A week out West: Oregon militia standoff hits day 7

[galdur]

A week out West: Oregon militia standoff hits day 7

Published time: 9 Jan, 2016 01:43

It’s been one week since militia took over a federal property in Oregon, cocked their guns to the side and said they’re angry. Five days ago the world laughed at them for saying get snacks together … but it’s still unknown when they’ll say they’re sorry.
On Friday, seven days after an armed militia took over a federal wildlife center in a remote part of eastern Oregon, the local sheriff slammed the group’s unwillingness to leave based on statements the leaders had made earlier in the day.



Leader of a group of armed protesters Ammon Bundy (L) greets occupier Duane Ehmer and his horse Hellboy at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, January 8, 2016 © Jim Urquhart / Reuters

Standoff between militia, feds at Oregon wildlife refuge
“During this morning's press conference, the people on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge made it clear that they have no intention of honoring the sheriff's request to leave,” Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said in a statement. “Because of that, there are no planned meetings or calls at this time. However, the sheriff is keeping all options open.”

The group, which calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, took over the refuge on Saturday to protest the re-sentencing of two Oregonian ranchers, Dwight and Steve Hammond. The two men were found guilty of arson when they started a fire to clear their property that spread to federal lands. Dwight, 73, originally received a sentence of three months in prison while Steve spent one year and a day in prison. However, federal prosecutors appealed their sentences and requested that they receive the minimum of five years. The Hammonds turned themselves in on Monday.

Ward had met with militia leader Ammon Bundy on Thursday to end the situation peacefully. The sheriff offered the two dozen or so armed members safe passage on the condition they leave Oregon. Bundy, the son of anti-government rancher Cliven Bundy of Nevada, “kindly declined” the deal, telling reporters, “we always consider what people say.”


The militia members ‒ most of whom are not from Oregon, let alone the town of Bend ‒ have been allowed to come and go as they please since they took over. Their leaders, Ammon and his brother Ryan Bundy, did give an 11-year-old reporter an interview for his local school paper. The school has been closed due to the standoff.


Also on Thursday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown released a statement decrying the activities of Bundy’s militia and ordering the group to “decamp immediately and be held accountable.” She called the occupation a part of “tactics we Oregonians don’t agree with.”



A U.S. flag covers a sign at the entrance of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon January 3, 2016. © Jim Urquhart Sagebrush rebellion: What’s at stake in the Oregon standoff
The Citizens for Constitutional Freedom are demanding the federal government relinquish its claim to about three-quarters of the land in the county, then “return” it to the local residents. However, those same local residents are unhappy with the militia presence. At a Harney County community meeting Wednesday night, residents cheered when Ward called on the outsiders to go home.

The federal government didn’t steal the land from the locals, however. It was taken from the indigenous people in what was to become Harney County nearly two centuries ago.

"The protesters have no right to this land. It belongs to the native people who live here," Charlotte Rodrique, chair of the Paiute tribe in Burns, said Wednesday in front of the tribe’s cultural center. The Burns Paiute accused the Bundy-led group of "desecrating one of our sacred sites."

Three members of a different militia group, Veterans on Patrol, arrived at the compound on Wednesday. By that night, one was hospitalized with a black eye after being punched in the face. The small secondary group was trying to get women and children out of the camp set up by Citizens for Constitutional Freedom. The main group has been accused of using women and children as human shields against federal officials.


Earlier in the day, police disconnected the electricity to a building at the far end of the nature reserve ‒ about 30 miles from the militia’s camp ‒ to prevent them from taking over a second location, the Oregonian reported. Electricity remains on in the refuge headquarters, however.

The actions by law enforcement were a far cry from rumors of a raid that circulated through the camp in the overnight hours, however. Ammon Bundy said Tuesday night that he had heard police were preparing to arrest him, complete with warrants, leading the militants to move heavy equipment owned by the federal government across roadways in the refuge. The militia leaders also said that the group wouldn’t stand down until the wildlife center was privatized.


On Monday, the militia members set off a social media storm after asking for snacks to be shipped to Malheur.

https://www.rt.com/usa/328330-oregon-militia-standoff-week/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

[BADecker]

"This Is Government Land": The Eternal Refrain of the Federal Occupiers

They weren't welcomed by local residents, some of whom petitioned the government to evict the intruders from federally administered land.

Rather than sending in the troops to uproot the uninvited settlers, the U.S. government told the local residents to accommodate them even as they put up fences and started to run cattle on the land they had seized. This destroyed the local agricultural balance, leaving many of the locals near starvation.

