"Now Is The Time To Stand Up": Armed Activists, Militiamen Seize Federal Wildlife Refuge Office In Oregon
On Saturday, militants seized a remote government outpost following a protest by hundreds of angry citizens.
That could very easily be the opening line for a story about a Mid-East country beset by civil war. Instead, it’s a description of what happened in Oregon yesterday.
It all started back in 2001 when Dwight Hammond and his son Steven set fire to leased government land in what they said was an effort to beat back invasive plant species and - ironically - prevent wildfires. They set more fires in 2006 and were later convicted of arson.
(the elder Hammond)
Both men served time in prison but a judge eventually determined that their sentences were too light and ordered them back to jail.
Some folks were displeased with the ruling and staged a protest that saw some 300 people march through Burns, a city of around 3,000. The procession made a stop by the Hammond residence and proceeded to make an appearance at the local sheriff's office as well.
"As marchers reached the courthouse, they tossed hundreds of pennies at the locked door. Their message: civilians were buying back their government," AP recounts. "A few blocks away, Hammond and his wife, Susan, greeted marchers, who planted flower bouquets in the snow [after which they] sang some songs, Hammond said a few words, and the protesters marched back to their cars."
Enter Ammon Bundy.
Ammon is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy who famously clashed with the government last year after his cattle were kidnapped by the Feds. Around 400 of Cliven's cows were busy grazing on land Bundy said he owned when the Bureau of Land Managment began to round them up and ship them off to a bovine internment camp at Bunkerville.
The government says the cattle were grazing on public rangeland, which is legal as long as the owner pays a fee. Bundy allegedly racked up some $1 million in such fees and so, the government decided to seize the cows, which the Nevada Bureau of Land Management accused of "trespassing."
Evenutally, the cavalry arrived (literally) as cowboys rode in and broke the cows out of jail. No, really.
Fast forward to November and Bundy's son Ammon was busy trying to come up with a way to keep Dwight Hammond and his son from going back to jail. "Ammon Bundy met with Dwight Hammond and his wife in November, seeking a way to keep the elderly rancher from having to surrender for prison," The Oregonian writes, adding that "the Hammonds professed through their attorneys that they had no interest in ignoring the order to report for prison."
But while the Hammonds have apparently come to terms with their fate, Bundy hasn't and in a brazen move, he and an unspecified number of "outside militants" seized control of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge headquarters, which is a short drive from Burns (where the protest took place).
The federal outpost fell to the militants without a fight presumably because it was deserted for the holidays. Here's more from the Oregonian:
"The facility has been the tool to do all the tyranny that has been placed upon the Hammonds," Ammon Bundy said.
"We're planning on staying here for years, absolutely," he added. "This is not a decision we've made at the last minute."
"The best possible outcome is that the ranchers that have been kicked out of the area, then they will come back and reclaim their land, and the wildlife refuge will be shut down forever and the federal government will relinquish such control," he said. "What we're doing is not rebellious. What we're doing is in accordance with the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land."
"After the peaceful rally was completed today, a group of outside militants drove to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, where they seized and occupied the refuge headquarters. A collective effort from multiple agencies is currently working on a solution. For the time being please stay away from that area. More information will be provided as it becomes available. Please maintain a peaceful and united front and allow us to work through this situation," Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said, in a statement. The elder Bundy weighed in as well, noting that the occuption isn't “exactly what [he] thought should happen." "But I didn’t know what to do,” he added. “You know, if the Hammonds wouldn’t stand, if the sheriff didn’t stand, then, you know, the people had to do something. And I guess this is what they did decide to do. I wasn’t in on that.”
Ammon Bundy explained the rationale for the occupation as follows:
Got that? This wildlife refuge office will become "a base place where patriots from all over the country will live and be housed." Although from the looks of it, space is limited so reserve your spots now:
The Guardian apparently stopped by the refuge for a visit:
The occupation appears to have begun at about 2pm. Two hours later, the Guardian approached the refuge, which lies about 60 miles south of the town of Burns and is only accessible via a lakeside road slick with ice and banked with snow.
