JINDAL: IT'S NOT JUST "NO-GO ZONES"

I'm glad USA Today is writing about Bobby Jindal's upcoming speech in London, which I told you about on Wednesday:

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a potential candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, will give a speech Monday in London and reiterate the disputed claim that Muslim immigrants have created "no-go zones" in Europe where non-Muslims are not welcome....

"In the West, non-assimilationist Muslims establish enclaves and carry out as much of Sharia law as they can without regard for the laws of the democratic countries which provided them a new home," Jindal's text reads. "It is startling to think that any country would allow, even unofficially, for a so called 'no-go zone.' The idea that a free country would allow for specific areas of its country to operate in an autonomous way that is not free and is in direct opposition to its laws is hard to fathom."

The "no-go zones" theory became a bit of an international incident over the weekend when Steven Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism said on FoxNews that in parts of France, Britain, Sweden and Germany, Muslim immigrants have set up enclaves where the host nations "don't exercise any sovereignty." He added that in the United Kingdom there are even entire cities -- specifically the city of Birmingham -- "where non-Muslims simply don't go in."

British Prime Minister David Cameron responded: "When I heard this frankly, I choked on my porridge and I thought it must be April Fools Day. This guy is clearly a complete idiot."

On Wednesday, quoting a Weekly Standard story, I told you about this aspect of Jindal's speech, but I neglected to mention another excerpt the Standard quoted:

"In my country, Christianity is the largest religion. And we require exactly no one to conform to it. And we do not discriminate against anyone who does not conform to it. It’s called freedom.

"A so-called religion that allows for and endorses killing those who oppose it is not a religion at all, it is a terrorist movement...."

By saying this, Jindal is throwing in his lot with those who argue that Islam should be denied First Amendment freedom-of-religion protection in America -- a disturbingly common idea on the right. For instance, here's freshman Georgia congressman Jody Hice, speaking during last year's campaign:

"Most people think Islam is a religion, it’s not. It’s a totalitarian way of life with a religious component," he said. "But it’s much larger. It’s a geo-political system that has governmental, financial, military, legal and religious components. And it’s a totalitarian system that encompasses every aspect of life and it should not be protected [under U.S. law]."

Hice didn't stop there.

"This is not a tolerant, peaceful religion even though some Muslims are peaceful. Radical Muslims believe that Sharia is required by God and must be imposed worldwide," he said. "It’s a movement to take over the world by force. A global caliphate is the objective. That’s why Islam would not qualify for First Amendment protection since it’s a geopolitical system ... This is a huge thing to realize and I hope you do. This will impact our lives if we don’t get a handle on it."

Hic is seen as one of the most extreme members of Congress -- but Jindal is right out there with him.

Assuming Jindal gets into the presidential race, it's clear that Ted Cruz is not going to be the candidate who's furthest to the right.

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Incidentally, Fox is report is reportedly planning to respond to Emerson's statement about "no-go zones" by broadcasting a correction. Given Fox's track record, that's extraordinary -- though we'll see how far the correction goes.