VCDL 8/3

[Bob A]

While many have doubtless seen this story, I'll post the VCDL update for completeness' sake:

Virginia Citizens Defense League Defending Your Right to Defend Yourself

A purported FBI whistleblower gave a copy of a document titled "Domestic Terrorism Symbols Guide - Militia Violent Extremism" to Project Veritas. The document is marked "Unclassified / Law Enforcement Sensitive, FBI Internal Use Only." The document claims to show Anti-Government or Anti-Authority symbols or references that are used by "violent extremists." The major problem is that the symbols and references are very general, many are historic, and some of the references are quotes from our Founding Fathers! Oddly, I don't see any symbols or quotes from the groups that were committing violence and burning down parts of American cities in 2019 and 2020. I guess that must have been an oversight. <eye roll> Items of particular note to VCDL in the document include: * 2A - of which the document states "Militia Violent Extremists (MVE) justify their existence with the Second Amendment, due to the notion of a 'well-regulated militia,' as well as the right to bear arms." So, if a group talks about the Second Amendment, they suddenly go under a microscope? Wow - they better have a huge microscope. On top of that, is a person to be considered a violent extremist if they believe what the U.S. Supreme Court said in Bruen - that the Second Amendment provides citizens protection against a government that's turned tyrannical? * Minuteman image - this is the same artwork VCDL and GOA and others use as part of a logo. The document classifies this as "Revolutionary War Imagery," which is apparently a bad thing from the FBI's point of view. The Revolutionary War gave us our freedom and created the greatest country to ever exist. So merely having imagery of the Revolutionary War could flag a group as being violent extremists? This document further tarnishes the image the FBI used to have as an impartial law-enforcement agency. Instead, the FBI is sadly looking more and more like an arm of the Democrat Party. If that image is true, it is extremely dangerous to our freedom. A political party controlling law enforcement is what totalitarian regimes use to make sure the government is not criticized and that citizens "stay in line." Citizens are intimidated into silence and freedom of speech does not exist. Government critics end up becoming political prisoners, something that some people believe has already happened. How does any of this affect VCDL? It's simply not possible to show that VCDL is a violent organization. That's not to say that something couldn't be fabricated, of course. The FBI does give itself a way out to avoid claiming that peaceful groups, like VCDL, are a VME, as the document also states, "The use or sharing of these symbols alone should not independently be considered evidence of MVE presence or affiliation or serve as an indicator of illegal activity, as many individuals use these symbols for their original, historic meaning, or other non-violent purposes." I will leave you with a great quote on "extremism" from Barry Goldwater: "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice." But now I have to wonder if the FBI will add that quotation to the list of MVE flags. :-( Here’s a link to an article that discusses the FBI document and also has images of the actual document: https://republicandaily.com/2022/08/leaked-documents-show-fbi-equating-basic-american-terminology-with-violent-extremism/