The Tallahassee Democrat, in an editorial about the dialogue centered around a picture of Muslims praying in Wakulla county, blatantly ignored facts about current events and published statements that severely questions the credibility of those in charge of the newspaper.
Using words like fear, loathing, paranoia and a condescending tone through out, the Tallahassee Democrat, headquartered in Virginia, poured gasoline on a fire that was in more need of a response grounded in context, facts, and questions.
In the process, the Tallahassee Democrat, not only showed a lack of concern for our community, but shirked its responsibility to facilitate an honest discussion, and instead, promoted discord.
I suppose the opportunity for the Tallahassee Democrat to dumb down one side of a complicated issue was too much for the top brass to pass up.
At one point on Friday there were three stories on the Tallahassee Democrat home page addressing the issue.
The opinion piece, among other things, implied it was un-American to question any behavior of groups based on freedom of religion.
This was followed by a statement I still cannot believe was actually printed and distributed to thousands of people in our community.
The Tallahassee Democrat wrote, “Its legal to advocate an idea, however offensive or alien.”
Really?
Tell that to Michael Todd Wolf.
He was sentenced to nearly seven years in federal prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State. Source here.
Wolfe told his wife “his heart yearned to join his Muslim brothers, and that he was ready to die.”
Or tell that to California residents Nader Elhuzayel, 25 and Muhanad Badawi, 25 who were charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State. Source here
According to federal documents, on the last Friday of April, after prayer services at a mosque in Orange County, Elhuzayel and Badawi spoke enthusiastically about the Islamic State. The documents say one proclaimed a wish to join the group and die a martyr on a battle field.
Federal authorities said the men drew the attention of counter-terrorism agents with inflammatory comments on social media, prompting an investigation.
And finally, what about three Brooklyn residents, Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboer, Akhror Saidakhmetov, and Arbor Habibov who were charged with conspiracy to provide support to ISIL. Source here.
The charges were announced by the current Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who was the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York when the charges were filed.
William J. Bratton, the New York City police commissioner, said in a statement, “This case is another example of the reach that ISIL has within the United States through social media, and the fact that some are willing to follow that call.”
And get this, the FBI assistant in charge in New York told the local media; “we rely on help from the community, the public, and religious leaders to be mindful of those who could be radicalized. We cannot do this alone.”
Contrary to what the Tallahassee Democrat printed, there are some ideas and statements that can lead to investigations and serious charges by the federal government.
Now lets be clear about one thing. My comments here have nothing to do with supporting or speaking against a specific point of view on this issue.
It is a delicate issue that federal courts have wrestled with and it is clear it requires thoughtful dialogue in communities across our nation.
My comments are focused directly at the Tallahassee Democrat.
I believe this issue, based on research and the sources I have provided above, deserves more than the name calling and righteous approach put forth by the Tallahassee Democrat.
In my opinion, the Tallahassee Democrat, without much thought, took a complicated issue, chose a side, ignored relevant facts and wrote an opinion piece that promoted discord in our community.
For me that is unacceptable and there must be accountability. Our highly educated community deserves better.
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The answer is simple: the problem is Sharia law.
Western society should ostracize any government or state that accepts or allows sharia law. No business, no diplomatic recognition, nothing until they abandon this cruel and barbaric belief. If there are as many ‘good Muslims’ as the apologists claim, they will quickly come to to conclusion that it is not good for business and modify the beliefs of the minority.
This is an Muslim problem and the Muslims should fix it themselves. Until they do, they should not be allowed to interact with anyone but themselves.
Who were those people praying on he beach? I have not heard, seen or read who there were or what they were doing there.
Has anyone identified them and what their purpose was?
Was it all men? Was is a mixture of men and women? Was it all women? What were their ages and who was in charge?
Were they a terrorist sleeper cell praying and planning an attack, or a bunch of kids is muslim costumes with their heads in the sand and butts in the air?
