Today has gotten off to a great start for me. I awoke to the news that Anjem Choudary had been convicted on terrorism charges in a UK court. To make a long story short, Choudary pledged allegiance to ISIS and that same pledge directly led to his followers packing up to go join the evil organization. Evil is not a term I use lightly, but ISIS definitely qualifies (as does a regime like North Korea’s). Ol’ Anjem had been playing fast and loose with the law for years, but this is what finally got him caught up. He now faces 10 years or so in prison. In my opinion, he should be locked up for life and never released.

Here’s just a few of his terrorist ties…

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http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37098751

The BBC has an excellent story on all this, different from the one linked above. I imagine home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani wrote it in advance of today’s verdict, because it is much too thorough to have been thrown together at the last moment. Of course, the verdict was actually delivered in late July. For legal reasons today was the earliest it could be reported. I imagine the BBC knew this was coming out for quite some time. Well, at least long enough to do this post

 

The scenes would change – but not the words.

The flag of Islam will fly over Downing Street, was his favourite prediction, followed by some kind of rhetorical flourish. “The Muslims are rising to establish the Sharia… Pakistan, Afghanistan and perhaps, my dear Muslims, Londonistan.”

He would greet the journalists with a smile, and some guile, dressed up as charm.

One day outside Regent’s Park Mosque (he was banned from ranting inside its premises) he told the crowd he was honoured that I had turned up to hear him speak. He liked playing games. It gave him a sense that he was winning.

Except it wasn’t a game. The evidence now shows that Anjem Choudary is one of the most dangerous men in Britain. Not a bomb-maker. Not a facilitator. But an ideologue, a thinker, who encouraged others not to stop and think for themselves before they turned to violence to implement their shared worldview.

Anyway, there’s a little background on all this in case you wanted to dig deeper. I’m actually here for a different reason, though. I wanted to bring you the best insults and trash talk from Twitter that I could find pot-verdict…

That one isn’t even a burn, but I think it’s a point to be considered. Although likely illegal, plenty of people echo this sentiment.

https://twitter.com/SteveBlogs1/status/765587729660964864

https://twitter.com/j_accuse89/status/765602319849357312

I saw a couple of those sort of tweets as well. I don’t think this is a free speech issue. The guy pledged allegiance to ISIS and in the process provided them material support in the form of fighters.  Yes, this was indirect, but his public and private actions were in clear violation of the law. After years of staying so assiduously within that law Choudary finally fell short.

I, for one, am very glad that he did.