Disparaging Muslims is a crime? Would Feigin have been prosecuted for disparaging Christians? Jews? Hindus?
Look how this man was railroaded: the charge that Feigin had threatened the Islamic Center was dropped, but California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra implied that Feigin was convicted for threats, saying “We will not turn a blind eye to violent threats.” Feigin’s attorney Caleb Mason said: “It is disgraceful for a prosecutor to drop a charge, and then issue a press release implying that it got a conviction on that charge. An accurate press release would have read: ‘We dropped the threat charge against Mr. Feigin because we didn’t have a case against him.'”
What’s more, Feigin didn’t even call the Islamic Center. Mason said: “The prosecution started this case with a press conference accusing Mr. Feigin of making a threatening call before anyone had ever looked at the phone records to see who the caller was. The evidence — which we uncovered through the discovery process over the opposition of the prosecution at every stage — showed that Mr. Feigin never called the Islamic Center. … The prosecution refuses to admit that it charged the wrong man, and that it publicly smeared him as a violent threat despite having no evidence against him.”
California is increasingly insane, but this is an outrageous miscarriage of justice, and a violation of the First Amendment guarantee of the freedom of speech. Whatever Feigin pleaded in the face of this railroading, this entire case should be reevaluated and his criminal record expunged.
“Man pleads no contest to disparaging Muslims on Islamic Center’s Facebook page,” by Joseph Serna, Los Angeles Times, January 27, 2018:
An Agoura Hills man who posted anti-Muslim rhetoric on the Islamic Center of Southern California’s Facebook page has pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges, the state attorney general’s office announced Friday.
The statement said that the defendant, Mark Feigin, also made threatening phone calls to the center. But Feigin’s attorney denies that his client ever made any calls and said the threat charge was dropped.
“It is disgraceful for a prosecutor to drop a charge, and then issue a press release implying that it got a conviction on that charge,” attorney Caleb Mason said in a statement to The Times on Saturday. “An accurate press release would have read: ‘We dropped the threat charge against Mr. Feigin because we didn’t have a case against him.’ “…
The Los Angeles Police Department launched an investigation into Feigin, 41, after the Islamic center received telephonic threats, LAPD officials said after they arrested him during a traffic stop. Those threats, however, did not come from Feigin, Mason said.
Police searched Feigin’s Agoura Hills home and found several guns — rifles, shotguns and handguns — and thousands of rounds of ammunition, police Cmdr. Horace Frank said.
One of Feigin’s defense attorneys, Robert Sheahen, said at the time that his client was a collector but never fired the weapons or planned on using them….
“We will not turn a blind eye to violent threats targeted at individuals based on prejudice, whether because of race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation,” Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. The California Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute those who commit crimes motivated by hate. This plea reinforces our commitment.”
Mason, Feigin’s attorney, in his statement to The Times, further criticized the attorney general’s office for issuing false information in its statement on Friday.
“The prosecution started this case with a press conference accusing Mr. Feigin of making a threatening call before anyone had ever looked at the phone records to see who the caller was,” Mason said. “The evidence — which we uncovered through the discovery process over the opposition of the prosecution at every stage — showed that Mr. Feigin never called the Islamic Center. … The prosecution refuses to admit that it charged the wrong man, and that it publicly smeared him as a violent threat despite having no evidence against him.”
Terry Gain says
“We will not turn a blind eye to violent threats.”
Oh but you do. The Islamic War Manual aka The Holy Koran is replete with threats and injunctions to engage in the murder of innocent people.
gravenimage says
+1
J D S says
Of course he’s guity. THIS IS A CALIFORNIA COURT…..Well c’mon other courts…get busy finding other unguiltless people..What a farce…but on the way…all kinds of law suits against innocents by islamist crying racism and such.
