Pam Geller Sues DC Metro

Via the right wing Daily Caller:

Activist and blogger Pamela Geller is suing the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority after the agency refused to run her ads with a drawing of the prophet Muhammad on public transportation in the District of Columbia. On May 20, Geller submitted her ad to WMATA to be placed on buses and in train stations throughout the city, but about a week later the agency announced it would no longer accept “issue-oriented advertising.” At the time, a spokesman for WMATA told The Daily Caller News Foundation the decision to ban issue-oriented ads was not related to any particular organization, but Geller believes it was an attempt to block her right to speak freely. “It’s an end run around the first amendment,” Geller said in an email. “… [and] Public safety has been thrown in for good measure as if these craven quislings know what is conducive to the public good.” In the lawsuit, Geller, along with her non-profit organization American Freedom Defense Initiative, claims WMATA violated her First Amendment rights by refusing to run her ad.

Geller has fought similar battles against transit agencies in New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Tony Perkins: The SPLC Has Created A "Jihad Hit List" Of Anti-Islamic Women

Headline Of The Day

Homocon Guy Benson Backs Pam Geller

Fox News' right-hand-homocon is ever so pissed that Pam Geller won't be able to incite bombings on DC public transit. From the Hot Air piece he links to:

She’s forcing the state to admit that the threat of violence is so great that, as a matter of pure public safety, they’d rather give up easy revenue than take the chance of insulting “the prophet.” And, thanks to D.C.’s new policy, she’s gotten the state to spread the cost of censorship to other would-be issue-advertisers, which drives home the point to the wider public that the slippery slope on “hate speech” might be more slippery than the lefties who disdain her tend to assume.

Benson is also tweeting a link to win his new book over at the viciously anti-gay Townhall, where he is the political editor.

DC Bans All "Issue" Ads On Public Transit Rather Than Deal With Pam Geller

Via the International Business Times:

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority reportedly moved Thursday to ban so-called "issue" ads that promote political or religious subjects from appearing on its trains and buses. The board of directors for the authority, also known as Metro, approved a motion prohibiting issue ads through the end of the year, WAMU reporter Martin Di Caro tweeted. The decision came days after Pamela Geller, the woman behind the controversial "Draw Muhammad" contest in Garland, Texas -- where two gunmen linked to the Islamic State group tried to attack and died in shootout -- submitted a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad to appear as a Metro advertisement. Geller is the president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, which the Southern Poverty Law Center lists as an "anti-Muslim hate group." Her "Draw Muhammad" event was seen as a response to the January massacre at Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo, known for its satirical cartoons of Islam's founder.

DC's decision follows similar Geller-thwarting policy changes by transit officials in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.

Pam Geller Announces Plan To Advertise Mohammed Cartoon On DC Transit

"Because the media and the cultural and political elites continue to self-enforce the Sharia without the consent of the American people by refusing to show any depictions of Muhammad or showing what it was in Texas that had jihadists opening fire, we are running an ad featuring the winning cartoon by former Muslim Bosch Fawstin from our Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest in Garland, Texas. Let the American people see what the cowardly press is censoring in accordance with the blasphemy laws under the sharia (Islamic law). The ad campaign has been submitted to the Washington DC MTA to run on buses and train dioramas in the Foggy Bottom, Capitol South, Bethesda, L’Enfant Plaza, Shady Grove stations." - Pam Geller, writing for her blog.

Headline Of The Day

Even the Fox News host wasn't having it.

Pam Geller Vows To Hold Another Draw Mohammed Contest, "This Is America"

According to Blaze host Dana Loesch, any criticism of Pam Geller is just as bad as shaming the victims of rape. Yup.

