Phoenix Mosque Protest Kinda What America is All About

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Someone organized a protest outside a Phoenix mosque today. Jon Ritzheimer has been critical of Islam, and says that criticism led to death threats, so he organized a protest outside of a mosque in Phoenix tonight, asking supporters to come armed but remain peaceful. That protest may include a draw Mohammed contest. Phoenix's mayor condemned the contest and protest as "purposefully provocative," saying he wasn't happy it was happening while admiting protesters had the right to free speech. Would he have made the same comment if a Slut Walk were organized in his city? 

Counter-protesters showed up for a "love in," and the cops showed up to stand in the middle and "keep the peace."  Authorities say they're not worried about the protest getting violent, unless outsiders infiltrate it, a common refrain.  A group of bikers was supposed to meet a nearby Denny's before joining the protest, so the Denny's closed. Police say they've installed cameras around the mosque to monitor the protest.

Watch a live feed via News 12 below:

You can follow the indignation live on Twitter. I can't claim to understand the motivation of people who would come to protest outside any kind of religious center during religious services, but I don't have to understand it to understand that these protests, the counter-protests, the indignation on Twitter, and even the agitation to ban hate speech, are all what makes free speech, and freedom in America so awesome.  Ritzheimer admits his protest, which he hopes remains peaceful, is "stupid." So is stomping on the American flag, he says, but it doesn't hurt anyone either. And if you can't be stupid while not hurting anyone violating the rights of others*, how free are you? 

Comments

[Jimbo]

So this is how you beat FoE to the comments? Wait until he falls asleep?

[Wasteland Wanderer]

West Coast uber alles.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You win the day. Oh, wait, for you this was yesterday. BOOM. Everything's coming up Fist of Etiquette!

[Brochettaward]

Police say they've installed cameras around the mosque to monitor the protest.

By 'document,' they mean record the identities of those who attend and look for any potential radicals, right?

Read a few of the Twitter messages. Lots of proggie derp. The people protesting Islam are akin to klansmen. And apparently they are an angry mob that should be getting tear gassed because of Baltimore and Ferguson where everyone was totally peaceful.

[straffinrun]

Absolutely. Keep an eye on those you disagree with, then nail them for something else. This back door method of infringing 2A rights is exactly why meta collection of citizens' personal correspondence must be ended.

[SIV]

Actually, a bunch of the protestors did look like klansmen.

[Libertarius]

The leftoid matrix hasn't wasted any time with this one. There is already a "#againsthate" or something of that usual drivel being pushed on twitter (without a hint of irony). The leftoids are against hate--that's why they defend a religion whose advocates decorate their ratholes with the decapitated heads of non-muslims. In the name of defending religious tolerance and the 1st amendment, they defend a religious ideology that preaches the destruction of the first and greatest country where these values were first enshrined--the USA.

[Stormy Dragon]

The worshippers at the Phoenix mosque have human heads on display in their home?

[Stormy Dragon]

The worshippers at the Phoenix mosque have human heads on display in their home?

[Overt]

What is "sthate" and why do we need to do it again?

[Ken Shultz]

"A group of bikers was supposed to meet [at] a nearby Denny's before joining the protest, so the Denny's closed."

So for all we know, it could have been an organized ride by the Catholic Charities Auxiliary?

If Muslims were ever treated as shabbily as motorcycle riders, the case would beeline straight to the Supreme Court.

Can you imagine?

"A group of Muslims was supposed to meet at a nearby Denny's, so the the Denny's closed".

[Ken Shultz]

Incidentally, can a baker refuse to make me a fucking wedding cake if I'm on a motorcycle?

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Biker's aren't a "protected class", so yeah, you're fucked.

[Ken Shultz]

Why aren't bikers entitled to equal protection of the laws?

[Wasteland Wanderer]

See Clause F, Section Y, Subsection TY.

[Ken Shultz]

Damn, I hate that section!

I thought you were going to tell me that motorcycle riding isn't genetic.

[DesigNate]

Nicely done.

*golf clap*

[Ken Shultz]

"And if you can't be stupid while not hurting anyone, how free are you?"

"Hurt" isn't enough. They're hurting this mosque by protesting it. People are less likely to attend services tonight--and Friday night is prime time at your local mosque.

