Free Republic

Washington (AFP) - The group behind the Prophet Mohammed cartoon event in Texas where police killed two gunmen Sunday has a history of making provocative statements about Islam that it says are aimed at defending "freedom" and critics see as antagonizing Muslims. The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), led by provocative activist Pamela Geller, offered a $10,000 prize in a competition to draw a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed. Depicting the Prophet Mohammed is seen as offensive by many Muslims. Such satirical images have prompted violence in the past including in Paris this year when 12 people were gunned down...

“The belief that Islam is a peaceful religion and that Islamic terrorists have twisted that faith to unrecognizable extremes is a false interpretation that surrounds today’s narrative regarding Islam”, writes Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch. The greater overall threat this misconception poses is neglected because of fear and outright denial to acknowledge what or who our enemy truly is. The more we lie to ourselves and allow our politicians, media and government officials to lie to us, the more we enable terrorists to become embolden. Spencer further notes, “we cannot possible defeat an enemy whom we refuse to understand, refuse...

Of course he was a convict. Elton Simpson was the first figure identified in the latest eruption from the Religion of Peace™ — an attempted massacre at an exhibition of anti-Islamist cartoons in suburban Garland, Texas, which ended in the shooting of Simpson and his coconspirator, because Texas is where terrorists go to get out-gunned at an art show. Simpson and his pal are as dead as a tuna casserole — in Texas, we shoot back. We got lucky when luck wasn’t what we needed. Simpson was, like the overwhelming majority of murderers and most of those who commit serious...

One of the two men killed while trying to shoot up a Garland, Texas, event featuring controversial cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed linked himself to ISIS in a tweet posted just before the attack. The man, identified by a federal law enforcement source as Elton Simpson, apparently posted a tweet before the attack that read, in part, "May Allah accept us as mujahideen." The tweet from Simpson also said he and his fellow attacker had pledged loyalty to "Amirul Mu'mineen" (the leader of the faithful), which CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said probably refers to ISIS leader Abu Bakr...

Nearly 900 miles to the west, meanwhile, investigators searched the Phoenix apartment of the suspects. A U.S. law enforcement official told The Washington Post that the attackers have been identified as Elton Simpson, 30 — who had previously been the target of a terror-linked probe — and his roommate, Nadir Soofi, as officials tried to piece together the planning behind the late Sunday attack that wounded one guard.

Pamela Geller puts her azz on the line for us, the least we can do is catch her pass and run it for a touchdown. there isn't a one of us who wouldn't take a bullet for her. She's attacking the lefty media and Islam at its Achilles heel - the 1st Ammendment and we need to exploit that breach. I've seen a lot of savvy, biting satire images and comments here on Free Republic, really funny stuff that will hold up in any venue. We got the chops and now it's time to use them and create a Conservative...

“To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men.” Abraham Lincoln AFDI to hold $10,000 Muhammad cartoon contest and cartoon art exhibit at site of “Stand With the Prophet” conference NEW YORK, January 24: The human rights advocacy group the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) today announced that it will be holding a contest for cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and an exhibit of Muhammad cartoons, a retrospective, this May in Garland, Texas.

Two gunmen were killed by police Sunday night after they opened fire wounding a security officer at a Texas art competition featuring works depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad, a practice that is strictly forbidden in Islam.

GARLAND, Texas — Two armed men who opened fire on a security officer outside of a provocative contest for cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad have been killed, authorities in the Dallas suburb of Garland said Sunday night. The City of Garland said in a statement posted on its Facebook page Sunday night that two men drove up to the Curtis Culwell Center and began shooting at a security officer. Garland Police Department officers engaged the gunmen, who were both shot and killed, the statement said. The New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative had been hosting a contest at the...

Two gunmen were killed and a security guard wounded in an attack outside a controversial Dallas-area event Sunday evening where organizers were holding a contest for cartoons featuring the Muslim prophet Muhammad, police said. The shooting in Garland, a Texas suburb about 20 miles from Dallas, was preceded by messages from two social media accounts that supported extremist Islamic viewpoints. One tweet, sent at 6:35 p.m., used the hashtag "#texasattack." The user wrote, “May Allah accept us as mujahideen.” Attendees inside the conference didn’t get word about the shooting until 6:50 p.m. -snip- Two social media accounts tweeted messages about...