There were no law enforcement agents visible in the area around the refuge. A man with a goatee beard and wraparound sunglasses stood guard, armed with an AR-15-style rifle, and refused entry to the federally owned facility.
He declined to give his name or affiliation, citing “operational security”. He did confirm, however, that the men – several of whom were openly carrying assault weapons – would be camping on the site. “This public land belongs to ‘we the people’,” he said. “We’ll be here enjoying the snow and the scenery.”
This is as close as I was allowed to get to the armed militia occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge HQ. #burnsoregon pic.twitter.com/DPztu0VsVU
— Jason Wilson (@jason_a_w) January 3, 2016
The Guardian was allowed to take a few photographs, and then it was strongly advised to leave the scene. Within hours, police had descended on the remote corner of Harney county, blocking roads and urging members of the public to stay away.
Ammon Bundy, whose father became a folk hero among rightwing constitutionalists after his previous confrontation with federal authorities in Nevada, appeared to be a key figure.
He called for other likeminded US citizens to travel to the refuge in solidarity and to support what he said would be a symbolic showdown between impoverished farmers and overzealous federal authorities.
“We’re out here because the people have been abused long enough,” he said in a video interview posted on his Facebook page on Saturday night.
It isn't entirely clear how these "patriots" plan to last "years" in the small building without supplies but that's probably irrelevant because it's difficult to imagine the oppressors in Washington will let this go on for very long. On that note, we'll close with two quotes, one from The Oregonian and one from US Army veteran Ryan Payne who is among the occupiers.
From The Oregonian: "In phone interviews from inside the occupied building Saturday night, Ammon Bundy and his brother, Ryan Bundy, said they are not looking to hurt anyone. But they would not rule out violence if police tried to remove them, they said."
From Payne: "When local and federal authorities arrive whatever else is going to happen will happen”.
(51 votes)
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Well since the law is no longer the law why not?
"What difference, at this point, does it make!?!" All the difference in the world, you heinous, lying, despicable cow. One set of 'laws' for them, 10's of 1000's of pages for us? Couldn't do double-jeopardy, so they just 'doubled' the sentence. Hang the judge.
Actually, the judge who sat over the case originally refused to sentence them under the terrorism charge, calling it a miscarriage of justice. The 9th federal circut kicked the ruling out saying that the ranchers had to be sentenced under the terrorism charge.
The misleaders of the US no longer stand on moral ground, they have no sense of justice, only of power, and therefore they cannot represent law. Without justice there cannot be peace, without a leadership to represent the peoples interests, there cannot be peace. There will have to be a reset.
Couldn't help myself. Had to go to Ann Barnhardt's website and search on the term "Corzine".
Why yes, she did have a word or two to offer.
http://www.barnhardt.biz/2014/07/27/the-one-about-rendering-unto-caesar/
I'd LLLLLLOOOOOVVVVVVVVEE to see Ann debate Hillary in prime time.
Large fires start as small fires.
When leadership fails, the people will lead.
Only if the forest is dry. We will have to wait and and see how much silent rage resides across the population.
Little evidence of that happening in the US. Pretty well got stamped out and the moa established in the civil war.
Ruby Ridge, Waco or go back to the Bonus protests and how they were burned out in DC. Or how the biker group was shot down recently in Waco.
Of course people take less notice of how entire neighborhoods were burned to the ground to kill a few scary blacks who organized (and then were labeled as dangerous).
I do NOT advocate any action - but in other countries there was no traction unless, before this exposed group is taken down, elements further away begin taking deadly actions. And not jumping up and down begging to be shot, but guerrilla warfare (including targeted sniping).
It is just a likely that the feds have had time to plan for action at this location and will use this as an excuse to mobilize a show of force, do the job, and then sell it to the public as what is need nationwide for their security and safety. Including the taking of guns.
Those guys need a few pallets of game cameras to document what may happen.
All Californians are aware of that. Were you a boy scout perchance?
Be very interesting to see what if any attention MSM gives this and how they spin it.
