{"id":854117,"date":"2021-10-06T19:58:35","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T23:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=854117"},"modified":"2021-10-06T19:58:37","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T23:58:37","slug":"biden-administration-ramps-up-efforts-to-criminalize-political-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-ramps-up-efforts-to-criminalize-political-dissent\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Administration Ramps Up Efforts To Criminalize Political Dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-administration-ramps-up-efforts-to-criminalize-political-dissent%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=854117&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>President Joe Biden\u2019s administration appears to be making a concerted effort to criminalize \u2014 and penalize \u2014 political dissent.<\/p>\n<p>The most recent step down that road came in the form of a letter from Attorney General Merrick Garland, indicating the Justice Department\u2019s plan to coordinate with local law enforcement in order to quash protests at school board meetings. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/16\/jen-psaki-dodges-question-peter-doocy-social-media-misinformation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED:&nbsp;\u2018We Don\u2019t Take Anything Down\u2019: Jen Psaki Dodges Peter Doocy\u2019s Question On Flagging Misinformation For Social Platforms)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" readability=\"6.625\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Garland Directs FBI To Target Parents For \u2018Harassment, Intimidation\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1nXYdgsQGc\">https:\/\/t.co\/1nXYdgsQGc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DailyCaller\/status\/1445365656988356611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 5, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In a Monday memorandum, Garland directed the FBI to \u201cuse its authority\u201d to investigate parents who protested at school board meetings, citing a \u201cdisturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Garland\u2019s memo was a response to a <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/09\/30\/national-school-board-association-biden-admin-police-parents-terror-laws\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">letter<\/a> from the National School Board Association (NSBA) comparing protesting parents to domestic terrorists and asking the federal government to step in and handle the situation.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" readability=\"10.544378698225\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We sent a letter to President Biden this morning asking for federal assistance to stop threats and acts of violence against public schoolchildren, public school board members, and other public school district officials and educators: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/q6bHM0aawQ\">https:\/\/t.co\/q6bHM0aawQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 National School Boards Association | NSBA (@NSBAPublicEd) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NSBAPublicEd\/status\/1443559692454727686?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The protests that inspired the NSBA\u2019s letter have largely centered around politically charged issues such as mask mandates and the implementation of lesson plans that align with Critical Race Theory \u2014 and many saw Garland\u2019s response as an effort to <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/06\/republican-ags-join-forces-to-warn-garland-against-weaponizing-fbi-to-target-parents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">intimidate parents<\/a> and discourage them from taking action on behalf of their children.<\/p>\n<p>Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Christopher Rufo responded to the move, tweeting, \u201cThe Biden administration is rapidly repurposing federal law enforcement to target political opposition. They want to reclassify dissent as \u201cdisinformation\u201d and \u201cdomestic terrorism,\u201d justifying an unprecedented intervention, both directly and in partnership with tech companies.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" readability=\"13.398280802292\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Biden administration is rapidly repurposing federal law enforcement to target political opposition.<\/p>\n<p>They want to reclassify dissent as \u201cdisinformation\u201d and \u201cdomestic terrorism,\u201d justifying an unprecedented intervention, both directly and in partnership with tech companies.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Christopher F. Rufo \u2694\ufe0f (@realchrisrufo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realchrisrufo\/status\/1445168708448440323?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 4, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" readability=\"12.439882697947\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Neither the Attorney General\u2019s memo nor the full Justice Department press release cites any significant, credible threat.<\/p>\n<p>This is a blatant suppression tactic, designed to dissuade citizens from participating in the democratic process at school boards.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LItu8I1I0z\">https:\/\/t.co\/LItu8I1I0z<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Christopher F. Rufo \u2694\ufe0f (@realchrisrufo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realchrisrufo\/status\/1445169667111227397?