Joy Pullmann of the Federalist documents the government’s absurd approach toward battling domestic terrorism.
Americans who shopped at sporting goods stores and bought religious books “like a Bible” were flagged through their banks as potential domestic terrorists, Rep. Jim Jordan revealed Jan. 17.
The federal government also flagged as potential criminals any transactions that involved the terms “MAGA” or “Trump,” the House Judiciary Committee chairman said. These Americans were tagged as possible “violent extremists” with zero due process or even notification of this criminalization of their constitutional rights to property, free speech, consent to their government’s activities, and religious exercise. The federal government even asked for surveillance of Americans’ messages on private payment apps like Zelle, a competitor to Venmo.
So if you’ve shopped at a sporting goods store, including Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops, Dick’s Sporting Goods, or myriad gun retailers, you could be flagged to law enforcement as “Lone Actor/Homegrown Violent Extremism.” All these retailers and dozens more appeared on a list Jordan found that a federal financial crime agency distributed to instruct bank employees in how to criminalize their fellow Americans’ religious and political ideas.
“In other words,” Jordan writes in a letter, … the federal government “urged large financial institutions to comb through the private transactions of their customers for suspicious charges on the basis of protected political and religious expression.
”In the last year, I’ve shopped at multiple sporting goods stores. We have an active family and I especially buy my kids outdoorsy Christmas gifts. This year, that included a tetherball set from Dick’s Sporting Goods and some camping gear for my oldest son.
A younger son received a $15 slingshot purchased at a local gun store this Christmas, so he can hunt squirrels. I also bought a son a pair of hiking shoes from Cabela’s a few weeks ago. Ooooh, look at the terror! He could kick people soundly with those!