TEXAS: Second Dead Gunman Identified

Obama Condemns Texas Shooting: No Form Of Expression Justifies Violence

Via the Washington Times:

The White House on Monday condemned a shooting at a controversial cartoon contest in Texas, saying that while Muslims may have found the event offensive there is no justification for violence. Two gunmen were shot and killed by a security guard Sunday night after opening fire at a Garland event that offered a $10,000 prize for the best cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. One security guard was injured in the assault. “We have seen extremists try to use expressions that they considered to be offensive as a way to justify violence not only in this country but around the world, and in the mind of the president there is no form of expression that would justify an act of violence,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We saw a pretty important and notable display of bravery on the part of first responders and … because of their courage the only person that was injured by these gunmen was a security officer.”

Pam Geller has been on every cable show today and the donations are doubtlessly rolling in. Mission accomplished.

Suspect ID'd In Geller Event Shooting

ABC News reports:

One of the suspects in the shooting in Garland, Texas, late Sunday has been identified as Elton Simpson, an Arizona man who was previously the subject of a terror investigation, according to a senior FBI official. Overnight and today FBI agents and a bomb squad were at Simpson's home in an apartment complex in north Phoenix where a robot is believed to be conducting an initial search of the apartment. Officials believe Simpson is the person who sent out several Twitter messages prior to the attack on Sunday, in the last one using the hashtag #TexasAttack about half an hour before the shooting.

Followers of ISIS had been sending messages about the event in Texas for more than a week, calling for attacks. One referenced January's Charlie Hebdo massacre in France and said it was time for "brothers" in the United States to do their part. Simpson was well known to the FBI. Five years ago he was convicted for lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Africa, but a judge ruled the government did not adequately prove he was going to join a terror group there. As for the second suspect, the FBI is combing through files on all of Simpson's known associates in Phoenix and elsewhere, but so far there has been no word on the accomplice's identity.

Tweet Of The Day - Dana Loesch

TEXAS: Three Shot At "Draw Mohammed" Contest Sponsored By Pam GellerUPDATE: Suspected Attackers Both Killed

Via Breitbart:

Armed police officers rushed in to the Mohammed Art Exhibit and Contest and quickly removed Pamela Geller and whisked her away to safety after a gunfight erupted outside of the event. A law enforcement officer and two suspects are reportedly down, according to police on the scene. Three Breitbart Texas reporters are locked down inside of the event. The officers on the scene said that possible explosives were found. The extrication of Geller occurred during a live video interview with Breitbart Texas. The attendees to the exhibit were forced into lockdown by police. Several officers entered to exhibit and informed the attendees that an officer was down, two suspects had been shot, and that possible explosives were found.

UPDATE: From the Dallas Morning News:

Two gunmen opened fire Sunday evening outside an anti-Islam event at Garland ISD's Curtis Culwell Center, police said. The two men pulled up in a vehicle and shot a Garland ISD officer. The men were fatally shot by Garland police, and their bodies remain on the street outside the events center.The security officer's wounds were not believed to be life-threatening, but he had been hospitalized. No one was being allowed to leave the facility, where an art show centering on caricatures of Muhammed was being held. Nearby businesses, including a Walmart and Sam's Club, were evacuated. Authorities extended a perimeter 2,000 feet around the Culwell Center, and they were investigating a vehicle within that zone. Reports of the incident began to develop shortly before 7 p.m., when the event had been scheduled to conclude. A speaker had finished his presentation shortly after 6:30 p.m. Throughout the event, there had been no notable protests, despite its controversial nature.

Breitbart Headline Of The Day

Pam Geller is very unhappy:

A century of free speech in New York’s most public square — the streets, the buses, the subways — came to a screeching halt last Wednesday when the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) voted to ban all issue and political advertising, solely in order to silence me. Baltimore burning is “free speech.” But our ads get banned. Got it? We are marching to totalitarianism. New York City is the capital of the free world. The world looks to us. What message did the MTA send Wednesday? Every city will follow suit. It was a dark day for freedom but have no fear. But this is not over. Not by a long shot. We have already begun to pursue this legally; our lawyers David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise have already written to the MTA asking that our ads be put up forthwith, as they are not political. The rich and powerful trumped our unalienable rights in New York City, April 29, 2015. But rewarding savagery with capitulation and fear will only bring more bloodshed and more terror. You haven’t seen anything yet.

