A great catch from Adam Kredo at the Free Beacon this week, if by “great” you mean an excellent reason to smash your face into your desk. It turns out that the NYPD has had a document for the past several years, titled “Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat,” which provides guidelines to understanding domestic terrorists, how they become radicalized and how they tend to operate. Of course, anything that incredibly useful must be stamped out of existence.

The New York Police Department has been directed by a U.S. court to remove from its online records an investigation pertaining to the rise of Islamic extremists in the West and the threats these individuals pose to American safety, according to legal documents.

As part of a settlement agreement reached earlier this month with Muslim community advocates in U.S. District Court, the NYPD will purge from its website an extensive report that experts say has been critical to the department’s understanding of radical Islam and its efforts to police the threat.

The court settlement also stipulates that the NYPD make a concerted effort to mitigate the impact of future terror investigations on certain religious and political groups, according to a copy of the court documents published by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has spearheaded the case since June 2013.

Yep… in case you were wondering, the ACLU was at the bottom of this. It was somehow deemed unfair to use such research material in training or the development of counter-terrorism plans because it might be offensive to Muslims. But by going to court and suing the department they were not only able to get the police to ditch the information, but also to apologize and develop a plan so they wouldn’t offend any other Muslims in the future. The ACLU was so proud of their court victory that they were celebrating far and wide. (The Guardian)

In the current moment of mounting anti-Muslim sentiment nationwide and misguided calls from some politicians for a security crackdown on Muslims, there is some welcome news: the New York police department has agreed to reforms that prohibit the discriminatory surveillance of Muslim communities.

Five years ago, news broke that the NYPD was engaged in an expansive domestic spying operation targeting American Muslim communities for surveillance, mapping and infiltration. Two lawsuits were filed in the New York federal courts in response to these practices and in defense New York City Muslims’ – and all minority communities’ – right to equal treatment and religious freedom.

On Thursday, both lawsuits were settled. If approved by the courts, the settlement would reinforce existing safeguards on surveillance of political and religious activities, create new ones and embed civilian oversight within the NYPD.

Our society continues it’s long, slow march toward self-imposed extinction. If you’re looking for people breaking insider trading laws, you set up surveillance on Wall Street, not at the feed and grain store. If you’re looking for a cheese thief you stake out the cheese shop. And if you’re looking for radicalized Islamic terrorists you start in the Muslim communities. But that would make too much sense while being simultaneously politically incorrect, so you’d best apologize to everyone and send your terror task force out to keep tabs on Amish. I’m sure they’ll turn up something.

I’m going to go look for some stories about alien abductions or Bigfoot to share with you tomorrow. Reading actual news is simply too depressing.