- 22 Sep 2016 04:46
#14720267
A more local source.
Two things I think are particularly galling about this trial.
1. They are not considered terrorists. As if Middle-Eastern Muslims, rifles in hand, stormed Federal property with the stated objective to, "Kill or be killed," would not have been shot or droned on day one. As if anybody can imagine armed Black Panthers taking over a federal building without a tank rolling in. Instead, this slap-on-the-wrist horseshit about "conspiring."
2. Second, they broke at least two rather severe Federal laws about desecrating Native American sites:
Again:
Incidentally, the Bundy clan was harassing the same group of Natives in Nevada.
The Natives get shit on enough, but it's galling that the Feds are going to just let armed militants come in and literally shit on the Natives with absolutely no consequence. After three centuries, the US could at least honor their own laws against criminals already on trial and give the Paiutes a mostly meaningless gesture. But they don't even get that.
Though, in the prosecution's defense, this was a relatively common tactic. They charge with conspiracy and add the other charges as trial comes closer—but Judge Brown stopped the other charges from coming on.
Finally, to connect this to a broader theme, here are some of the views of some of the Nevada terrorists that invaded Oregon:
Alis Volat Propriis; Tiocfaidh ár lá; Proletarier Aller Länder, Vereinigt Euch!
USA Today wrote:The alarming tale of a tense, deadly standoff at an eastern Oregon wildlife refuge that gripped the nation last winter and turned a spotlight on federal land management in the West is being retold at a federal courthouse in Portland.
The trial began Tuesday for Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan and five supporters who say they were exercising constitutional rights to speak freely and bear arms when they seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 300 square miles of wind-swept, high desert that before the protest was best known for a diverse population of waterfowl.
The federal government sees the issue differently, and all the defendants are charged with conspiring to impede federal land managers through force and intimidation. Five of the defendants also face gun charges.
No federal land management agency has announced any sweeping change in policy since the standoff, Bruce Huber, a Notre Dame law professor who specializes in natural resources, told USA TODAY.
"If anything, officials seem to be using more stern language than before Malheur," Huber said.
Bundy's group of self-described "patriots" seized the refuge administrative offices on Jan. 2 following a local protest in support of two ranchers sent to prison for starting fires on federal land. Bundy and many ranchers say tough federal restrictions on grazing and other uses threaten their way of life.
A more local source.
Two things I think are particularly galling about this trial.
1. They are not considered terrorists. As if Middle-Eastern Muslims, rifles in hand, stormed Federal property with the stated objective to, "Kill or be killed," would not have been shot or droned on day one. As if anybody can imagine armed Black Panthers taking over a federal building without a tank rolling in. Instead, this slap-on-the-wrist horseshit about "conspiring."
2. Second, they broke at least two rather severe Federal laws about desecrating Native American sites:
The Guardian wrote:Now it was the Bundy Bunch versus a Native American tribe – which claims first rights to the land – each demanding to have a say over the lingering standoff.
On Wednesday morning, Paiute tribal chairwoman Charlotte Rodrique stood before scores of people – including many of the 420-member tribe – at a press conference, saying that the Bundys and their gang were encroaching on land considered sacred to the Paiute people.
“Armed protesters don’t belong here,” she said. “By their actions they are desecrating one of our sacred traditional cultural properties. They are endangering our children, and the safety of our community, and they need to leave. Armed confrontation is not the answer.”
She said the sprawling wildlife reserve is part of the tribe’s ancestral territory and is protected under terms of an agreement signed with federal officials more than a century ago. The tribe still uses the refuge for sacred religious and cultural ceremonies, such as collecting plants for medicine and crafts.
“This land belonged to the Paiute people as wintering grounds long before the first settlers, ranchers and trappers ever arrived here,” Rodrique said, “We haven’t given up our rights to the land. We have protected sites there. We still use the land.”
Again:
On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Billy Williams released a report in district court which provides the first description of the condition of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, a site sacred to the Burns Paiute Tribe after a 41-day armed standoff with militants led by Ammon Bundy.
