It’s my strong impression from what I’ve heard that nobody is allowed in. And that impression is strongly supported by the fact that nobody is joining them inside or bringing them supplies. If I can find a specific report, I’ll post it.
Here’s the other thing - it would be absurd to believe that they haven’t shut down access to the refuge. Come on. They’re just going to let anyone go in there? They’re going to let more protestors in, with supplies and guns and ammo? Of course not.
I’m working on it. In the meantime, do you really believe they are letting anyone in who wants to go in? Of course not. Hundreds of additional militia types would converge and occupy the refuge with these guys and you’d have either a standoff lasting months or a huge Waco-style firefight. Come on, you can’t possibly believe it’s not shut down. The whole town is basically shut down for this.
Just because the FBI is in town doesn’t mean they’ve shut down the roads.
Can anyone please show me an authoritative citation that the roads have, in fact, been closed? Like, with LEOs of some stripe or another blocking the roads and telling people to turn around?
Yes, the visitor center is closed. That doesn’t mean there’s a cop on every road turning people around.
As for the contention that if roads were open there would be hundreds of rednecks joining up with these people, that’s ridiculous. If there really were hundreds of rednecks eager to join up, a couple of cops with a cruiser parked across the road wouldn’t stop them.
In actual fact there are not hundreds of rednecks being turned away by the cops. The only rednecks who want to be part of this performance art piece are already there. Oh, there might be thousands and thousands of rednecks willing to post supportive comments on social media. That’s a lot different than jumping into a pickup, loading it with guns and groceries, and driving hundreds of miles to the middle of the Oregon desert in the dead of winter.
The reason much of this land is in federal hands in the first place is that the states didn’t want it, and many might still say “no thanks” to much of it.
Who said it was just a couple of cops with a cruiser parked across the road though?
Be serious - if anyone could just go in the refuge now, you know there’d be hundreds of rednecks in there by now forming a little army.
Bullshit. There are rednecks who have come to Burns to support them, not just posting on Facebook. I read it in the media. And yes, if you want me to find that citation too, I’ll go look.
The equipment was already in the refuge (apparently it’s owned or leased by the refuge) and they were bringing it close to the buildings they’ve occupied. I thought what I meant was obvious.
I have heard nothing indicating nobody can get in. I feel like we would have if that were true (“They ain’t letting folks exercise their rights”). Maybe the numbers aren’t growing because they’re fucking crazy?