On Saturday at South Carolina Republican Party’s annual convention, Sen. Ted Cruz, who recently won two straw polls in two of South Carolina’s biggest counties, forcefully attacked big business for its collusion with the Democratic Party in attacking Indiana’s religious liberty law. He also slammed the Obama administration for its intrusion on Americans’s liberty. Speaking on the brouhaha raised after Indiana passed its Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Cruz said bluntly that the cooperation of the Democratic Party and businesses that threatened Indiana over the law was a “perfect storm of the Democratic Party and big business coming together.” Indiana’s law...

A picture is worth a thousand words

I'm reconsidering the merits of the NSA. What if they droned the riots, face recognized every thug, and called their moms?If Republicans and Tea Partiers are the racists, why are the riots always in Democrat and usually Black strongholds?Leftists believe in separation of church and state, until the state can order pastors to conduct same sex weddings, and strip religious colleges of their tax exemption. Then they're all into violation of church by state.This is all planned. The community organizers don't spawn riots in cities that would shut them down cold. Urban thugs: Lets riot! Conservative critics: These thugs are...

Authorities have identified one of the suspected gunmen who attacked an event in Dallas on cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, US media say. The FBI named him as Elton Simpson, who had been previously investigated on suspicion of terrorism offences, several reports said. Agents were searching an apartment in Phoenix, Arizona, where Simpson reportedly lived, an FBI official said. Two gunmen were shot dead after opening fire outside Sunday's event. They drove to the Muhammad Art Exhibit in the Dallas suburb of Garland as the event was ending, firing with assault rifles on two officers in a parking lot. One...

GARLAND, Tex. — One of the two gunmen who were killed Sunday after opening fire at an event where people were invited to present cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad was identified on Monday by a law enforcement official as a man who had previously been labeled by the F.B.I. as a jihadist terrorism suspect. Police officers shot and killed the man, identified as Elton Simpson of Phoenix, and his companion Sunday evening, outside the Curtis Culwell Center, at an event organized by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a New York-based group that also uses the name Stop Islamization of America....

Blogger Pamela Geller, 56, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, has been highly critical of Islam for yearsGeller's group was behind anti-Islamic ads that began appearing on New York City buses and subway entrances last yearShe said Sunday that the shooting showed how 'needed our event really was' The woman behind the Muhammad cartoon contest targeted in a Texas shooting Sunday has a long history of inflammatory anti-Islam propaganda, and watchdogs have labeled her organization a hate group. Pamela Geller, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), said immediately after two armed men opened fire on a security...

The White House refrained Monday from condemning the Prophet Mohammad cartoon contest that provoked an attack Sunday night in Garland that left two gunmen dead. “There is no act of expression, even if it’s offensive, that justifies an act of violence,” press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One as the president flew to New York for fund-raising and a TV appearance with David Letterman. “The president was informed last night of the violence outside Dallas,” Earnest said, condemning “extremists” who have responded with violence after expressions they find offensive. “We have seen extremists try to use expressions...

#copssavecivilianlives A clear and timely message to Baltimore, Maryland from Garland, Texas last night: police officers, risking their lives to do their jobs, keep civilian society safe. Proven countless times and now once again: Civilian lives are safer, thanks to thousands of police forces across America, whose intent is ‘To Serve and Protect’. “Two gunmen were killed by police Sunday night after they opened fire wounding a security officer at a Texas art competition featuring works depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad, a practice that is strictly forbidden in Islam.” (Matthew Vadum, May 4, 2015)

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...

Pamela Geller speaks to the Sugar Land Tea Party in Sugar Land, Texas. This event was originally to be held at the HyattPlace in Sugar Land but was canceled with less than 30 hours notice after the hotel received one email threatening to protest her appearance. The event was relocated to the Sugar Land Community Center.