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THE REVENGE OF THE OAHU SNACKBAR

  • 3 days ago
  • 9 min read

Updated: 12 hours ago

In their ongoing attempt at self-immolation, the once-relevant press is at it again.



Bad AI image of treats from the Oahu snackbar


WHAT HAPPENED


On March 7th, aspiring killers (two young men, US citizens living at home with their parents in the leafy suburbs of Pennsylvania) deployed a pair of IEDs (containing materials that would have them designated as weapons of mass destruction) at a public gathering on the street in front of the home of the New York City mayor.


The gathering was overwhelmingly attended not by protesters who organized the event but by counterprotesters, perhaps 150 of them, who were there to loudly oppose around 20 people described as racist xenophobes demonstrating against “the Islamization of New York” and the growing popularity of “public prayer.”


The footage of the pertinent events and available to everyone showed a counterprotester with a bullhorn barking about how everyone is welcome in New York City. As he makes his proclamation, a Middle Eastern-looking and sounding fellow runs up, puts his hand on the man’s shoulder, and leaps into the air while lobbing his smoking, fuse-lit bomb. And as he does so, the would-be terrorist is seen and heard screaming “allahu akbar, alhamdulillah”, and is heard doing so again as he runs down the sidewalk. In the accompanying confusion, one onlooker is clearly heard asking “Yo, this n’ just threw a bomb, bro! Yo, he threw a bomb? Yo, did he throw a bomb, bro?" he turns and asks the police standing next to him. He continues, "Yo, did he just throw an allahu akbar bomb, bro? Yo, that shit was crazy! He just threw an allah akbar cocktail at y’all!”


Though these ISIS-inspired bombers lit and threw two of their three bombs, neither of their bolt and screw-packed devices went off. After the first hurled device extinguished itself, one of the men ran down the block, collected the second IED from his waiting accomplice, and then dropped it in the vicinity of a dozen police officers while attempting to flee into the street. From the videos and reporting I’ve seen, had the bombs detonated there would have been a mass casualty event likely wounding or killing mostly the police and pro-mass immigration counterprotesters who made up the overwhelming majority of those in attendance.


In another set of videos taken by counterprotesters shows the men being chased down by mobs of police, tackled to the ground, and arrested. There the counterprotesters are heard yelling at police, again and again, things like “He didn’t do it!”, “That’s not him!”, “Don’t be so rough!” and, to the guy who just attempted to kill them and their friends, “Does someone have your emergency contact?” The arrest of the other man is similar but with a pair of keffiyeh-clad folks running to the aid of their compatriot as police swarm and push them back.


After being caught, 18-year-old Balat and 19-year-old Kayumi allegedly waived their rights to remain silent and have a lawyer present. We are told one wrote on a piece of paper that he pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State while the other explained he had been inspired by ISIS videos and that the pair intended for their attack to be bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing that “only” left three dead.


By March 9th both men had been formally charged with five counts, including: transportation of explosive materials, use of a weapon of mass destruction, and attempted support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.



Close-up of bomber and his handiwork


HOW IT WAS REPORTED


The press, with the help of the city's mayor, either sought to frame the bombers in sympathetic terms or actually transmute the events into their opposite in the minds of the public. This was done reflexively and, seemingly, almost universally. They bent over backward again and again in their attempt to conceal this protected class by conveying local ISIS enthusiasts as innocent bystanders or mere counterprotesters or activists and spin the events as a defense of all that is good. We literally had a terrorist attack executed by Muslims against non-Muslims framed as a form of Islamophobia. Government and media did everything but declare the men heroes and induct them into the Resistance Alliance alongside street executioner Mangione. It remains unclear why this didn't happen or whether the public ceremony is pending.


The mayor, whose front stoop was the site of the attack, came out with an official statement that made no mention of the attackers’ names, backgrounds, or other identifiers as happens in effectively every other instance. Nor did he name their vociferous religious and political motivations and aims, which were beyond any reasonable doubt by this time. He sought instead to highlight the handful of bigots, of whom there are more at any moment on any given subway train in the city, and deploy a fog of confusion over the rest of it, while thanking the police (who did little more than avoid getting a face full of shrapnel due solely to the stupidity of the attackers.) Mayor Mamdani offered the public:


Yesterday, white supremacist Jake Lang organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion rooted in bigotry and racism. Such hate has no place in New York City. It is an affront to our city’s values and the unity that defines who we are.


What followed was even more disturbing. Violence at a protest is never acceptable. The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are.


I want to thank the brave men and women of the NYPD who acted quickly to keep New Yorkers safe. Our officers ran toward danger without hesitation, demonstrating once again the courage and dedication it takes to protect this city every single day.


My administration is closely monitoring the situation and I remain in close contact with our Police Commissioner.


The New York Times chose to take a similar tack. One article describing weapons intended for mass murder on the streets of New York, intended to outdo the Boston Bombing, was titled “Gracie Mansion Attack Came Amid Chaos of Influencer’s Anti-Muslim Rally.” In another article employing similar obscurification, America's only real surviving newspaper (on a life support system of word puzzles and cookie recipes and with lower monthly subscriptions than a travel blog or artisanal soap company) went with “Smoking Jars of Metal and Fuses Thrown at Protest Near Mayor’s House.” For an industry notorious for its sensationalism, the headline doesn’t exactly scream “Homegrown Terror Plot.” But then again it doesn’t even approach the basic fact of the matter, “Pair Attempt Mass Murder.” Instead they gift their readers something closer to “Littering Observed Near Mayor's Residence.” To go even harder down this road they paired that headline with a subtitle reading “Six people were arrested after anti-Islamic protesters led by the right-wing activist Jake Lang clashed with counterprotesters near Gracie Mansion.”