If I open a pizza restaurant next to yours and offer better pizza, better service, and at a better price, aren't I hurting your business? I could put you out of business. You could lose your house. Your wife could leave you and take your children. And yet I should be perfectly free to hurt you and your business that way--in a free society.

A society in which people are only allowed to do things if they don't hurt anyone else is a totalitarian society. Everything we do (or don't do) hurts someone else in some way. That's why the commerce clause interpretation sucks so bad.

The correct standard is rights.

We should all be free to do anything so long as we don't violate someone else's rights.

[Ed]

I meant physically hurt, but rights is more accurate. Thanks.

[straffinrun]

The correct standard is "feelings". It's fine to physically harm someone who is hurting feelings. Hate crime laws are based on that standard. Why do you hate minorities, Ken?

[Hyperion]

We should all be free to do anything so long as we don't violate someone else's rights trigger someone and make them grab their mattress and flee to a safe zone.

FIFY

[SQRLSY One]

"We should all be free to do anything so long as we don't violate someone else's rights"

But you're violating my rights to equal access to the cash in your wallet!

[Crusty Juggler]

You can follow the indignation live on Twitter.

My assumption would be that there is a more intelligent conversation going on outside of the mosque than there is on twitter.

[C. Anacreon]

You can't have 'twitter' without 'twit's

[Crusty Juggler]

One example

[DesigNate]

Is it actually snarky to point out that leftist are fucking whiners?

The world may never know.

[mad libertarian guy]

My favorite angle from the confused left: Why have the cops not gone all military with a group of armed protestors while in areas where there have been unarmed, peaceful protests cops have been quick to roll out the tanks and sniper rifles?

Methinks there is a lesson buried in there somewhere.

[Libertarius]

Yes there is. But you give the leftoids too much credit--in their doublethink reality, they are probably referring to the looting and destruction of Ferguson and Baltimore as "peaceful".

[Harvard]

That lesson is buried on Bundy's ranch methinks.

[Hyperion]

The left just automatically assume that anyone who is not a white right wing male is on their side. It's sort of funny that they include radical Islamists into that pool, when those radical Islamists don't even try to hide the fact that they would murder all gays and subjugate women and strip them of all equal rights. This is where insanity eventually leads to and the left have already gone past insanity into some place so surreal that it defies description.

[VG Zaytsev]

Those poor brown muslims just act that way in response to right wing hate. They just need enough nice white people to embrace them for their behavior to progress. And yes, doing so is our burden.

[MattFC]

It's the Crusades. If it weren't for those oppressors who died a thousand years ago, we'd all be singing kumbaya. My great great great great great great great great (etc.) grandfather who participated is dead unfortunately so I can't express my outrage directly. I did tell my dad he should go and apologize to CAIR or something. Words heal all wounds.

[wwhorton]

Yeah, but it's Saturday, and after this Fla-Vor-Ice I'm gonna crack open a beer and hang out on the patio, so I've only got time for the Cliff's Notes. To whit: cops don't shoot rioters or groups of armed people not threatening anyone; cops will happily shoot a guy holding a BB gun in a Wal-Mart or a dumb kid at a public park in an open carry state, or arrest and otherwise harass unarmed, nonviolent protesters.

Quick lesson: if you're going to protest, do it in a large, armed group in an open-carry state. Otherwise, pretty much don't bother.

[Paul.]

Why did the protesters go to that mosque? Has that mosque been a source of their irritation, or does it just symbolize it?

[Suthenboy]

It is the mosque that the two shooters at Garland, Tx attended. So yeah, it is kind of a source of irritation.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix is the mosque that Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi attended for a time. They're the men who drove from Arizona to a Dallas suburb to shoot up a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest there. Both were killed by police early this month."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/29/.....n-contest/

[Notorious G.K.C.]

reply to Paul

[Stormy Dragon]

Cool, so if anyone ever committed a crime after attending a Catholic church, I'm sure you'd immediately renounce your religion and begin protesting cathedrals right?

[Rhywun]

I would consider it, if the Catholic church was preaching violence against non-Catholics.

[gself44]

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[Michael Price]

Hey how many viruses are there on that link? I'm betting lots and they hunt for my credit card number right?

[Brian D]

OT: Los Angeles labor leaders who pushed to make the minimum wage there $15/hr now want union employees to be exempt from the law.

