Free Republic

Ahmed Bedier, a Tampa man who has been active in recent years in local civic and political causes, lost a brother this week to the ongoing violence in Egypt. Bedier, the former director of the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was visiting Egypt for a family wedding when his brother was killed. He told of the death in a post Wednesday on his personal Twitter page. "My brother Amir Bedier was shot killed by #Egypt police in #Rabaa," the tweet read. "He was unarmed & fasting. We r proud of him & love him #30june #tahrir."

SPRING HILL, FL -- While showing off her JROTC uniform, 16-year-old Heather Lawrence told us joining the Army is her next big goal, to follow in the footsteps of her father and grandfather. "Our flag represents everything that our country is," she said. The teen says an issue over the American flag is why she was written up and handed a five-day suspension from Springstead High School this week for criticizing a Muslim student. Heather says the other girl was sitting down during the Pledge of Allegiance. "You know, I made a not-so-kind remark, and I do sincerely apologize for...

Ahemd Bedier who last year had "stepped down" as the Executive Director of the Tampa Bay office of The Council on American Islamic Relations, has now started up a new Islamic front group called The United Voices of America to help advance his Islamic agenda.

CAIR, FBI looking into Tampa gas station explosion “We have lost a good young man” Yesterday afternoon I posted this story because it raised questions: a Muslim is involved in a fatal post-midnight explosion in a gas station, and the FBI is investigating -- I wrote that it was "one to watch." And now the plot thickens: CAIR's Ahmed Bedier is on the case, and there may even be a connection to the jihadists whom he notoriously dismissed as "naive kids." Perhaps in the same spirit, Bedier here says of Farid Karaka: “We have lost a good young man.” "FBI...

After years of denial, Sami Al-Arian has finally admitted it: he has pleaded guilty to a charge of “conspiracy to make or receive contributions of funds to or for the benefit of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Specially Designated Terrorist” organization. He has agreed to accept deportation. In his 2002 defense of Al-Arian, Eric Boehlert wrote: “The al-Arian story reveals what happens when journalists, abandoning their role as unbiased observers, lead an ignorant, alarmist crusade against suspicious foreigners who in a time of war don't have the power of the press or public sympathy to fight back.” Reality is just the...