The following contains editorial content written by a retired Chief of P0lice and current staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.
—
WASHINGTON, DC- This is chilling. We have seen over the past several months the Biden administration putting out continuous dog whistles about “white supremacy,” going so far as to claim that “domestic white extremism” is the biggest threat to our country since…well since forever.
Newly discovered information however shows to what extent the administration and the Pentagon are going in trying to “root out” alleged extremism.
According to numerous sources including Fox News, the Pentagon is apparently working with a company, Moonshot CVE which has ties to—surprise, surprise—the Obama Foundation—is currently working on data which would provide military leaders which military bases and branches have the most troops searching for so-called “domestic extremist” content.
So what does Moonshot consider to be a “search for domestic extremist content?” How about if you put the following into your web browser: “The truth about Black Lives Matter.”
According to Moonshot, that along with a number of other seemingly innocent searches shows signs of either interest in or engagement with white supremacism, according to Defense One.
In June, Moonshot released a report in collaboration with the far-left Anti-Defamation League in which they identified so-called “white supremacy trends in the United States.”
Moonshot, based in the U.K. noted it “monitored a list of almost 1,600 indicators of interest in or engagement with white supremacism, focused specifically on anti-black and anti-Semitic narratives used by extremist groups.
Other “problematic” search phrases included “George Floyd deserved to die,” “Jews will not replace us” and “the truth about black lives matter.”
The latter in particular got the attention of Moonshot, which noted that: “This search suggests that the BLM movement has nefarious motives and is a disinformation narrative perpetuated by white supremacist groups to weaponize anti-BLM sentiment.”
It would seem the fact that the founders of BLM, who are admitted Marxists might draw the attention of people who care about the country, especially given the fact that politicians and businesses have allowed themselves to be shaken down by BLM.
Moreover, questions about the organization’s finances are fair game, especially since one of the founders, Patrisse Cullors has managed to acquire for herself a tidy little real estate portfolio.
The report continued:
“While the search phrase appears innocuous, several books include it in their title and allege that the BLM movement is ‘joined with Antifa burning and looting.’ [it is] These sources echo white supremacist disinformation narratives alleging that BLM protesters are trying to ‘overthrow the republic’ [they are] and ‘harm American citizens in a Marxist coup’ as a means of delegitimizing it.
Multiple videos on YouTube also promote these narratives—in particular, the criminalization of BLM—using the identical phrase.”
Fox News reached out to both Moonshot and the Defense Department; neither responded.
Defense One said they reached out to Moonshot for details of the report, with founder Vidhya Ramalingam declining to outline the findings. She did say however that preliminary data indicated that active-duty troops are not as likely to seek out information about violent extremism as the public at large.
“When we look at bases for each branch as compared to national averages, there is disproportionately low engagement on most bases,” she said. “Some branches have higher levels of engagement with anti-black extremism or anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. But we’re not seeing heightened levels of engagement that are incredibly worrying.”
One thing that isn’t clear is why the Pentagon would outsource such a report to a foreign company. According to Grantshala.com, The Center for Security Policy last month raised concerns about the company, writing that Ramalingam acted as a leader in the Obama Foundation’s Europe program.
So, if Obama’s fingerprints are over this, who else do you suppose has his socialist mitts in the stew?
If you guessed George Soros, you would be correct. She was also involved with a panel organized by the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center and has ties to other left-leaning organizations. One security policy center noted that Ramalingam wrote a paper acknowledging support from the Open Society Foundation, founded by Soros.
On April 20th, our co-founder @vidhya_ra will be participating in a panel hosted by @PERIL_AU and @splcenter. Moderated by @milleridriss, the panel will tackle the transnational aspects of extremist movements.
Register here: https://t.co/tAcXnO23tO
— Moonshot (@MoonshotTeam) April 15, 2021
Defense One had reported recently that Ramalingam met with the Pentagon’s chief diversity officer, however he declined to disclose the findings in his report on US military bases.
Moonshot, however, isn’t merely interested (or tasked apparently) with identifying so-called “extremist” content online.
For example, if someone conducts a search for violent extremist content, they might see their search redirected for counseling services or something along those lines. Or they may receive a suggestion on how to “deescalate.”
According to Defense One, the company uses “ad markers” on social media and search results to reach anyone actively “searching for violence” and intervene.