Hunger can drive a man to do desperate things, especially when its effects are visible in the faces of his children. Driven beyond forbearance, many of the locals resorted to violence. Although federal authorities were unimpressed by the pleas of starving people, they acted with alacrity to put down what they considered an armed insurrection, driving the locals from the scene and conferring title to the land on those who had occupied it illegally.

Read a load more at http://www.freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2016/01/this-is-government-land-eternal-refrain.html.

[Lethn]

Also on Thursday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown released a statement decrying the activities of Bundy’s militia and ordering the group to “decamp immediately and be held accountable.” She called the occupation a part of “tactics we Oregonians don’t agree with.”

Bullshit, I think we all know if they were black lives matter protesters or occupy wallstreet etc. the idiot politicians trying to denounce them would be all there with them trying to make it look like they care. One thing I do take away from this is that you can harass and cause trouble for just about anyone, but if you fuck with the federal government then you're going to get it even if what you did isn't that big of a deal.

[galdur]

[BADecker]

Historic Militia Moment! Heavily Armed Idaho 3 Percenters Roll Up On FBI Compound Burns Oregon



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5w99LTKEA0

[galdur]

Pretty funny. Those FBI yokels go armed and in body armor to have a friendly word with these guys. Must have been feeling insecure  

[galdur]

I don´t know too much about this affair. It´s interesting and I´m following and I like their horses..

[BADecker]

Historic"Militia" Moment: Pacific Patriot Network (Including Oath Keepers) Calls On FBI

Note from Stewart Rhodes, Founder and President of Oath Keepers:

See the below video.  Very interesting interaction between the Pacific Patriot Network (PPN) leadership delegation and the FBI (who were all kitted out with rifles, plate carriers, and chest rigs).

Among the PPN leaders are Brandon Curtiss, the founder of the Idaho III%; Brandon Rapolla, the Oregon Oath Keepers state CPT Coordinator; and Joseph Rice, the leader of the Josephine County, OR chapter of Oath Keepers (site of the Sugar Pine Mine operation this last year).   They are doing this under the banner of the Pacific Patriot Network, which is a coalition of groups from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, including local Oregon Oath Keepers chapters (and note that they stressed several times at an earlier press conference that they are not a militia, but that is what the media, including alternative media, insists on calling them).

Their purpose there in Harney County is to help open a line of dialogue and to serve as a buffer to prevent another Waco incident.   This is a righteous mission, if done right, and we stand in full support of it.

However, at this time we are not doing a national call out for other Oath Keepers members to go there.  The local Oregon guys, along with the very capable leaders of Idaho III%, appear to have this mission covered (of being a buffer and facilitating dialogue), and less is more when it comes to keeping things deescalated, as is the stated wish of everyone involved, including Ammon Bundy.

Unless our guys in OR say they need our help  for this mission, stay home and get your own AO squared away.  Got a community Quick Reaction Force (QRF)?  Have a neighborhood watch with real teeth?   Can you answer the three critical questions of "who's on your buddy team?  Who's on your fire teem?  Who's on your squad?"   Got a posse behind a good constitutional sheriff?  Got Minuteman unit?  Got civil defense unit?  Got militia?  If not, then you need to get that done before you even think of running off to another state, unless it's a dire emergency, like Bundy Ranch was.

If this situation goes south, and the Obama Admin turns this into another Waco, the crap WILL hit the fan nationwide, since there are no more free Wacos – not anymore – and you will have your hands full right where you are, and in reaction, the first thing you should do is organize town and county militias for mutual defense.  And that is something we will all need sooner or later.  So, start laying the groundwork for that now.  Today.

Stewart Rhodes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5w99LTKEA0

[BADecker]

What the Oregon Standoff Is Really About

The occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon, by a group led by Ammon Bundy—yes, of those Bundys—was supposed to have focused attention on the plight of a rancher family that has been fighting decades-long efforts by federal officials to drive them off their land. Instead, this dramatic act of civil disobedience has done the opposite: amid debates over the Bundy family, their tactics, and ideology, the focus has been taken off the Hammond family, and their struggle to preserve their land and their way of life has been largely obscured.

This is their story.

Dwight Hammond and his wife Susan bought their ranch in 1964. The Hammond ranch consists of 6,000 acres, grazing rights in four areas on public land, and rights at three separate water sources. They live in a small ranch house—a beautiful structure of stone and hand-hewn wood—on the property.

The land sits in Oregon's Harney Basin, an area first settled at the tail end of the 19th century. While the narrative we are getting in the media depicts the ranchers as despoilers of the land, implacable enemies of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge established by Teddy Roosevelt in 1908, the true history of the region shows that the "cowboys" who lived there and ran as many as 300,000 head of cattle were in fact its best defenders. Without them, there would be no Malheur Wildlife Refuge.

...

