“Many are quick to distance the state’s countercultural vibe from the compound and its inhabitants, who are accused of training the children to commit mass shootings. But they also fear that the publicity around a case infused with allegations of terrorism, child abuse and faith healing might contribute to a rise in racism and Islamophobia.”
Mass shootings, and they’re worried about a chimerical backlash against innocent Muslims that seldom, if ever, materializes. This is why they call CNN fake news.
One wonders if it ever occurred to CNN that if these Muslims had not been stockpiling weapons and training children for school shootings, no one would need to be worried about “Islamophobia.”
“In New Mexico, where life off the grid is common, compound suspects struggled,” by Emanuella Grinberg, CNN, August 26, 2018:
Taos County, New Mexico (CNN)The compound was hiding in plain sight, a white smudge in the dusty green expanse of sagebrush and juniper stretching across the Colorado-New Mexico border.
A few feet past a handwritten “no trespassing” sign on the ground, a box truck sat unlocked. Inside, a wooden bunk bed was propped up against the wall, surrounded by piles of dirty clothing and worn-out books. Identity documents were mixed on the floor with children’s math workbooks, self-help guides and gun manuals. A dusty bulletproof vest lay nearby.
It had been two weeks since law enforcement raided lot 78 in Costilla Meadows, a rural subdivision in Amalia, New Mexico, where homes are off the grid and you can see your nearest neighbor miles over the dry grassland. Police found 11 malnourished children there, shoeless and in tattered clothes, and arrested five adults. Days later, they found the remains of the 3-year-old boy they were searching for.
Two weeks after the raid, reminders of the family’s monthslong stay were piled in heaps of garbage on the property, where they had built the compound on a lot belonging to someone else, adjacent to their own.
Residents of this sparsely populated region of northern Taos County encountered members of the black Muslim family in familiar places: the gas station, the Family Dollar, the hardware store, the body shop. Little about the family members stood out, they said, apart from their dirty clothes and their skin color, a rarity in this area primarily populated by Hispanos — descendants of Spaniards who settled in the Southwest centuries ago.
Otherwise, those who met them said they seemed friendly. A resident recalled how one of the men tenderly wiped the nose of a crying child. What little the residents knew about the compound didn’t raise eyebrows in an area where many people live “in unconventional ways,” as the judge in the case has said.
Individuals from society’s periphery have long sought refuge in this part of the state, where cheap land far from the nearest power line or shopping center is easy to find. The region’s history of welcoming outsiders has contributed to cross-cultural exchanges and a tolerant attitude that locals consider points of pride. Many are quick to distance the state’s countercultural vibe from the compound and its inhabitants, who are accused of training the children to commit mass shootings. But they also fear that the publicity around a case infused with allegations of terrorism, child abuse and faith healing might contribute to a rise in racism and Islamophobia.
“People come here and they want to be left alone and sometimes they do things that are unconventional,” said Malaquias “JR” Rael, whose family arrived in the Taos region in the mid-1800s. Newcomers are drawn to the area for its proximity to nature, breathtaking views and simple way of life, he says. Other families like his — predominantly Hispanos — have been here for generations.
“It can be difficult to be alarmed or judgmental, because people have been doing this kind of stuff for a long time.”
Rael owns North Star Tire & Auto in Questa, a mountain town of some 2,000 people about 30 minutes from the compound and another 30-minute drive from Taos, the nearest “big city.” Given his family tree, it’s a place where Rael can’t go far without being greeted by a customer or relative.One of the men from the compound, Lucas Morten, visited Rael’s body shop in early spring looking to buy a large quantity of tires. “He seemed real personable, very mild-mannered,” Rael recalled over a smothered burrito lunch on a recent weekday in Questa.
Morten said he planned to build an “earthship,” a self-sustaining home made from natural and upcycled materials, which uses tires packed with earth as bricks. “I said, ‘OK, good luck,’ because it’s real labor intensive,” Rael said. Otherwise, nothing about the request raised any red flags, he said.
Plenty of people live off the grid here in various types of homes that don’t use public energy sources or fossil fuels, he said. Not him, though. “There’s nothing wrong with being normal,” he jokes….