WWDS - What will Donald say?
The media is run by Jews and so is the government so they'll spin it as far right anti-government Nazis as usual.
I am actually hoping that they spin it as hard right..... Perhaps then people will start to see the difference between a bunch of Monkies occupying a Deans office, due to a percieved insult that their 8th generation ago forebearers MAY have endured, and these folks standing up for the innocent.
Said another way the harder these folks get slapped, the quicker things might change.... I applaud them, I dont have the balls that they do.
Great post
Like you (in all probability) I do not know the Bundy family personally. Nor do I know a lot of the Jewish media spin-maestroes personally. But in this instance I think that the latter might be somewhat correct about the former.
We need a revolution, for sure- but it is not going to be formented by self-interested nonentities like the Bundy clan. They are burning nature-reserves for God's sake- not Wall Street!
and you T gracchus are breathing my air--you never asked me and you're doing it purely for your benifit--taking fine pure air and fouling it with your waste ---whats your excuse?
What the hell are you talking about?
Actually, I am doing you a favour- breathing in oxygen and converting it to Co2 so that vegetables like you can thrive and continue delighting us all with your home-spun, sing-song bullshit.
'Why missy, how very dare you breathe in ma fine southern air and pollute it with your high-fallutin attempts at havin yerself a contrary opinion.....humph!' ....turns and flounces out in a rustle of stained and moth-eaten crinoline.
Gator,
I thought the same thing, so I forced myself to turn on CNN. It really was not as slanted as I expected it to be.
Perhaps they're getting big data re people like ZHers et al. tuning them in to check for the slant. After all, it's all about marketing and ad revenue. They're amoral. In the end they'll sell to the "market." Should be fun to watch going forward.
Maybe. Note that they devoted more time to a piece on a former football player taking roids...WTF
Due to it's widespread popularity, the revolution will not be televised.
It will be if advertisers shell out the bucks for the eyeballs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl5rkosu2Ig
I agree with bundy jr. He's right for partially the wrong reasons, and not legally right.
Ideally he should have picked a clearer battle, but then again this gradual state incursion and abuse of power is a slippery slope.
He needs media training to not motivate his cause by saying he heard "the lords voice in his head", he should just say he had an epiphany.
SJW's at Boingboing and elsewhere are framing this racially, which is shameful and against their own professed anti-rayciss principles. Comparing this to criminal dindu cases makes no sense, but if you must compare them, then theres actually a shared interest instead of an opposing.
Yup. I'm all for reminding government agents that like us, they too are mortal, but something about this just doesn't seem quite right. It doesn't quite feel clean.
El Vaq, those were my sentiments exactly. Can't quite put my finger on it either, but something's not right.
Some are not so impressed with Ryan Payne, such as III percenter Mike Vanderboegh:
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2016/01/perfect-timing-for-re...
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2016/01/oath-keepers-hammond-...
Thinking about it, these guys could really push for following the 10th Amendment. It is a sentement that most here could get behind, but your average person isn't going to give a damned. They've picked the wrong fight, and this gives a lot of PR ammo to the statists. That is what isn't quite right. The best that we can hope for is that the federal government overreacts and we have another case of "Remember The Alamo!"
The thing is, anybody that takes a stand against gov over anything is always wrong for some reason or another.
I was suspicious of this at first too but even if it is contrived it would likely grow into something legit. Just look at that sign that one old lady with the ear muffs is holding "The Feds are out of control, land grabbing terrorists". Now that is is the truth! Also these guys have repeatedly said they are not calling for violence and just holding their ground and engaging in disobedience. When the authorities contrive trouble they usually make sure it looks really ugly and gets plenty of MSM coverage.
Eventually an organic resistance will rear it's head because peoples balls are to the wall. One can't be positive that this is legit but it might be.
Any constitutional argument won't fly... This will be viewed as questioning the unlimited power of government and will be treated as such. The government officially buried the constitution on 9/11/2001.
Sentencing them as terrorsists won't fly with anyone with a brain. This is a damn good set of circumstances for resistance. They time (winter) and place ( remote, isolated) are not ideal.
