Author of What to Eat When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
If I wrote that we’re living in a world that bears an ever-increasing similarity to Communist regimes throughout history, a lot of people would scoff and say that I was being melodramatic. But research compiled by the Media Research Center and shared on social media by The Heritage Foundation shows, through documents acquired via the FOIA, that the Biden administration is using tax dollars to actively target political opponents and dissenters as potential domestic terrorists in a program with the acronym TVTP.
It’s an important read, and the supporting documents that follow the money are all here in this PDF. (I originally came across this information on a very interesting episode of Dan Bongino’s podcast.)
So, by definition, are you an extremist? A budding domestic terrorist? A violent threat?
What is the TVTP?
The Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program (TVTP) is administered by the Department of Homeland Security. It provides funding to funds to public, private, and non-profit institutions — like colleges, universities, and county governments — “to establish or enhance capabilities to prevent targeted violence and terrorism.”
On the face, it doesn’t sound that bad.
But when you look closer, you’ll see that this funding is only doled out to groups that align with a specific agenda. And that agenda is to target conservatives, Christians, and Republicans in what MRC calls a “coordinated effort to make America into a one-party system.”
Fox News reports:
The Biden administration has awarded 80 grants through the TVTP totaling just under $40 million. The lowest grant was for $85,000, the highest was over $1.1 million, and the median was about $442,000. TVTP grant recipients are prohibited from engaging in viewpoint discrimination, according to DHS.
Started by the Obama administration under a different name, the TVTP was broadened and revamped by the Biden administration with a new focus on violent extremism and white supremacy. DHS named one of its TVTP goals as “media literacy and online critical thinking initiatives,” which many grantees listed as the mission of their projects.
One such grantee was the University of Dayton for its PREVENTS-OH program, which DHS awarded $352,109 to “draw on the expertise of the University of Dayton faculty” to fight “domestic violence extremism and hate movements.”
The university’s grant application submitted to DHS linked in a footnote to a controversial Dayton conference where an academic researcher presented a chart titled the “Pyramid of Far-Right Radicalization.”
From the report, here’s a look at that pyramid.
So if you support the NRA, are a Republican, consume media right of CNN, back your local cops, or are a Trump supporter, according to this pyramid, means you’re well on your way to a lifetime membership to the KKK and a free white hooded outfit. It conflates these innocent acts as stepping stones to becoming a neo-Nazi and joining a hate group.
So to summarize, if you are not with them, you are against them, and your own government has thrown 40 million taxpayer dollars at organizations who are trying to figure out how to identify you.
One of the most radical grant recipients was quite disturbing.
The University of Dayton PREVENTS-OH received. The webpage describing their program is mysteriously down. and a time-travel trip on the Wayback Machine to https://udayton.edu/blogs/udhumanrights/2023/2023-5-11-preventsohstudent.php only shows us a calendar, which we can all agree is most likely not the original use of that page.
According to The MRC, PREVENTS-OH “hosted a series of events that maliciously equated mainstream organizations with neo-nazis and other extremist hate groups.” (One of their events is where University of Cincinnati researcher Michael Loadenthal rolled out the Pyramid of Far-Right Extremism. He’s a self-proclaimed member of Antifa.)
At a separate taxpayer-funded PREVENTS-OH seminar, Loadenthal showed his true fascist colors, gloating about the illegal things that he’s done.
At this event, Loadenthal explained how “antifascists” could “pressure financial services” like “GoFundMe, Patreon, PayPal, Venmo” and others or “pressure 5 retailers” like Amazon and “service providers” like “AirBnB” and “Tinder” in order to “kick people off.”
Loadenthal likewise complained about “right-wing” social media platforms that provide “free speech” and celebrated “de-platform[ing]” so-called fascists (which he used interchangeably with “the right”) from Twitter and Facebook.
He even gave specific advice on how to create dummy accounts on social media platforms like Gab, Telegram and Rumble in order to “paralyze” movements and “manufacture … infighting.” Loadenthal seemed particularly venomous towards the existence of encrypted messenger service Telegram, calling it “a cesspool of awful.”
In his presentation, Loadenthal boasted openly that “a lot of things we’re doing are illegal” and “a lot of it involves breaking the law.”