Vic Aderhold
Harvey, Actually the number your referring too is about 2700 in the 9/11 Twin towers, and what I was showing you was ACTUAL terrorist activity (some of those did not result in death but they tried) So your comparing apples and oranges. What I was showing was that these are on our soil and most in the lifetimes of anyone reading this. In recent history what your talking about hasn’t happened in recent history and is not on the same level of a Global threat. This is something that we cannot afford to ignore or turn a blind eye to. We need to be vigilant and be situationally aware. We ignore it at our own peril. I am not saying that we start violating peoples rights, no sir, I spent 23 years in Service to God and country to protect just that. Some of that time, was spent overseas in those countries seeing what they do on a daily basis. I am not worried about any Moderate constitutional Muslims that reject Sharia.. For the record.. I ABSOLUTELY AGREE that there are plenty of peaceful Muslims that Want nothing to do with Sharia. They need to stand up and say something to reject this minority. It is worrisome when a Local IMAM at the largest Mosque in Tallahassee tells us that you will get used to Sharia then we have a problem, if he is espousing it then he is teaching it. Sharia is not Constitutional.I am not judging anyone by their look but by the the words that come out of their leaders mouths, they are clear on what they want, we simply cannot turn a blind eye and then wonder what happened later. This is today’s threat (and I am referring to the radicalization and hijacking of that particular religion) and it bears watching. I have ZERO issue with any Muslims (or anyone else for that matter) as long as they are peaceful and law abiding and are not advocating for Sharia (or anything else advocating the supplanting of the constitution) as the law of the land. I have been among them and lived among them in the middle east they are welcome here as long as they want to assimilate into the American culture and not turn it into something “Sharia” based. As Americans (or our guests) they have every right to pray in public or anything else that any other American has a right to. That doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye. Being vigilant does not mean being anti anything.
Interesting compilation Andy, but if you re-read my post, I said nothing about the body count. I only mentioned the number of terrorists. We know that 3000 people were killed by 19 jerks on 9/11, which leaves about a hundred people killed by Muslim terrorists since the 70’s (according to your list). That’s a pretty small number of terrorists. Compare that number to the current enrollment of terrorists in various domestic terror groups (KKK, Storm Front, CCC, Keystone United, Westboro Baptist Church, National Alliance, New Black Panthers, ALF, ELF, etc. the list goes on and on). There’s no need to digress into a “tit for tat” numbers comparison though. The take-away message is simple, you shouldn’t judge ANY ethnic/religious groups by the actions of the tiny minority of extremists. Truth is, 99.9% of all Muslims are fine and decent people, the same is true for Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Atheists, Taoists, Moonies, Druids, or any other group you can think of!
Mr. Zimmerman,
Well done, sir. The indisputable evidence and well-documented history of muslim attacks on Americans and others speaks for itself. As I pointed out, it is the muslims themselves who created their image and reputation. We ignore this at our peril.
Harvey Westerfield, sine the 70’s we have experienced 3,106 killed by Muslims in America in 75 terror attacks on US Soil. Not World wide, just here at home. So I am going to have to raise the BS flag on that sir….
Date Country City/State Killed Injured Description
4/14/1972 USA New York, NY 1 3 Ten members of a local mosque phone in a false alarm and then ambush responding officers, killing one.
1/19/1973 USA Brooklyn, NY 1 1 Muslim extremists rob a sporting goods store for weapons, gunning down a police officer who responds to the alarm.
7/1/1973 USA Bethesda, MD 1 0 An Israeli diplomat is gunned down in his driveway by Palestinian terrorists.
7/18/1973 USA Washington, DC 8 2 Nation of Islam members shoot seven members of a family to death in cold blood, including four children. A defendant in the case is later murdered in prison on orders from Elijah Muhammad.
10/19/1973 USA Oakland, CA 1 1 Nation of Islam terrorists kidnap a couple and nearly decapitate the man, while raping and leaving the woman for dead.
10/29/1973 USA Berkeley, CA 1 0 A woman is shot repeatedly in the face by Nation of Islam terrorists.
11/25/1973 USA Oakland, CA 1 0 A grocer is killed in his store by Nation of Islam terrorists.
