Heard about this from Mornings on the Mall (wmal.com). What is it about? This is a news story about the military is conducting training to address “extremism” in the ranks. Here is how the story starts.

During military training sessions to address extremism in the ranks, some service members have challenged why the Pentagon is not treating the violence during racial injustice protests last summer as equal to the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.

That the two events are viewed as equivalent by some troops has caught the Pentagon’s attention in its effort to educate service members that extremist views and activity — on either side of the political spectrum — go against the oath they took when they joined the military, the top enlisted leader told reporters on Thursday.

“This is coming from every echelon that we’re talking to,” said Ramón Colón-López, the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Some people may think that, ‘all right, so the events of 6 January happened. How come you’re not looking at the situation that was going on in Seattle prior to that?’” (continued)

Some U.S. military view BLM protests, Capitol attack equally | McClatchy Washington Bureau (mcclatchydc.com)

During the numerous riots that followed the death of George Floyd last year, rioters killed people, including policemen, started fires, and caused at least a couple of billion dollars of property damage. Since the major instigators, Antifa (FBI director says antifa is an ideology, not an organization (apnews.com)) and Black Lives Matters (The Troubling Goals of the Black Lives Matter Movement (dailysignal.com)) both uphold extremist ideologies, it should be obvious why our soldiers were a bit puzzled. However, their leadership has other ideas.

When questions arose of why last summer’s racial injustice protests didn’t trigger a similar review of extremist views, tough conversations have followed, “to make sure that military members understand the difference between Seattle and Washington, D.C.,” Colón-López said.

“Those are very, very tough conversations to have with people because sometimes they’re emotional about the subject,” Colón-López said.

“We cannot confuse a First Amendment grievance because of social injustice organization and some of the criminals that latched on to go ahead and loot, destroy and commit other crimes. There’s two clear, distinct groups right there,” Colón-López said, referring to the difference between peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters and looters who disrupted some of those events.

Some U.S. military view BLM protests, Capitol attack equally | McClatchy Washington Bureau (mcclatchydc.com)

In fact, this McClatchy story ends with a link to this story, Pentagon reviewing how to screen recruits for extremist ties | McClatchy Washington Bureau (mcclatchydc.com). Traditionally, we screen new recruits because of things they have done that are ILLEGAL or because they belong to organizations that actively seek to OVERTHROW our government, not for political views one political party deems politically incorrect. The notion that that one riot in Washington DC, where a policeman shot and killed an unarmed woman, was somehow worse than all the violent riots that followed the death of George Floyd, is absurd, but that’s what our government insists our soldiers must believe? Why?

Meanwhile, for the first time in history, we have this fence around the Capitol topped with razor wire, and no one can point to any threat that justifies such a barrier.