By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
Hat Tip: DragonLadyToo

Well, well, well… Look who has been caught with their hand in the ‘progressive’ cookie jar… None other than the Department of Justice. They have cast off the outdated red, white and blue for a sleek black masthead with a really cool Marxist/Progressive quote:

The common law is the will of Mankind issuing from the Life of the People

Catchy, huh? Just one tiny little (too small to be relevant obviously) point – the quote is from C. Wilfred Jenks, who in the 1930’s was a leading proponent of the “international law” movement, which had as its goal to impose a global common law and which backed ‘global workers’ rights.’ Call it Marxism, call it Progressivism, call it Socialism – under any of those names it definitely makes the DOJ look corrupt in their sleek, new black website with Marxist accessories to match.

On the cutting edge of technology and counterterrorism, the site utilizes social networking sites to ‘interact’ with American citizens. Well, I for one feel all warm and fuzzy knowing the DOJ will be watching those ‘dangerous’ bloggers. Oops, I guess I’m one of them. You don’t think they would abuse their surveillance of us do you? If you don’t think so, I have some prime property for you. Just ask…

The quote at the beginning of this post is credited to Jenks, a man who made a place at the collective table for socialists and communists at the U.N., and inspired the global “workers rights movement.” Jenks was a long-time member of the United Nation’s International Labor Organization and the author of a number of globalist tracts, including a set of essays published back in 1958 entitled The Common Law of Mankind. Jenks also belonged to The League of Nations.

From The American Spectator (read the whole article – it is very good):

Most telling: Jenks, as director of the ILO is credited with putting in place the first Soviet senior member of the UN organization, and also with creating an environment that allowed the ILO to give “observer status” to the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and to issue anti-Israeli statements, which precipitated efforts by the U.S. Congress to withdraw U.S. membership from the ILO. The U.S. actually did withdraw in the mid-1970s due to the organization’s leftist leanings.

“It was Jenks’s efforts that helped make the ILO a tool of the socialist and communist movement,” says one of the DOJ lawyers. “We used to joke about how fitting it was that this was Janet Reno’s favorite quote to use in speeches, and now the Obama folks think it encapsulates out department’s mission.”

Suggestions to highlight quotes from the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights or quotes from the Founders, the Federalist Papers or prominent American jurists were quickly shot down by the Department of Justice’s media and new media teams, according to DOJ sources familiar with the design process, and the White House communications shop was given input to the overall design as well.

There you have it… Founding Fathers need not apply – who needs them when you have a Progressive/Marxist to lead the legal way?

Update: Pierre Legrand’s Pink Flamingo Bar – Department of Justice…or Something!

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

From: Dr. Bulldon & Ronin – an excellent, excellent site…

From TorrentFreak:

After the U.S. Government took action against several sites connected to movie streaming recently, nerves are jangling over the possibility that this is just the beginning of a wider crackdown. Now it appears that a free blogging platform has been taken down by its hosting provider on orders from the U.S. authorities on grounds of “a history of abuse”. More than 73,000 blogs are out of action as a result.

Yesterday, an event took place here in the United States that got little comment – cue the crickets… WordPress host Blogetery and 73,000 WordPress blogs were shut down, marking the beginning of a modern day 1984 society in the US. A chill rippled through the blogging world and the Internet sparking 1st Amendment fears and a Constitutional outcry from those paying attention.

I remarked that this was “Possibly the biggest violation of Constitutional rights I have seen in my lifetime…” I twittered, facebooked and sent this out to the largest bloggers on the web. Silence ensued, apathy reigned and a disquieting sense of despondency descended. Only The Radio Patriot commented on the fact that their Google, Blogger account just vanished some time ago and that it now feels like ‘1984‘ in the realest sense of the title.

Digger’s Realm has a great comment that states the obvious:

This is upsetting but not too surprising.

Look around you: REPRESSION AND CURTAILING OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS HAPPENING MORE & MORE BY THE DAY. And it is only going to get WORSE, as more people SPEAK OUT against the repressions happening in our once-free society. This thin-skinned government, with its own self-serving agenda, seems adamant about quashing criticism. God help us all, because when they cut off our ability to speak Truth or to communicate with one another, we become extremely vulnerable to other State abuses.

And from Geek.com:

No, the extreme response taken here by U.S. Authorities implies some sort of believed terrorist connection or child pornography ring, not just a handful of warez and MP3 blogs. Even so, though, unless Blogetery itself is suspect of harboring terrorists or child pornographers, it’s hard to condone this sort of extreme action that has instantly silenced over 73,000 users, the majority of whom are doubtlessly innocent of any wrong-doing.

Hopefully, we’ll get more details of this developing story soon.

Let’s hope so, but I wouldn’t hold your ‘collective’ breath here. I warned about this previously – first they will come for the bloggers using copyright infringement as a weapon, then taxation and fees. The American government will do anything they can to shut us up and those that believe this does not affect them better wake up and soon. This is coming at us like a freight train and may very well silence all of us – except those who are for the government and are on Soros’ payroll. Media Matters should be safe…

Back up your blogs and have alternate forums set up folks. We are being driven underground and a lot faster than I even thought we would be. Have your own server and forge bonds with other bloggers. You can use the wp-db-backup plugin as well.

