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Hartford, Connecticut's, Mayor Arunan Arulampalam (D) is denouncing residents of a predominately black community for arming themselves to fight violent crime.
The post Hartford, CT, Democrat Mayor Denounces Residents Who Are Arming Themselves to Fight Violent Crime appeared first on Breitbart.
A report from the Tennessee Star indicates that Audrey Hale, the 28-year-old transgender woman who shot and killed six people on March 27, 2023, bought her guns with federal grant money.
The post Report: Transgender Who Killed 6 at Nashville School Bought Guns with Federal Grant Money appeared first on Breitbart.
Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale left behind handwritten notes allegedly focused on her "imaginary penis," a report from the Tennessee Star claimed.
The post Report: 28-Year-Old Transgender Who Killed 6 in Nashville Christian School Wrote About Her ‘Imaginary Penis’ appeared first on Breitbart.
While many legal experts say a jury should easily convict Hunter Biden, others say that jury nullification is a real risk for the prosecution.
The post Legal Experts: Hunter Biden Could Be Hoping for ‘Jury Nullification’ appeared first on Breitbart.
The prosecution rested on Friday in Hunter Biden's gun trial with the defense now scheduled to bring witnesses to the stand. The trial will likely conclude next week.
The post Prosecution Rests in Hunter Biden Gun Trial appeared first on Breitbart.
The case could be a window into how Noreika might sentence Hunter if a jury finds him guilty of gun violations.
The post Hunter Biden’s Gun Trial Judge Recently Gave 1-Year Sentence in Similar Case appeared first on Breitbart.
On Thursday, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) pledged to litigate on Donald Trump's behalf if the NYPD revokes his concealed carry permit.
The post Second Amendment Foundation Pledges Litigation on Trump’s Behalf if His Concealed Permit Is Revoked appeared first on Breitbart.
Hunter Biden’s gun trial uncovered several more explosive pieces of information in the fourth day of proceedings.
The post Five Takeaways from Fourth Day of Hunter Biden’s Gun Trial appeared first on Breitbart.
Hunter Biden smoked crack “every 20 minutes or so” from 2017-2018, his ex-girlfriend testified in his gun trial Wednesday, the timeframe Hunter was hired for and managing some of the family's most lucrative business deals with high level foreign actors.
The post Witness Says Hunter Did Crack ‘Every 20 Minutes’ While Managing Multimillion Dollar China, Ukraine, Russia Deals appeared first on Breitbart.
On Wednesday, the Biden White House posted the demonstrably false claim that "guns are the number one killer of children."
The post Biden White House Still Falsely Claiming Guns ‘Number One Killer of Children’ appeared first on Breitbart.
The NYPD is preparing to revoke Donald Trump's concealed carry permit following the numerous felony convictions handed down by the jury last week.
The post NYPD to Revoke Donald Trump’s Concealed Carry Permit Because of Felony Convictions appeared first on Breitbart.
Hunter Biden’s gun trial uncovered seven more explosive pieces of information in the third day of proceedings.
The post Seven Takeaways from Third Day of Hunter Biden’s Gun Trial appeared first on Breitbart.
Hunter Biden's missing revolver appeared at his gun trial after six years, when the FBI got involved in the case of a missing firearm tossed in a Delaware dumpster.
The post Hunter’s Missing Gun Appears at Trial 6 Years Later appeared first on Breitbart.
Hunter Biden smoked crack "every 20 minutes or so," his ex-girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, testified against him in the gun trial.
The post Hunter Biden Smoked Crack ‘Every 20 Minutes,’ Ex-Girlfriend Zoe Kestan Testifies appeared first on Breitbart.
Hunter Biden was "angry" and "short-tempered," his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, testified Wednesday during the gun trial.
The post Hunter Biden’s Ex-Wife Testifies About His Character: ‘Angry, Short-Tempered’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Hunter Biden's wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, verbally assaulted not-for-profit Marco Polo founder Garrett Ziegler during Tuesday's gun trial.
The post ‘Nazi Piece of Sh*t’: Hunter Biden’s Wife Verbally Assaults Family Critic at Trial appeared first on Breitbart.
President Joe Biden is having trouble focusing on work because he is obsessing and worrying about his son's gun trial in Delaware, a report by Politico claims.
The post Report: Distracted Joe Biden Obsesses, Worries About Hunter’s Gun Trial appeared first on Breitbart.
An rideshare driver in Orange County, California, shot a nude man who was allegedly attacking a woman Sunday night around 8 p.m.
The post Police: Rideshare Driver Shot Nude Man Who Was Attacking Woman appeared first on Breitbart.
Hunter Biden's gun trial uncovered nine explosive pieces of information in the first two days of proceedings.
The post Nine Takeaways from First Days of Hunter Biden’s Gun Trial appeared first on Breitbart.