You see, they wanted you to glance at their headline, knowing no one reads articles any longer, and come away thinking the intended victims were actually the perpetrators. And, for anyone daring to delve in for some details, they also wanted you to know that, as told by a lawyer already on the case, one of the would-be executioners who likes a good beheading was "a senior at a Pennsylvania high school who was three classes from graduation and has complicated stuff going on in his personal life.” Amazing. "Complicated stuff" like building three bombs in his parent's basement after finishing his math homework? Or, like, more complicated than that? (The press offering a pre-defence of this sort has really taken off as of late. This calls to mind when the man and his kids were attacked in the park in Montreal last year and the media was quick to get out the word that the weather had been really hot in recent weeks and the fellow had been having a tough time so, basically, how could he be held responsible for his anti-Semitic rage?) You couldn't make this shit up. And you’d have to work pretty hard to achieve more aggressive downplaying, apologetics, and spin. But other outlets gave it a concerted effort, too.


CNN was quick to portray these highly motivated murderers similarly, as hapless teens. They posted to social media:


Two Pennsylvanian teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather. But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home.


CNN followed this up by having anchor Abby Phillip go on television to frame the ISIS-inspired attack as nothing of the sort but instead, as the exact opposite, as an attack against the city’s first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani. It didn't matter that no one in attendance nor anyone viewing any of the abundant available footage or speaking with police could have come away with this belief. For this she later offered a correction but, of course, not on her show nor through any CNN profiles, only on her personal X account. On the same program, NewsNight, CNN senior political commentator Ana Navarro then thought she would also give the same trick a try. In a panel debate, hosted by Phillip and arriving days after the events and long after charges were laid, Navarro frames the attack, once again, as being an “attempt against Mayor Mamdani in New York, who was raised Muslim…” Like the reporters and editors at the Times and her colleague Phillip, she offered this not as a dissenting or contrarian opinion, with evidence or explanation, but with no conceivable way of believing this and against all available evidence, including that of the attackers and without the host stepping in to correct the record.



ABC's "activist"


ABC News got in on the fun with an article titled "Improvised explosive device was thrown during dueling protests outside NYC mayor's home: Police." They accompanied their article with three photos of the attackers captioned:


  • An activist holds a homemade explosive device before throwing it towards police during a protest organized by far-right influencer Jake Lang against alleged “Islamification”...


  • An activist flees after throwing a homemade explosive device towards police during a protest organized by far-right influencer Jake Lang against alleged "Islamification"...


  • An activist is handed a homemade explosive device by a fellow activist before throwing it towards police during a protest organized by far-right influencer Jake Lang against alleged "Islamification"...


None of these descriptions, nor the title, are clear representations of the events and could easily mislead readers to believe the bomb-thrower was actually one of the protesters and not aligned with the counterprotesters. When paired with the unjustified labelling referring to these men (who planned, built bombs, travelled, and fully executed their terrorist attack in a neighbouring state) as "activists", it is difficult to miss just how deliberate and belligerent the media’s smoke and mirrors game truly is.


Immediately after the events, NBC New York dishonestly posted to social media “Multiple arrests made after ‘suspicious devices’ found outside Gracie Mansion, home of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, during anti-Islam rally and counterprotest.” This, of course, is simply not what happened. Their liked article was titled "Two people in custody after ‘suspicious devices' ignited outside NYC mayor's official residence" and subtitled "After an anti-Islam protester fired pepper spray at counterprotesters, one of the counterprotesters 'lit and threw an ignited device toward the protest area,' NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. The same individual then retrieved a second device, lit and ran with it before dropping it, Tisch said." This is presented as if to suggest there was some kind of tit-for-tat started by the protesters and, thus, unleashing a pair of bombs mere self-defence, perhaps. Too, they want you to think that Muslims hollering “allahu akbar” as they throw what very much appears to be a bomb (1L in size, wrapped in tape, and with a smoking fuse, which couldn't possibly be confused for a rock or a cloud of pepper spray or custard pie) is common at any protest or gathering and would be a normal or excusable response to verbal, chemical, or physical aggression or assault (and while surrounded by dozens of police.)


After viewing the available footage showing a man yelling “allahu akbar”, deploying multiple bombs, and flashing their ISIS hand signals after being apprehended, NBC News’ National Law Enforcement and Intelligence Correspondent, Tom Winter, reported that “NYPD and FBI are looking into this incident as a possible act or terrorism in part because one of the suspects directly referenced ISIS in statements to law enforcement…” This isn't careful and honest reporting but one more example of every possible attempt to delay and avoid describing what the perpetrators themselves declared and what we all know from lived experience. I mean, are there any known instances in North America or Europe where folks have yelled "god is great, all praise to god" in Arabic before squirting a water gun or bear spray, lobbing a traffic cone or garbage can, smashing a window or taking a swing at an antagonist or cop? Are there any instances where someone yelled something of the sort and paired that with a bomb, knife attack, or mass shooting and turned out not to be motivated by anything affirmed by anyone yelling the same? I don't know of any.


The most charitable reading of all this reporting is a deliberate attempt to confuse. The most realistic appraisal, to my mind, is some sort of fraud. All the major networks are on the same wrong page? Give me a break.


At least it wasn’t just myself who noticed this widespread counter-journalistic shenanigans:



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