The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement agencies that recent news is helping “right-wing extremist groups” recruit new members and could lead to violence, and warns about the possible recruitment and radicalization of returning veterans.

DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis issued an intelligence assessment last week that said it has no specific information that domestic right-wing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence, but right-wing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on fears about the recession and the election of the first African American president. The office called them “unique drivers for right-wing radicalization and recruitment.”

“Right-wing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda, but they have not yet turned to attack planning,” the assessment reads.

“The current economic and political climate has some similarities to the 1990s when right-wing extremism experienced a resurgence fueled largely by an economic recession, criticism about the outsourcing of jobs and the perceived threat to U.S. power and sovereignty by other foreign powers.,” it continues.

The report also suggests that returning veterans are attractive recruits for right-wing groups looking for “combat skills and experience” so as to boost their “violent capabilities.” It adds that new restrictions on gun ownership and the difficulty of veterans to reintegrate into their communities “could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.”

“Proposed imposition of firearms restrictions and weapons bans likely would attract new members into the ranks of right-wing extremist groups … The high volume of purchases and stockpiling of weapons and ammunition by right-wing extremists in anticipation of restrictions and bans in some parts of the country continue to be a primary concern to law enforcement,” the report says.

Perhaps my paranoia is flaring up again but I get the feeling they may be talking about *us*!  What do you think?  Of course it should be noted that according to the criteria DHS lists, most if not all of our Founding Fathers are also "right wing extremists".  So I guess we're in good company!  Go forth and take our country back!

We’re at a point of ideologically-controlled media propaganda where American servicemen can literally kill a thousand of the enemy, but lose one American, and still be portrayed as the losers.  We saw that in Iraq under President Bush.

I think we should celebrate the rescue of Captain Phillips, and celebrate the heroism and skill of our incredible warriors.  But let’s not celebrate by way of political spin out of Washington and picked up by the media establishment, because it’s an incredibly dangerous game.  If Obama deserves credit for the rescue yesterday, then he will therefore fully deserve to be excoriated if any Americans are killed in future reprisals.

On a final note, a Democrat member of Congress, Donald Payne from New Jersey, went on a “fact-finding” tour of Somalia that was itself very likely an act of political grandstanding.  His airplane was attacked (unsuccessfully) with mortars as it was preparing to take off.  The al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the mortar attack.

Barack Obama may want to end the “war on terror” by assigning it the incredibly euphemistically-named “overseas contingency operation,” but it is a war on terror nevertheless - a war that demands the total participation of our military, and a war that will necessarily require both courage and sacrifice from the United States if we have any hope to prevail.  I hope President Obama will abandon this incredibly foolish politically-correct re-labeling and treat this war with the seriousness that it deserves.

Ruthless, unconventional foes are not new to the United States of America. More than two hundred years ago the newly established United States made its first attempt to fight an overseas battle to protect its private citizens by building an international coalition against an unconventional enemy. Then the enemies were pirates and piracy. The focus of the United States and a proposed international coalition was the Barbary Pirates of North Africa.

Pirate ships and crews from the North African states of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers (the Barbary Coast) were the scourge of the Mediterranean. Capturing merchant ships and holding their crews for ransom provided the rulers of these nations with wealth and naval power. In fact, the Roman Catholic Religious Order of Mathurins had operated from France for centuries with the special mission of collecting and disbursing funds for the relief and ransom of prisoners of Mediterranean pirates.

I STRONGLY recommend that you read the entire article (it's not that long!)  These are lessons we should have already learned.  We've been down this road before.  Any questions?