Democrats have become quite fond of using the power of the state against those who oppose their agenda. Right now, we are witnessing the ongoing saga between former President Donald Trump and New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who desperately wishes to indict him and throw him in a cage.
Now, it appears we have been given yet another example of how the authoritarian left operates.
An interim report released by the House Judiciary Committee has criticized the Biden administration for using federal counterterrorism resources against parents who protested against local education officials, claiming that there was “no legitimate basis” for such actions. The report is based on a trove of recently obtained documents, which suggest that the Biden administration “misused federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources for political purposes.”
The issue arose when it was revealed that the National School Board Association (NSBA) colluded with the Justice Department to label parents protesting at school board and city council meetings against inappropriate material being presented to their children in K-12 schools. The NSBA sent a letter to the DOJ demanding action against these parents using the Patriot Act, which is typically used to address terrorism. The agency used that letter as an excuse to have its counter-terrorism division add “threat tags” to these parents.
The report cites the Justice Department’s own documents to support its findings, which suggest that there was no compelling nationwide law-enforcement justification for the Attorney General’s directive, according to the Washington Times. The report notes that local law enforcement officials were also critical of the memo. The documents released by the House panel show that U.S. Attorneys reported back to the Department of Justice (DOJ) headquarters with objections by their local law enforcement counterparts in issues involving local school board meetings in the weeks following the memo.
One U.S. Attorney noted that “no one I spoke with in law enforcement seemed to think that there is a serious national threat directed at school boards.” Despite this, the FBI acknowledged to the House panel that it opened 25 threat assessments known as “Guardian assessments” in response to concerns raised over threats against school boards, six of which were conducted by the FBI Counterterrorism Division.
The report accuses the White House and the Education and Justice departments of coordinating with the National School Boards Association (NSBA) before the release of the memo. The NSBA had demanded that federal authorities crack down on parents who, according to the school boards group, were becoming upset at local school board meetings. Documents released in the report show that the NSBA coordinated with the DOJ before the memo’s release.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has denied ordering parents investigated for expressing concern over their children’s education, stating that he intended to root out “violence and threats of violence against a whole host of school personnel.” However, lawmakers on the House weaponization panel are not satisfied with his explanation and have committed to continuing their probe “until all responsive documents are produced and interviews with the necessary parties take place.”
At the time, critics knew this move on the part of the DOJ was nonsense. If there were some legitimate threats of violence, they could be handled by local law enforcement. There was absolutely no justification for getting federal authorities involved. Nevertheless, it was clear what the NSBA was trying to accomplish – even though it later backtracked on its letter to the Justice Department.
This was nothing more than an authoritarian effort to terrify these parents into silence. Progressives defending the effort to indoctrinate children in schools were trying to use the state to protect the advancement of their not-so-innocent agenda. Fortunately, there was enough public pressure to cow these individuals into relenting. But this does not mean they will not resort to other shady means to get their way.
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