NYC Transit To Ban All Political Ads Just To Stop Pam Geller's "Killing Jews" Campaign

Via CBS New York:

The nation's largest mass transit system is preparing to ban all political advertising on its subways and buses after a judge ruled that a pro-Israel group was allowed to display an advertisement containing the phrase "Hamas Killing Jews" on New York City buses. The resolution is expected to pass Wednesday at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board meeting after the finance committee approved it earlier in the week. The cash-strapped agency says such advertising only accounts for less than $1 million of its annual advertising revenue of $138 million. "Advertisements expressing viewpoint messages, regardless of the viewpoint being expressed, would no longer be accepted," the MTA's general counsel, Jerome Page, told the committee on Monday. New York is following in the footsteps of cities including Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, which already have banned political ads on public transit, Page said. Philadelphia banned political ads after a federal court judge last month sided with a New Hampshire based non-profit on its claim that it has a first amendment right to run bus ads linking Muslims to Hitler.

(Tipped by JMG reader Todd)

NEW YORK CITY: Pam Geller Wins "Killing Jews" Transit Ads Battle With MTA

Via the New York Times:

A federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to display an ad from a pro-Israel group on buses after the agency declined to run it last year. The group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, sued the authority in October, saying it had infringed on the group’s First Amendment rights by rejecting the ad. The authority had argued that the ad could be seen as a call to violence against Jews. The ad shows a man with a scarf across his face next to the words, “Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah,” attributed to “Hamas MTV.” Below that, it reads: “That’s his Jihad. What’s yours?” The judge, John G. Koeltl, of United States District Court, ruled that the ad qualified as protected speech and granted a preliminary injunction ordering the transportation authority to run the ad. He said the order would not take effect for 30 days so the agency could consider whether it would appeal the decision.

In 2012 Geller first prevailed over the MTA and was allowed to post subway platform messages that called Muslims "savages." Geller has won similar court cases against transit agencies in San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA: Pam Geller Wins Battle To Place Anti-Islam Ads On Public Transit

Crackpot Pam Geller has won yet another court battle, this time against Philadelphia's public transit system.

Last June, SEPTA rejected the ads from New Hampshire-based American Freedom Defense Initiative by pointing to the transportation authority's "anti-disparagement standard," rules attempting to limit inflammatory messages. But the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a pro-Israel group headed by conservative blogger Pam Geller, challenged SEPTA's rejection in court. And she did so with momentum in her stride, as her group has fought and won similar battles from San Francisco to New York. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg sided with Geller, calling SEPTA's ad restriction "certainty laudable," but "such aspirations do not, unfortunately, cure First Amendment violations." In an email, Geller called the decision "another historic AFDI victory."

(Tipped by JMG reader Rudy)

Tea People Have The Oscars Sadz

TEXAS: Pamela Geller To Stage $10,000 "Draw The Prophet Mohammed" Contest

From the clip description:

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 retropective this May in Garland, Texas. The contest will be online, with entries posted at the AFDI website. The winning cartoon will be announced at the May 3 cartoon exhibit in Garland, Texas. The winning cartoonist will be awarded a $10,000 prize. The cartoon exhibit will feature images of Islam’s prophet, both historic and contemporary, and speeches by internationally renowned free speech advocates. The exhibit will be held at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland on Sunday, May 3.

Geller: "When Robert Mapplethorpe put Christ on a cross in a jar of urine and called it Piss Christ, the leftist elites - the culture - he was exalted." Piss Christ, of course, was actually the work of Andres Serrano and it was smashed to pieces by Christian activists while on display in France.

Tweet Of The Day - Pam Geller

Obviously there was no ban on making snowmen or even being outside, but ZOMG Bill De Blasio is a communist totalitarian.