopefully, he’ll read this article and act accordingly.
America is a Christian Nation. We have more than enough mosques.
If a city states the mosque isn’t up to code. It shouldn’t be built. Period.
6 years ago
Reply to
Brother Ashanti
He won’t get to read this till everyone take the time to tweet /email and demand DOJ stop subverting rights of non-muslim americans legitimate objections to mosques in non-muslim areas due to zoning and religious threats by muslims and loud calls to prayers 5 times a day .
These jihadi “refugees” are so vicious and hate filled that they don’t even spare Christian Aid worker who help settle them in http://bit.ly/2rr9tGh
And of course Obama and his Left/liberal Pro-Islam Goons prevented this from leaking out to media because it would have woken up at least some of the American voters and affected the pro-islam scumbags from getting elected.
6 years ago
Reply to
Brother Ashanti
it’s better not to provoke muslims. sweden has accepted all muslim’s demands and there has not been terror attacks. well, a truck ran over people, but that was because the muslim was denied asylum, a mistake the swedish government will not commit again. also Trump has hotels in muslim countries, so better for him to be muslim friendly
6 years ago
Reply to
Trump can't ban islam
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6 years ago
Reply to
Trump can't ban islam
Well no of course that means it’s vital to push back early and hard, while you can still win the battle. Must be willing to provoke them if that’s what it takes. Don’t give in.
And I am not under any sort of court order preventing me from saying it.
6 years ago
Reply to
Trump can't ban islam
Well, my goodness, didn’t you hear about the billions in dollars of arms, that Trump gave to a mostly muslim country of Bahrain, and the medal and expensive gifts, he received from another muslim country of Saudi Arabia? No? Well surely then, you’ve heard about our young children in all schools across America having to learn anything and everything about Islam……and don’t forget how muslim loving Trump is, when we still have almost 50 muslim training camps in this country…
Ahh, isn’t it great, to see how he’s making America Great Again?? sarc/off
6 years ago
Reply to
Brother Ashanti
founders were Deists: meaning all religions. non denominational in all sects and creeds and religions. IMO
6 years ago
Reply to
Brother Ashanti
Uuummmm…Trump is too busy right now….he’s giving billions of dollars of arms to the mostly muslim country of Bahrain, while receiving a medal, and expensive gifts from another muslim country of Saudi Arabia. And with all that, he’s ignored schools across America teaching our young kids, everything that they need to know about islam:
Pro-Islam Indoctrination in Public Schools?
https://clarionproject.org/pro-islam-indoctrination-public-schools/
And as we still have almost 50 muslim training camps in this country, I guess he doesn’t have time to take care of those either. And I’m sure he doesn’t mind muslims taking over high position in our state governments either:
First Somali-American State Lawmaker Says US Is Welcoming, Despite Islamophobia
(Yeah, VOA, Voice of America, is pro islam, pro muslim…sad to say.)
You do remember the story of another Somali American cop shooting a woman dead, who just walked up to the cop car, to talk about the noises in her neighborhood, that she called them about? I have that article too.
Anyway, forget the Justice Dept, we have wonderful news from the State Dept…..Wonder where Trump was, when THIS was going on?
Tillerson’s State Department hosts CAIR, radical Islamic groups
But wait, there’s more! We have to take in those Rohingyas muslims into our country now, since their getting hunted down, and murdered, right?
Tensions Follow Rohingya Refugees to United States
https://www.voanews.com/a/tensions-follow-rohingya-refugees-to-united-states/4059082.html
Wait, wait….what’s this?? Oh dear, too late, we have them already here in the good ole USA!
Rohingyas threat to national security, they have link with Jihad: Hindu leader
http://b1ff5939f6.nxcli.net/2017/10/rohingyas-jihad-hindu.html/
But about the mosques:
U.S. Town Bans Residents From Criticizing Mosque
Court: Residents Can’t Mention “Islam” or “Muslim” At Public Hearing on Mosque Construction; Thomas More Law Center Files Federal Lawsuit
Pamela also reported on, so here’s the same article, from her site:
http://b1ff5939f6.nxcli.net/2017/08/sharia-michigan-court-blasphemy-ruling.html/
But what is Trump doing about all the mosques in America? Surely he can’t be supporting this? Can he?
New Hampshire mosque preaches jihad terror, necessity for Islam to conquer the world
Good ole Trump….isn’t he making America Great Again?
6 years ago
NJ is crawling with mosques and this article is RIGHT.
It is a shake down. ANY resistance, even when zoning laws have long been in place BEFORE there were mosques are IGNORED. It is viewed as discrimination and when objected to, ruled AGAINST them and BIAS restitution for MILLIONS are imposed on the community. The mosques are PAID FOR by the PUNISHMENT FINES and it is in the MILLIONS of dollars! This has to stop! WHERE IS JEFF SESSIONS????????
6 years ago
Reply to
felix1999
And then they call it the “rule of law” and demand compliance. You get a million little Khizr Khan ‘s.
6 years ago
WHERE IS JEFF SESSIONS?
6 years ago
Reply to
santashandler
Your mistaken Jeff for Tillerson!
Tillerson’s State Department hosts CAIR, radical Islamic groups
6 years ago
Why is it that only muslims, democrats and democrats have the money to fight every decision that opposes them? Are Christians and Republicans really that impoverished?
