Antifa members are domestic terrorists. So are you, probably
Many antifa members are unquestionably terrorists. Six alleged members were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism after violent riots erupted in downtown Atlanta on Saturday.
In response, Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has introduced legislation to designate antifa as domestic terrorists. She seems to want authorities, federal, state, and local, to keep tabs on this homegrown terrorist threat.
She has a point. This is serious. Domestic terrorist threats can’t be taken lightly.
But Greene isn’t the only government official who seems to want increased punishment and monitoring of certain Americans with particular ideological views using a violent domestic attack as the justification.
After the January 6, 2021 attack, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for anyone who was inside the Capitol that day to be put on a federal no-fly list.
“The insurrectionists who breached the U.S. Capitol fall under the definition of threats to the homeland,” Schumer insisted.
Then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi didn’t take this dangerous terrorist threat lightly either.
https://twitter.com/TeamPelosi/status/1349411403929686016
While January 6 was the flashpoint, Democratic President Joe Biden made clear that the terrorist threat was broader in scope and kind.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1565492287211192320
In a dissenting view, Republican Sen. Rand Paul wondered why many of the January 6 detainees had not been given proper due process.
“Jan. 6 detainees held for nearly a year without trial, some of whom have not been charged with any acts of violence against persons,” Paul wrote last February. “Indeed, the sentences for the charges many face would likely fall short of the months they have already been jailed without conviction of a crime. Many have been held for long periods in solitary confinement.”
While the majority of those present in and around the Capitol in January two years ago appeared to commit no violence or vandalism, non-violent protesters behind bars appeared to be lumped in the same category as those who committed violence.
“I condemned all violent acts on Jan. 6 and continue to do so,” Paul noted. “ But that does not mean we should destroy the lives of non-violent protesters by deliberately conflating them with the acts of others, denying them bail, and incarcerating them for nearly a year with no trial.”
“That is not justice,” he added.
Paul is not wrong. Wars on terror of any sort tend to skirt the law. Due process and other basic legal standards for citizens’ protection are often bent, broken or ignored altogether.
Still, we MUST combat the specter of domestic terrorism. We cannot bow down!
These terrorist threats go far beyond the Capitol riot. Remember when these “domestic terrorists” targeted teachers and schools?
https://twitter.com/HouseGOP/status/1529072721274892288
How about this widespread, year-long domestic terrorist threat over a decade ago?
https://twitter.com/michaelskolnik/status/98152090777567233
Hell, domestic terrorists are by no means limited to the 21st century.
https://twitter.com/tmorello/status/372785303968559104
REMEMBER: Domestic terrorist threats lurk everywhere in any era.
Exactly two years ago this week, Fox News reported in the wake of the January 6 riot, “Democrats led by President Biden have launched a war on domestic terrorism to ‘essentially criminalize any oppositional ideology to the ruling class,’ investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald argued Wednesday.”
Greenwald warned on Tucker Carlson’s program, "There is literally nothing that could be more dangerous, and it's not fear-mongering or alarmism to say it.”
That’s nice, Glenn, but who said anything about fear mongering or alarmism? We are talking about FIGHTING DOMESTIC TERRORISM!
Antifa is definitely a terrorist movement, though there are many on the Left who might disagree or even deny it exists. What are some of Greene’s qualifications for antifa membership? Just committing violence, right?
Antifa supporters "defend Democrat causes," Greene told Tucker Carlson on Monday, including what she said were "the drag queens targeting our children with Drag Queen Story Time."
So, that’s her definition of antifa. Defending “Democrat causes."
Here’s Hillary Clinton on pro-life Republicans:
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/637229055562153984
The Department of Homeland Security continues to warn of domestic terrorist threats coming primarily from the Right, though many on the Right consider these warnings overblown or think there is no threat at all. Those targeted as “domestic terrorists” on the Right will no doubt have little say in their persecutor’s definition of that term.
The inherent uncertainty and disagreements about what constitutes domestic terrorism won’t stop partisans from going after anyone they declare as such.
Nor will it stop Rep. Greene.
"Well it's time to do something about antifa," she continued. "That's why I'm going to introduce legislation to declare antifa domestic terrorists. Because they need to be taken apart. We need to investigate exactly who they are, who funds them."
She’s right. Bring in the Feds! Go after these evildoers! Leave no stone unturned!
We MUST fight domestic terrorism!
Whatever “domestic terrorism” happens to mean at any given time to whoever holds power.
And no matter who gets hurt.
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