[Cyto]

Well, that certainly takes the mask off of their ruse. I don't know why they didn't cut out the middle man and just mandate that all employees must join a union. That is their objective, after all.

RIght now when people in LA get paid only the city, county, state and federal governments are wetting their beaks. Oh, and the insurance companies. The unions need to get their cut too....

[Heroic Mulatto]

Ritzheimer admits his protest, which he hopes remains peaceful, is "stupid."

This sort of nuance is missing from most reports on the event, which paint Ritzheimer as the most earnest Isamophobe that ever phobed.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

"The Muslim community in America is here to stay and we are also well aware of the right to speak our mind and worship how we please," Dr. Yasir Shareef, a board member of the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said at a press conference.

I wonder if this guy publicly condemned the actions of the shooters in Texas?

[Cyto]

well aware of the right to speak our mind and worship how we please," Dr. Yasir Shareef,

But are you well aware of other people's right to speak their minds? Even if it is to denigrate your chosen method of worship?

[R C Dean]

Not that a quick Google turns up, though.

Naturally, the White House has the usual greasy, backhanded comment condemning people who want to protect their right to free speech against violent retaliation:

"Even expressions that are offensive, that are distasteful, and intended to sow divisions in an otherwise tight-knit, diverse community in Phoenix cannot be used as a justification to carry out an act of violence," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

[npy36805]

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[Suthenboy]

Refusing to be silenced by the assassin's veto is hate.

Got it.

I am guessing this is what really gets under the prog's skin. They would love nothing more than to use violence and the threat of violence to silence their opponents. Being that their opponents refuse to be bullied must really frustrate them. Good. I hope they all have strokes.

[Vampire]

"and freedom in America so awesome."

We are not free in America. Stop with this nonsense already. We are only allowed rights by the rulers. Politicians argue daily on what rights folks are to have, and what ones should be limited or eliminated completely.

They have taken many of our voices and choices in the market away, and force us to invest in companies against our will. They've debauched the currency, and have robbed so many with some morons even cheering on more inflation (money printing). Any alternate currencies are being made exorbitantly expensive to even introduce into the market with permitting, licensing and regulations. They want to attack anywhere where there are vestiges of freedom left, and regulate and ban it out of existence.

The state's operate a violent coercive monopoly known as the police, where those being "protected" have their right to life and liberty eliminated. They run around following "mans law", while violating natural law almost every day. They are funded through violence and are shielded from consequences by qualified immunity.

We are forced to work for the benefit of others, so we are not free, but only slaves to the state.

[Hyperion]

The best tool of a ruling elite class is the low information useful idiot, who without, they could not maintain their grip on power. But lucky for them, in the USA of today, there seems to be a nearly unlimited supply.

[Moridin]

We are the pawns of indentured servitude...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw1BJyCEzuw

[Robert]

violating natural law almost every day.

Then you're using the phrase "natural law" in some unnatural way.

[Eric]

This guy is particularly impressive:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HmY-tys0h9I

Once again, the H&R Commetariate can proudly stand up and declare "I'm with Stupid!"

[Cyto]

Don't you just hate it when the idiots have a good point?

[R C Dean]

And, since we're picking teams, who are you with, Eric?

[Moridin]

Which is more preferable, Jews and Mormons "taking over businesses" or Islamofascists taking off heads, stoning women, and cutting hands off thieves? You choose America.

/sarc

[Vampire]

What's more preferable is you getting in that kitchen and making us pancakes bitch!

[PH2050]

French toast.

[R C Dean]

I think you mean "Freedom Toast".

[Robert]

What's the point of this article?

[Vampire]

The point is the point, just because you can't point out the point, you're pointing your finger at everyone with those evil pointy eyes.

[Jimbo]

Points? You want to see our "points?" We don't need no stinkin points!

[R C Dean]

Celebrating the multicultural healing and general fabulousness of the Obama era?

[lap83]

Are the riots part of the healing or are they the fabulousness?

[adolphowisner]

My best friend's mother-in-law makes $85 hour on the internet . She has been out of work for 5 months but last month her pay was $16453 just working on the internet for a few hours.
Visit this website ????? http://www.workweb40.com

[tz]

It is no defense of free speech to write something you don't find offensive or hateful.

Let them do anti-biker, anti-cop, anti-veteran cartoons and see how many will defend them and that speech.

[Another Phil]

What is your point?