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 4, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But Garland\u2019s memo was not the Biden administration\u2019s first attempt to reclassify political opposition as \u201cmisinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop:<\/h3>\n<p>Even before Biden won the 2020 presidential election, such efforts were apparent when the New York Post uncovered a laptop that had allegedly been owned \u2014 and left at a repair shop \u2014 by <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2020\/12\/10\/media-reasons-suppressing-hunter-biden-story-false\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hunter Biden<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While it was the social media giants Facebook and Twitter that took action \u2014 first by blocking certain links and stories from being shared or sent via direct message and eventually by banning or deleting accounts that had attempted to do so \u2014 Biden\u2019s campaign team capitalized on the windfall and encouraged the idea that any subsequent story about Hunter was rooted in the same \u201cmisinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even Hunter himself, after admitting in an interview that he did not know whether or not the laptop in question was his, floated the suggestion that it was just as likely it was the product of <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/09\/24\/jen-psaki-peter-doocy-hunter-biden-laptop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Russian disinformation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>January 6:<\/h3>\n<p>Once it was clear that Biden had won the presidency, any questions or concerns about election integrity or voter fraud were labeled \u201cmisinformation\u201d \u2014 and former President Donald Trump\u2019s continued insistence, despite a lack of evidence, that the election had been \u201cstolen\u201d only made it easier for legitimate concerns to be dismissed.<\/p>\n<p>When Trump supporters rioted on January 6 at Capitol Hill, Democrats and media began to paint every Trump supporter who had gone to Washington, D.C., that day \u2014 even if they had only gone to attend former President Trump\u2019s speech \u2014 as a conspiracy theorist at best and at worst, the equivalent of a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/story\/2021-03-02\/fbi-wray-testify-congress-capitol-siege\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">domestic terrorist<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>CNN\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/01\/14\/don-lemon-all-trump-voters-kkk-capitol-rioters-cnn-chris-cuomo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don Lemon<\/a>&nbsp;took it so far as to&nbsp;argue that not only was everyone \u201cin the crowd\u201d that day aligned with the KKK and those who actually breached the Capitol, but that all Trump voters had signaled their acceptance of such behavior when they voted for him.<\/p>\n<h3>COVID-19 \u2014 therapeutics, masks and vaccines:<\/h3>\n<p>Much of the first nine months of Biden\u2019s presidency has been consumed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic \u2014 from arguments over masks and potential therapeutics to the vaccines and their effectiveness and safety. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/20\/meghan-mccain-torches-the-view-vaccine-fox-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: \u2018We\u2019re Not Going To Get Better If We Just Keep Blaming Fox News\u2019: Meghan McCain Torches Her Own Show)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>During the early months of the administration, vaccination rates soared and Biden set lofty goals for getting a majority of eligible Americans vaccinated \u2014 and getting to effective herd immunity \u2014 by <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/06\/22\/white-house-admits-it-wont-reach-its-july-4-vaccine-goals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But as vaccinations began to taper off, the White House and many in media again blamed \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/09\/29\/youtube-vaccine-covid-19-misinformation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">misinformation<\/a>\u201d \u2014 which they almost universally claimed was coming from <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/21\/joe-biden-fox-news-alter-call-coronavirus-vaccinations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fox News<\/a> \u2014 for the people who were either hesitating or outright refusing to get the vaccine.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/06\/23\/ana-navarro-republicans-wont-get-the-covid-19-vaccine-want-biden-fail\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ana Navarro<\/a> even went so far as to suggest on ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View\u201d that Republicans were avoiding getting the vaccine in order to prevent Biden from reaching his July 4 goal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WATCH<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In order to stem the tide of \u201cmisinformation,\u201d White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced a plan to coordinate with <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/15\/covid-19-jen-psaki-white-house-facebook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">social media companies<\/a> in order to \u201cflag\u201d questionable content and even possibly ban \u201coffenders\u201d from the platforms.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration has taken the next step toward criminalizing and penalizing political opposition in Garland\u2019s memo. The only question left to ask is: where it will stop?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden\u2019s administration appears to be making a concerted effort to criminalize \u2014 and penalize \u2014 political dissent.The most recent step down that road came in the form of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-854117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}