FBI searching for armed anti-Muslim protester after Facebook threat to Muslim community in New York

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
Guess he's back in AZ...probably never left. I can't tell when the video was filmed. I guess it's on FB, which I don't use.

I hope the FBI brings him in for questioning. If he was in contact with them, as was reported, then it's very possible that he made false statements to the FBI and could actually end up visiting a prison for a few years...

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic
Yep. Could be any number of possibilities.

That video may have been made ahead of time to taunt the FBI.

He may have never left. Them reporting him in Scranton...well vased on what I've seen on TV (LOL) that should have been an easy thing for the FBI to tell the location of the tower he was pinging from. Unless he had someone else call/had them call someone else who said it was him.

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: Qumulys

This thread, created by a now banned member? www.abovetopsecret.com...

Looks like SO fully supported it.

Suddenly I feel like I have been had.

I don't know who or what to believe anymore, or where one really stands on an issue, or what happens to posters that disappear and who were they in the first place.

Are we being played like a fiddle, incendiary topics posted to get us hooked into fabricated debate and discord.

are there agitators in our midst?

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
Class act. Though he said he was taking pictures of Mosques, not shooting them up.

A couple of month ago, a couple of weeks before a huge college football game in my city, three Arabic men were spotted by university police at the (empty) stadium, underneath the bleachers, taking photos of the apparent construction.

They weren't charged with anything or detained, because they were only taking pictures.

Please don't ask me what this means because I have no idea. It bugged me.
By now the football games have come and gone with no incidents.

a reply to: angeldoll

There's a big difference between people simply taking pictures and someone brandishing a firearm, while saying he's going to visit those who called him a name and using the language that this idiot used.

There's nothing at all illegal with any one thing that Jon Ritzheimer did or said (with the possible exception of making false statements to the FBI - which we don't know about yet), but put it altogether and he could be a real threat.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Oh yes, I agree completely. I posted that other occurrence only because . On second thought I don't know why I posted it.

originally posted by: Stormdancer777

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: Qumulys

This thread, created by a now banned member? www.abovetopsecret.com...

Looks like SO fully supported it.

Suddenly I feel like I have been had.

I don't know who or what to believe anymore, or where one really stands on an issue, or what happens to posters that disappear and who were they in the first place.

Are we being played like a fiddle, incendiary topics posted to get us hooked into fabricated debate and discord. are there agitators in our midst?

Yes and Yes.

I always encourage those that I know, to do their own research. I warn them not to believe anything I say, and to question any information they get from others. People are quick to believe anything that supports what they already believe, and quick to reject that which goes against what they believe, or want to to believe. Truth and fact play a very small part in conversations that are fought with the heart.

What drives a person is usually always personal. It is based on their individual truths, and life experiences. So even when a person believes what they are saying with every fiber of their being, it is usually a personal truth, and may actually be a lie that they have accepted as truth.

Passion is not a substitute for truth, so we have to be careful not to get caught up in that trap. Facts are not always an indication of truth, and people get caught in that trap as well. Statistics are nothing but numbers, anyone can use them to support or refute any information being used in an argument. In the end the only thing you have to go on is yourself, and only you will know if you are being honest to self.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

Right. He's not wrong for being willing to defend himself from trouble he goes about instigating. Nothing at all wrong with that. Go, America. Hate on.

He didn't instigate anything. Drawing cartoons isn't instigation, and those groups threatened his life for that. They started the trouble. His traveling to where they are is a statement, and he has every right to do so. His standing up and not cowering before that sort of threat is his right. The hate is from those who threatened him. But, hey, defend the ones actually making threats, misrepresent what he actually said, and claim his standing u for his rights is "hate".

The bias is quite clear. He didn't make a threat.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

Taunting people and then getting a response to the taunt is childish at best and deadly at worst.

And if someone posted a video saying they were coming to my place, I'd call the cops too.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

Taunting people and then getting a response to the taunt is childish at best and deadly at worst.

And if someone posted a video saying they were coming to my place, I'd call the cops too.

Threatening to kill someone over cartoons is far worse than childish, and, when it involves Islam, usually deadly. Posting a video in which he claims he will go to a place (not a home), and take pictures of himself outside making rude gestures, isn't a threat. Childish, maybe. Not a threat. If and when he ever states that he's going to actually kill someone, as they did with him, and if and when he states he's going to their home, then, and only then, will such a concern be valid. All he did was state he was visiting a non-residential location to take pictures.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

He was said he was heading to the newspaper office to confront them for calling him names.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

He was said he was heading to the newspaper office to confront them for calling him names.

So, going to speak to someone is a threat? They threatened to kill him over cartoons. Which is the real crime here?

If some newspaper was calling me names, I might go and confront them about it, too. stating ain intent to talk to someone, again, isn't a threat.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

Okay. I get it. He's a hero of yours. You don't see a threat. I disagree.

