By Michael Bald
Managing Editor

Graphic by Michael Bald

What happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is one of the worst politically motivated attacks in the past decade. Like many others, I watched in horror when right-wing extremists raided the Capitol and forever tarnished America’s legacy. President Joe Biden’s pitch throughout his campaign was about the country needing unity, which I couldn’t agree more.
However, the past couple of weeks I believe Biden and the left have gone too far and are once again not holding themselves to the same standards as they do the right. I believe both parties need to hold themselves and each other accountable when they get out of control, but a bulletin from the National Terrorism Advisory System goes to show possibly anyone on the right could easily be targeted for simply having a certain view.
According to its website: “The Acting Secretary of Homeland Security has issued a National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin due to a heightened threat environment across the United States, which DHS believes will persist in the weeks following the successful Presidential Inauguration. Information suggests that some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.”
They go into details specifying which individuals “could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence” such as people who have “anger over COVID-19 restrictions,” and “the 2020 election results.” They also say if you suspect anyone with these ideas along with many others listed on the website, they advise you “to report suspicious activity and threats of violence, including online activity, to local law enforcement, FBI Field Offices, or their local Fusion Center.”
So, let me get this straight: if I were angry over arguably questionable restrictions such as the government shutting down my business or state the election could have been tampered with, I could be labeled as a Domestic Violent Extremist?
Again, I want to say what happened at the Capitol was evil and shouldn’t happen anywhere let alone in America. Politically motivated violence is bad wherever it happens — period. However, if you look at what the left has said and done over the past four years, the hypocrisy is astounding.
So, when has the left gone too far? At what point is someone responsible for inciting violence? According to the left, when famous singer Madonna says “I’ve thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House,” at the Women’s March in 2017, it’s OK. When Hollywood elites call people with differing political views bigots, Nazis, sexists or homophobes, it’s OK. What about when there are platforms across social media spreading lies about conservative speakers like Ben Shapiro, who is an Orthodox Jew, as a white supremacist? Nope.
How about for four years the media called Donald Trump a white supremacist time and time again even though he has denounced them on multiple occasions? For example, during the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, he responded with “there were very fine people on both sides, and I’m not talking about Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists, because they should be condemned totally.” Didn’t see big-tech censoring media or government officials calling them radical ideologues. Does that mean there aren’t fake articles being shared on Facebook feeding into right-winger’s fears? Of course, there are! But when people have narratives like Trump supporters being Klan members constantly shoved into their brains, it will eventually become fact in the public mind.
Ideological subversion at its finest.
How about more recent events such as the Black Lives Matter “protests” that took place over the summer? To the left, when crowds of people chant “Cops and Klan go hand-in-hand,” “Pigs in a blanket, fry em like bacon,” or the popular “No Justice, No Peace,” it’s OK and it doesn’t have any effect. Think about the “No Justice, No Peace,” chant; they are essentially saying if the outcome of a trial doesn’t end in what they want, it is therefore justified for them to disrupt society in any way they see fit.
That same philosophical outlook added to a cost of $1 billion to $2 billion in damages, according to insurancebuisinessmag.com. Roads, minority-owned businesses, homes, government property and more were destroyed. Yet, the clearly biased mainstream media outlets like CNN or MSNBC, praised them for making such a change, even though some of the people they claim they are trying to help were damaged because of it.
Don’t believe me? Reporter Ali Velshi from MSNBC reported he was in “mostly a protest” in Minneapolis as people in the background are throwing bottles and burning down a building. Joy Reid, a political commentator for the network said, “What we’re seeing right there is frustration, and anger, and rage,” not an insurrection, as she described footage of what happened in Minneapolis. Chris Cuomo from CNN said, “Most of the major movements in American history have started at the grassroots level and at some point, have turned into direct conflict with American government.”
Sounds similar to what the rioters at the capitol believed… hmm.
There was also a period of time when radical leftists made up of ANTIFA and BLM supporters took control of four city blocks in Seattle for almost a month, which resulted in “four shootings and several alleged sexual assaults,” according to Vox. The raiders also called it the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. And still, mainstream media and millions across social media justified it because they were mad about the state of America. Even the article that covered CHAZ by Vox called it in the title “the Capitol Organized Protest.”
According to the FBI, terrorism is “violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.” I think the acts in Seattle fit this definition perfectly. These people took control of a city by force, building walls around every street entrance with 24-hour guards in military gear and guns protecting the “residents” from police officers. As someone who has taken classes in news and reporting, I am disgusted at how the media covered this story.
Now with the left in control of the presidency, the House, the senate, big-tech, mainstream media, entertainment and university academics, I fear the worst for this country. We’ve seen what happens in history when the right or left ideologies go too far, from Nazis to the Soviet Union. If the right had control the way the left does, I’d be just as scared, but now it’s the left.