Disturbingly, Williams writes, “Occupiers appear to have excavated two large trenches and an improvised road on or adjacent to grounds containing sensitive artifacts. At least one of these trenches contains human feces.”
The refuge was once part of the 1.8 million acre Malheur Indian reservation which belonged to several Northern Paiute bands including the nearby Burns Paiute tribe. The buildings the militants occupied demanding the “return” of federal lands to ranchers, miners and loggers contained over 4,000 artifacts and maps of graves and other culturally significant sites on the refuge.
“That whole area is an artifact area,” Jarvis Kennedy, Burns Paiute tribal council member told ICTMN, “If you just walk across there you’ll see chips on the ground where someone made an arrowhead. It’s everywhere.”
When asked what he thought of the latrines Kennedy said, “Just see this…this is their mindset—not really caring about anything. For them to do that in that area is so disgusting.”
He doesn’t think the militants weren’t simply clueless either, “I think they didn’t care. We did our press conference. We took our stand. They knew.”
Incidentally, the Bundy clan was harassing the same group of Natives in Nevada.
The Natives get shit on enough, but it's galling that the Feds are going to just let armed militants come in and literally shit on the Natives with absolutely no consequence. After three centuries, the US could at least honor their own laws against criminals already on trial and give the Paiutes a mostly meaningless gesture. But they don't even get that.
Though, in the prosecution's defense, this was a relatively common tactic. They charge with conspiracy and add the other charges as trial comes closer—but Judge Brown stopped the other charges from coming on.
Finally, to connect this to a broader theme, here are some of the views of some of the Nevada terrorists that invaded Oregon:
Mother Jones wrote:Jon Ritzheimer
Anti-Islam activist, awaiting sentencing on a federal felony charge related to involvement in the Oregon occupation
Endorsement: Last December, Ritzheimer showed up with a bullhorn at a Trump rally in Arizona, where he expressed strong support for the candidate's proposal "to stop Islamic immigration for a while." He also referred to anti-Trump protesters as "Muslims" and thanked them "for not blowing us up."
In his own words: Ritzheimer said in an online video (since removed), "Just know that we three percent, we militiamen, are standing at the ready across our nation. And when you strike, we will strike back. We will level and demolish every mosque across this country."
Gerald DeLemus
Chief of security for Cliven Bundy at the Bundy Ranch standoff; pleaded guilty to two related federal charges
Endorsement: DeLemus was named co-chair of Veterans for Trump in New Hampshire in July 2015. Before his arrest, DeLemus told Reuters he intended to debrief Trump about the Oregon standoff: "I think it'll really arouse him."
In his own words: In 2013, DeLemus posted in an online forum, "If we do not stand against this insanity we can be sure we will fully slip into tyranny. We are in a similar position our Founding Fathers found themselves in, and their decision to stand was equally difficult."
Blaine Cooper
Participant in Oregon standoff; pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges related to the standoffs in Oregon and Nevada
Endorsement: "At least Donald Trump is offering a solution," he wrote on Facebook in June. "I know who gets my vote."
In his own words: Earlier this year, Cooper posted a video of himself on Facebook in which he said, "I'm serving [the country] the way that it should be served. Defending the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic. And the [Bureau of Land Management] is definitely a domestic enemy of the Constitution of the United States."
Michele Fiore
Former Nevada legislator, an advocate for the occupiers in the standoffs in Nevada and Oregon
Endorsement: "If Trump becomes our nominee I will be his biggest fighter," she wrote on her website in May.
In her own words: Following the Paris terrorist attacks, Fiore stated on her weekend radio show, "I am not okay with Syrian refugees. I am not okay with terrorists. I'm okay with putting them down—blacking them out. Just put a piece of brass in their ocular cavity and end their miserable life." (Fiore later clarified that she was referring only to terrorists, not refugees, when she advocated shooting them.)
Alis Volat Propriis; Tiocfaidh ár lá; Proletarier Aller Länder, Vereinigt Euch!