Read more at http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/what-is-the-oregon-standoff-really-about/

[galdur]

Thanks BADecker, very well written and informative as always from Justin Raimondo. Not to be missed.

[BADecker]

Ammon Bundy Breaks His Silence with Dave Hodges, Hear His Side of the Story



Ammon Bundy, leading the way for the
restoration of property rights for ranchers
and Native Americans in the West.burn

On January 10, 2016, Ammon Bundy was to have been a guest on The Common Sense Show.

The Common Sense Show interviewed Ammon Bundy and this time, the feds were not able to interfere. This interview came the day after the feds took down the communications of The Common Sense Show as well as the Patriots led by Ammon Bundy.

Both the established contact with the Bundy camp and the facilitation of the interviewed was secured by the health reporter of The Common Sense Show, Katy Whelan.

The show, itself, began as an interview with Sheila Ziliniski and we discussed some of the content of her recent book, The Green Gospel. After a great deal of difficulty, and two days of chasing this rare interview opportunity, Katy was able secure the interview and I was forced to terminate the interview with Sheila. However, Sheila graciously stayed on board and assisted with the interview.

Mainstream Media Deception

...

Read more at http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2016/01/12/ammon-bundy-breaks-his-silence-with-dave-hodges-hear-his-side-of-the-story/.


Also read Why Are the Feds Keeping Ammon Bundy and Dave Hodges Apart By Any Means Possible? - http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2016/01/11/ammon-bundy-and-dave-hodges-are-being-kept-apart-by-the-feds/





EDIT: Also read Ammon Bundy Is the Next Davy Crockett - http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2016/01/08/amman-bundy-is-the-next-davy-crockett/.

[BADecker]

Oregon Standoff: Federal Land Grab vs. the Sagebrush Rebellion

While the majority of rancher disputes are against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) the US Fish and Wildlife Service has been just as ruthless–in this case expanding the wildlife refuge at the expense of neighboring ranchers. This week I'll detail the struggle of the Hammond family, and of Ammon Bundy the protest leader. When you read the litany of federal abuse of ranching families, you will better understand why some ranchers are staging an armed resistance. I also give some suggestions on how this can be resolved peacefully.

The root of the controversy is a constitutional dispute that has never been properly adjudicated. Under Article IV, Section 3:2 (The Property Clause), it says,

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States….

However, once a territory becomes a state, the federal government can only possess land, within that state for limited purposes: a national capitol, federal military facilities, and certain docking and warehouse facilities related to the collection of tariffs. This is governed by Article I, Section 8:17 which states:

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District [Washington DC] (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of Particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings [such as post offices].

Notice, those lands have to be specifically ceded by the states through consent of the state legislatures; they cannot be taken arbitrarily by government. The federal government got around this by making federal ownership of large parts of Western territories a condition of statehood. This had never been done to any state until the territories west of the Dakotas, down through Texas became states. Nevada was literally robbed of 84.5% of its land. In most western states the federal government owns more than half of the land mass. This is outrageous. Here is a link to a map showing the sad facts.

From the beginning there were private lands interspersed among lands claimed by the federal government, and the forest service, in particular, has engaged in a long series of abuses making it difficult, if not impossible, for "inholders" to gain access to their land or use it.

The BLM has likewise engaged in a myriad of tactics to harass ranchers, including the denial of long-held grazing and water rights, access to their land and even starting controlled burns which threatened private land and forced ranchers into a costly battle to protect buildings and livestock–all of this without legal consequences for the government. Here's video proof.

And yet when ranchers like the Hammonds do a controlled burn that crossed over to federal lands, they are prosecuted and fined even when authorities agree there was only benefit to the land from the fires. As the Wounded American Warriors have documented:

Tri-State Livestock News reports on that testimony, "In cross-examination of a prosecution witness, the court transcript also includes an admission from Mr. Ward, a range conservationist, that the 2001 fire improved the rangeland conditions on the BLM property."According to Erin Maupin, a former BLM range technician and watershed specialist and rancher in the area who had been the neighbor of the Hammonds for years, said it was because researchers had determined that managing the invasive junipers, which steal water from grass and other cover was something necessary to increase the conditions on the land. "Juniper encroachment had become an issue on the forefront and was starting to come to a head. We were trying to figure out how to deal with it on a large scale," said Maupin.

The fines are meant to be so heavy that ranchers are forced to sell their land to the BLM, which turns out to be the hidden purpose of the draconian prosecution. Ultimately this is what will happen to the Hammond family of Harney County, Oregon. But it is not sufficient to review the doctored court records of their case alone, as the press is doing, you also have to know the background of harassment ranchers surrounding the Malheur Wildlife Refuge have been subjected to by government agencies and the collusion of judges and prosecutors to deny justice to them when these matters come to trial. All of these cases taken together paint a vivid picture of ranchers being hustled out of their land and livelihood.

