The image, which is being called a “hate filled post targeted at Muslims,” features an older man in a cowboy hat aiming down the sights of a long-barreled shotgun. “HOW TO WINK AT A MUSLIM,” says the caption. Here’s a screencap of the post, courtesy of The Daily Dot. West has since deleted the post:

West says that he didn’t actually create the image, but he did share it. He also said that it was meant to be humorous.

“Why am I being singled out?” he asked.

“I’m prejudiced against anyone who’s trying to tear down this country, Muslims, Mexicans, anybody,” he told The Tullahoma News. “If you come into this country illegally or harm us or take away benefits, I’m against it”

“I just showed it to somebody else,” he continued. “If you’re going to harm this country, I’m not in favor of you…I don’t appreciate people trying to tear down this country.”

Concerned with a recent string of anti-Muslim acts in Middle Tennessee, The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro had this to say:

“This does not only incite hatred but also violence against law-abiding citizens of our great country. Mr. West obviously lacks in wisdom and judgment and, therefore, cannot be trusted as commissioner. I wonder what would Mr. West’s response would be if the same photo was posted by someone with a caption that says: ‘How to Wink at Mr. West, a Coffee County Commissioner?’”

West is also drawing criticism from groups on Facebook, like the Christian Left.

“Coffee County, TN Commissioner Barry West (D) posted this on his facebook page on Saturday. This is a hate filled post targeted at Muslims and is not acceptable from anyone, let alone someone holding a public office!
Tell Commissioner Barry West this is NOT acceptable and that he needs to apologize to the Muslim community immediately,” they say in a post.

Coffee County Mayor David Pennington has released a statement distancing himself from West:

“As the Mayor of Coffee County I apologize to the Muslim people. I have no control over what the commissioners do outside of public meetings. I personally wouldn’t have done it, I have a great relationship with the Muslim community.”

According to a report in the Daily Mail, the rumor first surfaced in the tabloid publication The National Enquirer. An unnamed “prison source” allegedly told the Enquirer that Holmes has converted to Islam, prays five times a day, eats only halal food, and studies the Koran. The source is quoted as saying Holmes now believes his shooting rampage was part of “his own personal jihad.” The rumors also hold that Holmes’ fellow muslim inmates are not happy with his alleged conversion, as they don’t want the religion to be associated with his crimes.

Holmes is currently on trial for the shooting that took place at an Aurora, Colorado movie theatre in July 2012 during a showing of the move The Dark Knight Rises. He allegedly entered the theatre wearing a gas mask and shot canisters of tear gas into the crowd. He then shot into the crowd with a shotgun, semi-automatic rifle, and handgun. 12 people died and 58 others were injured.

The rumors of Holmes’ religious conversion sound a bit sketchy. If true, though, they could be an indication of Holmes’ mental health, which has been called into question. Of course, the rumors could just be false, or Holmes could simply be trolling everyone.

“We have been told to shut down YouTube to the Afghan public until the video is taken down,” said Aimal Marjan, general director of Information Technology at the Ministry of Communications.

According to the report, Marjan would not go into any more detail concerning why YouTube has been blocked in the country – whether it was to prevent more violence or to simply prevent Afghan citizens from viewing the video.

The video in question is titled “Innocence of Muslims,” and depicts Mohammad as a philanderer and a fake prophet. The video was created by Sam Bacile, and Israeli-American who said that he made the film in order to draw attention to “hypocrisies” in the Islamic faith. The highly controversial video has sparked protests across the world, some of which have been violent.

The U.S. mission in Egypt was attacked earlier this week, as protesters violently stormed the walls of the compound. And in Libya, four people were killed when a mob fired rockets at the U.S. Consulate in anger over the video. One of the men killed was U.S. Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens.

Libya’s Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib has since apologized “to the American people and the government, and also to the rest of the world” for the “cowardly criminal act.”

Although YouTube has been blocked in plenty of countries around the world, this marks the first time the government of Afghanistan has fully blocked the site to its citizens.

[via Reuters]

For the entire month, YouTube has devoted a channel to streaming the Mecca prayers live. For Muslims who cannot make the pilgrimage, they can view the holy city from the comfort of their own home.

