Are You America’s Top Terrorist Threat?

On Monday the Department of Homeland Security released a National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin. There aren’t many such bulletins, so in theory this is a rather big deal. The title is Summary of Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland. It begins, presumably, with what is most important:

The United States remains in a heightened threat environment fueled by several factors, including an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information (MDM) introduced and/or amplified by foreign and domestic threat actors.

We all know what “misinformation” means in liberal speak. Misinformation is thinking that the Democratic Party engages in substantial voter fraud. Misinformation is questioning why normal public life is prohibited to the unvaccinated, when vaccination prevents neither contracting nor spreading covid. Misinformation is anything that contradicts or questions the party line of the moment that emanates from the Centers for Disease Control and other government agencies, however confused and inconsistent the party line may be.

As for “false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories,” I hazard the wild guess that the Department of Homeland Security is not referring to the most notorious false narrative and conspiracy theory, the Russia collusion hoax. And I don’t think the Biden administration is looking into the New York Times and the Washington Post as sources of “misleading narratives and conspiracy theories.”

These threat actors seek to exacerbate societal friction to sow discord and undermine public trust in government institutions to encourage unrest, which could potentially inspire acts of violence.

When it comes to exacerbating social friction, sowing discord and undermining public trust in government, and thereby encouraging unrest that results in acts of violence, we don’t have to look far. That is what Black Lives Matter does. That is what Antifa does. And we are not talking about “potential” violence here, we are talking about the real thing. Dozens of murders, countless assaults, arson that has burned down mile after mile of small businesses. So, is DHS warning against continued violence from Black Lives Matter and Antifa? Are those organizations being infiltrated and monitored by federal agents? I hope so, but I doubt it.

At the same time, undermining trust in government institutions isn’t always a bad thing. I think that trust in agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and the Biden Department of Justice needs to be undermined. Agencies that have proved themselves untrustworthy shouldn’t be trusted. In the eyes of the Biden administration, is criticizing government agencies just one small step removed from terrorism?

The Bulletin goes on to become more specific:

Key factors contributing to the current heightened threat environment include:

Again, the feds begin with what they consider the most important threat.

1. The proliferation of false or misleading narratives, which sow discord or undermine public trust in U.S. government institutions:

* For example, there is widespread online proliferation of false or misleading narratives regarding unsubstantiated widespread election fraud and COVID-19. Grievances associated with these themes inspired violent extremist attacks during 2021.

I suppose they refer to the January 6 protest, which was hardly a “violent extremist attack.” No building was burned, not a single protester carried a weapon, and the only casualty was an unarmed woman killed by a capitol police officer. On the other hand, 2021 saw plenty of violence due to “false or misleading narratives regarding unsubstantiated” claims of systemic police violence against blacks. That’s for sure. But again, that violence doesn’t seem to be of concern to Joe Biden’s DHS.

There is much more, and the entire Bulletin is embedded below. Much of it is uncontroversial. But it is sprinkled with political elements like this:

Some domestic violent extremists have continued to advocate for violence in response to false or misleading narratives about unsubstantiated election fraud. The months preceding the upcoming 2022 midterm elections could provide additional opportunities for these extremists and other individuals to call for violence directed at democratic institutions, political candidates, party offices, election events, and election workers.

Election integrity is a huge issue, and a large majority of Americans are concerned about it. Understandably, a federal government run by the Democratic Party, which jealously guards its prerogative to engage in electoral fraud, wants to brand all such concerns as illegitimate. But they are not, and I am aware of no evidence that voters’ reasonable concerns about ballot integrity have anything to do with any supposed ongoing threat of violence.

On the contrary, “violence directed at democratic institutions, political candidates, party offices, election events, and election workers” has come almost exclusively from those associated with the Democratic Party and has been directed almost exclusively at representatives of the Republican Party, as we have documented many times over the years. Is DHS suddenly concerned about attacks on Republican campaign offices? Or armed attacks on Republican Congressmen practicing for a baseball game? Frankly, I doubt it.

The DHS Bulletin is embedded below. In a variety of ways, the Democratic Party has tried to delegitimize opposition to its hegemony and, where possible, make it illegal. Let’s hope that the Department of Homeland Security has not been enlisted in this scheme.

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