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New York City was jolted this weekend when two young men allegedly hurled improvised explosive devices during a chaotic protest outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence, prompting federal terrorism charges. Authorities say the suspects traveled from Pennsylvania and were arrested at the scene after one device was seen being lit and thrown toward the crowd; federal prosecutors have filed a multicharge complaint including use of a weapon of mass destruction.
Investigators say at least one of the devices contained triacetone triperoxide, the volatile “TATP” explosive used in numerous international attacks, and court filings claim one suspect boasted about wanting an attack greater than the Boston Marathon bombing. Law enforcement officials also allege the two were radicalized online and told interrogators they were inspired by ISIS, facts that make the episode look less like a local disturbance and more like a narrowly foiled act of jihadist terrorism.
Instead of squarely naming Islamist terror for what it was, the mayor and parts of the media chose a different tack—emphasizing grievance and the optics of two opposing protests rather than the attempted murder of Americans. New York’s mayor condemned the “vile” protest while condemning violence generally, a statement that, to working patriots worried about public safety, read like an abdication of moral clarity at a moment when clarity mattered most.
That hesitation opened a window for the legacy outlets, with CNN among those accused by critics of soft-pedaling or muddling a clear act of Islamist-inspired terror into a squabble between extremists and their opponents. Conservative commentators were quick to pounce, arguing that a media class that reflexively excuses radical motives when the attackers claim Islamist inspiration is part of the problem that lets terror fester on our streets.
This is not mere partisan chest-thumping; the facts are alarming and demand policy changes. When two teenagers can allegedly make and transport TATP and try to detonate it in the middle of Manhattan, we need tougher enforcement, closer Border security, robust online counter-radicalization efforts, and prosecutors unafraid to call ideological terrorism by its name.
Americans should be furious that the first instinct of some elite institutions is spin over safety. Patriots who love this city and this country must insist on real accountability—from mayors who lead, from prosecutors who prosecute without fear or favor, and from a press corps that will stop reflexively giving soft cover to the enemies of Western civilization.