He claimed this was necessary because “hate speech is more than speech. It’s materiality. It’s organizing. It’s mobilization. It’s not an exchange of ideas in the marketplace and the best one wins. It’s something else. It’s the strategic deployment of organizational energy and power.” Censorship efforts are not enough to fight against so-called fascists, Loadenthal outrageously claimed, also calling for a more aggressive approach. “To deny people that, to shut down their websites, to close their meetings, [and] to physically prevent them from assembling in public…
…Loadenthal also displayed infographic instructions to teach attendees how to “infiltrate” social media platforms to “identify targets, create dossiers … surveil, interfere, misdirect [and] disrupt” those the left opposes.
These events also hosted people who think Florida Governor Ron deSantis “might try to conduct a second Holocaust through a 2021 proposed civilian military force” and another dude who compared President Trump with the Khmer Rouge of Pol Pot’s regime, which perpetrated a genocide that killed at least 1.7 million Cambodians in the 1970s.
But you know, look out for those pesky Republicans. They’re the real threat.
Taxpayers are funding our own persecution.
Let me reiterate:
These are not just random grassroots groups popping up. These groups are funded in the millions of dollars by the United States government. Our tax dollars pay for us to be labeled potential domestic terrorists.
The Biden administration spent nearly $40 million in American tax dollars spread across 80 grants to teach “media literacy and online critical thinking initiatives,” among other initiatives, in an effort to weaponize TVTP against conservatives, Christians and the Republican Party.
The Biden administration awarded eighty TVTP grants totaling $39,611,999 The lowest grant was for $85,000, the highest for over $1.1 million, and the median being about $442,000. Fifty-two percent of the programs have gone to public institutions like universities and county government, whereas 48 percent have gone to private organizations, such as the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Out Boulder County and the aforementioned University of Dayton.
Instead of focusing on preventing actual violence and terrorism, a staggering number of grantees appear to be—with the DHS’s knowledge—using the funds to target the Biden administration’s political opponents through the guise of so-called training seminars for topics such as “media literacy and online critical thinking initiatives.”
In addition to PREVENTS-OH, the Media Research Center has obtained documents for several other grantees, which depict similar degrees of extremism, demonization of political opposition, and calls for censorship.
And let me be clear – you may think this doesn’t affect you if you’re not a Republican or a Christian, but it does. I myself have been targeted, defunded, and defamed repeatedly over the years, and I regularly state that I am neither a conservative nor a Republican. I’m very carefully secular in my work. In fact, a recent attack by the group NewsGuard downgraded me because I refused to lie and say my website has a right-wing bias. It doesn’t.
Right-wing people are not safe. Libertarians are not safe. Christians are not safe. Neutral people are not safe.
If you are not for them, you are against them, and you are conflated with “extremists” and “domestic terrorists” by your own government.
Let’s take a quick look at other regimes that targeted dissenters.
This isn’t the first government that went after those who dissented. There’s a long and horrifying list of dreadful periods in history, both ancient and modern, when those in power sought to stay in power by villainizing the opposition.
Before someone in the comments yells at me, this list is not comprehensive. I haven’t “lost all credibility” because I omitted your favorite despotic government. This is just a handful of examples. I’m not writing a full-length book here, and that’s what it would take to name everyone.
- Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte has a brutal history of silencing the opposition. One example was the Davao Death Squad that killed over 700 dissenters and was allowed to operate without prosecution. He also saw to it that a political opponent, Senator Leila de Lima, was imprisoned after she opposed him. (source)
- Russian President Vladimir Putin is well-known for eliminating opposition politicians, exploiting the justice system and branding journalists critical of the Kremlin as “foreign agents” and this has only intensified during the war with Ukraine. (source)
- Opposition groups in Bangledesh have been violently repressed by ruling party supporters, and those supporters have not faced legal consequences for their actions. (source)
- Remember all those people who faced criminal consequences after the Brazilian election? They were most definitely not on the side that is in power. (source)
And those are just some recent examples. Clearly, I’d be remiss if I left out Hitler (source) and Communist China (source).