D
6 years ago
Reply to
Mahou Shoujo
All the foundations set up by rich Christians and Republicans end up getting hijacked by the left.
6 years ago
Reply to
Mahou Shoujo
Soros, Bloomberg, Clinton’s, Hollywood, NFL and on, and on. Hard to compete with them, money wise that is, we need to speak out continually, that’s why these lib/progressive commies want to take away the first and second amendments. Like Obama said, our constitution got in his way. And that he wanted to “fundamentally” change our country, and what is our foundation? The Constitution.
6 years ago
Not surprised. Sessions is refusing to bring charges/prosecute against Killary or Lerner, including the emails. This would be in line with him being part of the ‘deep state’.
6 years ago
Reply to
NotTheMama
Sadly I have to agree with you. He sounded so good before he was appointed to this position but he has turned out to be a complete weasel.
6 years ago
Where’s the US “Justice” Dept. on the murder of an unarmed, innocent of any crime, Australian woman gunned down by a f’ing muslum “police officer” in Minneapolistan? Weren’t her civil rights violated when the muslum gunned her down?
6 years ago
Reply to
IzlamIsTyranny
Just in case, someone doesn’t know about that subject you speak of, or hasn’t seen that article, here it is:
(The one that shot and killed the woman was a Somali-American)
With body cameras off, Minneapolis Muslim police officer SHOT pajama-clad woman “MULTIPLE TIMES” and had 3 COMPLAINTS against him
http://b1ff5939f6.nxcli.net/2017/07/muslim-cop-shot-woman-multiple-times.html/
While another Somali-American, is a state lawmaker:
First Somali-American State Lawmaker Says US Is Welcoming, Despite Islamophobia
Aren’t our muslim refugees just soooo wonderful to have in this country?? sarc/off
6 years ago
I would’ve said Sessions should’ve cleaned house months ago, even if it meant a huge backlog of cases.
But seeing how ineffectual he’s been this year, it’ll never happen.
6 years ago
Not only will MI become a ‘sanctuary state’ if it hasn’t already but, places like Sterling Heights and Culpeper County, will become ‘no-go’ zones. Just like Sweden and France. Why is no one up in arms about this.
6 years ago
Reply to
santashandler
They may already be no go zones. Two years ago I had occasion to go to Dearborn and it was really creepy to be the only woman walking on the street not wearing a goblin suit and getting stared at by the ones in the goblin suits.
6 years ago
Reply to
santashandler
You have heard that California is now a sanctuary state? The first….
6 years ago
Again, Mosques are your TOMBSTONES.
They are Moslem’s military depot, training center and during WAR (like right now and always) their COMMAND CENTERS.
6 years ago
The USA was a Christian nation; now it is filled with atheists, pacifists, cowards, welfare queens and muslims, all bent on subjugating and destroying Christianity, the nation as a whole and the nation’s leadership of morality in the world.
6 years ago
Reply to
Sunshine Kid
Well, satan is still…alive and well!
Don’t you agree that satan will need a lot of “people” to “take care of”, the people who WILL NOT take the mark?
And what is the punishment, for taking the mark? One word, that is in the koran, and also in Rev 20:4.
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were BEHEADED for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark in their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Now you know why satan immigrated/activated thousands upon thousands to come to all these non muslim countries. And when their taking over high positions in all governments, you’ll know why. This is just the beginning of the end…..
First Somali-American State Lawmaker Says US Is Welcoming, Despite Islamophobia
6 years ago
I always wondered if Obama had another motive for bailing out auto industry. Jobs for mooslimes?
6 years ago
Trump is a player.. a ring master .. who exhists in a golden tower.. your pre election show was good but .. just a show..theater..every (McMaster ) move he makes is a betrayal of his electorate.. follow the strings.
6 years ago
Reply to
disqus_1VhMJcA5Yv
While he enjoys his medal and expensive gifts from the muslim country of Saudi Arabia. While elsewhere, young children all across our land, are learning soooo much stuff about islam!
6 years ago
I thought cult islam was illegal…(1952).. these mosques (hives).. are insectoid bases.. their warrior drones and breeder broods are being sent out like a plague..
6 years ago
If that’s what you’re doing under the title Justice Department? I think you should rethink your position and GFYS! Do not protect these SAVAGES whose aim is to destroy us!!
6 years ago
Pamela Geller You are Islamic Bashing OK? You are allowed by me to go after certain ISIS members and bad radical islamists, who do not follow the Quuran in my opinion. I will support you on that but any carte blanche bashing of them is off limits to me. I’ll put you into the Lake of Fire for 1,000 years. You can come back, but you will take a break from US, the Earth’s Population(s). 10:29 a.m. #SOaks. #California
D
6 years ago
I think that Jeff Sessions demonstrated that he is not an Attorney General that Trump supporters were looking for.
6 years ago
I’ve never heard of Culpeper, and I saw the state name of Virginia once in the article, so I’m assuming Virginia is where this situation occurred? What about this story? So it happened here too??
New Jersey: Court forbids residents to mention “Islam” or “Muslim” at public hearing on mosque construction
6 years ago
Grrrrrrrrr I’m MAD ?!!!!!
6 years ago
Why is #Americas taxpayers going to Mosques????? #LawMakers are U clueless! They are destroying U.S.A. from within!!!!!
