"It's Time For You To Leave": Oregon Sheriff Demands Militiamen "Peacefully" Depart
Despite Ammon Bundy’s best efforts to explain the motives of the militiamen who over the weekend seized control of a remote federal building in Oregon, it’s still not entirely clear why several dozen US citizens decided to occupy the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
WaPo is probably correct to say that there "are gun rights issues, religious overtones, broad strains of anti-government sentiment and even the tactics of the Occupy Wall Street movement" at play, but like the Occupy movement, those holed up in the snowy government outpost have yet to articulate a coherent set of grievances to justify their cause.
As we outlined on Sunday, Ammon Bundy is the son of Cliven Bundy, a kind of folk hero at the heart of a 2014 standoff with the government that ended with what some say was a victory for individual and state’s rights.
As I said on @CNN this morning, I love my wife & family. I have no plans nor desire to die. We are peaceful people. #OccupyMalheur
— Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 4, 2016
Apparently, the younger Bundy is attempting to engineer another direct conflict with federal authorities by rallying around the “cause” of Dwight Hammond and his son Steven, who were sent back to jail on Monday for arson.
Bundy and the rest of the militiamen (who say they're "in it for the long haul" and who have named themselves the "Citizens for Constitutional Freedom") camped out at Malheur have indicated they’re prepared to fight should the government move to forcibly remove them from the wildlife refuge and at least one American is calling for “shoot to kill” orders for the National Guard.
In what may perhaps mark the beginning of open hostilities between authorities and the militia, Harney County Sheriff David Ward politely told the group that “it’s time to leave” on Monday.
"You said you were here to help the citizens of Harney County. It is time for you to leave our community, go home to your families, and end this peacefully,” Ward said, on behalf of himself and county Judge Steven Grasty.
As Reuters explains, “the Oregon occupation marks the latest skirmish in the so-called sagebrush rebellion, a decades-old conflict over federal control of millions of acres of land and natural resources in the West.”
Bundy insists the militiamen are “patriots,” but Wendy Bull, a teacher in Burns whose husband, a social worker, operates a local clinic run by the U.S. Veteran Affairs Department, says the men are “domestic terrorists.” As Reuters goes on to note, “the takeover in Oregon [has drawn] criticism on social media, with some users asking if the occupiers would have been treated differently if they had been black or Muslim.”
BBC got an inside look at life inside the compound. “When we arrived in darkness all was calm and quiet,” columnist James Cook begins. “We were greeted courteously by men carrying copies of the US constitution, who told us they were unarmed.” Here’s more:
They had draped the US flag over a sign at the entrance to the wildlife refuge and they offered us a cup of coffee.
The guards told us that the armed men inside were not taking visitors at present but would be happy to come out and meet the media face to face in the morning.
One of the men tried to give me a small US Fish and Wildlife Service sign from the building "as a souvenir".
"It's mine," he said, "I paid for it," making a reference to his taxes.
Some people in the community around the town of Burns say while they do not approve of the methods, they are in tune with the sentiment.
Back at the bird reserve, the mood changed slightly as the day dawned, the birds started singing and the winter sun struggled to pierce the hazy clouds.
The media were now at the gate in force and the men there were more reluctant to talk.
"We need to stick to the narrative," one told us as he explained why we needed to wait for their leader Ammon Bundy.
Down a slight hill, we could now see the headquarters clearly, the red roofs of the sheds standing out against the snow.
Several dark-clad figures moved around in the complex.
When Mr Bundy emerged to speak to the media he refused to tell me how many people were inside the bird sanctuary or how many were armed but, after the news conference, camera crews were given a limited tour of the site.
We were told we would not be shown anything relating to "operational security" or anything that would "put lives at risk" and, indeed, we were kept away from any weapons on the site.
A number of US government vehicles sat in the car park, covered in snow.
We were not allowed into most of the buildings and saw no more than a dozen men and one woman inside.
We were taken into a building where one of the protestors said he had been sleeping. It appeared to be a gym for the federal employees who usually manage this land.
There were cans of chicken noodle soup, oranges, apples and other food.
Through a glass window we could see a man and a woman cooking food in a kitchen. The site appeared to be in good condition.
Yes, the "site appears to be in good condition" - for now.
Three administration officials who spoke to Reuters said federal authorities are "following U.S. policy guidelines instituted to prevent standoffs from turning violent in the wake of deadly clashes at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas in the early 1990s."
It's unclear how long that protocol will last, but rest assured, there's only so long the government is going to allow this sideshow to persist. After all, if one bird sanctuary falls to "militants", what's to keep another from falling tomorrow? Before long, there may be no federally administered bird sanctuaries left.