12/11/1973 USA Oakland, CA 1 0 A man is killed by Nation of Islam terrorists while using a phone booth.
12/13/1973 USA Oakland, CA 1 0 A woman is shot to death on the sidewalk by Nation of Islam terrorists.
12/20/1973 USA Oakland, CA 1 0 Nation of Islam terrorists gun down an 81-year-old janitor.
12/22/1973 USA Oakland, CA 2 0 Nation of Islam terrorist kills two people in separate attacks on the same day.
12/24/1973 USA Oakland, CA 1 0 A man is kidnapped, tortured and decapitated by Nation of Islam terrorists.
1/24/1974 USA Oakland, CA 4 1 Five vicious shooting attacks by Nation of Islam terrorists leave three people dead and one paralyzed for life. Three of the victims were women.
4/1/1974 USA Oakland, CA 1 1 A Nation of Islam terrorist shoots at two Salvation Army members, killing a man and injuring a woman.
4/16/1974 USA Ingleside, CA 1 0 A man is killed while helping a friend move by Nation of Islam terrorists.
3/9/1977 USA Washington, DC 1 1 Hanifi Muslims storm three buildings including a B’nai B’rith to hold 134 people hostage. At least two innocents were shot and one died.
7/22/1980 USA Bethesda, MD 1 0 A political dissident is shot and killed in front of his home by an Iranian agent who was an American convert to Islam.
8/31/1980 USA Savou, IL 2 0 An Iranian student guns down his next-door neighbors, a husband and wife.
11/6/1989 USA St. Louis, MO 1 0 A 17-year-old girl is stabbed to death by her parents for bringing ‘dishonor’ to their family by dating an ‘infidel’ African-American.
1/31/1990 USA Tuscon, AZ 1 0 A Sunni cleric is assassinated in front of a Tuscon mosque after declaring that two verses of the Qur’an were invalid.
11/5/1990 USA New York City, NY 1 0 An Israeli rabbi is shot to death by a Muslim attacker at a hotel.
1/25/1993 USA Langley, VA 2 3 A Pakistani with Mujahideen ties guns down two CIA agents outside of the headquarters.
2/26/1993 USA New York, NY 6 1040 Islamic terrorists detonate a massive truck bomb under the World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring over 1,000 in an effort to collapse the towers.
3/1/1994 USA Brooklyn, NY 1 0 A Muslim gunman targets a van packed with Jewish boys, killing a 16-year-old.
3/23/1997 USA New York, NY 1 6 A Palestinian leaves an anti-Jewish suicide note behind and travels to the top of the Empire State building where he shoot seven people in a Fedayeen attack.
4/3/1997 USA Lompoc, CA 1 0 A prison guard is stabbed to death by a radical Muslim.
3/17/2000 USA Atlanta, GA 1 1 A local imam and Muslim spiritual leader guns down a deputy sheriff and injures his partner.
9/11/2001 USA Shanksville, PA 40 0 Forty passengers are killed after Islamic radicals hijack the plane in an attempt to steer it into the U.S. Capitol building.
9/11/2001 USA Washington, DC 184 53 Nearly 200 people are killed when Islamic hijackers steer a plane full of people into the Pentagon.
9/11/2001 USA New York, NY 2752 251 Islamic hijackers steer two planes packed with fuel and passengers into the World Trade Center, killing hundreds on impact and eventually killing thousands when the towers collapsed. At least 200 are seriously injured.
3/19/2002 USA Tuscon, AZ 1 0 A 60-year-old man is gunned down by Muslim snipers on a golf course.
5/27/2002 USA Denton, TX 1 0 Muslim snipers kill a man as he works in his yard.
7/4/2002 USA Los Angeles, CA 2 0 Muslim man pulls out a gun at the counter of an Israeli airline and kills two people.
9/5/2002 USA Clinton, MD 1 0 A 55-year-old pizzaria owner is shot six times in the back by Muslims at close range.
9/21/2002 USA Montgomery, AL 1 1 Muslim snipers shoot two women, killing one.