What we’re seeing is not unique in and of itself. What’s different about it is that it’s happening in the United States of America, a country that was founded based on the right to disagree with the government. That right is enshrined in our founding document, and yet it is being trampled with enthusiastic aplomb by the aforementioned government.
It’s a dangerous time to disagree.
This is an incredibly dangerous and confusing time. Prudence demands that we be “gray” and try to stay off the radar, yet freedom demands that we refuse to be silenced.
If you’re engaged in the practice of regularly defending freedom in America, criticizing the government, or standing up for your rights, you should take great care to abide by the law. Make sure your taxes are paid, that you don’t speed, that you don’t publicly threaten others, and that you don’t provide any easy route to being punished. (Just ask journalist Matt Taibbi and commentator Tim Poole.)
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
What do you think of all this? What are your thoughts about our extorted tax dollars going to fund the silencing of our dissent? What are your thoughts about the DHS targeting people based on their political philosophies? Will you go the gray route or the kicking-and-screaming route?
Let’s discuss it in the comments section.
About Daisy
Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, adventure-seeking, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites. 1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty; 2) The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived; and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. Her work is widely republished across alternative media and she has appeared in many interviews.
Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.
Remember when former head of DHS Janet Napolitano described returning war veterans as “potential domestic terrorists?” Yeah, me too. If you’re right of AOC and the shrews on The View, you’re a potential domestic terrorist. Plan accordingly.
“Plan Accordingly” I left ‘The Homeland’ 29 years ago. Colombia seems far more peaceful and less divisive.
I’ve been thinking that Switzerland looks pretty good these days…
No, and neither do you remember that. Napolitano didn’t say anything like that at all. There was a report that spelled out that violent right wing groups could try to recruit returning war veterans, using dissatisfaction of having a black president, a poor economy and the potential for increased gun regulations as a lever for radicalization….and this report was correct. Right wing groups did this and continue to this day. Your statement of “plan accordingly” makes me feel that you’re on level 2/3 of the above mentioned pyramid.
damned if we do and damned if we dont! cant win either way huh?
If you are someone who can think critically, who values free speech, who questions MSM narrative, wants government transparency, might be religious (but only if you are Christian), etc. you just might be a American, er, um, terrorist by the US government.
Now, when those antifa types attack police, federal buildings, well, they are not real.
According to “Rep.” Jerry Nadler (D-NY) “Antifa rioting in Portland is a myth.” When asked later, he doubled-down, saying “It’s a myth being circulated in D.C.”
I live in Oregon, and I guarantee you it is not a myth. It is spreading outward from Portland.
It’s been revealed that many times, ‘Antifa’, and ‘Blaque Block’ and just plain rioters, are undercover policemen seeking to discredit peaceful protests. The Dark Side never sleeps.
More money laundering courtesy of barack obama. Watch for the kickback. 10% for the big guy.
As I constantly say, “There are no Democrats or Republicans, only We the People, and the psychopathic Elite”. It may sound simplistic, I’m watching, ‘Andor’, a Star Wars spinoff, and the Empire is remarkably like ‘The Powers That Be’. Art imitating life? Politics is a tool of the Elite, an illusion that is used to divide and distract us. The goal is Total Control, and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of very few.
Drs. M. Stout and R. Hare talk about 1-4% of any given population being sociopath. These are the elites. They do not care about others and see them as tools to be used and thrown away. These elites tend to cluster in politics and finance. They will align themselves when it is convenient for themselves and easily drop the alliance when a better offer comes along.
Yes, Art is imitating Life. Could it be the elites twinkling our noses to show we are powerless and they can do it with impunity?
8.6 years to the Greatest Depression and it is going to be a water fall event. Venezuela will look like paradise compared to the U.S. Dummies are slitting their own throats by wasting current tax dollars that kill their own pensions, retirements and life style at every level. Stupid is as stupid does on their Forrest Gump moves at home and abroad, because in the end they fail. The day is coming when no one will buy the debt no matter the interest rate due to the inability to repay.
People need to call their US reps and senators tovote no on the WHO treaty, if the US votes it in, we will have a gov. like China and life will not be worth living.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q442KGtLgME
Like they say, if it’s unconstitutional it is NULL and VOID and you don’t have to comply.
