title:  Orlando Gunman’s Ties To Anti-Gay Muslim Extremists Exposed (VIDEO)
text: At around 2:00 am on Sunday, June 12, Omar Mateen opened fire inside the crowded Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Over a period of several hours the gunman killed 5o people. Another 53 people were injured during the killing spree.According to police sources, shortly before the attack began, Mateen dialed 911 and pledged his support to the terrorist organization ISIS.Although Mateen was born in the United States, his parents are immigrants who came to the US from Afghanistan. As the Washington Post reports, Mateen s father hosts a political talk show, called the Durand Jirga Show. The title refers to a disputed strip of land between the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.In at least one video, Seddique Mateen, father of the shooter, is seen praising the Taliban, saying: Our brothers in Waziristan, our warrior brothers in [the] Taliban movement and national Afghan Taliban are rising up. Inshallah the Durand Line issue will be solved soon. According to the Palm Beach Post, Mateen has been known to the FBI for several years. In 2015, the FBI investigated the connection between Mateen and Moner Abu-Salha, a one time resident of Vero Beach, Florida. Abu-Salha was the first American suicide bomber in Syria.Like most religious extremists, Abu-Salha vehemently hated gay people and promoted videos on Facebook calling for their execution.In one video posted to Abu-Salha s Facebook page, the group s religious leader is seen telling a gay man that he would be considered  a murtad or apostate,  who would be cast  out of the fold of Islam.  He goes on to say,  You will not be buried in a Muslim graveyard. No Muslim person would ever read your funeral prayer.  He goes on to say that  Homosexuality is punishable by death. Watch the video below:As the Christian right frantically works to portray the mass shooting at Orlando s Pulse Nightclub as a reason to hate and ban Muslims from America, the similarities between Christian extremists and the Taliban are more apparent than ever.Here in the US, right-wing preachers routinely call for the executions of members of the LGBTQ community. In the meantime, Republican extremists in government work hard to make sure that every crazed, violent, potential mass murderer has access to the weapons they need to carry out such a vicious hate crime.The Pulse Nightclub mass shooting was carried out by a Muslim extremist who targeted the gay community in a violent religious frenzy.It doesn t matter whether a gun-toting religious fanatic is carrying a Christian Bible or a Muslim Koran. Hate is hate, and the end result of hate is violence.Image credit: Omar Mateen via MySpace