Breitbart’s Second Amendment Correspondent AWR Hawkins joins host Mike Slater to discuss Hunter Biden’s trial in Delaware on gun-related charges.
The post Breitbart News Daily Podcast Ep. 549: Breitbart 2nd Amendment Correspondent AWR Hawkins on Hunter Biden’s Gun Charges Trial appeared first on Breitbart.
Prosecutors used multiple explicit excerpts from Hunter Biden's audiobook during his gun trial to show evidence of his drug addiction during the time period he purchased a gun.
The post Prosecution Plays Hunter’s Explicit Memoir Excerpts in Court appeared first on Breitbart.
Prosecutors must prove that Hunter Biden “knowingly” committed gun offenses, defense attorney Abbe Lowell argued Tuesday.
The post Defense Paints Hunter Biden as Victim in Gun Trial appeared first on Breitbart.
Hallie Biden, the ex of Hunter Biden and widow of his brother, will testify about her use of crack with Hunter, prosecutor Derek Hines said.
The post Prosecutor: Hallie Biden to Testify About ‘Embarrassing’ Use of Crack with Hunter Biden appeared first on Breitbart.
Officer Preston Brogdon was shot in the line of duty then denied a "hardship" retirement when fired two years later, according to a report.
The post Report: Officer Shot in the Line of Duty Fired and Denied ‘Hardship’ Retirement appeared first on Breitbart.
Prosecutor Derek Hines delivered a blistering opening statement in Hunter Biden's gun trial, telling the jurors, "No one is above the law."
The post ‘No One Is Above the Law’: DOJ Declares in Opening Statement of Hunter Biden’s Gun Trial appeared first on Breitbart.
The trial for Hunter Biden's three alleged gun crimes begins Tuesday and the penalties for some of the allegations include jail time and steep fines.
The post Penalties for Hunter Biden’s Alleged Gun Crimes Include Jail Time, Up to $250,000 in Fines appeared first on Breitbart.
At least 16 people were shot, one fatally, during the weekend in Mayor Brandon Johnson's (D) Chicago.
The post At Least 16 Shot During Weekend in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Chicago appeared first on Breitbart.
Two police officers were shot Monday morning by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was driving a scooter, according to NYPD officials.
The post NYPD: Two Officers Shot by Illegal Immigrant from Venezuela appeared first on Breitbart.
A concealed carry permit holder in Chicago drew his gun, opened fire, and scared off three alleged armed carjackers Saturday morning around 3:30 a.m.
The post Chicago: Concealed Permit Holder Scares Away Armed Carjackers appeared first on Breitbart.
Law enforcement officials have identified Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed as the man who allegedly ambushed and killed a Minnesota police officer on Thursday.
The post Report: Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed ID’d as Man Who Ambushed, Killed Minnesota Officer appeared first on Breitbart.
Twenty-seven people were shot, one fatally, shortly after midnight Sunday morning in Akron, Ohio.
The post 27 People Shot in Ohio, One Dead, Suspect At Large appeared first on Breitbart.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) won at the Supreme Court against New York and the anti-gun movement Thursday, unanimously ruling that the NRA’s First Amendment rights were violated by politicians who oppose the Second Amendment, in a major victory with implications for former President Trump.
The post Supreme Court Rules 9-0 New York Violated NRA’s First Amendment Rights, Good News for Trump appeared first on Breitbart.
A wrongful death lawsuit that families of Uvalde victims filed claims Activision trains "adolescents to become gunmen."
The post Uvalde Lawsuit: ‘Call of Duty’ Game Maker Trains Adolescents to ‘Become Gunmen’ appeared first on Breitbart.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden used a post to X to renew his call for an "assault weapons" ban and was mocked in response.
The post Biden Mocked on X After Renewing Call for ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban appeared first on Breitbart.
In a podcast interview Thursday, Queens County district attorney Melinda Katz (D) indicated nearly 40 percent of untraceable "ghost guns" in New York City were traced back to Queens.
The post D.A. Indicates 39 Percent of Untraceable ‘Ghost Guns’ Traced to Queens appeared first on Breitbart.
An alleged intruder was killed Sunday morning after forcing entry into his ex-girlfriend's apartment and being shot by her boyfriend.
The post Alleged Intruder Forces Way into Ex-Girlfriend’s Apartment, Gets Shot Dead by Her Boyfriend appeared first on Breitbart.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) allowed legislation banning the possession of so-called "ghost guns" to go into law Tuesday.
The post Vermont’s Republican Governor Allows Ban on ‘Ghost Guns’ to Become Law appeared first on Breitbart.
At least 41 people were shot, nine of them fatally during Memorial Weekend in Mayor Brandon Johnson's (D) Chicago.
The post At Least 41 Shot During Memorial Weekend in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Chicago appeared first on Breitbart.
A 20-year-old man arrested in connection with a shooting at a Kroger store reportedly told police, "I always wanted to kill somebody."