From Helium:

The United States Government shut down about 73,000 WordPress blogs on a single Web site in a move that some fear signals an increasing disregard for individual free speech rights. The action follows the high profile government seizure of seven online movie sites weeks ago. The U.S. move dwarfs current Chinese government activity that shut down only “dozens” of blogs in China.

And I saved the last word on this for the best and sanest entry I’ve seen on this subject – from Gadgetsteria:

I know if I were a legitimate Blogetery customer, having my site knocked out with no explanation as to why or a time frame on when it would be back up would end my relationship with them immediately. Adding insult to injury, BurstNet is claiming they’re sworn to secrecy and that the data from the downed sites cannot be retrieved. One vital piece of information that’s lost — the Blogetery owner’s contact information, which I’m sure some 73,000 site owners are probably looking for right now.

There really is no excuse to go to such great lengths over IP/copyright infringement claims. If the content is really so bad, why not blacklist/shutdown/delete the infringing sites’ accounts? Why take down 73,000+? If this is what we can expect from the U.S. government’s new tougher stance on IP infringement and digital laws in general, the future does not look bright. It appears due process is utterly useless now. If this does turn out to be IP/copyright related, we can all assume that since the “fight against piracy” is utter bullshit, the government is simply resorting to shutting down the entire internet small bits at a time.

The silencing of bloggers has begun. Which side will you take and how will you fight?

Update: From DragonLadyToo…

Have you checked out the new DOJ website, complete with a communist/progressive quote on the banner and the American Flag removed and the black motif? Here is what it looks like now:
http://www.justice.gov/ and here is what it looked like before the Destroyer in Chief changed it:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080708201613/http://www.justice.gov/
and here is background on the quote:… http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/16/with-liberty-and-global-justic/print

Update:

Hat Tip: Jean Stoner

Feds Ignore Due Process, 1st Amendment, Shut Down 1000’s of Blogs

—————-

Thanks to Glenn Reynolds and Instapundit and welcome to our visitors from his site!

Update: No Sheeples Here – Marching Down The Path To Orwell’s 1984?

The Radio Patriot – Implementing 1984

Kim Priestap – Whose blogs will be next?

Update: Fox News – FBI Warning of Al Qaeda Hit Lists, Bomb-Making Tips Led to Shutdown of Blogging Site

Let the finger-pointing begin… I didn’t even see in the beginning where the FBI was involved, however, it makes sense they would be. This whole story doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t believe the FBI when they say they didn’t ask Burst.net to shut down the server, but I don’t fully believe Burst.net either.

Now, the claims include terrorism. But still, shutting down 73,000 blogs is blatantly unconstitutional. The FBI is trying to cover their ass by saying they did not ask Burst.net to shut down the blogs. That only a few were of concern to them. Either the FBI (or ICE, or the Copyright Infringement Division, or DHS) used a mallet to kill a fly and is power hungry, out of control, or the host is lying for some reason I can’t fathom or both are true. The FBI claims they didn’t tell Burst.net to shut down, which may be true – it could have been DHS, ICE, the Copyright Infringement Division or pick an alphabet agency. Plausible deniability…

From CNET:

A source with knowledge of the investigation said that the material allegedly found on Blogetery’s server is connected to an online magazine called “Inspire,” which debuted recently. Numerous news outlets reported over the past weekend that “Inspire” is designed to help recruit new members to al-Qaeda and is edited by Samir Khan, a 24-year-old North Carolina man who moved to Yemen last October. According to Fox News, the title of one article was “Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.”

Citing intelligence sources, Fox reported that Khan is Web savvy and his magazine represents “al-Qaeda’s most ambitious terrorist recruitment tool to date.”

I still smell a rat here. Maybe multiple rats…

Update: A special thanks to Andrea Shea King – WND – 73,000 blogs disappear in an instant

Update: Fox News – Al Qaeda-Linked Blogging Site Had History of Breaking the Law

A blogging website that was shut down suddenly last week for containing links to hit lists, bomb-making documents and Al Qaeda’s new magazine “Inspire” had a lengthy history of breaking the law, but its violations were limited to copyright issues, not terrorism.

Upon learning from the FBI that the site, Blogetery.com, contained links to terrorist materials, including bomb-making instructions and an al-Qaeda “hit list,” the site’s host, BurstNET, decided to shut down the site’s server — and the 73,671 blogs it hosted.

and…

The EFF’s Opsahl said the request sounded similar to an exigent circumstance letter, a request for the voluntary disclosure of information based on the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

“There has been a history of abuse of these letters,” Opsahl noted. He pointed out that in January, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Justice issued a report concluding that the FBI improperly sought phone records through false assertions, and by replacing standard signatures with rubber-stamp approvals.

That said, such notices are not a vehicle for taking down information; they’re for finding the people responsible for posting the dangerous information, Opsahl said.

(more…)