Free Republic

What Pamela Geller is about — courageously and boldly — is standing up for freedom. That’s it. That’s all. “My country is in danger,” she said to Sean Hannity on his radio show yesterday — and she is right. When O’Reilly says “Insulting the entire Muslim world is stupid… It does not advance the cause of liberty or get us any closer to defeating the savage jihad,” he is, as Megyn Kelly said, confused. It isn’t Geller’s job to defeat ISIS. That’s the President’s job. It isn’t her job to provoke — or not provoke. It isn’t her job to...

The debate continues to rage over whether an anti-Muslim group was justified in insulting every Muslim on the planet. As you may know, two jihadis were killed by a brave police officer in Garland, Texas on Sunday after they tried to storm a conference held by the American Freedom Defense Initiative. The dead men deserved what they got. But the incident was ignited by a contest featuring cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Any depiction of that Islamic icon is a sin in the Muslim world. Many Americans believe the provocation was legitimate under freedom of speech. But that is not...

O'Reilly Poll Do you support the group American Freedom Defense Initiative mocking the Islamic religion? (The poll is at the right of the screen, near the top)

As you know by now, last weekend Pamela Geller held a Mohammed Art Exhibit in Texas. That event was attacked by two jihadists wearing body armor and carrying semi-automatic weapons. Luckily, they were shot immediately upon arrival by a police officer with his handgun. Since the event ISIS has issued a fatwa, otherwise known as a death sentence, on Pam Geller's head. Last night on Hannity radical Imam Anjem Choudary, who represents a significant portion of British Muslims, justified the death sentence. "You're talking about people who deliberately had a competition to insult the messenger Muhammed, peace be upon him...

Pamela Geller, the woman targeted by terrorists in Texas over the weekend, says the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have yet to contact her after the thwarted attacked. She made the comments last night in an interview with Sean Hannity. "This is a serious threat," said Hannity. "Basically a Fatwa, a death threat, has now been issued. Your reaction to that? Have you had any contact with the FBI?" "They have not contacted me, but of course we've now increased my team. I have a team now, private security, and NYPD counterterror has been in touch with me,"...

Tuesday night Fox News carried a barrage of criticism against free-speech heroine Pam Geller for her draw Mohammed contest. She was attacked by Greta van Susteren, Bill O’Reilly and Laura Ingraham, without being given a chance to be interviewed and defend herself. Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity were the stand-up guys. In response to my blog post Tuesday on Megyn Kelly calling out O’Reilly on why Geller is absolutely right, I received an email from a normally clear-headed conservative friend who asserted Geller was purposely provocative and it is wrong to insult anyone’s religion. Here’s the key difference. Muslims can...

Imagine a world where you can be punished for simply offending someone. That world exists, and people are paying thousands of dollars a semester for the privilege of walking on eggshells for four years. But it’s not just colleges where these delicate flowers grow; the outrage brigade is everywhere. Two major American universities, the University of Michigan and the University of Maryland, caved to pressure from a tiny minority of students who demanded their will be forced on everyone. The schools canceled, at least temporarily, public screenings of the movie “American Sniper” because these emotional Fabergé eggs deemed it offensive...

It's quite astonishing to watch what is unfolding in America today as our media engages in self-censorship while acting as apologists for the actions of Islamic terrorism. By doing this, the media not only sacrifices the freedom of speech that is essential to our pluralistic society, but it also promotes the fear that jihadists seek to instill by dictating what is and isn't "off limits" to debate. This is already happening with news reporters such as Ayman Mohyeldin of NBC now calling for special speech protections for Islam in the wake of Sunday's terrorist attack in Garland, Texas. Pamela Geller...

So if Muslims burn our flag and shout "Death to America" it's nothing more than a innocuous demonstration of free speech, but if a Texas town holds a Muhammad caricature contest it's an instant crime against humanity and prosecutable hate speech? The fact liberals are even suggesting Islam should be protected against any and all disparagement - in a country predicated upon Judeo-Christian values no less - but that that the vilest forms of slander against Christians, capitalists, veterans, police, and conservatives is perfectly acceptable and even encouraged, shows the true, fascist face of progressivism. After all, it's not like...

The winner of Sunday night's draw Muhammed art contest, which was attacked by terrorists influenced by ISIS, is speaking out and pleading for the West to fight back against attacks on free speech. "We can't be cowed by this because once this goes, once free speech goes, it's over," Bosch Fawstin said during an interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. "I've been drawing Muhammed for years and I heard about the contest and I took it upon myself to take part in it. I think it's an important thing. It's about freedom of speech, which is deadly important, especially...

