Mayor Douglas Athas, of Garland, TX
The Mayor of Garland, Texas understands what the First Amendment is all about. He even takes his oath of office seriously, which few public officials do. They do not defend the Constitution from attack within the nation. Sharia law proponents are intimidating ordinary citizens and spineless officials all over the country. In Dearborn, MI a Muslim dominated city, local police chased Christians away from a festival who were promoting Christianity. They told the ministers the police could not protect them. They meant they did not want to try. Garland, Texas police defended the Constitution with the force necessary. Spineless university presidents yield to Muslim censors under threats. The President of Brandeis University, a former President of Cornell University and several others refuse to defend the right to free speech. They adopted the psychiatric feminist doctrine of eliminating hate speech. Hate speech is protected speech under the constitution. The concept of free speech is about the principle of protecting speech that you hate. It is not to protect speech you like, which needs no protection.
[From article]
After two gunmen were killed after opening fire outside a free speech event in Garland, Texas, the mayor of the city was asked by CNN whether there “was some concern” about hosting the event, which featured a Muhammad cartoon contest.
“It wasn’t at a school,” Mayor Douglas Athas said, correcting the CNN anchor. “It was at a school-owned building, it was a special events center…and they do rent it to the public. Events are held there all the time. This group wanted to rent it. There was concern, which is why he had heightened security in the area.”
Then the mayor explained that the city is tasked with upholding the U.S. Constitution.
“We all swear to uphold the Constitution, free speech, free assembly, and in this case perhaps, free religion,” Athas said. “And so they were welcome to use the building.”
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/05/04/listen-to-texas-mayors-response-when-cnn-asks-if-there-was-concern-about-hosting-muhammad-cartoon-contest/
Listen to Texas Mayor’s Response When CNN Asks If There Was ‘Concern’ About Hosting Muhammad Cartoon Contest
May. 4, 2015 12:37am
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 statement did not say whether the shooting was related to the event. The security officer's injuries were not life-threatening, the city said.
The gunmen's vehicle may contain an "incendiary device," according to the statement. A bomb squad was on the scene, and nearby businesses were evacuated.
The New York-based American Freedom Defence Initiative had been hosting a contest at the centre that would award $10,000 for the best cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Such drawings are deemed insulting to many followers of Islam and have sparked violence around the world. According to mainstream Islamic tradition, any physical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad -- even a respectful one -- is considered blasphemous.
Earlier Sunday, about 75 attendees at the contest were escorted by authorities to another room in the conference centre before they were taken to a school bus. Authorities said they would be taken to another location.
Johnny Roby of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was attending the conference. He told The Associated Press he was outside the building when he heard around about 20 shots that appeared to be coming from the direction of a car passing by.
Roby said he then heard two single shots.
He said he heard officers yell that they had the car before he was sent inside the building.
Pamela Geller, president of the AFDI, said that the shooting showed how "needed our event really was."
She told the AP earlier that she planned the Sunday event to make a stand for free speech in response to the outcries and violence over drawings of Muhammad.
In January, 12 people were killed by gunmen in an attack against the Paris office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which had lampooned Islam and other religions and used depictions of Muhammad.
Geller's group is known for mounting a campaign against the building of an Islamic centre blocks from the World Trade Center site and for buying advertising space in cities across the U.S. criticizing Islam.
No comments:
Post a Comment