Elizabeth Lawson says
If, in the dark annals of history, CNN ever had a moral compass, it certainly doesn’t now.
mortimer says
Agree with E.L.
CNN wants to celebrate this VIBRANT example of MULTICULTURALISM. JIHAD TERRORISM.
If Not Now When? says
I honestly cannot figure out what this article was supposed to be about. It starts out with the usual CNN apologist muslim bs and then moves to life off the grid in NM and the earthship community in Taos. WTH? Wandering prose obscuring the fact that these losers were not only inept but dangerous.
gravenimage says
The “journalists” at CNN are trying to compare these Jihadists to more benign ‘back to the land’ types.
gravenimage says
Also true, WVinMN.
BC says
Morten said he planned to build an “earthship,” a self-sustaining home made from natural and upcycled materials, which uses tires packed with earth as bricks. It does not take much imagination to see that that is also a good way of building a fort. But that is OK many people do unconventional things around there.
Muslims like to live with other Muslims. Muslims doing unconvential things in the middle of nowhere.should be a red flag but the police and the FBI knew about it and did nothing!.
Jerry Zavage says
Where are the child abuse protesters of the Leftist/Terroist coalition, the same ones we saw at the border?
Hindu American says
“Otherwise, those who met them said they seemed friendly. A resident recalled how one of the men tenderly wiped the nose of a crying child.”
“He seemed real personable, very mild-mannered”
One has to be totally clueless or a moron or both to dish this type of crap (about terrorists) on a supposedly global news website. I felt like throwing up. Shame on you CNN for churning out this kind of garbage. You have lost all credibility.
mortimer says
Agree with H. A. Islam is an IDEOLOGY.
The Israeli Prime Minister said, “We’ve seen this before. There’s a master race? Now there’s a master faith. And that allows you to do anything to anybody, but first of all to your own people and then to everyone else.” – PM Benjamin Netanyahu at UN 2014
– “Militant Islam’s ambition to dominate the world seems mad. But so too did the global ambitions of another fanatic ideology that swept to power eight decades ago. The Nazis believed in a master race. The militant Islamists believe in a master faith.” – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at UN, 2014 … “everywhere we look militant Islam is on the march.”
mortimer says
CNN claims that there were NO ACTUAL CRIMES COMMITTED BY MUSLIM JIHADISTS !
No, it was imaginary.
It was only “allegations of terrorism, child abuse and faith healing might contribute to a rise in racism and Islamophobia..
We cannot admit that JIHAD TERRORISM exists or else people might accuse ISLAM of being responsible.
CNN knows that ISLAM IS A ‘RACE’, rather than an IDEOLOGY.
However, if Islam is a ‘RACE’, then HOW CAN ANGLO-CELTIC JIHADISTS CHANGE THEIR RACE?
People want to know, CNN. Please explain how ANGLO-CELTIC AMERICANS can CHANGE THEIR RACE to ‘ISLAM’?
If you CANNOT explain that, we must conclude that CNN is FAKE NEWS.
Jaladhi says
CNN churns out such garbage all the time – it is their trademark to denigrate America and Americans! They will not change – I wonder why are they here if they hate this country so much. They can move to any Islamic hell hole of their choice where they will be super happy!!
mortimer says
Agree with Robert Spencer. ‘Why the Islamophobia?’ Maybe because Muslims are the only ones who stockpile weapons and train children for school shootings!
Seventh Day Adventists do NOT stockpile weapons and train children for school shootings.
Buddhists do NOT stockpile weapons and train children for school shootings.
Hindus do NOT stockpile weapons and train children for school shootings.
Southern Baptists do NOT stockpile weapons and train children for school shootings.
Orthodox Jews do NOT stockpile weapons and train children for school shootings.
Only MUSLIMS stockpile weapons and train children for school shootings. So WHERE DOES THE ‘ISLAMOPHOBIA’ come from?
Hmmmm … toughy!
FYI says
And still no sign of JAIN SUICIDE bombers …yet.
No Tibetan Buddhists ransacking churches either.
No Hare Krishnas beating people to death with tambourines.