The post Man Arrested After Shooting in Kroger: ‘I Always Wanted to Kill Somebody’ appeared first on Breitbart.
At least 31 people were shot, five of them fatally, Friday through Sunday during Memorial Day weekend in Mayor Brandon Johnson's (D) Chicago.
The post Chicago: At Least 31 Shot Friday Through Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend appeared first on Breitbart.
Ten people were shot, two of them fatally, in Mayor Brandon Johnson's (D) Chicago during the first night of Memorial Day Weekend.
The post Chicago: 10 Shot During First Night of Memorial Day Weekend appeared first on Breitbart.
Families of students killed in the Uvalde school shooting filed wrongful death lawsuits against Daniel Defense, Meta, and Activision.
The post Uvalde Families Sue Daniel Defense, Meta, ‘Call of Duty’ Maker appeared first on Breitbart.
A U.S. Army Colonel reportedly shot and killed an alleged Chechen intruder outside the Colonel's residence just north of Fort Liberty.
The post U.S. Army Colonel Reportedly Shoots Alleged Chechen Intruder Dead appeared first on Breitbart.
A 48-year-old man was shot in Chicago shortly after 12:30 a.m. Friday at the same address where 2 men were shot 2 days prior, on Wednesday .
The post Chicago: Man Shot At Same Address Where Two Were Shot Wednesday appeared first on Breitbart.
ATF Director Steven Dettelbach could not define a precise threshold for when private citizens are considered "engaged in the business" of selling guns during a House Judiciary hearing on Thursday.
The post ATF Director Can’t Say at What Point Private Citizens Become ‘Engaged in the Business’ of Selling Guns appeared first on Breitbart.
Rep. Matt Gaetz roasted ATF Director Steven Dettelbach for referencing Sen. John Cornyn as a trustworthy Second Amendment source.
The post Rep. Matt Gaetz Roasts ATF Director for Relying on Sen. John Cornyn as a Trustworthy Pro-2A Source appeared first on Breitbart.
Florida voters are more likely to support former President Donald Trump in the November presidential election — but a strong majority also say they would pass a proposed ballot measure that would enshrine a right to kill unborn babies via abortion in the state constitution, a poll found.
The post Poll: Florida Voters Favor Trump, Also Support Proposed Abortion Measure appeared first on Breitbart.
A Kissimmee, Florida, woman shot and wounded an alleged home intruder on May 21 after he moved through the house and entered the bedroom in which she and her family were hiding.
The post Sheriff: Woman Shot Alleged Intruder ‘in Defense of Her Family’ appeared first on Breitbart.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will hold a hearing on Wednesday, May 22, examining overreach by the ATF.
The post Watch Live: House Hearing on Weaponization of the Federal Government appeared first on Breitbart.
Officials in South Dakota and Colorado certified proposed amendments that would enshrine the right to abortion in their state constitutions.
The post Proposed Abortion Amendments Qualify for Ballots in Colorado, South Dakota appeared first on Breitbart.
At least 45 people were shot, one fatally, during the weekend in Mayor Brandon Johnson's (D) Chicago.
The post At Least 45 Shot During Weekend in Mayor Johnson’s Chicago appeared first on Breitbart.
U.S. District Court Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk issued a temporary restraining order on May 19, 2024, against the ATF's universal background check rule.
The post Gun Owners of America Secures Temporary Restraining Order Against ATF Background Check Rule appeared first on Breitbart.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been granted the right to appeal his extradition to the United States by London's High Court on Monday
The post WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Granted Right to Appeal Extradition to United States appeared first on Breitbart.
A suspect was detained after a female Kennesaw State University student was shot and fatally wounded Saturday afternoon shortly after 4 p.m.
The post Suspect Detained After Female Student Shot, Killed on Kennesaw State University Campus appeared first on Breitbart.
Former President Donald Trump addressed NRA members for the ninth time Saturday, and he stressed that it is time for "a great restoration of American freedom."
The post Donald Trump During 9th NRA Speech: Time for ‘Great Restoration of American Freedom’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Former President Donald Trump will speak at the 153rd NRA Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday, May 18.
The post Watch Live: Donald Trump Speaks at NRA Annual Meeting appeared first on Breitbart.
A California school district has agreed to pay a Christian ex-teacher $360,000 in a settlement after she was fired following her refusal to hide students' "gender identities" from parents and use students' "preferred pronouns."
The post California School District Settles with Christian Ex-Teacher Fired After Rejecting Transgender Policies appeared first on Breitbart.
Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) signed legislation creating a gun control center mirroring the federal office of gun violence prevention created by Biden.
The post Maryland’s Democrat Governor Signs Legislation Creating State-Level Gun Control Center appeared first on Breitbart.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a pardon to U.S. Army Sergeant Daniel Perry, citing the state's Stand Your Ground laws and the right of self-defense. Perry was convicted by a Travis County court in April 2023 for shooting and killing Garret Foster during a Black Lives Matter protest.