Does any of this sound really creepy to you? Think about this for a minute. Say you’re a college student doing a research paper on the KKK. Based on the algorithms for this company, that student would be tagged as a violent extremist. This is shocking.
Defense One says:
“The company also offers mindfulness exercises to people searching on the internet for violent extremist content. Between November 2020 and February 2021, someone searching for content about white supremacism, armed groups or conspiracy theories on YouTube [apparently this only applies to so-called ‘right wing’ conspiracy theories] watched a de-escalation breathing exercise all the way through more than half-a-million times.”
Moonshot has a staff of around 50 people based in London, and the company has been engaged in the US for six years. However the so-called “prevalence of violent extremism” is rising so “quickly” in the US, Ramalingam is going to be opening a Washington DC- based office that will employ up to 18 people.
“The launch of the D.C. office came for a few reasons, one of which is that the need for the work here just dramatically grew in the last year,” she said. “The scale of the audience is so large that we couldn’t justify not being here.”
We hear time and again how social media and web services companies are not governed by the First Amendment, since they are private businesses.
However, when a private business conducts business on behalf of the federal government, that becomes a rather blurry argument. It would seem that Moonshot is conducting surveillance on private citizens at the behest of the Pentagon and the Biden administration.
If that is true, it seems there are clear Constitutional concerns.
For some of our previous reporting on “white supremacy,” we invite you to:
DIG DEEPER
BOULDER, CO– According to a recent report by the College Fix, an ethnic studies professor from the University of Colorado Boulder wrote an article claiming that all race-based violence in the United States has its roots in white supremacy.
https://twitter.com/witsnewsdotcom/status/1380913305284341762
Jennifer Ho, the president of the Association for Asian American Studies whose research primarily focuses on critical mixed race studies, anti-racist theory and praxis, and intersectionality, stated:
“Amid the disturbing rise in attacks on Asian-Americans since March 2020 is a troubling category of these assaults: Black people are also attacking Asian Americans.”
She also wrote:
“The point I’ve made through all of those experiences is that anti-Asian racism has the same source as anti-Black racism: white supremacy. So, when a Black person attacks an Asian person, the encounter is fueled perhaps by racism, but very specifically by white supremacy. White supremacy does not require a white person to perpetuate it.”
According to the associate editor at the College Fix, Ho explained herself by stating:
“White supremacy is an ideology, a pattern of values and beliefs that are ingrained in nearly every system and institution in the U.S. It is a belief that to be white is to be human and invested with inalienable universal rights and that to be non-white means you are less than human, a disposable object for others to abuse and misuse.”
Ho also stated that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the “yellow peril” rhetoric that blamed China for the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus reportedly led to a 150 percent rise in anti-Asian harassment incidents reported to police in 2020. She added:
“White supremacy as the root of racism can be seen in the Latino man in Texas stabbing a Burmese family in March 2020, claiming he did so because they were Chinese and bringing the coronavirus into the U.S. Though the suspect may have mental health problems, his belief that this family posed a threat is driven by white supremacist ideas of Chinese people being to blame for COVID-19.”
Ho said:
“This same rhetoric of blaming anyone perceived to be Chinese for COVID-19 and attacking them has been found in countless reports of harassment, including one by a Vietnamese American woman who was spat at by a white man as she tried to enter a grocery store in March 2021.”
She continued:
“Four days later, video footage showed a 76-year-old Chinese woman who was punched in the face by a 39-year-old white man, one the same day that a white man killed eight people, including six Asian women, in Atlanta.”
Just read the dumbest article I’ll read today no matter what else I encounter. Jennifer Ho is one of those dumb smart people. Great with words but who’s ideas are just baffling. I’m half black and half Asian and even I am wondering what I read.https://t.co/5TV1ZBb1Hr
— IexposeRacistandBetas (@Watchitswang) April 8, 2021
Ho concluded her article by saying:
“Understanding the depth and reach of this ideology of racism can be challenging, but doing so brings each person and the nation as a whole, closer to addressing systemic inequity. It’s not Black people whom Asian Americans need to fear. It’s white supremacy.”
The College Fix also recently reported on how a college president declared the Atlanta shootings a result of “normalization” of white supremacy. The interim president of Eastern Washington University stated that the killings of several Asian women in Atlanta were definitely hate crimes.
David May, made these comments despite the fact that the investigation is still ongoing as law enforcement continues to gather all the facts related to the incident. Law enforcement still does not know the shooter’s motive.
