Killing Grants That Have Saved Lives: Trump’s Cuts Signal End to Government Work on Terrorism Prevention
20th March 2025
Pro Publica, a Voice of the Crust.
On a frigid winter morning in 2022, a stranger knocked on the door of a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, during Shabbat service.
Soon after he was invited in for tea, the visitor pulled out a pistol and demanded the release of an al-Qaida-linked detainee from a nearby federal prison, seizing as hostages a rabbi and three worshipers. The standoff lasted 10 hours until the rabbi, drawing on extensive security training, hurled a chair at the assailant. The hostages escaped.
‘Extensive security training’ means you throw a chair? This is Texas–where was his gun?
“We are alive today because of that education,” Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker said after the attack.
If he’d been carrying, he’d be alive today and the bad guys would know not to mess with him. He sounds like a Democrat, at best.
The averted tragedy at Congregation Beth Israel is cited as a success story for the largely unseen prevention work federal authorities have relied on for years in the fight to stop terrorist attacks and mass shootings. The government weaves together partnerships with academic researchers and community groups across the country as part of a strategy for addressing violent extremism as a public health concern.
In other words, the government funnels taxpayer money to left-wing hand-wringers who refuse to adopt the surest cure for terrorist incidents: A trained, armed citizenry. Sorry, apparatchiks, the gravy train is stopping.