YouTube has also devoted a new channel to showing the special television programming created for Ramadan. They say that over time, the channel will house over 50 shows:

Ramadan is about more than just prayer; it is also a special moment to gather with friends and family. Muslims gather to watch special television shows produced for the holiday and shown only during Ramadan. Often the shows overlap in scheduling. This year, for the first time, YouTube is enabling people to watch their favorite shows anytime, anywhere. A new YouTube Ramadan channel lets viewers see more than 50 premium Ramadan shows the same day they air. In the clip below, famed Syrian actor Jamal Suliman appears in a drama:

On top of this, Google+ will host 30 days of Hangouts featuring actors, poets, chefs, and more.

Indonesia’s Communications And Information Industry has blocked more than one million porn sites on Wednesday ahead of the start of Ramadan. It makes sense in a way as sexual relations are prohibited during the day, but whether or not porn can be classified as sexual relations is a question I can’t answer. Regardless, Minister Tifatul Sembiring said that the country would target more Web sites as the month went on according to The Times of India.

“We will block more porn sites during Ramadan, though that doesn’t mean that we will allow such sites to operate during the rest of the year. Online pornography is an industry and the producers always seem to find new ways of escaping detection.”

Indonesia is not the first, nor will it be the last, nation that has come out against online porn. While Indonesia is blocking the sites for religious reasons, other countries block them for something far simpler – protecting the children from something they’re going to find anyway. The United Kingdom wants all ISPs to block porn by default with those wanting access being forced to ask permission.

As we’ve seen with any other attempt to censor the Internet, people will just get around it anyway. The truly devout Muslims wouldn’t be viewing porn sites anyway, so who exactly does this ban target?

She was at the store with her uncle who was there visiting from Iran when the purchase was denied. This was made clear to the Apple employee before he came back and said they couldn’t buy the iPad. Common sense tells me that the employee thought that while the girl was buying it, the iPad was for her uncle who would then try to take it back to Iran.

When the channel 2 action news team in Atlanta found out about the story, they sent a reporter to the Apple store in question to talk to the manager. The manager showed the reporter Apple’s policy. It said “the exportation, sale or supply from the U.S. to Iran of any Apple goods is strictly prohibited without authorization by the U.S. government.” The manager also told the reporter they have to rely on customers to be honest. He reiterated (the policy) always will be to not sell to anyone from Iran.

This is a touchy situation because while it is against the law to discriminate based on country of origin. It is also illegal to travel to Iran with laptops or satellite cellphones without U.S. authorization said a representative for the U.S. State Department.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), claimed there were other incidents in California and Virginia but he did not give any details about the incidents. “These are legal residents, on American soil,” he told FoxNews.com. “As Americans we are outraged, and every American would be outraged.”

While the Council on American-Islamic Relations is appalled at this, there is an Islamic group that is ok with what happened. The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans supports Apple’s take on the Alpharetta incident, concluding that Apple’s refusal to sell the product was not based on discrimination. The company is legal obliged to prevent sales if a product’s ultimate destination is Iran.

CAIR disagrees, saying in a statement: “We understand that Apple’s official company policy … is almost verbatim taken from the Iranian Transaction Regulations (ITR), specifically 31 C.F.R. § 560.204, and is in line with U.S. economic sanctions targeting Iran. However, at issue here is the correct application of that policy by Apple’s employees.”

Apple is in a tough place. They are trying to follow the Iranian Transaction Regulations laws, but the only way they can actually do that is to break the discrimination laws. Almost a no win situation for them.

Below is a clip of Hasan speaking of the Islamic moral high ground, and how the rest of humanity lives as animals:

It’s evident that the Huffington Post made quite a sensational choice in Hasan, and Raheem Kassam, executive editor of conservative online journal The Commentator, suggests, “Something like the appointment of Mehdi Hasan tells you they’ve got their heads in the far leftist clouds,” adding, “Huffington Post is seen as a major step down for Mehdi. It’s an embarrassment. It’s pretty much the end of someone’s career.”

In the above video, Hasan can be seen denouncing Pakinstan’s nuclear weapons, though as a known supporter of nuclear-tinkerer Iran, who by the way is presently irate with Google Maps – his stances have sometimes been seen as being haphazard and extreme, a possible reason for his departure from the New Statesman.

Kassam adds, “Everyone knew that the status quo couldn’t continue with Hasan – It was only a matter of time until he was rightly held to account for what became increasingly nonsensical journalism and a repeated refusal to comment on his extreme views as highlighted by the videos.” Snap.