The post Texas Governor Affirms ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law with Pardon of Army Sgt. Convicted in BLM Protest Shooting appeared first on Breitbart.
Forty-five Republican senators have put forward a resolution intended to block the ATF's universal background check rule.
The post Republican Senators Introduce Resolution to Block ATF’s Universal Background Check Rule appeared first on Breitbart.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) spoke exclusively with Breitbart News about his plans to introduce a resolution Thursday to make the ATF's universal background check rule of "no force or effect."
The post Exclusive: Rep. Clyde Pushes Resolution to Make ATF Background Check Rule of ‘No Force or Effect’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Another U.S. tourist was arrested at Turks and Caicos' Hamilton Airport for allegedly having ammunition in her luggage on Monday.
The post Turks and Caicos: Fifth American Tourist Arrested for Ammo in Luggage appeared first on Breitbart.
A teen who allegedly shot 26 rounds into a D.C. neighborhood has been released prior to trial by a self-confessed "woke" judge.
The post Teen Who Allegedly Shot 26 Rounds into D.C. Neighborhood Freed by ‘Woke’ Judge appeared first on Breitbart.
Breitbart News reported that four gunmen in two cars ambushed a convoy of government vehicles transporting a convicted criminal from court back to prison in France on Tuesday morning.
The post Gun-Control Fail: Four Gunmen Ambush French Prison Convoy, Killing Two Officers appeared first on Breitbart.
Dexter Taylor was sentenced to ten years in prison for charges related to firearms he built from "ghost gun kits," according to NBC New York.
The post Software Engineer Sentenced to 10 Years for Building So-Called ‘Ghost Guns’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed legislation making Alabama the 15th state to ban credit card companies from tracking gun and gun-related purchases.
The post Gov. Ivey Signs Bill Making Alabama 15th State to Prohibit Credit Card Tracking of Gun Sales appeared first on Breitbart.
At least 21 people were shot, three of them fatally, during the weekend in Mayor Brandon Johnson's (D) Chicago.
The post Mayor Johnson’s Chicago: At Least 21 Shot During Weekend appeared first on Breitbart.
Three Atlanta police officers were shot, and a suspect allegedly armed with a handgun was killed, just after 5 p.m. Saturday.
The post Three Atlanta Officers Shot by Suspect with Handgun appeared first on Breitbart.
At least 16 people were shot, two of them fatally, Friday into Saturday evening in Mayor Brandon Johnson's (D) Chicago.
The post Mayor Johnson’s Chicago: 16 Shot Friday into Saturday Evening appeared first on Breitbart.
Chicago police say a 13-year-old girl was shot by a car owner while allegedly trying to steal the car.
The post Chicago: 13-Year-Old Girl Shot While Allegedly Stealing Car appeared first on Breitbart.
An armed military veteran foiled an alleged jewelry store heist around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4, 2024, in Omaha, Nebraska.
The post Armed Military Veteran Foils Alleged Jewelry Store Heist appeared first on Breitbart.
On Thursday a three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided that Steven Duarte, a felon, has a "right to possess a firearm for self-defense."
The post Ninth Circuit: Felon Has ‘Right to Possess Firearm for Self-Defense’ appeared first on Breitbart.
A federal judge in New York threw out a proposed abortion and gender identity amendment that was set to appear on the November ballot.
The post Judge Tosses New York Abortion, Gender Identity Amendment from November Ballot appeared first on Breitbart.
RealClearFoundation president David DesRosiers has announced the inaugural winners of of its Samizdat Prize. Tonight’s the night. The Samizdat Prize is intended to honor the most important users of the First Amendment in the United States. The prize aspires to confer the honor that various of the Pulitzer Prizes bestow and should replace them in the mind of right-thinking men and women. In the words of DesRosiers, the award that is given by Real Clear to journalists, scholars, and public figures who have fought censorship and stood for truth, whatever the cost.
The first three recipients of the Samizdat Prize could not be more worthy: Miranda Devine (for her work on the Biden family business), Jay Bhattacharya (the anti-Fauci), and Matt Taibbi (for his work on the Twitter Files). I have written about all three many times on Power Line. DesRosiers talked about the prize with Buck Sexton here in a discussion posted at RCP.
Dr. Bhattacharya received the prize this past September. His remarks are posted here at RCP. Matt Taibbi has just posted “America enters the samizadat era” at his Racket News site. He looks back on his career in acknowledging the honor he receives tonight. Thanks to John Hinderaker, I met Matt last year. Politics aside, we have cheered him on and sought to follow his path in our own way.
Miranda Devine wrote in her New York Post Devine Online newsletter this morning:
I am thrilled to be in Palm Beach tonight to receive the inaugural Samizdat award from RealClearPolitics, alongside pandemic refusenik Dr Jay Battacharya and Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi.
It’s an honor to be part of this grassroots movement to reclaim honest journalism in an era of lies.
