Free Republic

A July 10, 2009 celebration, the Muslim iftar, drew an estimated 1,000 people to the Hill, thanks in part to an active Congressional Muslim Staff Association (CMSA). The group was formed in 2006 and regularly held networking events and briefings on the Muslim community. A few years later, in the 113th Congress, the CMSA did not even list itself as an official association — due to a turnover in leadership, lack of participation and what some regarded as a backlash against Muslim staffers. While the organization is taking steps to re-register as an official association, it is definitely in rebuilding...

Congressman Keith Ellison warns Netanyahu to not insert himself in American elections

A Minnesota congressman is calling for important changes to federal firearm laws in the wake of the movie theater massacre in Colorado. Democrat Keith Ellison says the U.S. should not just restrict assault weapons but it should also set limits on some gun clips, ammunition and body armor. “Reasonable gun controls,” Ellison said. “It’s time.” Ellison said Tuesday that you don’t need a bulletproof vest and an assault rifle to go hunting. He’s supporting laws to restrict some of the items the Colorado shooter used in his deadly rampage. .....

Political Correctness: "Allah Akbar!" cheered Egyptian Muslims while trampling the remains of dozens of Christians eviscerated in last Friday's suicide bombing. Yet we're assured that the phrase has nothing to do with Islam. Video taken at the gruesome scene outside a church in Alexandria, Egypt, clearly shows local rubberneckers whooping it up as they shout "Allah Akbar!" — Arabic for "Allah is greatest!" We heard the same celebratory chant from Palestinians and other Muslims around the world as the Twin Towers burned. The list of Islamic terrorists heard shouting the phrase before launching attacks is long. The 9/11 hijackers themselves...

An Al Qaeda leader, the head of a designated terror organization and a confessed jihadist-in-training are among a "Who's Who" of controversial figures who have participated in weekly prayer sessions on Capitol Hill since the 2001 terror attacks, an investigation by FoxNews.com reveals. The Congressional Muslim Staff Association (CMSA) has held weekly Friday Jummah prayers for more than a decade, and guest preachers are often invited to lead the service. The group held prayers informally for about eight years before gaining official status in 2006 under the sponsorship of Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., one of two Muslims currently serving in...

The terrorist now subject to a "kill or capture" order was welcomed in D.C. immediately after 9/11. He is far from the only terrorist welcomed by the CMSA. When a report challenging our national security policy of ignoring Islamic supremacism through Islamic law was released during a Capitol Hill press conference on Wednesday (disclosure: I was one of the co-authors of the report, titled: “Shariah: The Threat to America”), among the chief critics were representatives from the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association (CMSA). This group, which has been briefing both Democrat and Republican congressional leadership in recent months, claiming that there...

WASHINGTON - At midday on Fridays, Muslims gather to pray in a basement room of the U.S. Capitol. Kneeling on sheets they've spread over the floor and facing east toward Mecca, they are members of the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association, about two dozen congressional aides who are part of a small but growing minority in America and in the halls of government. At first just a prayer group, later a Muslim support group, the association is now looking outward to change what many see as woeful ignorance about Islam on Capitol Hill and beyond, said Jameel Aalim-Johnson, a black Muslim...