House advancing ‘domestic terrorism’ bill that criminalizes free speech

The U.S. House of Representatives is advancing The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022, a bill that criminalizes free speech and authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to monitor, analyze, investigate, and prosecute “domestic terrorism.”

The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022 (H.R.350) reads as follows:

This bill establishes new requirements to expand the availability of information on domestic terrorism, as well as the relationship between domestic terrorism and hate crimes.

It authorizes domestic terrorism components within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to monitor, analyze, investigate, and prosecute domestic terrorism.

The domestic terrorism components of DHS, DOJ, and the FBI must jointly report on domestic terrorism, including white-supremacist-related incidents or attempted incidents.

DHS, DOJ, and the FBI must review the anti-terrorism training and resource programs of their agencies that are provided to federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies. Additionally, DOJ must make training on prosecuting domestic terrorism available to its prosecutors and to assistant U.S. attorneys.

It creates an interagency task force to analyze and combat white supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration of the uniformed services and federal law enforcement agencies.

Finally, it directs the FBI to assign a special agent or hate crimes liaison to each field office to investigate hate crimes incidents with a nexus to domestic terrorism. (Emphasis mine)

Yes, the House bill equates a hate crime to an act of domestic terrorism. By the way, so-called hate speech is considered a hate crime, so you can only imagine where this is leading.

Joe Biden first unveiled his strategy to counter the rise in so-called domestic terrorism nearly a year ago, a plan that criminalizes free speech and establishes a *police state capable of silencing the voices of dissent coming from people opposed to tyranny and oppression.

“Domestic terrorism — driven by hate, bigotry and other forms of extremism — is a stain on the soul of America,” Biden said in a statement. “It goes against everything our country strives for, and it poses a direct challenge to our national security, democracy and unity.”

“Other forms of extremism” is political doublespeak for “militia,” and a militia only poses a “direct challenge” to big government, tyranny, and the unibrow.

In a March report provided by the intelligence community last year, it was determined that “white supremacists” and “militia groups” had become the greatest domestic terror threat. In other words, people who believe in small government and limiting its power are the same as racists and real terrorists:

“Today’s domestic terrorists espouse a range of violent ideological motivations, including racial or ethnic bigotry and hatred as well as anti-government or anti-authority sentiment.”

In his first address to a Joint Session of Congress, Biden used the report to blame the rise of terrorism in the United States on white Americans instead of radical Islam. Specifically, Biden labeled “white supremacists” as the “most lethal terrorist threat” to the country after mentioning Al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups.

Since then, criminalizing free speech in the name of fighting domestic terrorist has taken other forms.

In August 2021, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a terrorism threat advisory designed to silence the dissenting voices of people exercising their God-given, constitutionally protected right to free speech to protest government. The domestic terrorism advisory identified “terrorists” as pushers of “anti-government rhetoric” who stood in “opposition to COVID measures.”

In October 2021, Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) essentially classified parents concerned about Critical Race Theory and the explosion of Marxist ideology being taught in public schools as “domestic terrorists” when Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memorandum about the “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.” In a DOJ press release detailing the memorandum, Garland said he would be using the FBI for muscle.

In January 2022, the DOJ announced the creation of a new unit dedicated to dealing specifically with domestic terrorism. Matthew Olsen, the assistant attorney general for national security, made the announcement and provided the rationale for creating the unit:

“I decided to establish a domestic terrorism unit to augment our existing approach.

“This group of dedicated attorneys will focus on the domestic terrorism threat, helping to ensure that these cases are handled properly and effectively coordinated across the Department of Justice and across the country.

“We’ve seen a growing threat from those who are motivated by racial animus as well as those who ascribe to extremist anti-government and anti-authority ideologies,” he said. (Emphasis mine)

In February 2022, there were rumblings of Canada-styled truck driver protests coming to our nation’s capital and America, and in response, DHS released an advisory saying that people who exercise free speech rights to oppose COVID tyranny — DHS called it “misinformation” — would be guilty of engaging in acts of domestic terrorism.

Specifically, DHS determined that Americans who seek to “exacerbate societal friction to sow discord and undermine public trust in government institutions” would be labeled as dissidents and domestic terrorists.

For the record, I’m not discounting domestic terrorism; I’m simply pointing out how the House bill and the agenda promoted by Joe Biden criminalizes free speech — a conclusion shared by none other than the ACLU last summer:

“The Biden administration is rightly focused on addressing white supremacist violence, but its strategy includes none of the civil rights and liberties safeguards that rights groups and communities of color have long sought. Embracing civil rights and liberties as a national security imperative means little when this new strategy fails to rein in abusive counterterrorism tools that result in unfair and unjustified surveillance and targeting of Black and Brown people, particularly Muslims.” (Emphasis mine)

I disagree with the ACLU about it only impacting people of color because “unfair and unjustified surveillance and targeting” impacts everyone, but I agree with them about where things will end up.

The House is advancing a bill that criminalizes free speech which has been the official policy of Joe Biden ever since he took the oath of office, and if they are successful with the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022, we will be one step closer to seeing the end of liberty in America.

 

* A “police state” is defined as: a totalitarian state or country in which a national police force, esp. a secret police, suppresses any act that conflicts with government policy. (Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, 2010)

 

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David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.

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