All sarcasm aside, the question here is clearly this: how long will it be before the government abandons the new "policy guidelines" and reverts to the pre-Waco strategy that would see the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge turned into a bad day in Fallujah?
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This was fly over country .... for ducks and geese .... the ranchers are wildlife habitat enablers .... they made the ponds and lakes .... gotta use language leftist pigs understand .... like first sexual predator president Bill Clinton and his enabler Hillary ?
White middle age protesters=ask to leave peacefully. Everyyone else=tear gas, rubber bullets, and batons or worse.
Not fair to use the Baltimore/Ferguson/Chicago card comparison .... LOL ?
What a foolish comment. When have any peaceful protesters been removed the way you speak of? These folks have not attacked anyone, thrown anything at police, defecated on police vehicles, raped anyone, assaulted anyone. Do you see police beating Black Lives Matter protesters out of every restaurant and mall they disrupt and take over? You are a dumb ass.
Just one that recently comes to mind
http://abcnews.go.com/US/occupy-uc-davis-pepper-spraying-cops-suspended/...
let's review...again.
occupy- the majority of protesters getting gassed, battoned and rubber bullets were white, or have you conveniently forgotten that?
Ferguson- riots, looting, arson, theft, assault. millions in damage and plenty of chaos and violence. or have you conveniently forgotten that?
Baltimore- see Ferguson only on a smaller scale.
North Carolina- peaceful protest against police violence that ended with out incident despite the fact that both blacks and whites were both armed in the crowds. or have you conveniently forgotten that?
Waco- FBI burns white religious cult members alive despite the fact that they presented no threat to the community at large or to the officers on the scene. they could have just waited them out, instead the government choose to murder them. did you forget that?
Ruby Ridge- more government sponsored murder of whites. rinse, repeat.
so go ahead please keep going on being a race baiting troll, even though this issue has zero racial context, none whatsoever. because it's easier to fall back on these tired cliques than to put any real thought into a comment isn't it?
apparently you and people like you who are trying to drag this issue down to this level are just to damn ignorant, lazy and shallow to present a comment that actually is relevant to the issue at hand and advances the discussion.
would be nice if you tried,
You missed some important points about Waco:
1) Not only did the FBI and others start a fire, but in while the buildings were on FIRE, Army Delta ran around the building shooting anything that moved. FLIR imagery of this was recorded and is available for viewing. The president of FLIR actually has this video narrated with his take on the imagery. His take: the Delta guys were clearly murdering everyone trying to escape.
2) The Waco complex had an underground bunker and during the raid and gas attack all the women and children were sent to hide in the bunker. A .gov demo charge was used to implode the bunker on the heads of the women and children. (Look at the pictures available on the net.)
The davidians were wack jobs for sure but being wierd isn't illegal and certainly doesn't justify a death squad murdering everyone including unarmed women and children hiding from the attack in a bunker.
Amazing the considerations afforded to a well-armed, organized and disciplined group.
In the Guadalupe valley .... north of Ensenada .... every Russian immigrant/Mexican winery .... has a tasting room .... quaint and they give free samples .... the Mexican government wants to horn in on the action .... they build a multi-million peso State Wine Museum Palace .... right on the highway .... no one bothers going there .... they don't serve a drop of fucking wine ?
Whats with the ? at the end of each sentence.
You looking for a way out of the maze of your own confabulations?
If you confabulated less you would need fewer ??? !
Move your head out of DAT place !
Let's put the land grab in Nevada into perspective as to what it really is and was. Harry Reid and his snot nosed lawyer brat kid wanted the land to do a deal with a Chinese state owned company to build a solar farm so a Chinese state owned company can control regional energy and profit off the American people. So what is that? A state senator who took an OATH TO THE CONSTITUTION conspired with a foreign entity to commit theft and fraud for personal gain. Ummmm, that's TREASON in ANYONES book. HANG THESE FUCKERS. Every American that had ANYTHING to do with this treason INCLUDING every BLM agent that was there and maybe every BLM agent in total as the agency in itself is treasonous. Hang them. Let the hangings begin. That's justice.
Geez, shoot these fuckers in the head, already.
I hope you feel the same about the Occupy folks, Black Lives Matter folks, and any other person in this country who feels they have the right to protest. I'm guessing not though. What have these people done to deserve death?
Go shoot yourself in the head please...
Take your meds NOW!
That's how he got this way.
Trust me.. He needs something a little more natural like what Ive got...Not all that synthetic guinea pig pharmaceutical shit. This one really needs the real magic of the fucking "Peace Pipe" So he doesnt want to destroy or feel entitled to destroy all that lives.
Yovatti? Yomamma.
“the takeover in Oregon [has drawn] criticism on social media, with some users asking if the occupiers would have been treated differently if they had been black or Muslim.”