“Samizdat” was the name of the underground press resisting the tyranny of the former Soviet Union.
It means ‘We publish ourselves” and was the inspiration for David DesRosiers, publisher and president of RealClear Foundation, to set up a rival journalism award to the Pulitzers.
Bravo to RealClear for bucking the establishment.
I couldn’t agree more. I would only add our congratulations to the inaugural recipients of the Samizdat Prize.
Background: In 2008, I was in Florida covering Rifqa Bary’s court hearings to return her to her devout family who promised to kill to her because the teen had left Islam and converted to Christianity.
I was waiting on my ride to the courthouse when I saw this ad on a bus:
Thus began the very first of my many bus ad campaigns. I responded with this ad and the greatest putsch against free speech commenced:
Check out my latest at The Thinker:
After Ten Years, Court Strikes Down Ruling Banning Ads Offering Help to Those Leaving Islam
It took nearly twelve years, but we did it. My organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), has just won an important victory for the freedom of speech.
Back in 2009, the Detroit area’s SMART transit refused to run our AFDI ads offering help to people who were in fear for their lives for wanting to leave Islam or having left it. After an incredibly protracted court battle, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals just stood up for the First Amendment and completely reversed the judgment banning our ads. It’s a total victory for freedom: we won our free speech lawsuit in Detroit by a unanimous decision.
Our ad read: “Leaving Islam? Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Got Questions? Get Answers! RefugefromIslam.com.” That’s all it said. It offered a life-saver for those who were completely and utterly alone with no system of support or help.
Islamic law mandates death for those who leave Islam; even in the United States, those who leave the religion live in fear that a devout Muslim might decide to apply this penalty. So we were offering help. That is all. But as Eugene Volokh explains at The Volokh Conspiracy, “Michigan’s Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) rejected this ad under two of its speech restrictions. The first prohibits ‘political’ ads; the second prohibits ads that would hold up a group of people to ‘scorn or ridicule.'”
Our ad was not political and didn’t scorn or ridicule anyone. It’s ridiculous to say saving lives is a political act, and so of course we won the initial case. The first judge who ruled on this case, Judge Denise Page Hood, understood the law and so ruled in favor of our free speech rights. She understood the First Amendment. Therefore, although she was clearly not sympathetic to us, she had to rule for us.
But then SMART appealed. SMART adamantly refused to run outreach ads that might have helped Muslims living in dangerous households and appealed to the notoriously leftist Sixth Circuit. You might have thought the Muslim Brotherhood was running SMART. It was astounding. And consider the fact that Detroit was bankrupt around this same time. Sharia adherence was still more important to the broken city’s failed leaders than were the freedom of speech and fiscal responsibility.
And so SMART continued to refuse our ads and appealed in the notoriously leftist Sixth Circuit. The court called our religious ads political and created a new narrative out of whole cloth. Our ads were never actually rejected on political grounds. Individually and in her official capacity, Beth Gibbons, marketing program manager of SMART, said our ads were rejected because they were controversial — not because they were political. It was always understood that these were religious ads. Gibbons testified that she saw “nothing about [the advertisement] itself that was political[.] … I knew that [the fatwa advertisement] was of concern in that there is controversy on both sides of the issue on whether they should be posted.” That was the position of SMART. In fact, that was the agency’s official testimony.
We in turn appealed. In 2013, I was deposed and harassed for six hours by a small, profane blowhard attorney — all billable hours to fight an ad created to help Muslim girls escape honor violence. And the deposition was so hostile that you would think I had committed a heinous crime. Apparently, blasphemy in America is.
The case dragged on and on. But now, in American Freedom Defensive Initiative v. Suburban Mobility Auth. for Regional Transp. (6th Cir.), the court makes the correct ruling, noting that “the Free Speech Clause limits the government’s power to regulate speech on public property. The government has little leeway to restrict speech in ‘public forums.'” Accordingly, “SMART’s ban on ‘political’ ads is unreasonable for the same reason that a state’s ban on ‘political’ apparel at polling places is unreasonable: SMART offers no ‘sensible basis for distinguishing what may come in from what must stay out.’ Likewise, SMART’s ban on ads that engage in ‘scorn or ridicule’ is not viewpoint neutral for the same reason that a ban on trademarks that disparage people is not viewpoint neutral: For any group, ‘an applicant may [display] a positive or benign [ad] but not a derogatory one.'” Consequently, the court declared: “We thus reverse the district court’s decision rejecting the First Amendment challenge to these two restrictions.”
This is all common-sensical and clear even to those with no legal training or experience, but it has taken an incredibly long time to get here. The American Freedom Law Center, whose ace lawyers David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise fought long and hard to win this case, noted: “AFDI’s religious freedom advertisement was rejected even though SMART had no problem accepting and running an anti-religion ad sponsored by an atheist organization. That approved ad stated, ‘Don’t Believe in God? You are not alone.'” However, now “the Sixth Circuit ruled unanimously in favor of AFLC, finding that SMART’s rejection of the ad was unreasonable and [a] viewpoint based in violation of the First Amendment. This is a final ruling.”