WOKE = NATL SOCIALISM : same techniques and institutionalized persecution used. Google it. They want the rest but not if they die trying to implement it, and they will. An extinct branch of my family stepped into those cattle cars. Never again.
All of this is just the death of a once mighty nation.
Although, It is not just happening here in the US, but Worldwide to a greater or lessor extent, no matter wherever you live.
Our Politicians and Government are corrupted by the same forces corrupting most of the world’s governments.
There will be no escape, fleeing does not matter, it will come find you there also. It is a part of the world wide plan.
All we can do is prepare for the Collapse and disruption of society(SHTF) that will result from it. That and be ready to rebuild what we have lost. Not using what the Elite will offer to rebuild with,( Green New Deal, or whatever they call it by then), but to rebuild the original freedoms that belong to mankind.
You can still get to that “mysteriously down web-page”. Just google “The University of Dayton PREVENTS-OH ” It’ll take you right to it. What a university full of BS!
If we are all in danger because of them then guess who the real terrorist are?
The ultimate control isn’t the power to imprison someone, but rather the ability to convince them to imprison themselves or their speech.
Political supremacists—those in positions of power, who believe their views, and only their views, should be considered—exist in every industry, institution, and walk of life, and they always have. Yet seldom before has their power gone so unchecked.
Are these the kinds of people you want in charge? People with no boundaries and who will use the force of the government to crush you if you so much as disagree with them?
You may not be interested in totalitarianism, but it’s deeply interested in you. If you’re not paranoid by now, you’re just not paying attention.
…….and the far left calls conservatives and republicans fascists.
Don’t focus on their labels.
It’s now only Good vs Evil.
They have their lists. We should have ours.
To hell with those who might call me a terrorist… yes, I am a Christian who believes that anyone can be saved by believing that Christ died for our sins was buried and three days later arose from the grave. Jesus’ name is called the Word of God (John 1:1, 1:14; Revelation 19:13), and He is alive and well and sitting at the right hand of the Father, and He is coming back! I am a conservative and am registered a Republican. I believe in the values upon which America was originally founded and I believe that no law trumps God’s Law. I am also 81 years old! If I have to go down I will go down fighting!
Had enough of the “Long Train of Abuses and Ursurpations” yet?
Want to know who the terrorists are?
Look at our ‘government’.
Daisy, actually your website is “right biased”—you allow Christians to comment. /sark
Seriously, the subject of this website attracts certain types of people—those who value independence, freedom, self-sufficiency, honesty, trust, honor—traits found among military and ex-military, conservative Christians and conservatives in general. I agree that the subject of this blog is not political per se. However, to an increasingly totalitarian state that brooks no deviation, independent thinking is increasingly viewed as a political crime.
Remember, the early Christians were fed to the lions not for a religious crime, but for a political crime. That political crime was not worshiping the emperor as a god.
Um, yeah, Christians weren’t actually fed to lions. Wasn’t a thing.
From the article “So if you support the NRA, are a Republican, consume media right of CNN, back your local cops, or are a Trump supporter, according to this pyramid, means you’re well on your way to a lifetime membership to the KKK and a free white hooded outfit. It conflates these innocent acts as stepping stones to becoming a neo-Nazi and joining a hate group.”
Poor interpretation, Daisy. This isn’t at all what is depicted. If you support the NRA (as I do), this graph doesn’t show or indicate at all that a person will progress from level 1 to level 2 and so on. What it does show is that if a person is on level 2, they absolutely started at level 1 and if a person is at level 4, they assuredly started at a level below that. Stated differently, nobody at level 2/3/4 started there as a kid and before that had no right leaning influences. ANYONE who wears a RWDS patch on their civilian BDU absolutely did start off as a FOX viewer and NRA supporter and over time was radicalized….they sure didn’t start off as MSNBC viewers, did they? This doesn’t mean at all that they think a Fox viewer who is an NRA supporter is going to start sporting RWDS patches.
It is potentially progressive but not predictive. EOC.
The real divide isn’t left versus right, it’s people who believe in liberty versus people who want to be enslaved (politically). In the future, people will look back on this time period of widespread belief in political slavery with the same horror that we look back on the 1700s or whatever when chattel slavery was widespread and mostly accepted everywhere as okay.