Yes, they would have been hailed as heroes and freedom fighters had they been black or Muslim.
Nice how the sheriff is the one carrying Fed water this time. Sounds like sheriffs can't be trusted either, eh? There were some who thought that there was a difference between "law enforcement" groups, and they maintained that sheriffs and municipal police departments served different masters.
But there is only one master.
ALL county sheriffs are taking money from the feds and simply cannot be trusted or supported to protect the civilian population and stand up to the local fedcoats.
Support your local sheriff?
When they kill civilians and use unconstition gangs of law enforcement aka badged thugs to violate the constitution?
No thanks.
My local sheriff is another pos internal affairs apointee like the others, covering up the previous's crimes against the people.
This is why Obama and Hillary FAILS, these terrorists should already be dead, a traitor is a traitor
Yes, make martyrs of them all. Remind people of how corrupt their "elected" government really is.
Return on invest motherfucker...
If your country invests the majority of it's time and resources waging war and bringing death and destruction to all corners of the planet, then that is in fact what your future will be.
well said, but I'm afaid your point is lost on the majority of Americans.
in fact if the fed goes ruby ridge on these guys most will see it as justified, many will even appluad it.
sadly they will not be viewd as myrtars by the population at large.
Of course, but again, this is nothing new. As history shows time and time again, the majority of the population are in fact ignorant cannon fodder.
Humanity does indeed evolve (but not without sacrifice and real WORK). Individual humans and lynch mobs, not so much.
SAME AS IT EVER WAS!!!!!!
Social workers are insidious social engineers who function as the gatekeepers to the bread and circuses. They use the redistributive power bestowed upon them by the welfare state to manipulate. What perplexes me is that I haven't figured out who all is pulling the strings of the social workers. Social workers are too insufferable to observe and try to extract information from for very long.
Once EVERYONE becomes dependent on a system it becomes impossible to "fix" as everyone is in fact nothing but a "useful idiot."
Stop wasting your time and go be productive.
Blah blah Blah...
Times change, evolve or die motherfuckers!
It has been this way since the dawn of time.
I only hope that the Feds do go in and make martyrs of all these people. The people need to be reminded of the horrible acts their "elected" government has been committing and continues to commit all over the world. maybe then we all can actually have an honest converstion about what we want government to look like.
As I see it ALL of the planet's problems come down to one thing...
FAILURE to allow people to suffer REAL consequences for BAD behavior.
In fact, I would argue that humanity in general has been DEVOLVING as a result. No worries, MATH and the laws of Nature and physics will fix this eventually...
"I only hope that the Feds do go in and make martyrs of all these people."
Wishing that on anyone is fukdupindahed LOP.
You never know who's gonna be first.
Could be your kid from voicing your opinion.
Drone strike 'em.
You mean the locals aren't thrilled with 300 armed yahoos showing up with generalized grievances and no plans?
LOL!!! the "locals" are few and far between asshat. The ones that are there are also ranchers and quite capable with firearms. they are simply too busy ACTUALLY WORKING to provide for themselves and their families.
I cannot wait until a persons compensation actually depends on the amount of REAL WORK they do.
The bankers/financiers are nothing but useless paper-pushers stuck between the printer/computer and the producer/consumer in the real economy.
It is in fact time to EXECUTE the fucking middlemen!
Most ranches with fed grazing permits are owned by investors/private equity groups. Hammond, Bundy, Laney and their ilk are margin ranchers, most have already overgrazed their allotments and ongoing drought in the West doesn't help. I remember Hammond standing outside with creosote bush all around him while his cows were illegally grazing in riparian. The Feds have been pushing ranchers out of the riparian for decades and they do not like it one bit. The Feds have been cutting back permits because rangeland is in poor shape, riparian is valuable and people value nice public places to go. These ranchers have had it their way for a long time mostly on the public dole. Understandably they're kicking and screaming and trying to conflate freedom/constitutional rights/guns/etc,etc in their desperation. I imagine a lot of ZHers identify with the cowboy mystique but I can tell you, being from ranching country, it's BS.
PS on the riparian issue, they're part of the bigger picture,watershed.
I have counted 6 federal agents posting here (judging from their ISP's on zerohedge).
But you don't seem to be posting from your usual .gov computer.
Too cold to drive to work today, deputy?
Ok, so you can count to six, good boy. Anyway, where I live the BLM designated a new wilderness, from public land. It includes a mountain bike trail. It's where I go to sight my hunting rifles, too. I can shoot to my hearts content without anyone messing with me. All free. Guess what, cows graze there too.