In an appearance on Monday's broadcast of MSNBC's Hardball NBC terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann berated Pamela Geller and those who hosted a contest to draw the prophet Mohammed in Garland, Texas on Sunday night. The event ended tragically when two gunmen, at least one being a Muslim, shot a security guard before they were shot dead by police. Kohlmann said that while everyone has the right to freedom of speech, the coordinators of this event were "standing by the principle of hatred for other people." However, Kohlmann did admit that the response to contest was "predictable." "Everyone has the right...

Terrorists assaulted a “Mohammed cartoon” event in Texas sponsored by activist Pamela Geller, and the response has been, in part, soul-searching over what’s wrong with Pamela Geller. Geller is an attention-hungry provocateur who will never be mistaken for Bernard Lewis, the venerable scholar of Islam. Her Texas gathering to award a cash prize for the best cartoon of Mohammed — depictions of whom are considered offensive by many Muslims — was deliberately offensive, but so what? Two armed Muslim men showed up intending to kill the participants, and were only thwarted when they were shot dead by a police...

Americans will defend to the death — and literally had to — Pamela Geller’s right to disseminate images of the Prophet Muhammad. The First Amendment applies even to irresponsible provocateurs. A Geller-organized event in Texas over the weekend included inviting artists to draw images of Muhammad, an act that has provoked deadly attacks by some Islamists. In explaining her rationale, Geller pointed to an Iranian Holocaust cartoon contest that drew nearly 1,000 entries, saying “We need to make a similar show of strength of what is right.” Which extended to a drawing of Muhammad anally impaled on a pencil up...

Texas' elected officials treaded carefully Monday as they reacted to a shooting on Sunday in Garland that left two gunmen dead outside a contest featuring cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Some called it an attack on free speech, while others simply thanked law enforcement and said they were monitoring the situation. Speaking with reporters Monday morning, Gov. Greg Abbott called the shooting a "heinous crime" that struck at the heart of the First Amendment. He added he would not feel differently if the shooting had happened in connection with an event mocking Christianity. "What Christians believe is we need to...

Stand with the Prophet in Honor and Respect, an event that asks “Ready to defeat Islamophobia?” is coming to the Dallas area Curtis Culwell Center on Saturday, January 17, 2015, at 6pm. Until recently, few knew anything about this conference and now that many more do, residents are not just upset about the event and its speakers, they are upset that it is being held on the publicly-owned property of the Garland Independent School District (ISD) in a facility that was built and paid for with property taxpayer funded school bonds. Stand with the Prophet is described in its promotional...

Our scientific method and traditions of free speech and open debate are under assault as never before, by intolerant inquisitors in our media, universities, government agencies, and even Congress and the Vatican. They threaten our most basic rights and freedoms, our political and scientific processes – and ultimately our continued innovation and invention, energy reliability and affordability, job creation and economic growth, and modern living standards, health and welfare. Congressman Grijalva and Senators Markey, Boxer and Whitehouse sent letters to universities, think tanks and companies, demanding detailed information on skeptics’ funding and activities – in an attempt to destroy their...

UPDATE: The implementation of Barack Obama's takeover of the Internet is less than 45 days away. And as Marsha Blackburn says, if Congress does not take action to stop Barack Obama, the government will "control the Internet" in a little over the month. Make no mistake, the Internet as you know it will never be the same if we let Barack Obama implement this takeover. You'll pay more for less service and the government will use this draconian ruling as a club to bludgeon Internet freedom, including ultimately your free speech. And if you think we exaggerate, consider what Rep....

I remember the righteous smugness I used to feel when the one conservative friend in my social circle would begin expressing his opinions at a dinner gathering. I and the other ‘enlightened’ diners would shift uncomfortably and glance at one another, rolling our eyes: "Here he goes again." My stomach would tighten with a worry not fit for the occasion. I began to feel personally offended. And the smugness sometimes boiled over into anger, as I'd listen to my friend, loyal and kind, simply share his "crazy" ideas and opinions with us.What I thought then was only my frustration with...

In a swing through the crucial presidential state of Iowa this weekend,Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took the rare step of lashing out at prosecutors who had probed his campaign by questioning whether their tactics were constitutional.In an equally unusual turn,prosecutors fired back by calling Walker's comments inaccurate,offensive and defamatory—with Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm suggesting Walker could be criminally charged for lying. They said Walker should call for the release of sealed court records so the public could know more about the investigation and raids on people's homes,but Walker gave that notion little heed....The state Supreme Court is now...

One of the more contentious ideas to recently emerge from the culture war is that of "safe spaces." We are said to be at risk of social dangers. Sometimes these dangers are labeled denialism (in which someone's identity isn't recognized) or triggering speech (speech that sets off traumatic responses in unwitting listeners). The way some students at elite colleges combat these social dangers is to create, or demand the creation of, safe spaces. And just as often, students demand that their entire campus become a safe space. Hence the wrong kind of speech is re-labeled as violence. The space only...