GOD HELP US!
jule says
But this problem of Educating people about what Islam really is, what its words really mean and what its goals are is So important that we must be especially vigil in never using reference to politics, emotions, Christian doctrine, DISSING people, stupid jokes about goat/camel humping ect……ANYTHING that causes automatic ear plugging and that we stay ONLY on as many facts, past and present, plus words of x-Muslims to reach peoples BRAINS/logic/minds…..not emotions. It is doable with diligence, but one slip or ‘raghead, pedophile, ‘liberal douches’ RUINS ALL THE HARD WORK. SHOW facts. They are readably available. Check the letters Mo had sent to all other countries of his time and read between the lines. The one to Egypt is especially telling. Even if they are not really letters through someone by Mo, it shows the Main Cultural message. We have to be smart about this. No Dufas, preachy, angry, emotional, jokey texts. Its Too Important.
madpatriot says
That is why the Quran is not holy..it is the evil ramblings of the insane Muhammad who was a terrorist that killed his way through the countries he warred with. It is time to tell those people they are no body to any sane decent person! They need to stop making demands or thinking they are something good or special,,,,they are the best example of satan in human form we have seen, next to Hitler and his Nazi’s!
No one should be charged with anything for saying what they chose about the vile muslims…they are just what they are called and worse. they call everything that is not of them evil and bad, but they cannot take it when everyone else tells them they are the ones that are evil and disgusting! Wake up ragheads you are dirt under the feet of the world!
The Real God sent satan to hell the day Jesus was put upon the cross and died for all sin, for all time, for all mankind! Muslims are the army of satan!
mortimer says
WAKE UP, AMERICANS. This is how you lose your freedom of expression. The First Amendment has been attacked over and over through American history. The attack by Muslims is based on Sharia law that most American lawyers cannot even imagine. They are CLUELESS about Sharia… it is a religious law that applies to Muslims and a CIVIL LAW that applies to EVERYBODY.
Muslims are SUPREMACISTS and they want their CIVIL law to become SUPREME in every country. This expansionist SUPREMACISM, DOGMATISM, TOTALITARIANISM and yes, it also fits the definition of FASCISM. Islamic rule is THEOCRATIC FASCISM.
We should criticize the DOCTRINE of Islam, the TEACHINGS of Islam, the MISOGYNY of Islam and the FASCISM of Islam, but not all Muslims know their own dogmas nor do they practice them.
Islam is the set of DOCTRINES that most Muslims are NOT OBSERVING because they are MINOs … Muslims in name only.
CRUSADER says
Often, people have to take bad medicine in order to then know what good medicine actually is.
Rob says
True…but sometimes you can slide far enough down a cliff that there is no clawing your way back to the top. America and the rest of the West needs to wake up to the reality that “we the people” are being PUSHED off a cliff and that our governments (and sometimes even our churches) are helping those whose aim is to destroy us.
Westman says
Could I suggest that the Government Of California, from Moonbeam Brown through city leaders and judiciary, are, in essence, a supremist group masquerading as humanists while instituting dictatorial procedures to stifle dissent to its common ideology? And it seems obvious that Stanford, Berkeley, and perhaps the entire UC college system have been snorting Karl Marx.
This ideology of CA supremacy has even led to a secessionist movement that is regrouping after the organizer of 53 chapters was discovered to be an actual communiist.
That segments of California can hold such views points to an accelerating personal disconnect between its citizens in which pockets of crime are visualized as mental, unexperienced, constructs; leading to false cause and effect conclusions.
So, in the unexperienced mind, if poverty and lack of opportunity(as a learned construct) lead to crime then criminals that shout allah akbar are simply those with lack of education and opportunity(like those Saudis who flew airliners into the Trade Towers?).
That religion could create incentives for crime is beyond the stable of unexperienced causes unless one actually reads Islam’s doctrinal works.
Two generations of throwing resources at California’s poverty and education has not reversed its crime rates and pockets of crime. Yet, the same tune of, “poverty and lack of opportunity causes crime”, prevails.