You'd go see them and make a video acting like a loon and waving a gun? Mkay.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

Okay. I get it. He's a hero of yours. You don't see a threat. I disagree.

You'd go see them and make a video acting like a loon and waving a gun? Mkay.

Actually, I know very little about the guy other than what you posted, and that he was involved in those cartoon contests. But, if it makes you feel better to think that, well, go right ahead.

I am not threatened by someone carrying a gun, which is a right, or by someone stating that they aren't afraid of threats. Also, I don't call people loons just because I might not agree with their position.

The simple fact is, he didn't make a threat, and even the information you posted shows that's the truth. Something that "might be perceived as a threat", or whatever it stated, isn't an actual threat. Since he hasn't been arrested, as far as we know, and is, according to comments here, back home, I'd say the FBI doesn't think he's a threat, either. It isn't like they couldn't locate him, now is it?

a reply to: Stormdancer777

You know what, I admit, I was played like a fiddle. The general consensus of that thread was that it was harmless, and a peaceful show of support for Hebdo. I fell into that group mentality of spiteful and insensitive cartoons as a protest, which I hate to admit. Some people are probably still fine with that thread and the stance they took, and that's fine as well.

I just know now that I feel very much different than at the time of that thread. I'll freely admit I felt a hatred at the time towards Islam, something which I've never expected from myself. So even though I did not post in that thread, I was very much teetering on the edge of producing a distasteful cartoon myself. I supported those that did as well.

I guess I still do support the freedom of a comic such as Charlie Hebdo, there is a need for free expression. But I feel when everyone jumped on the bandwagon it just cause greater divisions - throwing fuel on a fire.


I really wish I could go back in time and express my feelings in that thread. I'm very keen to know if anyone else has changed their heart on the subject and also felt a little played by the media and/or co-workers - ats posters - etc.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

I really wish I could go back in time and express my feelings in that thread. I'm very keen to know if anyone else has changed their heart on the subject and also felt a little played by the media and/or co-workers - ats posters - etc.

You sound like a very sensitive person. That is probably why you are having such uncertainty about what is right and what is wrong.

You seem to still be looking towards others for answers to that question. There are rarely black and white answers. There is always two sides to an issue. This makes most of us think that there has to be a right side and a wrong side, a good and a bad. Life does not play out that easily. It is not always that cut and dry. So you don't have to beat yourself up for becoming emotional when something affects you.

Anger is not a bad emotion, in many cases it is justified. It is not how we feel that causes us problems and sometimes regret, it is what we do or don't do in response to those emotions.

You feel your emotions may have been manipulated in the previous thread and it sounds like your emotions are still being manipulated. You are allowed to have emotions, and you don't have to take sides. You seem open minded and willing to listen to what others have to say. I can only suggest that you not accept anything you see or hear as fact. Listen, do your own research, and develop you own convictions.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

What a great post! Especially the idea that most people feel compelled to take a side, because we usually see an issue as having a right and wrong side, so of course, we want to take the "right" one. I struggle to NOT take a side in many issues. And when I do, I struggle to understand that those "on the other side" aren't WRONG. It's hard.

But there exist several forces, encouraging us to pick one side or the other. Media being the most influential.

I support free speech and support the freedom of those who posted in that thread (and also the freedom of Jon Ritzheimer to be an anti-Muslim, white supremacist and a complete jerk). But I very much disagree with the idea of using the excuse of 'free speech' as a justification to be an asshole, and I wouldn't participate in that.

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
Haven't seen those posted yet, but it looks like this is the same person who hosted the "Draw Muhammad" competition in Phoenix.

Yeah, that's the same guy... A real sweetheart. I hope the FBI finds him... He can't be very smart, as advertising his intent means more people are going to be looking to stop him and many have "upped" their own security. Muslims have guns, too, Jon...

Muslims have guns, too, Jon...


But . . . . but . . .Islam is a religion of peace?

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Seems they talked to him.

Just an update.

Ritzheimer said state troopers told him he would be stopped and searched when he entered New York, and they told him it would be illegal to bring firearms into the state — which has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation.

He said the FBI agent was polite, but Ritzheimer complained that the New York state trooper would not work with him and repeatedly interrupted him.

“They basically told me they would violate my rights, so I turned off my phone and took cash out of my account so they couldn’t track me,” Ritzheimer said.

Ritzheimer would not say whether he entered New York, but he must have, because he said he eventually reached his destination in New Hampshire. [url=http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/arizona-man-who-drove-cross-country-with-a-gun-to-confront-muslims-gets-off-with-a-warning-from-cops/][Source][/u rl]

Told ya. NY state troopers don't mess around. Yeah, they were gonna violate his rights as he violated their laws. Give me a break.