Protected by two oceans, America was practically invulnerable for over two centuries, but since the Jihadist terrorist attack on 9/11 in 2001, our homeland vulnerability has steadily increased. The threat is not only from Islamic extremists, but from out-of-control crime mostly in blue cities. No matter where the danger comes from, there is no doubt that Americans are substantially less safe. Americans were stunned on New Year’s Day by two inexplicable terror attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas.

Why is America so vulnerable?! How did we get here? The reasons are complex and many, but the short answer is leftists entrenched in the federal government thrive on chaos and confusion. Like all totalitarian movements, they exploit turmoil to tighten their grip on power and advance their authoritarian tactics. Adrift in the manufactured disorder, Americans clamor for order and leftists use that as an excuse to infringe on our rights to guarantee safety.

Americans have seen this scheme replayed numerous times. In a failed terror attack in 2001, Richard Reid got a bomb in his shoe on a transatlantic flight, so rather than look for potential bombers, all Americans have had to remove their shoes to board a flight ever since. Every time some nut goes on a shooting spree, the government doesn’t seek to find and stop the insane criminals, they demand to deprive law abiding Americans of their Second Amendment rights. The 2018 Parkland high school shooter was known to authorities but ignored under Obama era rules seeking to minimize troubled teen statistics by race.

The New Year’s Day attacks make no sense, but the coincidence cannot be overlooked. Yet, the FBI is already telling us these were radicalized lone wolf acts of terror. The New Orleans attacker, Shamsud Din Jabbar, was a Muslim American and Army Veteran that met with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt last year. Unable to pay his bills, he still traveled to Canada and reconnoitered New Orleans twice, so who paid for this travel and bomb making materials? Yet again, we are asked to believe he acted alone and was only recently radicalized.

The U.S. military has a poor record of vetting Islamic extremists in their ranks. Using a hand grenade in March 2003, U.S. Army Sergeant Hasan Akbar wounded 14 fellow members of the 101st Airborne Division in Kuwait. U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan murdered 13 soldiers in a 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas. Major Hasan’s extremist Islamic views and belligerent attitude toward America were known to Army authorities but ignored to avoid the appearance of bigotry toward Islam. So, why should we believe Jabbar was not already radicalized during his Army service? How many more Islamic extremists are lurking in our military? Vetting military members has obviously suffered under the guise of political correctness, but the problem persists and it appears military leadership is stuck on DEI.

The Las Vegas bombing is really bizarre. Army Veteran Matthew Livelsberger drove a Tesla Cybertruck to the Trump Hotel, but he was dead of a gunshot wound to the head before the detonation. Supposedly a Trump supporter, we know nothing else about him or his motive, but again we are being told this was just an isolated incident. Nothing to see here?

How can anyone believe these maniacs acted alone? Who else is out there? With wide open borders, some 15 million unknown illegal immigrants have invaded our country during the Biden administration including hundreds on the FBI terror watch list. Former CIA Officer Sarah Adams warned just two weeks ago that there are more than a thousand al-Qaeda sleepers in the United States right now who are planning major attacks on the homeland. House Intel Committee Chair Congressman Mike Turner confirms ISIS linked terrorists infiltrated the USA and are actively plotting attacks on Americans. Is anyone planning for Inauguration Day?

Even former FBI Director Christopher Wray has admitted the threat in the homeland is extremely high, but Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas shrugs it off as just an increase in threats from right-wing extremists. Again, the federal government blames Americans, not those who hate this country. Wray’s FBI knows every detail about every citizen that was in Washington on January 6, 2021, or parents protesting woke policies by their school boards, but they apparently know nothing about ANTIFA, BLM, or Jihadist sleeper cells.

These are not mistakes or oversights. These are the leftist policies of the Democrat Party. Walking out of the Oval Office door, Biden is commuting death sentences for convicted murderers and releasing Guantanamo Bay terrorists, but four years later his DOJ will bring 200 more last-minute indictments of American citizens who were in Washington January 6th. Like George Soros, who Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Democrats’ focus is to not enforce laws on criminals, but certainly use lawfare to persecute law-abiding Americans.

The FBI completely missed these last two terror attacks which is their habit more than not. Further, the FBI has still not told the public anything about two assassination attempts on President Trump from last year. Do they still not know, or are there things they don’t want us to know? The FBI is clearly inept and almost certainly corrupt, but regardless, it’s indisputable they are not and cannot fulfill their mission. The FBI must be cleaned out as soon as possible.

Biden cannot be gone soon enough, but remaining Democrats and federal bureaucrats are still committed to their radical leftist policies to undermine Trump and punish the American people. Despite the FBI’s dismal record and catastrophic failures, moronic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Adam Schiff think “we have a very functioning FBI,” so there is no hurry to confirm Trump’s cabinet picks.

Getting Trump’s cabinet in place is literally a matter of life and death for average Americans. Americans across the country need to impose on their Senators to drop the petty partisanship and move with alacrity to confirm Trump’s cabinet soonest. We need Trump’s team in place to make America safe again, sooner rather than later.

“For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you’” (1 Corinthians 5:12-13).

Pete Riehm is a Navy Veteran, conservative activist, and columnist in south Alabama. Email him at peteriehm@bellsouth.net or read all his columns at http://www.renewamerica.com/.