How long will it take for Islam to teach California’s supremists a new paradigm,
gravenimage says
Not all of us here in California are loons. All too many are, though.
Lydia Church says
The first step to taking away peoples recognized rights is by first convincing them that they don’t have those rights. Without a shot being fired. And I don’t mean taking legal action against them in the system, but literally convincing them of this by propaganda techniques. The person’s mentality often shifts from “I know this is my right, and I’m going to exercise it,” to asking for permission. Once that stage is reached, they don’t grant the permission and they know they have gained compliance from a submissive population that won’t resist, rebel, or create a popular revolt. They are outnumbered and they know it, force won’t suppress all the people, so they use other tactics to control the masses. Once the general mentality has shifted, that’s when they move in for the kill and make it all ‘illegal’. You must own the knowledge of your rights, don’t wait for them to hand that to you, or you have already lost the battle.
Secrets of Mind Control…… volume 1, chapter 31, section A.
J D S says
If one facet of sharia law reaches our courts ones elected officials are at fault
But what can one do. Career politicians
are to blame for the situation we are in now. Can’t get them out THAT’S OUR FAuLT!
jule says
SO DO NOT BRING UP THE FIRST AMENDMENT or they use it against you wanting to spread their Hate Ideology just like Nazys. There IS hate Speech and there is True scientific facts for Education and we must use Those to show the hateful anti-constitutional, Inciting, traitorous ides. Hate speech has to be stopped and from Islam/Nazy/KKKlan too. (and with stupid ha ha jokes or just emotional dissing) Its all the same. CRITIQES are not hate. KEEP us in CRITIQUE and don’t call 1st Amendment, That’s a TRAP.They want it too and even in Mosques to call for fight the Jews till Judgement Day……which IS hate speech and it must be stopped. Even if it is in the Qur’an.
Michael Copeland says
The “anti-Muslim rhetoric” is not quoted or explained.
In the UK the defendant could cite the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006:
“29J Protection of freedom of expression
Nothing in this part shall be read or given effect in a way which prohibits or restricts discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular religions or the beliefs or practices of its adherents, or proselytising or urging adherents of a different religion or belief system to cease proselytising their religion or belief system.”
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/1/pdfs/ukpga_20060001_en.pdf
This is on the Statute Book but it is not being upheld by the current government.
jule says
The fact is, ridicule, abuse, dissing, ha ha jokes, politics RUINS the CAUSE OF EDUCATION. As soon as someone does that, 1000s of people turn away in disgust. The PRIORITY is Education. This is too darn important to Ruin with dissing, jokes, ridicule, threats ect. FACT ONLY sent to the MIND. Not emotional rubbish. Its TOO IMPORTANT that people find out what Islam is before its impossibly too late. Already its too late but it must be blocked so USE YOU HEAD to what will GET THE MESSAGE THROUGH.
Diane Harvey says
“We will not turn a blind eye to violent threats targeted at individuals based on prejudice, whether because of race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation,” [CA] Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
******
Okay, lets see what your office does when someone gets around to reading the threats of Qur’an, Sura 9,5, “And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists [meaning, non-Muslims] wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush.”
mortimer says
Agree with DH. There are 164 death threats in the Koran called the jihad verses, dozens of jihad commands in the hadiths and hundreds of jihad commands by Islam’s leading sheikhs, ayatollahs, jurists and imams. Islam is awash with calls to attack, kill, enslave, rape, disarm, repress, tax and generally dominate non-Muslims.
Islam, moreover, has a doctrine of hatred and apartheid that must be directed by Muslims towards the dirty, disbelieving kufaar ‘for the sake of Allah’.
Without a knowledge of that doctrine of hatred (Al Walaa wal Baraa), law enforcement and departments of justice are CLUELESS about Islam which is a HATE CULT.