I agree with the previous posters. I know something is very wrong here. The timing, and large response. Who or what is out of place here I do not know. But it just seems wrong somehow. I read a full history of these rancher folks. They have been at war with government forever, over everything.
I learned long ago never to try and earn my living off of land I do not own. Loggers up here wher I live, live and die on State hand outs of stumpage to cut. If the state doesn't sell them the amount they need, then they are screwed.
Make sure you own the lands you expect to earn your living off of.
This "own land" that you speak of how is that done exactly? The .gov can tax me, forbid me, instruct me in myriad ways on MY land, who owns the land ??
you own it if you occupy it and can defend it against all comers ----period---when you die you don't own it anymore--period. The BLM claims to ownership is shit made up by lawyers--paper bullshit just like the fiat ---they don't occupy it and never will--they just come along every once in a while and push people around -maybe kill a few ---but the gov't is nothing but pretenders and will only ever be a bunch of useless parasites and will never ever have the moral high ground.
So might makes right, got it..
Synthesis?
May be the big one.
The perfect trap.
Waco on steroids.
Oh FFS! You people are something else. Keyboard Rebels, is what you are.
All huffing an puffing, not real balls to stand up and be counted. What a perma-paranoid and crippled lot!
FYI... I wired $100 to the cause (a Navy guy I know and trust in Burns), so fuck you, you hypocritical Chicken Littles!
He should just keep religion out of it, it makes him sound like a nutjob. Jo public here that noncense and pigeon hole him right there, its a wasted opportunity
He sounds like a nutjob because he is a nutjob. He thinks it's his God-given right to run cattle on leased land without paying the lease fees. Then he raises Hell when the land owner gets disgusted with him being $1,000,000 in arrears so they confiscate the cattle.
I can't for the life of me understand why so many otherwise reasonable ZH readers think the Bundys are patriotic heroes fighting an out-of-control land-grabbing government. They're nothing more than really shitty ranchers who can't raise beef profitably without grazing them for free on land they don't own.
It's one thing to own land and tell the Government and everyone else to keep the Hell out (Ruby Ridge, Waco). I'll support that. It's another thing entirely to run your cattle on Government land and act like it's yours because God told you it is.
There are no constitutional grounds for goverrnment owning land within the boundries of what is supposed to be a sovereign state except for property to be used for military and government operations. There is no such thing as Public Land. It's all owned by someone or some entity.
Because, you fucking idiot, the Feds do not lawfully own the land and have no lawful authority to demand rent for it. Now, if you have a problem with that then I expect you to send me back rent for every month you lived anywhere but Daddy's house since you were 18.
I think you people are fucking pussies, making up excuses, to do not anything.
I also bet you have vaginas, and don't have the physical strength so you won't rock the boat, or stand behind your countrymen, ever.
Fucking cunts.
You are shameful hypocties and losers.
Provocateur
What's not clear? This is double jeopardy, something that isn't enshrined in the Bill of Rights, but was actually in the original Constitution.
I'm all for people standing up, but these guys need better causes.
Like what?
Should double jepoardy be allowed now?
You should be elected leader of the realm.
You seem to be yet another narcissist on zh who thinks he knows everything.
So lets defer to you, your worshipfulness.
What should we do?
They could use an event like property siezure, illegal searching, unlawful imprisonment, executing an innocent person, etc. Are you saying there is a lack of evidence of government overreach? They latch on to a stupid event, like these two guys commiting arson, or the fact that the Bundys didn't pay their bills for a decade. They just delegitimize the overall message in doing so. That is, unless this is all bullshit and theater and that's the point.
Wait. You are embarrasing yourself now.
Answer one qiestion.
Are you saying this is not a cause for a remedy from vioation of the 5th ammenment, your woshipfullness?
Simple yes or no.
I don't want to discuss your logical fallacies.
They weren't charged with arson. They were charged with terrorism. For doing things that have been done on those lands long before there was a BLM. Pull your head out of your ass.