Bottom line: Everyone has the same right to a free life. The Sixth Circuit agreed.
If you weren’t reading this, you would likely never know that it had happened at all. No media covered it. If we had lost, then you would have heard about it, because the media would have been popping open bottles of champagne and running huge pieces on how sharia restrictions on speech are altogether reasonable — as heads roll (literally).
Jessica Mokdad, an honor killing victim living in that area at the time, might have been saved. We know that the ads have helped Muslims — they told us. The ads save lives. Contribute here.
Pamela Geller is the president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), publisher of The Geller Report, and author of the bestselling book FATWA: Hunted in America as well as The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America and Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Another city bans free speech. Chilling. Read this.
Related:
Seattle Imposes Ad Ban to Annul Pamela Geller’s Free Speech Lawsuit Victory
Officials who oversee Seattle’s transit system moved to ban political, religious, and other ads from its facilities and public transportation vehicles soon after Pamela Geller’s American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) prevailed in a freedom of speech lawsuit against the city, earning the right to run FBI’s Most Wanted terrorist posters, Breitbart News has learned.
By: Edwin Mora, Breitbart, April 16, 2019:
“People should realize that this is a struggle for the very foundation of any free society: the freedom of speech. If there is a group you can’t criticize, then that group can impose tyranny over you. If we lose this free speech battle, all our other freedoms are lost” Geller recently told Breitbart News via email.
She argued the advertisement ban sidestepped the September 2018 U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling in AFDI’s favor, which allowed the group to advertise the Most Wanted terrorist list in Seattle.
However, the new restrictions, dubbed the “Geller ban” and instituted in December 2018 by the King County Department of Transportation’s Transit Division that oversees Seattle’s public transportation system, have ended up preventing AFDI from running the terrorist wanted ads, Geller pointed out, noting that her free speech lawsuit victory was bittersweet.
Before the appeal court’s ruling, judges had denied AFDI the right to place public service ads featuring images of the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists on Seattle’s public transportation system, due to a perceived disparagement of Islam.
The city’s rejection prompted AFDI to sue the King County Metro system for its suppression of free speech.
“We won the right to run the FBI wanted terrorist poster that Seattle prevailed upon the FBI to withdraw [ in 2013]. And as soon as we triumphed, Seattle transit imposed the infamous Geller ban, banning political, religious and cause-related ads in Seattle (following NY, Washington DC, Boston, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, etc),” Geller told Breitbart News in the email.
In a document outlining the transit agency’s advertising restrictions, King County officials noted that the policy bans advertising on transit facilities and vehicles that fall within the categories of political, religious, government (except for the county’s), and other forms of “speech.”
“They banned all political ads, as that was the only course of action they could possibly take in order to continue to avoid running my ads,” Geller said. “They’re so determined to continue whitewashing Islam and denying and obfuscating the roots of jihad terror that they are willing to lose immense amounts of revenue from all political advertising.”
Transit agency officials argued that their “viewpoint neutral” ban seeks to prohibit “advertisements that interfere with and divert resources from transit operations, that detract from transit purposes by creating substantial controversy, and/or that pose significant risks of harm, inconvenience, or annoyance to transit passengers, operators, and vehicles.”
“Such advertisements create an environment that is not conducive to achieving increased revenue for the benefit of the transit system or to preserving and enhancing the security, safety, comfort, and convenience of its operations,” the officials added.
Responding to the agency’s argument Geller noted, “I see ads that annoy me all the time. If that is the criterion [for the ban], whose annoyance counts, and whose doesn’t, and why?”
She told Breitbart News that King County’s decision to ban FBI wanted posters featuring some jihadis amounts to the “enforcement of Sharia blasphemy law in another American city.”
King County officials described the transit agency’s advertising ban as“restrictions” that “foster the maintenance of a professional advertising environment that maximizes advertising, revenue, and protects the interests of the captive audience that uses Metro’s transit services.”
In other words, the county’s transportation department believes that banning certain ads will allow the county to generate more revenue.
“The ban will, obviously, drastically curtail their ad revenues. To argue otherwise is plain deception” Geller noted.
Nevertheless, the county asserted that the advertising policy intends to fulfill the following goals:
Maximizing advertising revenue; maintaining a position of neutrality and preventing the appearance of favoritism or endorsement by the county; preventing the risk of imposing objectionable, inappropriate or harmful view on a captive audience; preserving the value of the advertising space; maximizing ridership and maintaining a safe environment for transit customers and other members of the public; avoiding claims of discrimination and maintaining a non-discriminatory environment for riders; preventing any harm or abuse that may result from running objectionable, inappropriate, or harmful advertisements; [and] reducing the diversion of resources from transit operations that is caused by objectionable, inappropriate or harmful advertisements.