Champ says
“…law enforcement and departments of justice are CLUELESS about Islam which is a HATE CULT.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indeed, Mortimer, and a death cult, too …islam robs people mind, body & soul. It’s a cancer on humanity and we’re desperate to find a cure.
jule says
It is a hate cult and there is Hate speech and all of must be stopped. By Islam, Nazys, KKKLan. There IS such a thing as Hate Speech but it is not Critique! Plain honest Critique without ha ha jokes or emotional Political dissing etc. It RUINS the Important message that we must get out. The Intellectual message & not emotional dogma. And Hate Speech must be stopped and everyone actually does know the difference so we must stop this inane excuse that people can say or teach ANYTHING they want. Hate must not be taught. by anyone. Get real. We all know the difference between hate and truthful Critique and definitions. Islam has too much Hate Speech to be going on in all the Mosques in Arabic so we can’t hear it. Read the Qur’an/Hadiths. its hate. Hate speech has to stopped and from Nazys, KKKlan too!
D Austin says
“Police searched Feigin’s Agoura Hills home and found several guns — rifles, shotguns and handguns — and thousands of rounds of ammunition, police Cmdr. Horace Frank said.”
Truth be told, many homes in this country have the same hardware because they don’t trust their government. California is a prime example why there’s no trust! Democrat-controlled plantations in this country are war zones.
CRUSADER says
Did his home get searched because of the said misdemeanors or because of the perceived nature of the said misdemeanors he was charged under?
gravenimage says
Damn good question.
mortimer says
California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra has used the office as a POLITICAL BAITING TECHNIQUE to crush opposition to Islam.
This PERVERSION OF POWER OF THE STATE is worthy of tin-pot, third-world dictatorship, but not what used to be the leader of the free world.
The Dems have gone from being defenders of freedom for all to being REPRESSIVE OF FREE SPEECH and even FASCIST. Any party that does not play by the rules of the law, deserves to be trounced in the next election.
CRUSADER says
ACLU should hear about this. Civil Liberties squelched!
Speaking of rights, the travel writer Rick Steves has been a staunch supporter of ACLU (and Hillary)….
Yet he hasn’t seemed to have gotten backlash for his views as Robert Spencer has for his own views.
Rick Steves’ perspective on terrorism:
———————————————
I think we’re 300 million people and if we lose a few hundred people a year to terrorists, that doesn’t change who we are and it shouldn’t change the fabric of our society. Frankly I think we should get used to losing—as long as we’re taking the stance in the world of being the military superpower, you’re going to have people nipping at you. And if it’s hundreds or thousands—we lose 15,000 people a year to have the right to bear arms and most people think that’s a good deal, year after year. We spend 15,000 people for the right to bear arms. What do we spend to be as aggressive and heavy weight on this planet? We’re always going to have terrorism.”
— Rick Steves, “Guide to Terrorism”, Seattle Times 2006
https://www.seattletimes.com/author/rick-steves/?from=stnv2
http://archive.li/qXQY#selection-1305.147-3058.0
September 13, 2006 9:09 AM
The Rick Steves Guide to terrorism in the world
(Posted by David Postman)
I was at Channel 9 to appear on KCTS Connects to talk about the elections. Before the political panel went on, host Enrique Cerna first interviewed former Sen. and 9/11 Commissioner Slade Gorton on the state of the world. That interview was on tape. Then as I and the other pundits watched on a TV in the green room, Cerna was in the studio interviewing travel writer Rick Steves “on how America is handling the war on terror.” Steves has written some in the local papers about his political view of the world and it is a distinctly liberal view. He’s criticized President Bush’s foreign policy and supports legalizing marijuana. He said in an op-ed column in this paper:
The greatest risk to our society today is not Islamo-fascist terrorism, but the people who use that term to scare us.
And he’s made it clear before that he’s not worried about any commercial backlash from his being outspoken.
“I have a responsibility to be a good citizen and to be outspoken,” he said. “And not to worry about someone who doesn’t want to use my guidebooks.”
