The domestic terrorism bill passed by the House this week targets “white supremacists” and “neo-nazis.”
But the problem, points out Robert Spencer – known for his prolific writing on Islamic supremacism and terrorism – is that the political left typically uses those terms to smear anyone opposed to their agenda.
That has included, he wrote on his Jihad Watch site, “law-abiding Americans who abhor racism and fascism and are simply standing against Communist indoctrination, transgender delusions, and other lies foisted upon us from above these days.”
The House bill passed Wednesday, H.R. 350, establishes domestic terrorism offices within the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and the FBI. It requires the agencies to assess white supremacist and neo-nazi threats in the United States and inside agencies.
Lawmakers abandoned plans for a floor vote last month, but the mass shooting May 14 at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, prompted an urgency for passing the bill.
In the Senate, it’s the problem articulated by Spencer that confronts the bill, as some senators argue it would target people who speak out against issues radical school curricula and COVID-19 policies.
In fact, FBI whistleblowers have disclosed to lawmakers that the bureau opened multiple investigations into parents protesting education policies, the Washington Examiner reported. Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the FBI and the Department of Justice to form a joint task force in October 2021 to investigate threats against school board members. The directive came after the National School Boards Association asked the Biden administration in a September 2021 letter to probe parents protesting at school board meetings as domestic terrorists under the Patriot Act.
More power to surveil, monitor, control
The DOJ, DHS and the FBI already have teams that investigate domestic terrorism. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the three agencies likely would need more than 100 new analysts, agents, lawyers and support staff to fulfill the bills’ requirements.
The House bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., insists that amendments ensure First Amendment rights will be protected.
However, libertarian journalist Glenn Greenwald argues that such promises have made regarding previous terrorism bills that have arisen since 9/11.
And, he emphasized in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, unlike the initial war on terror, this one is “aimed not at foreign nationals but at American citizens.”
“Even before January 6, Biden came out and said a new war on terror against domestic extremism is my number one legislative priority,” Greenwald recalled.
“And they exploited January 6 and now they are exploiting these Buffalo shootings to give all of these agencies more power to surveil and monitor and to control our dissent and free speech.”
See Greenwald’s remarks on Fox News:
I spoke last night on one of the only TV venues that would air such a discussion about the serious dangers of the bill which all Democrats (and Adam Kinzinger) just voted for, giving DHS & FBI more money and power to monitor and fight “domestic terrorism”: our new War on Terror. pic.twitter.com/1gIBtzKVy1
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 20, 2022
In April, as WND reported, a senior DOJ official said during a House hearing that the department was seeking “a new law allowing prosecutors to bring specific charges for plotting and carrying out acts of domestic terrorism.” His remarks came a day after President Biden
At the time, Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., chairman of the powerful Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, emphasized the need to counter “right-wing” groups.
“This is a cancer on our country,” he said. “Right-wing extremist attacks and plots have greatly outnumbered those from all other groups combined and caused more deaths as well.”
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