Geller vowed to keep fighting for free speech all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary to ensure Seattle upholds the appeal court’s ruling.
Background: In 2008, I was in Florida covering Rifqa Bary’s court hearings to return her to her devout family who promised to kill to her because the teen had left Islam and converted to Christianity.
I was waiting on my ride to the courthouse when I saw this ad on a bus:
Thus began the very first of my many bus ad campaigns. I responded with this ad and the greatest putsch against free speech commenced:
Check out my latest at The Thinker:
After Ten Years, Court Strikes Down Ruling Banning Ads Offering Help to Those Leaving Islam
It took nearly twelve years, but we did it. My organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), has just won an important victory for the freedom of speech.
Back in 2009, the Detroit area’s SMART transit refused to run our AFDI ads offering help to people who were in fear for their lives for wanting to leave Islam or having left it. After an incredibly protracted court battle, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals just stood up for the First Amendment and completely reversed the judgment banning our ads. It’s a total victory for freedom: we won our free speech lawsuit in Detroit by a unanimous decision.
Our ad read: “Leaving Islam? Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Got Questions? Get Answers! RefugefromIslam.com.” That’s all it said. It offered a life-saver for those who were completely and utterly alone with no system of support or help.
Islamic law mandates death for those who leave Islam; even in the United States, those who leave the religion live in fear that a devout Muslim might decide to apply this penalty. So we were offering help. That is all. But as Eugene Volokh explains at The Volokh Conspiracy, “Michigan’s Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) rejected this ad under two of its speech restrictions. The first prohibits ‘political’ ads; the second prohibits ads that would hold up a group of people to ‘scorn or ridicule.'”
Our ad was not political and didn’t scorn or ridicule anyone. It’s ridiculous to say saving lives is a political act, and so of course we won the initial case. The first judge who ruled on this case, Judge Denise Page Hood, understood the law and so ruled in favor of our free speech rights. She understood the First Amendment. Therefore, although she was clearly not sympathetic to us, she had to rule for us.
But then SMART appealed. SMART adamantly refused to run outreach ads that might have helped Muslims living in dangerous households and appealed to the notoriously leftist Sixth Circuit. You might have thought the Muslim Brotherhood was running SMART. It was astounding. And consider the fact that Detroit was bankrupt around this same time. Sharia adherence was still more important to the broken city’s failed leaders than were the freedom of speech and fiscal responsibility.
And so SMART continued to refuse our ads and appealed in the notoriously leftist Sixth Circuit. The court called our religious ads political and created a new narrative out of whole cloth. Our ads were never actually rejected on political grounds. Individually and in her official capacity, Beth Gibbons, marketing program manager of SMART, said our ads were rejected because they were controversial — not because they were political. It was always understood that these were religious ads. Gibbons testified that she saw “nothing about [the advertisement] itself that was political[.] … I knew that [the fatwa advertisement] was of concern in that there is controversy on both sides of the issue on whether they should be posted.” That was the position of SMART. In fact, that was the agency’s official testimony.
We in turn appealed. In 2013, I was deposed and harassed for six hours by a small, profane blowhard attorney — all billable hours to fight an ad created to help Muslim girls escape honor violence. And the deposition was so hostile that you would think I had committed a heinous crime. Apparently, blasphemy in America is.
The case dragged on and on. But now, in American Freedom Defensive Initiative v. Suburban Mobility Auth. for Regional Transp. (6th Cir.), the court makes the correct ruling, noting that “the Free Speech Clause limits the government’s power to regulate speech on public property. The government has little leeway to restrict speech in ‘public forums.'” Accordingly, “SMART’s ban on ‘political’ ads is unreasonable for the same reason that a state’s ban on ‘political’ apparel at polling places is unreasonable: SMART offers no ‘sensible basis for distinguishing what may come in from what must stay out.’ Likewise, SMART’s ban on ads that engage in ‘scorn or ridicule’ is not viewpoint neutral for the same reason that a ban on trademarks that disparage people is not viewpoint neutral: For any group, ‘an applicant may [display] a positive or benign [ad] but not a derogatory one.'” Consequently, the court declared: “We thus reverse the district court’s decision rejecting the First Amendment challenge to these two restrictions.”
This is all common-sensical and clear even to those with no legal training or experience, but it has taken an incredibly long time to get here. The American Freedom Law Center, whose ace lawyers David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise fought long and hard to win this case, noted: “AFDI’s religious freedom advertisement was rejected even though SMART had no problem accepting and running an anti-religion ad sponsored by an atheist organization. That approved ad stated, ‘Don’t Believe in God? You are not alone.'” However, now “the Sixth Circuit ruled unanimously in favor of AFLC, finding that SMART’s rejection of the ad was unreasonable and [a] viewpoint based in violation of the First Amendment. This is a final ruling.”