But when he started talking with Cerna I admit to being surprised at what he said. Steves said that we should get used to hundreds or thousands of Americans being killed by terrorists each year. Steves’ point was that America is essentially “spending” lives of its citizens as the price for being a military superpower. He compared victims of terrorism to victims of gun violence in the country.
Steves told Cerna that he thinks the role of the travel writer changed after 9/11. He said it’s a more serious job now, but compared it to a court jester of medieval times — someone charged with delivering sometimes bad news to powerful people.
Steves made a provocative counterpoint to Gorton. He certainly said things you don’t usually hear in the mainstream media. Some of what he said was startling. At times he sounded almost flip. I think if thousands of people a year were killed in America by terrorists it would, and should, change the fabric of who we are.
Steves said America overestimates itself and doesn’t give enough credit to its enemies:
“I’m really concerned right now when I listen to Slade Gorton. He’s very committed to the safety of our nation and all of this, of course. But I’m afraid in all this talk of, ‘we must not be complacent,’ that we’re forgetting, we’re underestimating, the spine of the people we’re fighting.
“I’m amazed, and this is what I learned from history, that we can think that other people can have less spine than we do. We don’t have more spine than they do. Nathan Hales, Ethan Allens and Patrick Henrys are a dime a dozen on this planet. And we forget that. We think we’re going to exhaust them and break their spirit. And with our military might we’re going to cause them to stop naming their children Osama and Saddam.”
Americans, he said, have “created many more terrorists in the past five years than we have killed.”
“Normally we talk about all of our motive is freedom and patriotism and democracy. We’re pushing democracy. … The rest of the world thinks that’s laughable. I was just down in Central America, and leading professors, respected people, say when they hear the word democracy their bowels move. That’s the phrase. It disgusts them because democracy has just been abused, the name democracy, for what our foreign policy is all about.”
Steves said his extensive travels have obviously shaped his world view. He has almost an ex-pat’s relationship with America and has a deep distrust of the commercial media here at home.
“I’m an odd duck here in America, and I look at the evening news on the commercial channel and I have a very cynical look at it because I see it as, it’s just propaganda, spreading around this very potent cocktail of fear and patriotism that I think is messing up our perspective on this.”
———————————–
Indiana Tom says
Steve is part of the PBS crowd after all. PBS is an ultra Left organization posing for the public good.
Indiana Tom says
I think if thousands of people a year were killed in America by terrorists it would, and should, change the fabric of who we are.
Well, he got that right, but it might not go the way he wants it.
CRUSADER says
But, Rick Steves has traveled so much in Europe and has seen how far better Europe is from America. He must know something we don’t.
How do you feel about this remark of his?:
“Nathan Hales, Ethan Allens and Patrick Henrys are a dime a dozen on this planet. ”
(It seems as though he finds little value to the stalwart efforts of true patriots, since patriots are just a dime a dozen and their sacrifices mean so little relative to what everybody else does. Probably didn’t need these patriots at all to form our nation.)
Rick Steves also must be warning us about Robert Spencer:
“The greatest risk to our society today is not Islamo-fascist terrorism, but the people who use that term to scare us.”
(Hey, JW readers, we must be getting indoctrinated….better sign off from JW. Anybody with me on this? Rick Steves should become our master for our expansion of our minds.)
LeftisruiningCanada says
““Nathan Hales, Ethan Allens and Patrick Henrys are a dime a dozen on this planet. ””
But communist radicals are a scare commodity?
JawsV says
Rick Steves is so PC it’s scary.
gravenimage says
CRUSADER, I doubt the ACLU would do anything to defend this man’s freedom of speech.
And thanks for posting that on the appalling Rick Steves. No surprise that he just sneers at democracy and conflates brave and principled men like Nathan Hale, Ethan Allen and Patrick Henry with vicious Jihad terrorists.