9/23/2002 USA Baton Rouge, LA 1 0 A Korean mother is shot in the back by Muslim snipers.
10/2/2002 USA Wheaton, MD 1 0 Muslim snipers gun down a program analyst in a store parking lot.
10/3/2002 USA Montgomery County, MD 5 0 Muslim snipers kill three men and two women in separate attacks over a 15-hour period.
10/9/2002 USA Manassas, VA 1 1 A man is killed by Muslim snipers while pumping gas two days after a 13-year-old is wounded by the same team.
10/11/2002 USA Fredericksburg, VA 1 0 Another man is killed by Muslim snipers while pumping gas.
10/14/2002 USA Arlington, VA 1 0 A woman is killed by Muslim snipers in a Home Depot parking lot.
10/22/2002 USA Aspen Hill, MD 1 0 A bus driver is killed by Muslim snipers.
8/6/2003 USA Houston, TX 1 0 After undergoing a ‘religious revival’, a Saudi college student slashes the throat of a Jewish student with a 4″ butterfly knife, nearly decapitating the young man.
12/2/2003 USA Chicago, IL 1 0 A Muslim doctor deliberately allows a Jewish patient to die from an easily treatable condition.
4/13/2004 USA Raleigh, NC 1 4 An angry Muslim runs down five strangers with a car.
4/15/2004 USA Scottsville, NY 1 2 In an honor killing, a Muslim father kills his wife and attacks his two daughters with a knife and hammer because he feared that they had been sexually molested.
6/16/2006 USA Baltimore, MD 1 0 A 62-year-old Jewish moviegoer is shot to death by a Muslim medical student in an unprovoked terror attack.
6/25/2006 USA Denver, CO 1 5 Saying that it was ‘Allah’s choice’, a Muslim shoots four of his co-workers and a police officer.
7/28/2006 USA Seattle, WA 1 5 An ‘angry’ Muslim-American uses a young girl as hostage to enter a local Jewish center, where he shoots six women, one of whom dies.
1/1/2008 USA Irving, TX 2 0 A Muslim immigrant shoots his two daughters to death on concerns about their ‘Western’ lifestyle.
7/6/2008 USA Jonesboro, GA 1 0 A devout Muslim strangles his 25-year-old daughter in an honor killing.
2/12/2009 USA Buffalo, NY 1 0 The founder of a Muslim TV station beheads his wife in the hallway for seeking a divorce.
4/12/2009 USA Phoenix, AZ 2 0 A man shoots his brother-in-law and another man to death after finding out that they visited a strip club, in contradiction to Islamic values.
6/1/2009 USA Little Rock, AR 1 1 A Muslim shoots a local soldier to death inside a recruiting center explicitly in the name of Allah.
11/2/2009 USA Glendale, AZ 1 1 A woman dies from injuries suffered when her father runs her down with a car for being too ‘Westernized.’ (10-20-09)
11/5/2009 USA Ft. Hood, TX 13 31 A Muslim psychiatrist guns down thirteen unarmed soldiers while yelling praises to Allah.
12/4/2009 USA Binghamton, NY 1 0 A non-Muslim Islamic studies professor is stabbed to death by a Muslim grad student in revenge for ‘persecuted’ Muslims.
4/14/2010 USA Marquette Park, IL 5 2 After quarrelling with his wife over Islamic dress, a Muslim convert shoots his family members to ‘take them back to Allah’ and out of the ‘world of sinners’.
4/30/2011 USA Warren, MI 1 0 A 20-year-old woman is shot in the head by her stepfather for not adhering to Islamic practices.
9/11/2011 USA Waltham, MA 3 0 Three Jewish men have their throats slashed by Muslim terrorists.
1/15/2012 USA Houston, TX 1 0 A 30-year-old Christian convert is shot to death by a devout Muslim for helping to convert his daughter.
11/12/2012 USA Houston, TX 1 0 A 28-year-old American man is shot to death by a conservative Muslim over an alleged role in converting a woman to Christianity.
2/7/2013 USA Buena Vista, NJ 2 0 A Muslim targets and beheads two Christian Coptic immigrants.
