American Civil Liberties Union defends KKK in court

A Missouri city is being sued by the Ku Klux Klan for the right to distribute racist literature by placing handbills onto the windshields of parked vehicles. And guess who is representing the white supremacists in court?

The American Civil Liberties Union – one of the oldest human right defending organizations in the US – has come to the aid of one of the oldest and most notorious American racist groups. 

The Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (TAK) is being prohibited by an ordinance of the city of Cape Girardeau, MO from distributing flyers onto cars parked in public places,the Courthouse News reports.

The group claims that while it may be racist, its intentions are peaceful and they should therefore be able to exercise their right to free speech in this way. Its intentions in distributing handbills are simply to“spread its message widely,”the Klan says.

The white-supremacist group claims that the US was established by and for white men and that it should never“fall into the hands of an inferior race,”according to the TAK’s website. Meanwhile, the ACLU, representing the Klan, states on its website that it“works to extend rights to segments of our population that have rationally been denied their rights, including people of color; women; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people; prisoners; and people with disabilities.”But despite this stark difference in programs, it didn't stop ACLU from representing a KKK chapter in court.

“TAK describes itself as ‘a White Patriotic Christian organization that bases its roots back to the Ku Klux Klan of the early 20thcentury,’”states the complaint siding with the plaintiff.“According to TAK, it is a ‘non-violent organization that believes in the preservation of the white race and the United States Constitution as it was originally written and will stand to protect those rights against all foreign invaders.’”

TAK claims that one of its most efficient ways of spreading its message is by placing flyers on parked vehicles – and this method has been used all throughout the US, including in neighboring Missouri cities.

“We just want our rights like everybody else that are guaranteed under the First Amendment of the Constitution,”TAK member Frank Ancona told the Associated Press.“It’s just putting out informational fliers to the public to make them aware of our organization and what we stand for and things like that.”

The ACLU claims that the Cape Girardeau ordinance, which “mandates that no person shall throw or deposit any handbill in or upon any vehicle,” is unconstitutional by suppressing free speech. Even if those who practice it, do so in order to keep “white blood” pure. With the help of the ACLU,the Klan is fighting for the right to spread these ideals and more onto the windshields of parked cars across the state of Missouri.

TAGS: Conflict, Hate crimes,Law, USA, Court

Tens of thousands protest in Mexico against new president

Mexican court throws out election challenge, sparking riots

Enraged protesters gathered in the capital of Mexico following a court decision to disregard a challenge to Enrique Pena Nieto’s presidency. The newly-elected president was accused of money laundering and buying votes.

Hundreds of angry activists hurled stones, eggs and bottles at the police and the court building, and shouted slogans calling for a revolution. They brandished banners, saying “we demand this dirty election to be overturned,” and “Pena is not our president.”

 The protesters knocked down metal barriers that had been erected around the court and brawled with the riot police who had assembled there. 

Presidential election runner-up Andres Manuel Obrador accused Nieto and his Institutional Revolutionary Party of buying five million votes and courting voters with presents of supermarket gift cards, fertilizer, cement and livestock.

The electoral tribunal dismissed the claims on the basis there was not sufficient evidence to overturn the vote.

“After an examination of the evidence, we can confirm that constitutional principles were observed during the election,”tribunal member Salvador Nava said.

The Tribunal’s verdict sparked outrage among opposition activists, with Ricardo Monreal, a campaign coordinator for a leftist coalition, condemning the decision as “the verbal diarrhea of men who are paid millions of pesos and don’t work for the interests of the people.”

“They are fraudsters in the guise of learned men who are going to bury our constitution and become the vilest band of hucksters in the history of our country’s democracy,” Monreal said.

Pena Nieto won the Mexican election on July 1 by roughly 3.3 million votes, rejecting Obrador’s claims of fraud. Nieto’s victory sparked mass protests in Mexico City and calls for a recount.

Nieto will assume the Mexican presidency on December 1. His government has promised greater political transparency, and to modernize the country’s antiquated labor laws in an attempt to revitalize the Mexican economy.

US drug addiction impedes Mexican growth

View Interview transcript here

Anonymous takes down Godaddy.com: Millions of websites down as result

(CBS News) GoDaddy, the domain registrar and Web hosting company, experienced outages Monday, perhaps taking millions of websites down as a result.

"Status Alert: Hey, all. We're aware of the trouble people are having with our site. We're working on it," @GoDaddy tweeted. 

While GoDaddy.com's site is up and running, websites hosted by the company are still experiencing outages.

"Some services are back online," a GoDaddy spokesperson told CBS News. "It's been intermittent and impacted our site and some of our customer sites. It started at about 10 a.m. PT and we are working to restore all service."

TechCrunch reported earlier that GoDaddy-hosted email addresses were down, as well. The blog suggests customers concerned with that their site has been affected can check online status atDown For Everyone Or Just Me. 

A quick call to the company's customer service line resulted in a voice message stating that the company is aware of issues involving several services, including web hosting and emails. The company suggest following its Twitter page for updates. 

Twitter accounts thought to be associated with the hacking group Anonymous claimed responsibility for the attack.

"Basically, every GoDaddy site on the planet just crashed," @TibitXimer tweeted.

"#TangoDown - godaddy.com," @AnonOpsLegion tweeted Monday, claiming that the Twitter account @AnonymousOwn3r was responsible for the breach. "TangoDown" is the term that Anonymous generally uses to signify that a website is down. 

"By using / supporting Godaddy, you are supporting censorship of the Internet," @AnonOpsLegion tweeted again later. GoDaddy was the target of protests after it was discovered that the company supported unpopular bills the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA). 

The company's latest tweet reads: "Update: Still working on it, but we're making progress. Some service has already been restored. Stick with us."

GoDaddy did not specify at timeline for when all services would be restored, but did say that "all hands are on deck."