He has said that the “smart response” to Jihad terror is to not get upset over Muslims slaughtering us.
Here he is, claiming that “Islamo-Fascist Terrorism” is not a threat–but opposing it *is*:
“‘Islamo-Fascist Terrorism’ Hides Our Real Threat”
https://www.ricksteves.com/about-rick/islamofascist-terrorism-hides-our-real-threat
And he grotesquely justifies the murder of non-Muslims as “dignity for Palestine, Christian armies out of sacred Muslim territory, and freedom for the Arab world to control its own natural resources”–not hatred of Infidels.
He then suggests the United States cease being “at odds with the rest of the world” by abandoning Israel and lauding Communist Cuba. He implies that if we did this we wouold be safer from Jihad attacks.
He then says we have to “broaden our definition of “sanctity of life” and “homeland security” by ceasing to resist. *Ugh*.
Kay says
The rhetoric of the press is dangerous. Poor guy was smeared as being against every “identity” group.
mortimer says
This is an INTENTIONAL PERVERSION of justice. The Attorney General should be sued.
IQ al Rassooli says
Disparaging Muslims is a crime? How is it possible to even accuse any human being of disparaging Muslims whose sole purpose in life (all 1,500,000,000) is to either HUMILIATE or EXTERMINATE non Muslims?
How can anyone disparage a belief system which is beneath CONTEMPT and beyond REDEMPTION?
His lawyers should go after this corrupt and mindless Attorney General Xavier Becerra and sue them for millions of $$$ for defamation, wrongful accusations and mendacious conclusions made to the media and the American public
IQ al Rassooli
Kafir & Proud!
CRUSADER says
How disparaging of you.
Ray Jarman says
Were I his lawyer, I would make every attempt to contact someone like Tucker Carlson or another advocate television program in order to bring to the rest of the country, the rabid infestation of communism at the head of Jerry Brown’s government in Sacramento. I find it impossible to believe that I once lived in the state that elected great men such as Goodwin Knight, George Murphy, William Knowland and not to mention Ronald Reagan. It seems that some like myself were drafted or others fled the state after Proposition 13.
PRCS says
Carlson has recently addressed Becerra’s threat (per newly enacted California law) to punish California employers who provide information about illegal aliens in their employ.
Would be great to see him address this, too.
PRCS says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjzRgX263WU
gravenimage says
Thanks for that link, PRCS. Glad to see Carlson is standing up to this insanity.
Champ says
Bravo, IQ! Another great comment! I applaud you, sir!
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Important information is missing from this news report. Reference is made to”telephonic threats” and “a threatening call”, but no description of what was threatened is given. Why? Were these threats (plural) not recorded?
eduardo odraude says
According to the story, the police possessed no evidence that the man had made threatening calls. That’s why the police dropped the threat charge. Yet afterwards, the police spoke as if the threat charge had gotten a conviction. If they had gotten a conviction for threats, this man would have gone to jail. Some police, like other people, sometimes lie shamelessly, unfortunately.
eduardo odraude says
Another story about this says:
http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/30/california-prosecutes-man-for-posting-anti-muslim-messages-on-facebook/
Indiana Tom says
“THE TERROR HIKE … SOUNDS LIKE FUN” (In reference to the Center’s advertised “Sunset Hike”) Well we have had a hike in Muslim terror incidents since the end of the cold war.
“THE MORE MUSLIMS WE ALLOW INTO AMERICA THE MORE TERROR WE WILL SEE.” Well, terror does tend to go along with Islamic practices and theology..
“PRACTICING ISLAM CAN SLOW OR EVEN REVERSE THE PROCESS OF HUMAN EVOLUTION.” Well. Iran since the revolution of 1979 would tend to verify the process of Islamic degeneration. Turkey is pretty much on the same course. Egypt was getting worse with the Muslim Brotherhood. Saddam’s Iraq was a paradise compared to ISIS.I think Libya was better off under Gaddafi than the crew that is running things now. I could go on and on.
