HOUSTON, Texas—The Muslim charged with setting fire to his own mosque turned over his passport and the judge set his bond at $150,000 on Monday. He remains in jail.
True to a prediction by Breitbart News’ John Nolte, once authorities revealed the identity of the alleged arsonist as not a white racist inspired by Donald Trump but a Muslim, the mainstream media lost interest in the story.
Moore did not appear in court but was represented by his attorney Edward M. Chernoff. His arraignment where charges will be formally read against him has been reset upon the request of his lawyer. He will have an opportunity to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty at that time.
Gary Nathaniel Moore has been charged with arson in a place of worship, a first degree felony.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, the charging instrument stated that Moore started a fire by igniting materials at a place of worship on Christmas Day. The complaint charges that he used and exhibited a deadly weapon, namely a fire, to commit the felony offense of arson at the Savoy Masjid Mosque in Houston.
Moore told a Houston fire investigator that he has been a member of the mosque for five years, and comes to the mosque to pray five times a day, seven days a week, as reported by Breitbart Texas.
Breitbart News reported shortly after Moore’s arrest that the media immediately exploited the conflagration at the mosque to place the blame for the fire on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The theory quickly went up in smoke upon the devout Muslim’s arrest.
CBS, CNN, and NBC media outlets all published articles reporting the arson should be investigated because of the “recent spike in hate incidents targeting mosques nationwide.”
Breitbart News reported that a CBS News article said that advocacy groups believed “that there has been a spike in anti-Muslim incidents across the United States in recent weeks that can be linked to the mass shooting in California and the inflammatory rhetoric of Donald Trump and other presidential candidates. And they say that Muslims are fearful the backlash could lead to further harassment and violence.”
Salon.com also refused to change an extremely misleading headline that blamed the fire on “anti-Muslim violence,” even after the identity of the Muslim suspect became known, as reported by Breitbart News.
The prediction by Breitbart News’ John Nolte that “[n]ow that a devout Muslim has been charged, the DC Media will forget all about the incident” has become true. With the exception of the hometown paper, the Houston Chronicle, and a few other Texas media outlets, Moore’s latest court appearance has gone largely unreported.
Moore is scheduled to be back in court on January 20.
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2