3/24/2013 USA Ashtabula, OH 1 0 A Muslim convert walks into a church service with a Quran and guns down his Christian father while praising Allah.
4/15/2013 USA Boston, MA 3 264 Foreign-born Muslims describing themselves as ‘very religious’ detonate two bombs packed with ball bearings at the Boston Marathon, killing three people and causing several more to lose limbs.
4/19/2013 USA Boston, MA 1 1 Jihadists gun down a university police officer sitting in his car.
8/4/2013 USA Richmond, CA 1 0 A convert “on a mission from Allah” stabs a store clerk to death.
3/6/2014 USA Port Bolivar,TX 2 0 A Muslim man shoots his lesbian daughter and her lover to death and leaves a copy of the Quran open to a page condemning homosexuality.
4/27/2014 USA Skyway, WA 1 0 A 30-year-old man is murdered by a Muslim fanatic.
6/1/2014 USA Seattle, WA 2 0 Two homosexuals are murdered by an Islamic extremist.
6/25/2014 USA West Orange, NJ 1 0 A 19-year-old college student is shot to death ‘in revenge’ for Muslim deaths overseas.
9/25/2014 USA Moore, OK 1 1 A Sharia advocate beheads a woman after calling for Islamic terror and posting an Islamist beheading photo.
7/16/2015 USA Chattanooga 5 2 A ‘devout Muslim’ stages a suicide attack on a recruiting center at a strip mall and a naval center which leaves five dead.
If you agree with the sentiment in this article, then you surely must agree that all Christians who publicly pray should be subjected to the same level of scrutiny. At last count, home-grown Christian terrorists FAR outnumbered those of the Muslim faith. Look no further than the Sikh shooting in Wisconsin, the murder of Dr. George Tiller, Eric Rudolph’s bombing, or any number of white supremacist individuals/groups like Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in Oklahoma City in 1995.
Tallahassee Democrat has been useless for years if you want decent media coverage. Whatever agenda they’re trying to push at the moment is what you will read – slanted, distorted and carefully picked over. Forget about anything resembling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I cancelled my subscription years ago over their slanted opinion pieces masquerading as front page news for WEEKS, meant to vilify TPD and portray Rachel Hoffman as an innocent college student.
We do have a Muslim problem in this country and we are fools as Americans if we ignore the facts.
Curtis…really? Southern Baptists hate rock and roll so much they’re willing to kill others because of it? I choose not be Southern Baptist, but I have sat through enough sermons and read enough of the denomination’s materials to know that in this day and age they do not advocate killing, harming, or even publicly shaming those who do not share their views. If any organizations claiming to be Baptist advocates any of the above, the Southern Baptists quickly denounce and distance. Please get back to me when you find current day news stories of Southern Baptist organizations not only seizing land and towns, but also killing and torturing those that don’t share their views. To make that comparison is absurd.
If it was written by the Democrat, I generally ignore/disregard it unless it is just too offensive, as was Gerald Ensley’s latest rant on a recently deceased man.
To be bluntly honest: It is the Muslims themselves who are to blame for the image they have created for themselves before the world. Killing Americans in terrorist attacks, dancing in the streets shouting “Death to America”, and beheading “unbelievers” does not engender friendly understanding and neighborly acceptance.
When we now regard Muslims with trepidation and extreme caution, it is with the same natural sense of self-preservation that one regards a shark, a lion, or a rattlesnake. We know them to be dangerous, and although the particular one we encounter may or may not be, we’re quite reasonably and wisely on our guard. Again, the Muslims created this image of themselves – not Americans in some right-wing fantasy. They have demonstrated and repeatedly stated that peaceful coexistence with “other ideas and beliefs” is not an option, and they continually attempt to insert Sharia law into American legal systems.
If Muslims want different attitudes towards themselves, then it it up to them alone to earn that, not for us to bring it about by self-denial, political correctness, and lack of common sense.