Indiana Tom says
“Filthy muslim shit has no place in western civilization.”
I think John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and John Quincy Adams wrote to the same effect, but not quite the vulgarity of the above statement.
libertyORdeath says
Clearly freedom of speech. If they want to post their proselytizing propaganda publicly online, then anyone can comment.
libertyORdeath says
This American citizen should absolutely pursue any possible avenues to have his record expunged and also to hold the police accountable for wrongful arrest and illegal search and seizure. On top of that I would definitely file a suit for slander and for jeopardizing his safety by defaming him as an islamophobe.
Yet again the police in southern California are MORE concerned with fabricated threats than jihadists like those that attacked San Bernardino or even the Christian fundamentalists who kept their kids chained to the bed and abused them. Or how about the cartels who seem to operate with near impunity in socal?
LeftisruiningCanada says
Agreed. One bad case involving a home school, and they want to create huge and invasive state controls over the whole thing.
MANY cases of muslims slaying the unbelievers where they find them, and NOBODY wants to touch the mosques.
gravenimage says
Eduardo, thanks for letting us know exactly what he said. I can’t find anything to disagree with.
elee says
Can anyone favor us with a copy of what seems from this report to be a statute criminalizing “disparagement” of, well, in this case Islam? It looks on the face of it as though there would be myriad Constitutional problems with any such statute.
Indiana Tom says
“Man pleads no contest to disparaging Muslims on Islamic Center’s Facebook page,”
Yeah, exactly what is the statute that the man is being charged with?
I would fight this.
gravenimage says
This poor man is probably being worn down by this persecution. That is the whole point of such cases.
LeftisruiningCanada says
Any chance that CAIR et al are going after these small fry in order to set precedent for later on?
I know several Christian apologists who arn’t shy in their speech about islam, but they have a lot of support and would make harder targets, for example.
eduardo odraude says
This gives the law involved:
Apparently he was convicted of that misdemeanor (a misdemeanor is defined as a non-indictable offense, a minor wrongdoing) and chose not to contest it. The charge about a threatening phone call was dropped, because the police had no evidence he had made such a call.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/30/california-prosecutes-man-for-posting-anti-muslim-messages-on-facebook/
sharpshorts says
Seems the thought police went after him for owning guns.
In their world, he deserves to be prosecuted for that high crime. ..
Therefor, it follows he should be charged with being any “…ism…” they wish to apply.
CRUSADER says
Next up:
Slice out FIRST and SECOND Amendments from our US Constitution for those who are disagreeable.
eduardo odraude says
This kind of police behavior is encouraged by those among the police who care more about avoiding certain kinds of trouble (anger from left media, from left-leaning politicians, and from potentially jihadist Muslims) than about basic rights. One can understand why some police, even at the risk of infringing an individual’s rights, might prefer to nip danger in the bud rather than let a dangerous political and media hornet’s nest get stirred up and jihad threats made worse or actualized. But if the individual’s basic rights are crushed, what good is such a society?
Ren says
Disparaging islam thus the muslims is the best thing to do.
Rob says
The US thought-police laws are gradually becoming like those of the EU states. This case sets an awful precedent
gravenimage says
Grimly true, Rob.
Frank Anderson says
GI, I think (my opinion based on experience and research) the only reason this case is where it is, starts with it being cheaper and quicker to make a deal than to fight and preserve the ability to appeal. Such a fight could easily cost the accused well into multiple 6 figures in fees, expenses and costs if the case went to the US Supreme Court through all of the steps necessary. Unless the defendant is able to do the whole thing himself, once the case is ready for the Supreme Court, budget at least $100,000 in fees and expenses just to ask the Supreme Court to hear a case, which they reject about 98 percent of the time.
You can be sure the prosecution would raise every barrier, create every delay and impose every burden to keep the “accused” from obtaining a favorable outcome. That prosecutorial conduct is totally contrary to the duty of “seeking the truth” instead of seeking to convict when no violation exists.
