Sometimes Uncle Sam needs you to have coitus for your country, even if it turns out to be an utterly salacious waste of time. FBI informant Craig Monteilh AKA "Farouk Aziz" wondered if he was crossing the line when a woman he was monitoring wanted to have sex with him. "They said, if it would enhance the intelligence, go ahead and have sex. So I did," Monteilh told the Guardian. Is that the Patriot Act in your pocket or are you gonna wiretap that ass? more ›

The accidental burning of several Korans at an Afghani prison—possibly the dumbest and most insulting gesture to test an already strained relationship between Afghanistan and the US—could have been prevented. more ›

In a speech to Fordham Law alumni yesterday, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly defended his department's vast surveillance network watching Muslims across the Northeast. “The notion that the Police Department should close our eyes to what takes place outside the five boroughs is folly, and it defies the lessons of history,” Kelly said. “If terrorists aren’t limited by borders and boundaries, we can’t be either." more ›

After New York Post cartoonist Sean Delonas depicted President Obama as a crazed chimpanzee deserving to be shot in 2009, News Corp agreed to form a "diversity council" with civil rights groups that would meet twice a year to presumably make the company think twice before printing racist cartoons. But the cartoon above suggests that the panel was pointless, and that the New York Post is content with portraying innocent Muslims as deceitful, gun-toting, bomb-making terrorists. more ›

In yet another revelation of the scope of the NYPD's surveillance of U.S. citizens throughout the Northeast based on their religion, the AP has obtained secret reports on Muslim communities in Newark, New Jersey, and Suffolk and Nassau Counties in New York. The reports contain photographs of mosques and Muslim-owned businesses, and the names and descriptions of those who worked in them. Newark's mayor Corey Booker claims to have had no knowledge of the NYPD's actions, which occurred in 2007. "Wow," Booker said upon learning of the surveillance. "This raises a number of concerns. It's just very, very, sobering." more ›

Reporters questioned Mayor Bloomberg today about the recent AP report that the NYPD was keeping tabs on Muslims at universities like Yale and UPenn, and the Mayor unapologetically defended the practices. "We have to keep this country safe. This is a dangerous place. Make no mistake about it," Bloomberg said, according to a transcript by the Daily News. Asked to comment on the reports that an undercover NYPD officer went on a whitewater rafting trip sponsored by a Muslim Student Association, Bloomberg replied, "I have no idea. The only whitewater rafting I’ve done I did with my daughter. I don’t think she had a lot of information that I was interested in." more ›

Reverend Franklin Graham, isn't convinced that President Obama is a Christian, and this morning on MSNBC alluded to the delicious possibility that he is a secret Muslim: “I can’t say categorically [that Obama doesn't practice Islam] because Islam has gotten a free pass under Obama." But if Graham really wanted to know if Obama is a Christian, he could have just asked his father, the Rev. Billy Graham, who prayed with the president in 2010 at his private residence in North Carolina. more ›

Another day, another damning revelation of the role that religion played in the NYPD's extensive surveillance of the Muslim community. The AP reports that in addition to monitoring college students at schools in the New York City area, the department monitored Muslim students at Yale and University of Pennsylvania, and even sent an undercover officer on a whitewater rafting trip where he took detailed notes on the students and their activities. more ›

Valentine's Day is a garish, corporate shill designed to trick you into substituting commerce for Love, but don't take our word for it: it also just happens to be the Word of God. We picked out a few religious takes on the holiday that have us pondering conversion. Hear that, deities? We'll accept cash, anatomically correct chocolate hearts, and massage hula-hoops for our soul. more ›

Might as well start calling him Teflon Kelly—as far as public opinion polls go, scandals just don't seem to stick to our police commissioner. A new poll out of Quinnipiac University finds that 62 percent of New Yorkers approve of Kelly's job performance, down just four points since December despite the recent anti-Islam video brouhaha Kelly has been stuck in (to name just one of his headaches). In fact, when it comes to the treatment of muslims by the men in blue, New Yorkers don't seem too upset about how police handle the religion. more ›

Last January investigative journalist Tom Robbins broke the story of how the NYPD endorsed the scaremongering Islamophobic documentary The Third Jihad. The film was funded by the pro-Israel non-profit group The Clarion Fund, and it contends that few, if any, Muslims can be trusted. "Americans are being told that most of the mainstream Muslim groups are moderate," says the narrator, "when in fact if you look a little closer you'll see a very different reality. One of their primary tactics is deception." Newly released documents show the NYPD knows a thing or two about deception as well! more ›

Investigators are searching for a man seen in this surveillance video hurling a Molotov cocktail at a private home in Jamaica, Queens that doubles as a Hindu place of worship. The suspect, described as black, 5-feet-8, 200 pounds, and 25 to 30 years old, was caught on camera throwing a Starbucks Frappuccino bottle filled with flammable liquid at the residence, one of four places in Queens that were firebombed late Sunday night. A fifth home on Long Island was also hit Sunday night, and Nassau County police tell the Times that incident has "some characteristics" similar to the Queens attacks. more ›

A judge has blocked Con Ed from evicting the controversial Park 51 community center from its Lower Manhattan buildings, after the utility retroactively raised the monthly rent to $47,437 and demanded $1.7 million in back rent. According to the New York Law Journal, Justice Richard Braun noted in his opinion that Park 51 "speculates as to whether defendant may be bowing to unspecified political pressure," referring to the fact that lots of people are upset that a mosque could be built so close to a sacred strip club. more ›