On a parallel note: Why do Liberals/Democrats always seem to embrace Muslims and gloss over or outright ignore their violent attacks and statements? Concurrently, why do Liberals/Democrats always seem to condemn patriotic, pro-Constitution American groups (Tea Party, et al) and/or Christians in general? When given the opportunity, it’s proven fact that they have been quite willing to use the IRS to illegally suppress pro-America groups and associations. Whose side do Liberals/Democrats seem more willing to take?
I’m in full agreement with you Mike!
All I saw in this photograph was a group of people peacefully assembling in a beautiful place to pray. Everything else was the product of our imaginations. I do understand all the concern though. Those folks don’t look like us; they don’t pray like us; they don’t have the same religious beliefs. Heck, I feel the same way when I see Catholics gathering behind closed doors, to speak in their foreign tongue, and worship their foreign sovereign, who happens to wear a white dress and pointed hood; and think about how much good science it has tried to suppress, or remember all the people they burned at the stake for not believing as they do. And Baptists?! Holy Cow! Especially Southern Baptists; that’s the groups we really need to watch! They hate everything; dancing, rock-n-roll, integration, dis-obedient wives, and everything Middle Eastern, especially Sharia Law … except for the Bible, of course. And Jesus. Thank goodness none of that came from the Middle East.
Excuse me good sir, but your comment about Baptist is false. It’s true that a lot of our elders still believe that way, but our doctrine does not teach that music or dance is a sin. What’s this about integration and dis-obedient wives? Are you just trying to make us sound mad? We do not teach segregation nor do we punish our wives. The Bible teaches that man is the head of the household and if that is what you are referring to then you clearly have little understanding of the Bible and how to interrupt it. As far as the Middle East, of course we hate sharia law! Everyone should! It teaches the destruction of everyone that’s not islamic! Is it wrong to be cautious of people who follow such teachings? I would say not, They have declared jihad against us, it’s a Holy war, those not involved really have no place in saying anything against us that have this threat of losing our lives for our faith in Christ.
Yes, it is a very complicated issue because you have an extreme sect of authoritarian, racial and nationalistic Islamic ideology embedded in a world religion that is bent on world domination and total destruction of Western Civilization. The problem is you have millions of people of the Islamic faith who do not share in this extreme authoritarian and strict view and the forced application of Sharia Law on all of the western world.
But,I find it incredible that some believe that we should be tolerant of a religion that believes it should kill gays and treat women as second class humans with no rights to even drive a car or dress how they would like, stone women to death and killed thousands of our innocent neighbors, friends and family members in a horrible fashion by flying airplanes into buildings.
I wonder what the Democrat would write if relatives of the late former KKK member, Sen. Robert Byrd, drove down from WV and burned crosses wearing white robes at the beach in Wakulla County? Would they write “Its legal to advocate an idea, however offensive or alien.”?
I could go on and on, but I will stop here.
Steve Stewart WELL DONE SIR! Well Done! Bravo Zulu to you on this article!! In one of its latest editorials the Democrat editors (Bill cotteral notified me it was their collective opinion) Likened the whole situation to the Japanese internment’s and the fear mongering in that day. I was quick to tell him we don’t live in that America or that world today, its a whole different place and one only needs to look to europe, or what is currently happening to other cultures and religions living within the boundaries of radical Islam to see that something wicked this way comes. We have to be ever vigilant, and situationally aware. We have to feel if something is amiss and causes us deep concern that we SHOULD say something without fear of being vilified, and called a Xenophobe or a bigot (or even having it implied).
Thank you for well written Article.
Without things such as this, Don Henley would have never had a hit song entitled “Dirty Laundry”. Law enforcement indeed must rely upon the community. Alert Americans and constitutional law enforcement are the key to national security. The $174K/year congressional proponents of our national ID card point to a case in Texas where a suspect was attempting to build a destructive device.
Was he caught by requiring him to produce a copy of his power bill at the DMV? No. He was caught due to an alert employee at a chemical company from which he had ordered supplies. The employee notified law enforcement. Law enforcement conducted a proper investigation with cause. As with the others named in this story, the suspect was properly charged.