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Many Voices, One Freedom: United in the 1st Amendment

March 29, 2024

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Months before the January 6th Capitol event occurred, the FBI began setting Patriots up to be Domestic Violent Extremists, as we’re now called. On October 8, 2020, thirteen men were arrested for a conspiratorial-sounding plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer of Michigan. There’s only one problem: a full one-third of the supposed kidnappers were actually FBI informants without whom, it appears, the scheme would never have gotten off the ground, which brings me to the sad, albeit predictable, case of Paul Hodgkins.

Known affectionately to his local Trump flag-waving groups as “Patriot Paul,” he’s a 38-year-old Eagle Scout with an unblemished record and a blue-collar worker at a steel manufacturing plant for the past seven years. His two cats are his kids. The $800 per month place he lives in might be a rental, but it is home to him. Just a very humble fellow who always paid his bills, had a promotion coming, and felt secure with the nest egg he’d painstakingly grown over the years. Now all of that is gone.

Paul made the unforgivable mistake of going to Washington D.C. on January 6th wearing MAGA garb and following the crowd through the open doors of the Capitol past police who did nothing to stop him.

By Paul’s account, he spent roughly 22 minutes inside, five in the Senate Chambers, joined in prayer, took a few selfies, tended to a wounded man, intermingled a bit with others, and then left peacefully. Oh, and did I mention? He carried a Trump flag everywhere he went.

FBI Infiltrators

That we have a rogue FBI is nothing new. For decades they’ve been infiltrating otherwise ineffectual groups to target, incite, and create chaos. In the 1970s, a flamboyant informant by the name of “Tommy the Traveler” was provided FBI assistance to turn pacifist anti-war students across the country into molotov-cocktail-throwing terrorists.

The 1993 World Trade Center bombing could probably not have happened without help from Egyptian immigrant Emad Salem. The FBI provided him the logistics and materials to infiltrate mastermind Ramzi Yousef’s terror group. While others in the group were later arrested, Salem was paid over a million dollars for his performance and testimony. He was then returned to the field to incite and organize other terrorist targets in New York.

Inflammatory talk radio personality and self-described “white supremacist” Hal Turner spent years inciting the public with his racial and Jew-hating rhetoric. It was later revealed that Turner was actually an FBI informant used to rile others to incendiary action who may otherwise have been inactive. 

More recently, Revolver reported on five other cases which only touches “the surface of the FBI’s long history of entrapment/incitement schemes.”

Patriots are the new “Domestic Terrorists”

On June 15, 2021, in a press release on the “National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism” by senior Administration officials, four “pillars” of action were announced. The new strategy will be used by the DOJ and the FBI to track “domestic terrorism cases nationwide.” It is, essentially, a directive to turn neighbor against neighbor, family member against family member, co-worker against co-worker, and patriot against patriot. If you see something, say something.

Matthew Braun, who writes for The Federalist, says this new direction has little to do with catching real terrorists. It’s meant to justify the bloated budget the FBI has acquired since 9/11 … and to target its political enemies.

The former counterterrorism expert for more than 10 years believes that this “government has begun to use the tools that were developed to fight a credible foreign threat to [now] fight against the political opponents of Democrats.” He has no doubt that “we’re going to find out that the January 6 case is going to be full of FBI agents and informants, just like the Whitmer kidnapping case.”

“Symbols” of Trump Deserve Punishment

As with the 500+ others charged from that day’s events, the DOJ threw the book at Paul. Along with misdemeanors such as trespassing, disorderly conduct in a government building without violence, and picketing inside a government building, it was the felony charge that was really the DOJ’s ultimate weapon: impeding/obstructing a legal proceeding. The FBI’s role in the investigation against “Domestic Violent Extremists” must be justified, after all.

While the misdemeanor charges were dropped as part of Paul’s “bargain” plea deal, on July 19th, he made history becoming the first of the Jan 6 “political prisoners” to be sentenced for a felony. It was the DOJ’s plan all along. Setting the pattern for future sentencing guidelines, the fate of over 50 prisoners being held in solitary confinement, along with hundreds more awaiting trial, has been sealed.

Paul will soon be headed to prison for eight months. It’s not that he did anything violent, mind you. No. Incredibly, it was that pesky Trump flag he had the gall to carry inside the Capitol that triggered Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss the most. For that, it seems, Paul’s request for probation was denied. 

“The symbolism of that act is unmistakable,” the judge said. “In that act, he captured the threat to democracy that we all witnessed that day.… People have to know that assaulting the United States Capitol and impeding the democratic process, even if you don’t come bearing arms, will have consequences.” Wow.

Never mind that the only person killed that day, 14-year veteran Ashli Babbitt, was killed by a cop who has never been formally identified, much less charged. Forget that not one Patriot was found carrying a gun. That Officer Sicknick died of natural causes, not being bashed over the head with a fire extinguisher has no relevance. What matters most to the overzealous DOJ that ignored state Capitols being attacked and cities burned to the ground in the summer of 2020 was that a Patriot had the gall to carry a Trump flag into the Capitol on January 6th. Folks, we are a nation in crisis.

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The Terrifying “Threat” of Sentencing

Radical leftist and community organizer Saul Alinsky taught 13 tactics in his guide on transforming America to socialism/communism. “Rules for Radicals” ninth tactic is that “the threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” And, while that threat of 20 years that Paul faced was unlikely, our DOJ and FBI have proven themselves to be so out of control over the past four years, there’s no telling what Hodgkins could have gotten had he not taken the best plea deal available to him at the time. 

“Patriot Paul,” while just the first of the swamp’s Jan 6 victims, will hardly be the last. There are hundreds more awaiting their fate in solitary confinement, being beaten by guards, and being withheld medical treatment. What better way has the left of disarming its political opponents while removing our right to vote? 

In my last conversation with “Patriot Paul” on July 26th, I was struck by his guilt. He said, “I regret that I broke the law.” No, Paul, I replied vehemently. You were the victim of a massive government setup. And, you must never forget that.

Nor should the rest of us. Like so many others, I was there that day. I saw Antifa members egging Patriots on. And today, I’m convinced they were infiltrators meant to lure Patriots into “the trap.” The only difference between Hodgkins and me was that I didn’t carry a Trump flag and never made it inside the Capitol. It could so easily have been me.

If you still have your job, your home, your nest egg, your kids, your freedom, and your Trump flag, “Patriot Paul” needs your help. His friends have set up a GiveSendGo fund. Please consider contributing, so he has hope when he gets released: https://givesendgo.com/patriotpaul. Because, fellow Patriots, it could have easily been you.

MANY VOICES, ONE FREEDOM: UNITED IN THE 1ST AMENDMENT

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Paul Engel
2 years ago

Another excellent article Cathi. Keep up the good work.

Orv
Orv
2 years ago

Without fixing the electoral process nothing will change. That must be PRIORITY ONE.

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