Perhaps to better assist the radical left’s propaganda machine as it seeks to have uncooperative political opponents, including vociferous PTA parents, declared “political extremists” or “domestic terrorists,” NPR has actually named a “national security correspondent on extremism.” Her name is Odette Yousef and she’s based in Chicago. On Friday morning she anxiously reported about hacked internal communications that indicate the much-maligned “Oath Keepers,” self-described patriot defenders of the Constitution, have recruited a few handfuls of major-city police officers to their ranks, implying that such officers should be investigated.
In a live discussion with Morning Edition anchor Steve Inskeep, Ms. Yousef grudgingly acknowledged that even police officers have First Amendment rights to speak freely and form political associations without government interference. But particularly concerning to both reporter and anchor, it seemed, was the Oath Keepers’ reported belief that Black Lives Matter should be declared a “terrorist organization.” The original draft of the email to Yousef and Inskeep below was copied to several NPR executives and news staff.
Dear Odette and Steve,
I carry no water for the Oath Keepers now being targeted by the political left with NPR’s dutiful assistance. But I must point out that the group is hardly alone in collectively considering the rioters, looters and fire-bombers of BLM a “terrorist organization.”
With Merriam-Webster’s likely concurrence, tens of millions of Americans feel the same way. And tens of thousands of them in Minneapolis, Seattle, Buffalo and the Bronx made their beliefs explicitly clear Tuesday when they voted to support police and reimpose law-and-order on the fatherless chaos that has dominated their streets since BLM and antifa rampaged in 2020 with the tacit approval of Democrats and much of the media.
Like I say, I don’t know much about these so-called Oath Keepers the Stalinist speech police seem determined to silence. But I do have a vague recollection of several thousand of them gathering for a weekend prayer vigil in Washington many years ago, reaffirming, among other things, their commitments to God and family. So I guess it’s understandable why such dudes might scare the bejeezus outta God-Is-Dead, Government-Is-Father radicals.
In any case, considering how many cops have already retired or quit since many politicians and the media openly sided with rioting, thieving and fire-bombing terrorists against them; and considering how many more may yet be fired over vaccine mandates by incompetent fools such as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, rational folks who’d rather not see murder rates in their cities soar still higher might counsel against an add-on purge of Oath Keepers from law enforcement’s ranks.
After all, the peace won’t keep itself.
Your careful listener, Darren McKinney, Washington, D.C.