There must be something in their religions that prevents JAINS , Tibetan Buddhists etc from doing such violence:unlike say,in islam…that “religion of peace”.
somehistory says
“It can be difficult to be alarmed or judgmental, because people have been doing this kind of stuff for a long time.”
********************************
This statement seems to be saying he finds it difficult to see anything wrong with what these scum were doing there and to the children.
Nothing “abnormal” about murdering a sick and helpless child by torture. Nothing wrong about starving a dozen children while leaving them in filthy conditions and teaching them how to kill others.
The only “normal” thing they didn’t do was use modern utilities. This is evil thinking.
And CNN is encouraging this kind of thinking. with the reports written to excuse the evil behavior.
Indiana Tom says
Hey, it is perfectly normal to train the kids to shoot up all sorts of people and blow up stuff. Spare the AK and the IED, and spoil the child.
gravenimage says
Yes–sick.
elee says
Shooting up schools and hospitals, who could object to that? This is exactly why sane folks should FEAR ISLAM!
gravenimage says
+1
Wellington says
A rise in Islamophobia? No, yet hopefully a further rise in Islamonausea.
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
I’m surprised CNN hasn’t gone bankrupt or sold for scrap. There must be some big money propping it up.
Petrouchka1 says
“But they also fear that the publicity around a case infused with allegations of terrorism, child abuse and faith healing might contribute to a rise in racism and Islamophobia”. Infused with allegations?? As if evil racists are brewing some kind of Islamophobic tea…not a single word in this article about the plot to blow up a hospital. Exactly ONE sentence about the frightening truth that these jihadis were training children to kill. The rest was just rainbows-and-unicorns talk about the hip countercultural vibe that is somehow being conflated with all of this. Worst puff piece ever. Yeah, sure, this family was no different from the local hippies; things just got a little out of hand, that’s all.
John W. says
As you often say Robert, the mustlims are always portrayed as the true victims. Whenever and wherever a bad deed is perpetrated by a jihadi its always and only the muslims that are victims.
SB says
Went to CNN website, and guess what? Couldn’t leave a comment. They don’t want their loyal patrons to see another side. That’s the left for you.
gravenimage says
No surprise there.
Indiana Tom says
Islam is not a race by our definitions, neither is Judaism.
“You are the best of all races that ever existed. Because you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah.” -Qur’an 3:110
Consider the source. No, they do not enjoin what is right and what is wrong, but they do believe in the Moon God.
FYI says
islam is not a race..certainly:but it appears to be IN a race to force its moon god on the rest of humanity.
I DO hope that statement is not race-ist;people can race along all they want.
As allah’s apostle of islam,pope saint francis might say, “who am I to judge”?
Rarely says
It is interesting how CNN depicts the situation. The locals viewed various members of the group as “personable’, “very mild-mannered”, “seemed friendly” and “tenderly wiped the nose of a crying child”. They only stood out because of their dirty clothes and skin colour but otherwise seemed normal in a community where people often live “in unconventional ways”.
This is a far cry from the mean and vicious looking, drooling, wild eyed, insane blood sucking jihadists everyone has being watching out for. NOW, according to CNN, jihadists can appear “normal”, “personable”, ‘very mild-mannered” etc. This puts EVERY muslim under the microscope of suspicion. Although CNN may be trying to do the opposite in this article they may actually be promoting islamophobia..
Garfield says
Yeah but….that’s Kind of the point. Quiet and mild mannered…..till they bomb and kill. Sorry but….that happens too often to call it “islamophobia”. It’s just OBSERVING FACTS. If their ideology did not have TAQUIYYA BUILT INTO IT then it would be bad to judge. As is….it doesn’t play out that way.
If you want to be mild mannered…IN A CULT that spreads antisemitism FGM and says that uncovered women are meat for you to rape…THEN YOU NEEEEED TO BE UNDER A MICROSCOPE!!!!!!
PRCS says
The CNN article’s merits–or lack thereof–aside, it stated that “locals… fear that the publicity around a case infused with allegations of terrorism, child abuse and faith healing might contribute to a rise in racism and Islamophobia.
The CNN crew might have coaxed them into saying that. But, maybe not.
The real problem, IMO, is that local residents have bought into the “Islamophobia” nonsense.
