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Americans should be grateful our law enforcement still has men and women willing to act decisively — federal agents foiled what one court filing calls an ISIS‑inspired plot planned for Halloween, arresting several suspects and stopping violence before it could begin. According to the complaint, the scheme involved Mohmed Ismail Ali and Majed Mahmoud along with a juvenile and others who had been under surveillance as they prepared for what they called “pumpkin.”
The seizure was chilling in its scope: investigators recovered multiple AR‑15‑style rifles, shotguns, handguns, more than 1,600 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, tactical vests, GoPro cameras and other gear that plainly showed preparation for mass violence. Those stockpiles and range practice sessions are the real, ugly evidence — not the hand‑wringing excuses some will offer to downplay the threat.
Court documents make clear the suspects scouted downtown Ferndale, a nightlife district with bars and clubs, and discussed an attack timed to Halloween using the coded word “pumpkin,” while online chats and encrypted messages showed admiration for ISIS tactics. This wasn’t idle talk among kids; the complaint lays out months of plotting, purchases of weapon parts meant to increase lethality, and coordination that should alarm every parent in America.
This foiled plot is also a reminder that radicalization often moves quietly through encrypted apps and social feeds, exploiting our liberties while seeking to destroy them — the same platforms and policies that politicians praise as modern conveniences have become recruitment tools for extremism. The criminal complaint describes encrypted group chats, overseas links, and explicit references to past terror attacks as models, painting a picture of home‑grown violence inspired by foreign jihadist doctrine.
Credit where credit is due: the FBI and local partners stepped in before Halloween and lodged federal charges, preventing what prosecutors say could have been a large‑scale tragedy. If Washington wants to keep Americans safe, it must back those agents with clear policy, not political theater — real security starts with supporting law enforcement, not undermining it.
But make no mistake: this dangerous episode also exposes policy failures that invite radical activity, from porous borders to the toxic echo chambers of social media and a hollowed‑out cultural will to confront violent ideology. Conservatives have been sounding the alarm for years about how lax immigration enforcement, soft criminal justice postures, and protected online spaces create the conditions where terror can incubate — Washington should stop arguing and start acting.
Americans who work hard and play by the rules deserve leaders who protect our towns, our families, and our holidays from those who would turn them into slaughterhouses. We should rally behind investigators, demand accountability, and insist on commonsense reforms that cut off the pathways to radicalization before the next “pumpkin” appears on the horizon.