Reportedly, the preliminary investigation notes that the suspect told police that he did not choose his targets for their ethnicity, but because he suffers from sex addiction and had “reached the end of his rope.”
Teachers union president: Reopening schools is ‘white supremacy’ and ‘white privilege’
January 19th, 2021
FRANKLIN COUNTY, WA — The president of a local teacher union in the Pasco School District said he is opposed to reopening schools because it is a form of “white supremacy and white privilege” and implored the school board to keep students in remote learning despite recommendations that children return to in-person learning.
Scott Wilson, president of the Pasco Association of Educators (PAE), argued in a bizarre rant during a Jan. 12 virtual school board meeting that it was racist to have students return to classrooms and that concerns about student suicides from pandemic-induced depression simply stem from “white privilege.”
He invoked nearly everything except data and scientists who confirm that students thrive with in-person learning and are in the low-risk group for contracting COVID-19.
A WA teacher's union president says reopening schools is an example of "white supremacy," concern over a child's mental health or suicide risk is "white privilege," and push to reopen schools is like rioters pushing to enter the U.S. Capitol.
READ: https://t.co/QxFazq2Taz pic.twitter.com/ny50MEZG7p
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) January 13, 2021
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an updated report on Jan. 8 and recommended how officials should decide opening up for in-person learning:
“School officials should make decisions about school opening and about staying open for in-person learning based on CDC’s Indicators for Dynamic Decision-making.
“The many benefits of in-person schooling should be weighed against the risks of spreading COVID-19 in the school and community.
“Working with States, Tribes, Localities, and Territories (STLT), schools can weigh levels of community transmission and their capacity to implement appropriate mitigation measures in schools to protect students, teachers, administrators, and other staff.”
As @tacomaschools resumes in-person learning starting Jan. 19, school zones beacons will flash before and after school in certain locations. Please slow down, drive a maximum of 20 MPH, and pay special attention when in these zones.
Visit https://t.co/PYphdRz4Y4 for more info. pic.twitter.com/xslrY5Yggu
— City of Tacoma (@CityofTacoma) January 16, 2021
The CDC also noted:
“While fewer children have been sick with COVID-19 compared to adults, children can be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, can get sick from COVID-19, and can spread the virus that causes COVID-19 to others. Children, like adults, who have COVID-19 but have no symptoms (‘asymptomatic’) can still spread the virus to others.
https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1349735809168011269
“Most children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all. However, some children can get severely ill from COVID-19. They might require hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe. In rare cases, they might die.”
“Close the bars and keep the schools open,” Dr. Anthony Fauci says, adding that while there is no solution that is “one size fits all,” the “best way to ensure the safety of the children in school is to get the community level of the spread low.” https://t.co/th9oAKhHYa pic.twitter.com/pDuTdQ0Vfp
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 29, 2020
Last November, Anthony Fauci, an infectious diseases expert and top advisor to the White House on the COVID-19 pandemic, said that he was for closing bars and restaurants but reopening schools. He told ABC News reporter Martha Raddatz:
“The default position should be to try as best as possible, within reason, to keep the children in school, to get them back to school.”
President-elect Joe Biden is unveiling a $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan to speed vaccine rollout, steady the economy and reopen schools. The plan includes $1,400 checks for individuals, on top of $600 provided in the last COVID-19 bill. https://t.co/eEFpoo0zTM
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 14, 2021
The Biden administration also supports opening schools up. Brian Deese, the incoming director of Biden’s National Economic Council, said keeping schools closed hurts parents, especially women:
“We need to get the schools open so that parents, and particularly women, who are being disproportionately hurt in this economy, can get back to work.”
When it comes to COVID learning loss, a recent NWEA study found that in the fall, students in grades 3–8 performed similarly in reading to same-grade students in fall 2019, but about 5 percentile points to 10 percentile points lower in math.
What Should School Accountability Look Like in a Time of COVID-19? https://t.co/RsIcTmgkH6
— Jeffrey A Hinton Ed.D. (@JeffreyAHinton) January 19, 2021
After introducing himself, Wilson addresses the board at time marker 18:45 of the meeting. He politicizes the student-learning issue immediately by mentioning people breaking into the Capitol building earlier this month and others who have held rallies questioning pandemic lockdowns:
“There are decisions to be made. You stand on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol as people break down barriers and head to the doors. Do you follow? You stand at the governor’s mansion. The crowd breaks down barriers to enter the grounds. Do you follow or do you choose a different way?