Rarely says
IF they are really being quoted which is very doubtful unless it was to a very loaded question.
PRCS says
Just noting what the article said.
Whether it’s doubtful that thee really were quoted is a matter of personal speculation, my friend.
Guy Forester says
Well, nothing like getting your priorities set in order of importance. Nothing like accuracy in reporting how many instances of islamophobia resulting in mass murders and suicide bombings over the last few decades.
Were is Ibby to set us straight with accurate and true facts and figures?
Lydia Church says
Uh, yeah, funny how that works…!!!
Terrorism might actually be contributing to islamophobia… WOW!!!
What an IDIOT!
gravenimage says
CNN worries that New Mexico jihad compound “might contribute to a rise in racism and Islamophobia”
……………….
Yeah–just ignore the poor murdered little boy, training kids to murder schoolchildren, and the plot to launch a Jihad terror attack on a hospital–some people might think that Islam is a little bit bad…
I am so sick of this dhimmitude.
And no–find this abhorrent is not “racist”.
underbed cat says
Taos has lots of liberal artists….they should be grateful someone alerted authorities they may also be totally unaware of sharia laws and the behavior that springs out of the law….they are usually clueless.
Just curious about the other camps that are more sophisticated and in the woodlands around the country not sure if they have been put out of business. Lots of caves in grand canyon….hopefully they are not hiding.
henrik arboe jensen says
cnn = make money on autopilot.
alot leave them to just go on with the
nonsence, knowimg or sensing something
umderneath without addressing.
Joe says
“family’s monthslong (sic) stay were piled in heaps of garbage on the property, where they had built the compound on a lot belonging to someone else, adjacent to their own.”
**************************************************************************************
I’ve read about 50 cases where Muslims encroached on their neighbor’s property. I have seen maybe 2 or 3 non-Muslim cases. I suppose it is part of Islamic intimidation that is required of devout Muslims.
tedh754 says
CNN lost all credibility a long time ago:
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/opinion/the-news-we-kept-to-ourselves.html
No Muzzies Here says
CNN isn’t worried about the fact that the compound was used to train Muslims to shoot and kill innocent Americans in American schools. That is perfectly OK with them, since it’s mostly White Christians who would feel the bullets.
What really bothers CNN is the remote possibility that someone will place a ham sandwich near the door of a mosque. Now that would reeeeeeally be a hate crime, while Muslims shooting children in schools is not considered a hate crime.
Richard Courtemanche says
What do you expect CNN! Of course it will and rightly so. Actually, the mainstream media is primarily responsible for instigating the problems.
Politicianophobia says
Perhaps CNN has more than a few islamopandering, Islammarxists, jihad-enabling, puppet, traitors on the payroll.
Greg Murphy says
Is that true or did you hear it on CNN?
The crusader says
Screw CNN.
shoehorn says
Yep. My *Islamophobia* rises with each new jihad compound unearthed.
Kepha says
Of course the NM compound will contribute to Islamophobia. Here you have a group that stockpiles arms, taught children how to carry out a school shooting, and let a child die. You had a leader there who, to the cobwebs of 1970’s African-American militant protest with tis cult of violent revolution, added those of an Islam that began in NOI teachings before drifting towards a more mainstream Sunnism. A lot of people would not like the compound dwellers for neighbors.
I also understand that the Brooklyn-born-and-raised leader of the group didn’t even know enough to get his Haitian-born wife legal immigrant status. Speaking as one who had no problems getting a foreign-born wife into the States (naturalized long ago, thank you), and who later worked in immigration matters as a consular officer, I see the compound leader as either thick-skulled, callous, or determined to make some sort of nonsensical statement against “the establishment”, or all three or any combination thereof.
Politicianophobia says
I had a package with the cable company, CNN was one of 5 crazy networks, so I told them to stuff it. lol
UNCLE VLADDI says
“Examples of crimes committed by criminals might lead to crimophobia – which is of course much worse. Peons should never be allowed to even challenge the rightful legitimacy of criminals to commit their crimes, much less to actually oppose them merely in order defend them selves and innocent other people!”
-Your Masters –
Pilot says
How quickly we forget…..
https://youtu.be/IsvkY3YAcww