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New York City MTA Votes to Trash the First Amendment

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Published on: May 2, 2015

NYC has banned opposition to jihad in the public square. Think of it: 100 years of free speech in the public square — DOA. Sharia became law in New York City on April 29, 2015. Read my piece at Breitbart.

Think of it. The Nazis were allowed to rally at Madison Square Garden in 1939. And ads in defense of freedom are banned in 2015.

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

JFK AIRPORT – Four Muslims plotted to detonate the jet-fuel storage tanks and supply lines for John F. Kennedy Airport in order to cause wide-scale destruction and economic disruption in an attack they intended to dwarf 9/11.

TRANSATLANTIC PLOT – In a series of three trials spanning 2008 to 2010, eight men were convicted in Britain of attempting to simultaneously detonate explosives in seven airliners traveling from London to several North American metropolises, including New York.

LONG ISLAND RAILROAD – Bryant Neal Vinas, of Long Island, New York, traveled to Pakistan with an intent to die fighting against American forces in Afghanistan. He was later called to testify in the trial of Adis Medunjanin, one of Najibullah Zazi’s co-conspirators in the September 2009 subway plot (see below). In his testimony, Vinas stated he was motivated by the preaching of radical Yemeni-America cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

BRONX SYNAGOGUES – Four Muslims placed what they believed were functioning bombs outside of Jewish targets in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale and additionally constructed plans to fire missiles at military transport planes at Stewart International Airport near Newburgh, NY. in 2009

NYC SUBWAY PLOT – In September 2009, the New York City subway system was targeted for attack by three individuals who planned to set off bombs in the subway during rush hour shortly after the eighth anniversary of 9/11. Once Queens residents Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay, of Afghan descent, and Bosnian Adis Medunjanin had self-radicalized largely through listening to online extremist material, including teachings by Anwar al-Awlaki.

TIMES SQUARE – Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistan-American residing in Connecticut, attempted to detonate a car bomb in Times Square on May 1, 2010.  Like Vinas and the Zazi-trio before him, Shahzad received terrorist training in Pakistan’s Waziristan region during a trip he made to the country from July 2009 until February 2010.  The training was provided by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), generally referred to as the Pakistani Taliban.

MANHATTAN SYNAGOGUE – Ahmed Ferhani, an Queens resident born in Algeria, along with Mohammad Mamdouh, a Moroccan immigrant, were arrested in May 2011 in an NYPD operation in which Ferhani purchased a hand grenade, three semi-automatic pistols and ammunition from an undercover detective.  NYPD’s investigation into the pair revealed their desire to attack a synagogue in New York City.

RETURNING MILITARY TARGETED – Jose Pimentel, a native of the Dominican Republic and convert to Islam, was charged with plotting to detonate bombs in and around New York City in November 2011. He used instructions on how to build a bomb published by al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine.

FEDERAL RESERVE – Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, a 21 year old native of Bangladesh residing in the U.S. on a student visa, was arrested in October 2012 as he attempted to remotely detonate what he believed was a bomb in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in lower Manhattan.

THE BROTHERS PLOT – Raees Alam Qazi and Sheheryar Alam Qazi, Pakistan-born brothers, were arrested by federal authorities in Florida in November 2012 for charges relating to a plan to bomb popular New York City landmarks including Times Square, Wall Street and city theaters.

BROOKLYN BRIDGE – Lyman Faris, a U.S.-based al-Qaeda operative, planned to cut the Brooklyn Bridge’s support cables at the direction of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. However, as a testament to NYPD terrorism deterrence efforts, Faris called off the plot, indicating to al-Qaeda leaders that “the weather is too hot.” NYPD’s 24-hour coverage of the bridge, much of which was put in place following 9/11 and intentionally made highly visible, played a large role in Faris’ decision to abandon the plot. Faris was arrested in 2003, pleaded guilty, and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for providing material support and resources to al-Qaeda, among other charges. Knowing that the city’s bridges and critical infrastructure remain attractive terrorist targets, the NYPD maintains heightened security around such facilities.

SUBWAY CYANIDE ATTACK – All-Qaeda had planned to release cyanide gas in New York City’s subway system, which carries more than 5,000,000 passengers on an average weekday, as well as targeted other public places for attack. According to a U.S. government official familiar with the plot, the plan was called off by Osama bin Laden’s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for unclear reasons.  The NYPD took appropriate precautions after becoming aware of the plot.

THE PARACHAS – In 2006, Uzair Paracha, a Brooklyn
resident, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after he was convicted of attempting to help al-Qaeda operative Majid Khan enter the United States to attack gas tanks in a plot developed alongside 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE & CITIGROUP HEADQUARTERS – Issa al-Hindi was sentenced to life in prison by a United Kingdom court after pleading guilty to planning to attack several targets both in the UK and the U.S., including the New York Stock Exchange, Citigroup’s headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, and the Prudential Building in Newark, NJ.

