"The war against 'homegrown terrorism' is on. Enter the thought police."

An opinion piece from Mother Jones titled, "Don't Even Think About It," is worth reading. The article covers legislation intended to address homegrown terrorism. The bill raises the potential for government encroachments on civil rights in part through the way it defines some basic terms. The text of the bill says that "the term 'violent radicalization' means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change." It gives no clue as to what would qualify, under this law, as an "extremist belief system," leaving this open to broad interpretation according to the prevailing political winds.
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