Well, they aren’t exactly kids. But they’re pretty young – eighteen and nineteen years old, children of naturalized citizens from Turkey and Afghanistan. In their copious free time they constructed – or purchased, or were furnished with – an IED, and proceeded to travel from Pennsylvania to NYC to throw the device at some anti-Mamdani, anti-Islamification protesters at New York’s Gracie Mansion.

The MSM has done its best to obscure the facts and make the reader think, at least for a while, that it was the anti-Islamification protestors who threw the bomb. But more about that in a moment.

The two bombers are now in custody. The bombs were serious devices. From PJ Media:

In case you missed it, on Saturday, March 7, an anti-Islam protest gathered outside Gracie Mansion — the official residence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — when two homemade improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were thrown toward the protesters.

The devices contained triacetone triperoxide or TATP, a volatile homemade explosive often called “mother of Satan,” as well as nuts, bolts, and screws. They were ignited but failed to fully detonate, creating smoke and chaos. …

The suspects are 18-year-old Emir Balat and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi, both of whom are from Pennsylvania. They were arrested shortly after the incident. Both the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force called it “ISIS-inspired terrorism.”

According to Balat’s statement to law enforcement, he wanted to carry out an attack that was bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing.

Fortunately they weren’t all that competent at bomb-making or at least at bomb-igniting and/or bomb-throwing. At the precinct Balat waived his Miranda rights and wrote the following:

All praise is due to Allah lord of all worlds! I pledge my allegience [sic] to the Islamic State. Die in your rage yu [sic] kuffar! Emir B.’

Maybe he’s hoping for some of the Mangione/Tsarnaev-type adulation from the young ladies.

And what of the protesters who were the targets? I was driving somewhere yesterday listening to the radio, and when the news came on at the top of the hour, the newsreader described the protesters as “far-right.”

So I became curious: what was actually being protested? It seems to have been not so much Islam as what the protesters call the takeover of New York by Islam. They seem to be quite theatrical; some of their festivities involved a roast pig and a live goat which the organizer, a man named Jack Lang, referred to as, “Mamdani’s second wife.” Lang also was one of the people found guilty for acts committed on J6 and later pardoned by Trump (see this). He also said:

He told a Daily News reporter that he wanted to “stop the Muslim prayers that are happening in New York City.”

“They’re humiliation rituals for the white Christian men in the city,” he added.

Not for the black Christian men? Not for the Jewish men? Not for the white, black, Christian or Jewish women? At any rate, the Muslim calls to prayer in New York are no joke. The situation sounds awful:

A tweet making the rounds this week shows video of the Islamic call to prayer, the Adhan, echoing through New York City streets at dawn. Five in the morning. Amplified. Projected over neighborhoods that still carry the scars of September 11, 2001. That date is not ancient history. It is living memory. …

The United States protects religious liberty. That includes Muslims. The First Amendment is not selective. And it should not be. But freedom of religion is not the same thing as forced participation in someone else’s religious proclamation.

The Adhan is not ambient background music. It is a declaration. The phrase “Allahu Akbar” means “God is greatest.” It is a theological claim. It is a call to submission. Practicing Muslims understand this. That is not controversial. That is simply fact.

As for the teenaged perps, here’s more information:

An automated license plate reader captured the pair entering New York City from New Jersey less than an hour before the attack, according to the complaint.

Their vehicle – registered to one of Balat’s relatives – was discovered Sunday a few blocks from where they were arrested.

A search of the car turned up a ‘hobby fuse’ and a metal can, along with a written list of chemical ingredients and components that could be used to build explosives, the complaint said.

When police detonated the devices, there was a ‘significant explosion,’ NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner said.

The devices – which did not explode when Barat hurled them into the crowd – would have caused ‘death, destruction, an extremely dangerous compound, and an extremely dangerous place deployed,’ she added. …

Barat, whose parents were born in Turkey and reportedly became naturalized US citizens in 2017, lived with his family in a $653,000 home in Langhorne.

Two men and a woman were taken into custody at the 3,200-square-foot, two-story residence, WPVI reported. …

At least 10 agents stormed Kayumi’s parents’ $2.25 million home in Newtown on Sunday, footage captured by WCAU showed.

One man was detained at the sprawling 5,800-square-foot home, which boasts six bedrooms and five bedrooms.

Charges have not been brought against the individuals who were detained at the respective residences.

Kayumi’s parents are from Afghanistan and became naturalized US citizens in 2004 and 2009.

The suspected bomber was in Istanbul for multiple weeks in July and August 2024. He also went to Saudi Arabia in March that same year.

Balat also traveled to Turkey multiple times in the past year, with his most recent trip having occurred in January.

That’s a whole lot of traveling by these two kids of what one might call “privilege,” using one of the leftists’ favorite words. But the left won’t be saying that about them, because the left is determined to hide what’s going on here as best they can.

There are many articles about the ways in which the MSM and Mamdani have done this, but the gist of it is to carefully choose words that make it seem as though it was the protesters doing the bomb-throwing and the target may even have been Mamdani. Or, the pair of bombers is treated as just some high-spirited youths having a bit of fun as they strike out at Islamophobes. You can read about these press approaches here, here, and here. From the latter, quoting a CNN article that has since been deleted:

“Two Pennsylvania 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. Here’s what we know so far.

Due to heavy criticism, CNN deleted the post and wrote:

A post regarding the two individuals arrested for throwing homemade bombs outside of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home failed to reflect the gravity of the incident thereby breaching the editorial standards we require for all our reporting. It has therefore been deleted.

The article was no accident and no rogue event. It was part and parcel of the usual slanted coverage we’ve all noticed for decides.

As for Mamdani, this was a more recent effort, which was at least somewhat better than his first efforts. You can see what the emphasis still was:

On Saturday, a protest was held outside Gracie Mansion, where I live with my wife, Rama. Neither of us were home at the time. This was a vile protest rooted in white supremacy entitled, “Stop the Islamic takeover of New York City.” I’m the first Muslim mayor of our city. Anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me, nor is it anything new for the 1 million or so Muslim New Yorkers who know this city as our home. While I found this protest appalling, I will not waver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen. Ours is a free society where the right to peaceful protest is sacred. It does not belong only to those we agree with. It belongs to everyone. I will defend that right every day that I am mayor, even when those protesting say things that I abhor.

Let me also be clear about something else. New York City will never tolerate violence, whether from protests or counter protests. Many of the counter protesters met this display of bigotry peacefully, with a vision of a city that is welcoming to all. But a few did not. Two men, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, traveled from Pennsylvania and attempted to bring violence to New York City. They are suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism. There is a video of these two individuals throwing two devices towards the protest. The Police Department has determined that these were improvised explosive devices made to injure, maim or worse. Thanks to the swift and decisive actions of NYPD officers at the scene, both men were immediately taken into custody, and the devices they brought taken off of our streets.