WTF do you think will happen if it converts to private ownership? It will be restricted far worse than any gov't regs. The fed land grab canard is a myth. If USFS/BLM wants your property you get fair market value. Most ranchers walk away with millions. Also, private equity groups are buying up a lot of ranches out here and paying millions. You can bet they have something to do with privatization since many come with grazing allotments.Your stupid western romanticism convinces you we'll all be cowboys with our own "spread". If privatization occurs it will be the wealthy and connected who own it all. These ranchers are either halfwits or tools. Believe me, regular citizens here in the west who know the value of public land have had enough of their shit.
I was born and raised in the west, don't fence me in, especially by you frustrated armchair eastern freedom fighters who don't know what open range is.
This was worth it .... for outing Flakmeister et al .... if anyone had any doubts ?
He's gotta be a federal emploee.
Projecting eh?
This will an interesting storyline to follow. . . While Fedcoats allow feral niggers to chimpout on the regular, destroying private property as they go, a little birdie tweeted to me that the Fedcoats are gonna storm the Bundy-held ground . . . full Ruby Ridge style. We should all pause and ask ourselves where we define our red lines. What tyranny must the Fedcoats implement before you are willing to take up arms for your family's freedom?
The Fedcoats all live in gated communities .... with retired librarians and school teachers and firemen ?
While Fedcoats allow feral niggers to chimpout on the regular, destroying private property as they go . . .
I don't know about the rest of the ZHr's out there but I am really getting sick and tired of assholes like you that have to throw in blatantly racist terms into your posts. Are you that intellectually handicapped that you can't make a point without using terms like "nigger"??
TPTB just love that kind of shit because their goal always has been, and still is, to keep the People at each others throats so the "common folk" won't pay attention to who is really causing the problems we are dealing with. When you make comments like the above you are just a useful tool for them . . . .
Who cares what you think?
You are either a cuck or a cunt. Which is it?
http://youtu.be/26zzcPPjLOI
Slave on slave action is their ultimate goal.
True colors always reveal themselves...
People like the above are the core of the problem...
Just heard on the radio that the schools were closed for the week in Bend. Goes to show what WE ALL ARE UP AGAINST. Corrupt, thieving, disgusting, ignorant, controlled, statist morons who run the local governments at the behest of the federal government.
The time for talk has past. It's time to stand up or shut up. I'll stand up. I won't shut up. Been that way a long time, and, sure, I;ve suffered for it, but, guess what? More and more people are coming around to my way of thinking. In fact, come Spring, I'll be the lead in helping about 20 homeowners in upstate NY take land back from the state and county and the original railroad under the doctrine of adverse possession.
Simply put, in NY state, if you openly and continuously occupy a piece of land or property (including buildings) for 10 years that doesn't belong to you under deed, you can sue for the right to legally own it.
Now, these people and myself will have to go before a court administered by the people we are suing, so our prospects are not exactly of the slam dunk sort.
Stand up or shut up. I think I'll make that the motto of 2016.
hey I live in upstate NY, right outside of Syracuse in fact. would be interested in knowing more about what you're doing, where is this happening?
I'm surprised the sheriff and the feds jackboots have any time to waste on this.
Aren't they too busy tazing grandmas, seizing assets for profit, enforcing the blatantly unconstitutional war on drugs, and bombing brown people?
^ +1 Just watch how many brand new goobermint moters SUVs, with bullet proof windows, the fully-clad storm troopers pull up in when Obozo gives the nod from the 14th green.
I actually feel sorry for Sheriff David Ward who finds himself caught up in the middle of this. i suspect he would rather be spending his nights at home with his family, and not out in the snow of Oregon, freezing his butt off, and trying to keep the roads shut down.
The Feds have passed this incident to local law envofrcement. that's probably an attempt to de-escalate the situation. However, technically and legally, this incident really belongs to the FBI. Regardless of what idiotic TV shows say, the people at Malheur are not "terrorists". The FBI definition of terrorism specifically mentions a threat to human life. The militia inside the Malheur building are not putting anyone's life in jeopardy - except their own. There is a very real danger that some of these people will be shot and killed ... if they continue the occupation. But as far as I can see, the "terrorist" definition is not appropriate. It would be correct to call these people ... "armed separatists", or "armed insurrectionists". That is a correct definition of what they are doing. They are in violation of the US Consitution by attempting to secede from the Union. That actually puts the incident into the lap of the FBI. Malheur is Government land. This actually is a federal issue.
If Vladimir Putin was running this show - he would probably just bring in a Russian tank and blow the buildings to smithereens. Game over.
Personally, I think that the Hammonds got a very rough deal - for what happened about the fires. The original sentencing ... was about the right amount of justice. The new 5-year sentencing is very harsh. But as far as the separatists go ... they are choosing to end their lives at Malheur. It's a no-win for them.
I have no idea what David Ward will do ... but his budget probably doesn't give him the freedom to sit around indefinitely.