In entering a deal, the defendant compromises the case. Compromise is so favored (protected) that an agreement, even entered under duress, is rarely set aside because both sides agreed and one side cannot later change his mind. As outrageous as this result is, we do not know the reasons in the defendant’s mind when he agreed to a plea. As far as what this case means to future cases, that will depend on whether the next victim of the *thought police* will have the will and resources to fight. It may take help from additional sources of money and support to stop this practice.
Mark Feigin says
Hi,
I fought this case for over 18 months, and spent every penny that I had, going into massive debt. I am out somewhere between 200-300k. My story gained international attention, but i only raised $432 on funrazr.com. If conservatived cared at all for the 1st amendment, they would have supported me, same goes for gun rights groups and big conservative media. The only major network to do a descent story on my
Case was CNN – conservatives in America today are fucking cowards!!
Regards,
Mark Feigin
Frank Anderson says
Mr. Feigin, I fought a similar case for more than 15 years with little or no help. I had the knowledge to fight; I found the few resources I could during the fight; and the struggle to maintain the will to keep going was major. I had to dig ditches, sweep floors, carry out waste from a production line, everything except work as an engineer or lawyer because of the damage to my reputation. People find it very easy to talk about what other people should do. If I have done that to you, rather than try to help people see how miserable, lonely and expensive important fights can be, I sincerely apologize. During my war, I lost everything of “value” that I had when the war started, *except my 2 law licenses*. When it was over I did make a record that can never be destroyed or hidden of the corruption and incompetence of the legal system. Corrupt people in charge depend on the fact that most people will stand by and watch while an individual is being destroyed, right or wrong, in his efforts to establish and protect rights. “Don’t get mad; get even!” Thank you for your note.
Frank Anderson says
I ask for correction and other thoughts. This plea of “no contest” almost certainly, in my opinion, serves as a settlement which prevents an appeal or review of the agreement. Too many times in my experience and knowledge of other cases, people who do not have the understanding of the total implications, the time and the money to fight “Just want to get it over” and roll to a plea deal that marks them forever. Even when they have done nothing whatever in violation of the law, the cost, misery, delay and impact on their lives as the case drags on forces them to make a decision to continue a fight or to cave. There is nothing in a person’s life more valuable in the long term than his reputation. A criminal conviction is a criminal conviction whether on a plea deal or a trial. Agreeing to a conviction of any form when a violation of law cannot be proved is wrong and an abuse of the legal system.
If I had an appropriate and substantial interest in the case, I would at least consider, after private consultation with an attorney, discussing the matter with the appropriate state bar in light of the cases related to Mike Nifong in North Carolina. Please consult a currently licensed and practicing attorney in your jurisdiction for advice.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Frank.
PRCS says
For those who want more background on this issue, see this previous JihadWatch article:
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/01/california-charges-man-for-sending-islamocritical-posts-to-islamic-center-of-southern-california
California charges man for sending Islamocritical posts to Islamic Center of Southern California
Georg says
Xavier Becerra selectively turns the screws on Feigin. We’ll be seeing more of this.
Billy Chickens says
God I hate Islam.
gravenimage says
Los Angeles: Man pleads no contest to disparaging Muslims on Islamic Center’s Facebook page
……………………..
Now “disparaging Muslims” is a crime? The charge of threatening Muslims was obviously false, and was dropped.
gravenimage says
He’s a nasty piece of work.
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
Based on the information in this article, Mr. Feigin has a good case for a civil suit against the prosecutor.
UNCLE VLADDI says
Looks like Pee Wee got him a gun!
Michael Casmer says
Wait a minute! Disparaging a religion is a crime? What about all those TV shows that disparage Christianity? Are the producers of those shows arrested? I thought making one religion protected over others is forbidden in the Constitution?
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
+1