At a hastily-assembled press conference Sunday night, Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly stated that arresting 27-year-old terror suspect Jose Pimentel was an urgent priority "before he could detonate a fully-operated bomb." But the FBI's refusal to take the case based on "holes" and entrapment issues as well as the revelations that Pimentel, a frequent marijuana smoker, had attempted to circumcise himself pose the salient question: was Pimentel ever a serious threat to society? more ›

Police commissioner Ray Kelly is tasked with the important job of protecting us from Islam terrorism, and in order to do this effectively, he may have to spy on Muslims. To make a safety omelet, you have to crack a few Korans! Unfortunately, the city council didn't take too kindly to Kelly's counterterrorism tactics of trailing terror-denouncing imams or violating the rights of innocent people, and grilled him at a hearing on Thursday. Kelly can take care of himself, but the New York Post's editorial board is here to help: "Kelly refused to apologize for a decade of brilliant police work. Good for him." Damn straight. Love is never having to say "I'm sorry (I pulled you over because of the color of your skin)." more ›

Those protesting corporate greed on Wall Street today should be careful about what they say to their comrades: the NYPD placed at least one undercover officer in a demonstration supporting Park 51 held on September 11, 2010. The Daily News learned of "UC 242's" participation in the rally during a discussion that Manhattan prosecutors had in court about a conflict of interest posed in the "synagogue terrorists" trial. UC 242 received a summons for not showing NYPD his badge, which he did "to maintain his cover…to build solidarity with protestors," a lawyer for the defense team says. more ›

Pamela Geller's SHARIA Hotline is burning up right now: the organizers of Park 51 AKA "The Ground Zero Victory Mosque" are opening a photo exhibition by artist Danny Goldfield in the former Burlington Coat Factory on Wednesday. What kind of photos? Muslims celebrating 9/11? Puppies getting beaten with Korans? Bald eagles being tortured by crescent moons? From Park 51's Kickstarter: "Danny is photographing a child from every country on earth currently living in New York City." more ›

Sigh: The NYPD Hate Crimes Unit is investigating a "partially burnt Koran" that was sent to a Bronx mosque. This comes days after those opposed to building a new mosque and Islamic community center a few blocks from the World Trade Center convened for another protest. more ›

Remember the "Ground Zero" mosque—the controversial community and prayer center that will probably never have enough money to be built a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center site? Don't think just because the project is financially stalled that it ain't gonna happen—the Christian Action Network is making sure Americans know that this is still a threat. The group, which states its mission as "protecting America's religious and moral heritage," is releasing a documentary called Sacrificed Survivors: The Untold Story of the Ground Zero Mega-Mosque. And they've rallied the relatives of 9/11 victims to the cause. more ›

Fifteen people were arrested at Rye Playland amusement park in Westchester County yesterday afternoon, and two charged with felony assault after a melee broke out when a park employee asked a Muslim woman to remove her headscarf before boarding a ride. The woman who attempted to ride the Dragon Rollercoaster, Haifa Ali, tells Patch that after she was told she couldn't ride unless she removed her hijab, she and a group of other Muslim women went to ask for a refund. Then "someone grabbed her hijab…a park ranger wrestled another one of the women to the ground," when "law enforcement began to converge on the group, hitting them with batons." Another eyewitness not with the group says she heard one female police officer yell, "I don't give a f*ck about your culture." more ›

Imam Charles Aziz Bilal has been arrested in a South Jamaica, Queens prostitution sting. According to authorities, late Tuesday night Bilal offered $25 to an undercover agent in exchange for sex at a Howard Johnson, which was just 10 blocks from the mosque that he runs. At least it wasn't at a Dunkin' Donuts. more ›

Whole Foods is in full-on damage control mode after an embarrassing internal email fell into the hands of a reporter for the Houston Press. It all started innocently enough, when the popular supermarket chain sent out an email to its regional managers reminding them about the annual tradition of "carrying and promoting halal products for those that are celebrating Ramadan this month." Unfortunately for Whole Foods, one region—quick, guess which one!—was scared off by one Islamaphobic blogger's reaction to the scary Muslim Caliphate promotion. more ›

Rep. Peter King wants to protect tipsters who report suspicious activity from lawsuits against those who feel they were wrongly ratted out. The Republican congressman and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee believes that the liability protection for citizens who come to the authorities with information should be expanded beyond "passenger transportation." The men who reported the Times Square bombing plot were vendors on the street, and wouldn't be protected under the current law. King is pushing for the protection in light of a lawsuit brought by six Muslim imams against their accusers and the airline, who were wrongfully ejected off of a flight. They later dropped their suit against the passenger who reported them and settled out of court. more ›

Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam at the Park 51 community center, the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque," says that all of his efforts to get the center built might have ended up getting in the way of his ultimate mission: Closing the gap of understanding between the West and Islam. more ›

Despite needing $100 million to complete the project, organizers of the Ground Zero Mosque say they're only projected to raise $7.5 million in 2011. The Post reports that while Park51, which is still waiting for their tax-exempt status from the IRS, plans to raise $15 million in 2012, at this rate it will take a good decade before anyone can picket the actual site of the mosque (presumably after they support the local strip club). Guess that Burlington Coat Factory cash never came through. more ›

Osama bin Laden's death may have been only the third time the New York Times actually stopped their presses, but maybe they should go for four, because Glenn Beck and many Muslims both agree that the terrorist shouldn't have been given a burial at sea. Perhaps a good bronzing would have been more appropriate? more ›