The right-wing media have recently advanced the conspiracy theory that the $1.8 million grant to NPR from the Open Society Foundations -- which were founded by philanthropist George Soros -- is related to Juan Williams' firing. Andrew Breitbart's websites have dramatically one-upped that conspiracy theory, accusing the White House of having a role in Williams' termination and suggesting that Williams' firing is evidence of a “shariah-mandated stealth jihad” -- perhaps part of a “Muslim Brotherhood influence operation.”
Here's Breitbart media criticism website Big Journalism inventing a White House connection to NPR's actions:
The reason given by NPR for firing Juan Williams was comments he made on the Bill O'Reilly show earlier this week. In truth, Williams wasn't fired for the comments he made, but for where he made them, Fox News. NPR even admitted it in their official statement on Williams departure.
Williams' presence on the largely conservative and often contentious prime-time talk shows of Fox News has long been a sore point with NPR News executives.
Most probably, NPR had a partner in the decision. This was the opening shot of the White House's escalation of its war on Fox News. Its intent was to send shivers down the spine of any journalist or news network that cooperates with Fox News.
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In the end the NPR move has nothing to do with Juan Williams; just like their strong-arming of Mara Liasson, the move was orchestrated by the White House to frighten others from appearing on or cooperating with Fox. Ironically, the White House and their banker, Mr. Soros, are trying to keep the liberal voices off of Fox with the end result of turning it into the biased right wing network that they already believe it is.
And at Breitbart's Big Peace, here is Frank Gaffney's bizarre claim that Williams' firing is a “teachable moment” about “the shariah-mandated stealth jihad we are up against and the threat it poses to our freedom of expression” [bolding in original]:
After National Public Radio President Vivian Schiller fired the network's veteran “news analyst” Juan Williams for declaring that he felt fearful when flying with individuals in Muslim garb, she declared that her action constituted a “teachable moment.” Indeed, it is.
The question occurs, however: Precisely what is to be learned from it?
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The first and most unmistakable lesson of this affair, therefore, is that it is hazardous to one's livelihood, if not literally to one's life, to say anything that is deemed offensive to Muslims.
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The second lesson follows from the first: Juan Williams' firing is evidence of submission to shariah.
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Third, as the Center for Security Policy's blue-ribbon Team B II made clear in its new book, Shariah: The Threat to America, it is axiomatic that, the more we exhibit such reactions, the more those who adhere to shariah will feel emboldened to assert themselves aggressively - and, in due course, violently.
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In short, Juan Williams' termination by NPR can, indeed, teach all of us much about the shariah-mandated stealth jihad we are up against and the threat it poses to our freedom of expression - and, unless it is stopped, to our Constitution and nation. This is not, of course, the sort of lesson Vivian Schiller has in mind. But if her indefensible action winds up helping the rest of us learn what we have to about our enemies, foreign and domestic, with his sacrifice, Juan Williams may just have rendered an incalculable service to his country.
Similarly, a Big Peace post -- headlined “Gaffney: Was Juan Williams the Target of A Muslim Brotherhood Influence Operation?” -- promoted an online radio segment in which Gaffney suggests that the Council on American-Islamic Relations “appears to be an unregistered foreign agent engaging in illegal political influence operations because it has not registered under FARA (the Foreign Agents Registration Act).” Gaffney also “calls for the Department of Justice to investigate.”
Gaffney has made a litany of bizarre anti-Islam claims in the past.