In January 2011, Tunisians ousted their longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. That revolution sparked what is now known as the “Arab Spring,” where populations in many North African and Middle Eastern countries began revolting against their autocratic leaders. Tunisians held their first free elections late last year, electing a moderate Muslim government. An overwhelming majority of Tunisians are Muslim, with 98% following Islam.

The two men, Jabeur Mejri and Ghazi Beji, were sentenced on March 28. Mejri is beginning his 7-year sentence, but Beji is on the lam. In an interview with Tunisia Live, Beji claims he fled Tunisia when he heard that Mejri had been arrested. Beji said he and Mejri uploaded manuscripts of books, one in English, the other in Arabic, that were critical of Islam. The texts contained the pictures for which they were sentenced.

Reuters claims the story didn’t get out about the sentencing until Tunisian bloggers began publishing details online. From the Reuters story:

“The sentences are very heavy and severe, even if these young people were at fault,” one Tunisian blogger, Nebil Zagdoud, told Reuters.

“This decision is aimed at silencing freedom of expression even on the Internet. Prosecutions for offending morals are a proxy for this government to gag everyone.”

Using religion as lubrication to force oppressive social policy on a country? Sounds familiar. What do you think? Is the new government in Tunisia just as bad as the previous one? What is your opinion of blasphemy laws or the role of religion in government? Let me know in the comments below.

The Times of India is reporting that people in Pakistan of the Muslim faith are urging their fellow Muslims to use Millat Facebook. The reason being that Facebook is allegedly involved in blasphemy of the Holy Prophet (i.e. Muhammad).

Muslim leaders held a round table conference titled, “Blasphemy of Facebook and the Role of Muslim Youth on Social Media,” hosted by Millat Facebook. They slammed those in Pakistan who were advocating the abolishment or amendment to the current blasphemy laws.

The owners of Millat Facebook said that their site had seen a large amount of success since launching in May 2010. The site has suffered some setbacks, however, with U.S. and Pakistani authorities taking down its hosting. They said that U.S. officials had attacked them by threatening their hosts in the U.S. and Europe within a few months of opening.

What hurt them more, however, was that Pakistan’s national ISP refused to host the site. They also refused to explain their denial in writing.

He ended the talk by saying that Jewish and Christian groups had organized attacks on the Web site. The attackers invited people from all over the world to attack the “Muslim’s alternative to Facebook.” The team, however, stopped the attacks from ever happening.

It’s great to create social networking sites around particular religions so as not to offend people, but I don’t think the problem is with the site itself. If you look at the Web site, it’s an obvious theft of Facebook’s UI and design. They may want to change that to avoid any further legal troubles.

Original Article: Every now and then, someone spots an oddity in Google’s suggestions. Some are funny. Some are disturbing, and some are just weird. Alex Wilhelm at The Next Web has discovered an interesting behavior in Google Suggest involving religion.

With most major religions, you will get suggestions from Google when you type in a query like "example is". If you type "christianity is", or "judaism is" you will get suggestions (which some will no doubt find controversial in themselves), but when you type "islam is", you get nothing.

Here are a few screenshots for different examples of such queries:

To be fair, there are other religions that don’t yield suggestions, but all of the biggest ones besides Islam do.

The phenomenon has raised a few eyebrows. Wilhem himself says, "Google is systematically blocking, it seems, all search suggestions for Islam. Why? To remove the chance of an adherent of the faith from being offended by a perhaps severe search suggestion? Why not treat all search terms equally?"

He thinks that either "A: Google is horribly broken and this is evidence of that or B: They seem to be tampering with results."

Danny Sullivan, one of the most influential voices in the search industry weighed in on the conversation, saying, "Google is horribly broken. That’s my call. And they do such a piss poor job explaining why these types of things happen (sometimes not even trying at all) that it’s easier to believe B, that they’re tampering with search suggestions."

He points to a piece he wrote about Google Suggest and Climategate, "Many people are convinced that Google messed with the suggestions for that," says Sullivan. "Google was adamant they did not. I still believe they didn’t. I also can only tell you from covering Google over the years that things like this are far more likely to be because they are indeed screw ups than that they are intentionally aiming to do so."

A query for "islam is" returns about 3,140,000 results. Others have pointed out that there are no suggestions for queries like "Larry Page is" or "Sergey Brin is", although Sullivan is careful to point out that there are plenty for "Google is," and they’re not all the most positive things in the world.

What do you make of Google’s suggestions or lack thereof? Share your thoughts here.