opinion
The House Judiciary Committee this week began overseeing the federal government's activities to surveil and surveil Americans — something prohibited under the Fourth Amendment. The Subcommittee on Arming the Federal Government focused on law enforcement's interactions with private entities to single out citizens as potential threats.
The committee discovered a far-reaching monitoring program that had no legal basis under the pretext of investigating possible violations on January 6, 2021 and beyond. The program included clear coordination between banking institutions to hand over personal consumer data to the federal government.
Weapon registry
The House Judiciary Committee discovered this week that federal investigators asked banks to search for and filter out customer transactions using terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” when investigating the events of January 6, 2021. Materials sent to banks from the Treasury Department’s Office of Stakeholder Integration warned Share In the strategic operations of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, one of the “patterns” to look for when searching for “various persons of interest.”
FinCEN went so far as to suggest search terms and what are known as Merchant Class Codes, or MCCs, that could be used to identify allegedly suspicious transactions and release them to federal law enforcement.
The materials provided included a slide deck that included noting that some purchases could indicate the following:
“…potential active shooters, who may include international terrorists/domestic terrorists/domestic violent extremists (“lone wolves”).”
Related: Trump vows he will never allow the Federal Reserve to create a central bank digital currency
Suggested MCC codes for searching and filtering include:
- 3484: Small arms
- 5091: Sporting and recreational goods and supplies
Something as innocuous as a law-abiding citizen exercising his Second Amendment right to bear arms, or purchasing innocuous sporting equipment like shooting gear, can put you on the federal government's list of potential extremist suspects — if you have the wrong policy.
Buy your Bible for cash
In addition to MCCs focused on firearms and sporting goods, the federal government has also urged banks to inquire about general store purchases such as:
- Dick's sporting goods
- Capella
- Bass Pro Shops
Additionally, the Federal Reserve warned that purchasing “religious texts” could indicate “extremism.” So, my recent purchase of a children's Bible for my seven-year-old and a women-focused Bible study book could radicalize me?
Congressman Jim Jordan wrote to former FinCEN Director Noah Bischoff:
According to this analysis, FinCEN warned financial institutions of “extremism” indicators that include “transport fees, such as bus tickets, car rentals or plane tickets, for travel areas without a clear purpose,” or “purchases of books (including books).” (religious texts) and subscriptions to other media containing extremist views.
What is meant by “media containing extremist views”? Whatever the federal government decides is extremist is to include anything that contradicts the leftist narrative.
Congressman Jordan explains:
“In other words, FinCEN used large financial institutions to comb the private transactions of its clients for suspicious accusations based on protected political and religious expression.”
However, the left-controlled mainstream media continues to falsely claim that Donald Trump is the greatest threat to democracy as we know it.
RELATED: Rob Reiner launches vile attack on Trump's Christian supporters
Track and suppress
The subcommittee alleges it received information that Bank of America provided the FBI with a list of people who purchased merchandise in Washington, D.C., using their debit or credit cards between January 5 and January 7, 2021, “without any due process.”
Congressman Jordan explains the troubling trend this activity demonstrates:
“Although these transactions have no apparent criminal connection — and, in fact, involve Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights — FinCEN appears to have embraced characterizing these Americans as potential threat actors.”
Let's break that down further. Don't be fooled by the long office name and abbreviated title FinCEN.
This is a federal entity under the Department of the Treasury, which uses banking institutions to track and monitor the purchasing habits of Americans without any suggestion of a warrant. If this isn't tragic enough, the federal government uses this information to identify undesirable Americans based on their purchasing habits by labeling them as “potential threats” without proper cause or action.
This type of work has been paid before. In 2021, the Biden administration tried to push a requirement that banks report any transactions over $600 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Former Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig described this requirement as follows:
“…a large-scale search without a search warrant.”
This is precisely what the federal government did after January 6. The government, especially that of the progressive left, wants to track, monitor and control the population.
The best way to do this is through American consumer activity. Hence, the push towards a digital or virtual currency backed by a central bank. (This is something Donald Trump has publicly opposed.)
It's time to start paying cash again and supporting the few politicians who don't want to monitor our actions.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Policy Insider ranks third on Feedspot's “Top 100 Political Blogs and Websites” list.