HERALD SQUARE – Shahawar Matin Siraj and James Elshafay plotted to place explosive devices in the Herald Square subway station in Manhattan.

PATH TRAIN and WORLD TRADE CENTER RETAINING WALL – In July 2006, the FBI revealed it had uncovered a plot involving an attack on a PATH commuter train tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, the placement of suicide bombers on trains, and the destruction of the retaining wall separating the Hudson River from the World Trade Center site in the hopes of causing massive flooding in the city’s Financial District.

New York City MTA Votes to Trash the First Amendment, By Pamela Geller, Breitbart, May 1, 2015
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.

The meeting kicked off with discussion about the MTA’s billion-dollar debt. Still, this irresponsible and totalitarian vote against political ad revenue was voted in. What’s interesting, but not surprising, was what MTA Board member Charles Moerdler, an attorney for the notorious leftist United Federation of Teachers, inadvertently revealed about why the ban was being considered. Moerdler’s rant was not about the anti-Hamas ads that the court had ordered the MTA to run. No, in a vicious and disgusting tirade, he attacked our ads that expose his pals, wealthy Jewish donors who support Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions initiatives against Israel.

Moerdler railed against our ads exposing wealthy donors’ support of the New Israel Fund, which supports BDS organizations, shrieking about lashon hara, the Hebrew term for defamatory speech about another person. Actually, truth is not lashon hara; calling me an egomaniac and a zealot, as Moerdler did in his remarks, is. Calling our ads “filth,” Moerdler made no mention of the damage and destruction of BDS to the Jewish state. Yet even an Israeli court ruled that funding BDS was terrorism. Moerdler and his country club buddies are OK with that, but a “zealot” calling them out about it is “filthy.” And after several board members stood in defense of free speech, Moerdler berated us again with his “filthy” mouth.

Moerdler used the Holocaust and Mein Kampf as examples of why free speech should be banned — but it was because free speech was banned that totalitarianism was able to spread in Germany. If the Nazis had allowed free speech, they would never have remained in power as long as they did. His flaunting of being a Holocaust survivor was simply evil. Moerdler has previously argued that it’s “morally wrong” to put out inaccurate information, which is exactly what this dishonest fascist did Wednesday.

Watch his villainous remarks here and here.

The ugliness of Moerdler’s remarks was surpassed by MTA Board Member Ira Greenberg, who said that my ads “make me want to strangle the life out of the person who took them out.” And I’m the hater? Hey, Ira, if that MTA thing doesn’t work out, maybe you can get a job with ISIS.

Between Moerdler and Greenberg, they ought to be jailed for their hate speech.

Moerdler’s libels and lies are “tolerant.”

Greenberg’s death threats are “tolerant.”

Baltimore burning is “free speech.”

But our ads get banned. Got it? We are marching to totalitarianism. Watch the entire deluded circus here.

It was a circus because the five public speakers, including me, all spoke in defense of free speech, opposing the ban, yet the ban still carried. Every MTA Board member who spoke in the executive session, with the exception of the power-mad Moerdler, spoke in defense of free speech. Moerdler was the only one on record to support the ban. The fascist cowards who voted for the ban did not go on the record. They knew. The vote for the ban passed — a craven sore loser move in light of our AFDI victory in court last week, when a federal judge ruled that our ads criticizing Hamas must run. 

Clearly the fix was in before this meeting ever took place. The vote was obviously a fait accompli. When it came in, approving the ban despite the overwhelming support for free speech, Moerdler’s grin was perfectly evil. One can only imagine the pats on the back over brandy and cigars. And now, the enemies of freedom are rejoicing across the world.

It also bears mentioning that when I spoke, they cut my mic. They did not do that to anyone else. What are they so afraid of?

This is a classic case of the powerful trumping the rights of the common man so as to protect their little club. The political and media elites only allow the public discourse to fall within a certain political spectrum. My ads drove them crazy because they fell outside of that spectrum; I was vaulting over their controls and bringing truths to the public that they didn’t want known. They had to move to shut me down.

Don’t think for one second that this is a defeat for me. I’ll continue to do the work with more gusto. Even though the ban was put in place solely because of me, it is a stunning assault upon First Amendment rights in general. Even Board members expressed real concern that the ban would be challenged and overturned. We aren’t the only ones who see the problem with this: Christopher Dunn, associate legal director for the New York Civil Liberties Union, said: “It is unconscionable that you are thinking about barring all political ads from the transit system.”

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.

And if we ultimately lose, it is no understatement to say that the freedom of speech and free society in the West is lost. And horribly enough, it will be, as predicted by jihadists and the hundreds of Muslims groups named in the largest terrorist funding trial in our nation’s history, “by its own hand,” as the Muslim Brotherhood itself put it: “The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” (More here.)

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.

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Source

Pamela Geller’s commitment to freedom from jihad and Shariah shines forth in her books

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