“Where the people fear the government, you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.” Attributed to John Basil Barnhill

In early September of 2022, Joe Biden delivered his “Triumph of the Shill” speech, with two Marines standing at attention behind him against a blood red background. Gesturing angrily, he all but named half of Americans, those who believe in American greatness, enemies of the state. It was a familiar theme for the great uniter, and as it turns out, a theme his Administration has never abandoned.

Graphic: Twitter screenshot

The Department of Homeland Security used to have a "Homeland Intelligence Experts Group.” It was recently disbanded, which is a very good thing: 

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) advisory board suggested that supporters of former President Donald Trump – as well as those who served in the military or are religious – have a greater possibility of posing domestic terrorism risks, according to internal files obtained by America First Legal (AFL).

Among the “experts” were some familiar, one might say infamous, names:

The panel, according to the conservative legal nonprofit's findings, included former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan, both of whom signed onto an October 2020 letter falsely dismissing Hunter Biden's infamous laptop as Russian disinformation.

With our “secure” borders wide open, and tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of likely terrorists, Chinese military personnel and spies of all shapes and sizes infiltrating the country, one would think such an august panel would focus its expertise on what are rather obvious threats. Of course, DHS kind of calls them illegal immigrants, so they might be foreign terrorist threats, but Joe Biden wants them all to be citizens, so they’re kind of domestic terror threats. However, many of them are on terror watch lists, so they’re more foreign threats, except they’re here and we don’t know where they are, or who they are, really. It’s all very confusing.

Within the last week, DHS Secretary Mayorkas denied reports from his own agency about 400 illegal immigrants smuggled into America by an ISIS smuggling group, saying something to the effect of: “Oh no, there aren’t 400…well, some of them have been detained, like maybe 50 or so, and we’re investigating, but there’s no threat. Really. You can trust me. Why are you looking at me like that?

But the “experts” tell us roughly half of Americans pose a domestic terror threat, and so do veterans and religious Americans. According to the census, in 2022 about 6% of the population were veterans. According to Gallup, about 75% of Americans “identify with a specific religious faith,” so to be conservative, figure something around half of Americans might be “religious.” Obviously, there’s going to be some overlap among these domestic terrorists, so figure that’s around half the population, about 171 million. “Experts” couldn’t narrow that down a bit with, you know, evidence or terrorist acts or intentions?

As Monica Showalter reported in April of 2023, the FBI was infiltrating Catholic Churches, investigating “Radical Traditional Catholics.” What made them radical, a threat worthy of the time and energy of the FBI? They like the Latin Mass. No doubt a distinction ferreted out by “experts.” FBI Director Christoper Wray professed shock—it was only one field office—and promised the investigation was shut down, until he had to admit it was several field offices, and maybe it really wasn’t so shut down after all.

Graphic: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. Wikimedia Commons.org. Public Domain.

One can only imagine why “experts” would think veterans likely terrorists. Today’s group of veterans are people who were chased out of the military, or who refused to reenlist, for being too militaristic, too patriotic and too straight. One can see how dangerous those sorts of people are. But why are religious Americans prone to terrorism? Most Americans are Christians, followers of the Bible, which indoctrinates them in violent rhetoric like “love thy neighbor as thyself,” “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” “honor thy father and mother” and “remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.” One quakes to consider the kinds of violence that sort of radical rhetoric might provoke.

Isn’t the FBI still busy rounding up domestic terrorists who might have set foot on the Capital lawn on January 6? Where are they going to find the time and manpower to pursue an additional 171 million or so domestic terrorists? You know, the kind of people who hold down two or three jobs, raise families, go to church and salute the flag at July 4^th parades?

It would appear the Biden government doesn’t fear Americans nearly enough.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.