Bottom line: Everyone has the same right to a free life. The Sixth Circuit agreed.
If you weren’t reading this, you would likely never know that it had happened at all. No media covered it. If we had lost, then you would have heard about it, because the media would have been popping open bottles of champagne and running huge pieces on how sharia restrictions on speech are altogether reasonable — as heads roll (literally).
Jessica Mokdad, an honor killing victim living in that area at the time, might have been saved. We know that the ads have helped Muslims — they told us. The ads save lives. Contribute here.
Pamela Geller is the president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), publisher of The Geller Report, and author of the bestselling book FATWA: Hunted in America as well as The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America and Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Another city bans free speech. Chilling. Read this.
Related:
Seattle Imposes Ad Ban to Annul Pamela Geller’s Free Speech Lawsuit Victory
Officials who oversee Seattle’s transit system moved to ban political, religious, and other ads from its facilities and public transportation vehicles soon after Pamela Geller’s American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) prevailed in a freedom of speech lawsuit against the city, earning the right to run FBI’s Most Wanted terrorist posters, Breitbart News has learned.
By: Edwin Mora, Breitbart, April 16, 2019:
“People should realize that this is a struggle for the very foundation of any free society: the freedom of speech. If there is a group you can’t criticize, then that group can impose tyranny over you. If we lose this free speech battle, all our other freedoms are lost” Geller recently told Breitbart News via email.
She argued the advertisement ban sidestepped the September 2018 U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling in AFDI’s favor, which allowed the group to advertise the Most Wanted terrorist list in Seattle.
However, the new restrictions, dubbed the “Geller ban” and instituted in December 2018 by the King County Department of Transportation’s Transit Division that oversees Seattle’s public transportation system, have ended up preventing AFDI from running the terrorist wanted ads, Geller pointed out, noting that her free speech lawsuit victory was bittersweet.
Before the appeal court’s ruling, judges had denied AFDI the right to place public service ads featuring images of the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists on Seattle’s public transportation system, due to a perceived disparagement of Islam.
The city’s rejection prompted AFDI to sue the King County Metro system for its suppression of free speech.
“We won the right to run the FBI wanted terrorist poster that Seattle prevailed upon the FBI to withdraw [ in 2013]. And as soon as we triumphed, Seattle transit imposed the infamous Geller ban, banning political, religious and cause-related ads in Seattle (following NY, Washington DC, Boston, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, etc),” Geller told Breitbart News in the email.
In a document outlining the transit agency’s advertising restrictions, King County officials noted that the policy bans advertising on transit facilities and vehicles that fall within the categories of political, religious, government (except for the county’s), and other forms of “speech.”
“They banned all political ads, as that was the only course of action they could possibly take in order to continue to avoid running my ads,” Geller said. “They’re so determined to continue whitewashing Islam and denying and obfuscating the roots of jihad terror that they are willing to lose immense amounts of revenue from all political advertising.”
Transit agency officials argued that their “viewpoint neutral” ban seeks to prohibit “advertisements that interfere with and divert resources from transit operations, that detract from transit purposes by creating substantial controversy, and/or that pose significant risks of harm, inconvenience, or annoyance to transit passengers, operators, and vehicles.”
“Such advertisements create an environment that is not conducive to achieving increased revenue for the benefit of the transit system or to preserving and enhancing the security, safety, comfort, and convenience of its operations,” the officials added.
Responding to the agency’s argument Geller noted, “I see ads that annoy me all the time. If that is the criterion [for the ban], whose annoyance counts, and whose doesn’t, and why?”
She told Breitbart News that King County’s decision to ban FBI wanted posters featuring some jihadis amounts to the “enforcement of Sharia blasphemy law in another American city.”
King County officials described the transit agency’s advertising ban as“restrictions” that “foster the maintenance of a professional advertising environment that maximizes advertising, revenue, and protects the interests of the captive audience that uses Metro’s transit services.”
In other words, the county’s transportation department believes that banning certain ads will allow the county to generate more revenue.
“The ban will, obviously, drastically curtail their ad revenues. To argue otherwise is plain deception” Geller noted.
Nevertheless, the county asserted that the advertising policy intends to fulfill the following goals:
Maximizing advertising revenue; maintaining a position of neutrality and preventing the appearance of favoritism or endorsement by the county; preventing the risk of imposing objectionable, inappropriate or harmful view on a captive audience; preserving the value of the advertising space; maximizing ridership and maintaining a safe environment for transit customers and other members of the public; avoiding claims of discrimination and maintaining a non-discriminatory environment for riders; preventing any harm or abuse that may result from running objectionable, inappropriate, or harmful advertisements; [and] reducing the diversion of resources from transit operations that is caused by objectionable, inappropriate or harmful advertisements.
Geller vowed to keep fighting for free speech all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary to ensure Seattle upholds the appeal court’s ruling.
Vaunce News 