Read a lot more at http://www.garynorth.com/public/14709.cfm.

[galdur]

Yeah, small wonder that these people are being systematically vilified, ridiculed and generally minimized. The source of all that clearly has a sordid record to defend, only it´s probably indefensible and so they´re not interesting in identifying arguments much less discussing them. It´s only attacks.

[BADecker]

BLM Burns Ranches and Destroy Cattle, but Ranchers Get Charged with Terrorism

The family has been threatened by federal agents and fear for their lives. Now, the Bureau of Land Management is doing the very thing that the Hammonds did, which is burn off some of the land, only in the case of the BLM, they have killed more than 80 head of cattle, endangered the ranchers, injured other cattle, burnt homes and other structures such as fences and power poles and threatened an entire town! Yet, it is ranchers who are considered terrorists by the feds, not the BLM.

Ammon Bundy recently spoke out on the injustices and criminal activity of the BLM against the Hammond family.

Bundy claims that there was no due process, something that is specifically supposed to be protected under the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, and he went on to state that there was a tremendous amount of corruption involved in the sentencing, the re-sentencing and even in the present situation.

Read more at http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/12/blm-burns-ranches-and-destroy-cattle-but-ranchers-get-charged-with-terrorism/.

Note: If this link doesn't work for you, try going to the link at the top of this post first, and clicking to this page from there.


Watch the videos at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zvrrQbjepc and https://www.youtube.com/embed/MDYavVAZRLw.





EDIT: It seems that Godaddy might have taken this page down (http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/12/blm-burns-ranches-and-destroy-cattle-but-ranchers-get-charged-with-terrorism/), right at the time of this post. If anyone wants the rest of the content, PM me. If enough people want it, I'll post it. Let me know what you think.

If Godaddy doesn't release this site, I may delete my copy of the content in a couple of weeks.

[galdur]

Speaking of horses...here´s one from the mouth...a representative of the one-party system...

......terror — meaning killing and robbery and coercion by people who do not have state authority......

INTERVIEW
Bill Clinton’s World

https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/11/30/bill-clintons-world/

[BADecker]

Speaking of horses...here´s one from the mouth...a representative of the one-party system...

......terror — meaning killing and robbery and coercion by people who do not have state authority......

INTERVIEW
Bill Clinton’s World

https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/11/30/bill-clintons-world/

LOL! That's about right. However...

Since the authority for government is vested in the people, it is the people who have the right to be terrorists. It's written in the foundational documents that allow government the privilege of existing - the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble, the Constitution, and the Amendments. Isn't it about time we scare the s*** out of government by using our right to terrorize on them?

[BADecker]

Imbalance of Federal Land Ownership Sheds Light on Oregon Militia

The federal government owns large tracts of the western states: from a low of 29.9% in Montana, already more than the national average, up to a whopping 84.5% in Nevada.

This map, depicting the distribution and share of federal land per state, was first published on this blog way back in 2008. Nevertheless, it keeps accumulating comments and hits at a steady pace, and is still frequently shared around. Unlike hundreds of other random maps, this one has become a perennial. That raises an interesting question for map geeks like yours truly: Which nerve, exactly, does this map strike with the Great Online Public?

Read more at http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/291-federal-lands-in-the-us?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook.


Note: The various State held lands include lots more property. Many government owned properties are held in trust. Probably non-government owned land is in the range (no pun intended) of 60% of all the land, with government owning the other 40%.

[galdur]

Killing and robbery and coercion. The guy has the purpose of terrorism absolutely to a tee. It looks like a very useful multi-purpose tool. You can use it on other countries to undermine and coerce their government into obedience and you can use it on your own country to scare the people into demanding more power for you to defend them. And of course the terrorists are from some region or country against whom your usual terror tactics haven´t worked so well. So, the military is needed. And you use terrorism openly within your own country for robbery and coercion which is fine because it´s the government and therefore it can´t be terrorism. All of this is extremely lucrative for you and your corporate buddies. It´s the mommy of all win-wins.

[BADecker]

But you can use this tool^^ as well, right? Use it to terrorize the government terrorists, before they terrorize you to death.

[galdur]

But you can use this tool^^ as well, right? Use it to terrorize the government terrorists, before they terrorize you to death.

No, the government has a monopoly on the use of violence. If you attack the government you´re a terrorist because you are using violence without having state authority. Who gave the government this monopoly? You did. And who gave this to you? If you can give something away you must have acquired it somehow to begin with. It´s a difficult question. I seem to be stuck here. Thoughts?