“We must not ignore the culture of white supremacy and white privilege. We have seen it in the ‘free to breathe, reopen everything’ rodeos and rallies that received county commissioner support. The same commissioner directs our health district.”
Recent remarks from the president of a #WashingtonState #Teachers union have led to public criticism.
Despite warnings of children’s #MentalHealth, he said that opening #Schools is a form of white privilege and supremacy.https://t.co/522CEw4QCG
— NTD News (@news_ntd) January 19, 2021
Wilson then claims “no one wants remote learning,” but then insists that it is the only acceptable option for students, teachers and parents:
“No one wants remote learning. No one wants remote learning, but it is the right thing to do.”
Wilson then brings up “equity” issues and blames some for spreading the virus:
“We know the equity concerns. Virus transmission is high, headed higher with so many ignoring and avoiding measures to stop the spread.”
https://twitter.com/stina0812/status/1351325298197893120
Wilson says the board should continue its “pause” of in-person learning and that it would benefit everyone:
“Remote learning is the right decision. You’ve moved forward as the health district removes the barricades for you. You could choose a different way.
“You could move to pause in-person learning . You could ask for a new path that benefits all, not some. You can have the discussion and vote. You could choose a different way.”
Since the start of the pandemic, multi-generational homes have increased by 61 percent. Pew Research Center found that around 6 in 10 adults who have moved since last March say they relocated to a family member’s home. Of those, 41 percent moved in with their parents or in-laws, 4 percent moved in with an adult child or in-law and 16 percent moved in with another family member.
Wilson raises a concern about the resurgence of multi-generational homes containing people of various ages, but ends up blaming white, privileged people who, according to him, want to reopen everything and put people of color at risk:
“Students are not coming to school. They live in multi-generational homes and have lost family members.
“We speak of equity. We speak of care of all students, and yet we listen and attend the voices saying, ‘Reopen everything’ and ‘free to breathe’ supporting white privilege.”
Can Schools Require the COVID-19 Vaccine? Education, Equity, and the Courts | Bill of Health https://t.co/0Fq8y9fYBC
— Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics (@bermaninstitute) January 19, 2021
As the son of a preacher man, Wilson then recalls his father’s political activism and how it incensed “white supremacists” in his hometown:
“My family had to leave the Tri-Cities in ’66. As minister of the first Presbyterian Church of Kennewick, Dad had the audacity to say Jesus Christ would not support a sign telling blacks ‘Stay out of Kennewick after dark.’
“He traveled registering black voters in the south, and white supremacists here were outraged. He made the right decision.”
Wilson claimed that parents are emailing the board and calling the district’s teachers names:
“You receive the same emails as I calling teachers lazy or comparing teachers to store clerks.”
Disturbingly, Wilson downplayed parental reports of children feeling suicidal during the past few months of lockdown:
“They complain their children are suicidal without school or sports.”
Teachers Unions Fail Science – Schools rarely spread COVID-19. Studies on tens of thousands of people found "no consistent relationship between in-person K-12 schooling and the spread of the coronavirus." https://t.co/ySrrdk8vXz
— super czar (@Kristokoff) January 19, 2021
Wilson then said he experienced the suicide of his own son, but was appalled at the concerns of other “white privilege” parents who fear their child may kill themself:
“As a father daily surviving the suicide of my son, I find these statements ignorant and another expression of white privilege.”
My Em returns to in-person learning
for the first time since March 2020. We’re a wee bit nervous, but she’s so excited to be back in class with friends
in @StarkvilleSD. 😷🐝 pic.twitter.com/dnilpfeoBZ— Aundrea Self (@AundreaSelf) January 19, 2021
In conclusion, Wilson reiterated that students should continue remote learning despite data, science, vaccines and mental-health concerns showing that in-person learning is the ideal choice for children. To strengthen his argument, Wilson mentioned sendition for good measure:
“Huge daily death tolls from this pandemic, seditious attacks at our Capitol [building], plus a new, more transmittable strain of the virus while our case numbers are rising again — you have the authority to hit pause, allow time to find a way forward through the end of the year.
“You could choose a different way. Thank you members of the board and Superintendent Whitney.”
—
Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today? With so much “stuff” happening in the world on social media, it’s easy for things to get lost.
Make sure you click “following” and then click “see first” so you don’t miss a thing! (See image below.) Thanks for being a part of the LET family!
