The Feds are going to HAVE to do something. Otherwise, it will become clear that it’s open season on any federal lands, and anyone can simply go in and do whatever the hell they want in them, consequence free.
Want to graze cattle on ecologically sensitive federal land? Tear down fences and fill your boots.
Want to log in federal parks? Go right ahead. Build an amusement park there and charge admission while you’re at it. Apparently it’s a free-for-all.
Want to take water from rivers with no permits? Just go ahead and take as much as you want, before the next guy does.
The events from the last week or so tell us very clearly that it is possible to seize federal property and wantonly have your way with it, for long stretches of time, as long as people look at you and get flashbacks to Waco (even though your cause is completely different). You won’t even get a stern talking to from a sheriff, let alone an order to stand down.
As amusing as all the snack/redneck jokes have been, I do have to wonder at what people are going to see this clusterfuck as the insult that it is. It was one thing when all they were doing was camping out in a building that doesn’t belong to them. But they are destroying federal property now, polluting the environment, and committing theft.
Pretty much. In my ideal world, any cow that crosses the line where that fence used to be is shot. I can understand the reluctance to put human lives at risk, but animals are something else entirely. If that means the rancher loses, his livelihood, well…
They tried that in Bunkerville, and that’s what kicked off the whole Cliven Bundy clown show. I argued then that the feds should shoot any trespassing cattle, since Bundy himself prevented them from dealing with the situation in a way that would preserve his livelihood. The Oregon militants aren’t going to allow any more of a roundup than they did in Nevada, so there’s no way to seize the herd without bloodshed. Once the rancher sees a couple of $2000 cows go down the drain, he’ll keep the rest of his herd away from the protected area - fence or no fence.
You’re not. Eventually, Donald Trump will negotiate an end to the stand off, and everyone will agree to go home if there aren’t any charges.
Apparently, one can get away with anything if one threatens to cause a scene with uncomfortable optics for the president. The BLM & OWS group should take note and start bringing rifles and blue tarps to their protests.
So they’ve confessed to another felony publicly (18 US Code 1030 Unauthorised access to US government computers) and still nothing. While meanwhile the Feds spend millions of dollars on trying to bring Kim DotCom to the US for trial including raiding his house with helicopters and SWAT teams.
Moral of the story is, if you’re going to steal, be white and steal from the US government, not from a corporation that will use the FBI as its enforcement arm.
I do kinda’ wonder of Obama is just trying to ignore it long enough to make it the next president’s problem. It seems like the Bundy-ites are almost hoping for a confrontation. Unless Obama could send in a SEAL team to take out the knuckleheads with tranquilizers (and avoid bloodshed) it’s really a no-win proposition for him.
Half-expecting the ranchers whose land abuts the fence these “you can’t touch me when I’m under the tarp” patriots destroyed will decline the boon, much as the Hammonds did. Which will leave them, publicly, as the self-aggrandizing boobs they started out to be.
Theres lots of ways they could deal with it with little danger to anyone (except the militants). Send in a couple of bullet proof MRAPs in, park them in view of the refuge and announce through speakers that they have 24 hours to peacefully give up their weapons and come out. Make sure the MRAPs are covering each other with video, record everything. Put sniper teams further back. If the militants start shooting first and its all recorded on video, I don’t think anyone will care if they get shot. If they don’t surrender, launch in tear gas to flush them out.
Even if things go bad and 3 or 4 of them get killed and the rest surrender I can’t see how thats embarrassing for the President. The current situation of ignoring them is more embarrassing.
You may appreciate this cartoon relating to Shkreli - he wasn’t in any kind of trouble because of his jacking the price of live saving drugs by 5000%, but because he screwed over some rich investors.
Yeah. What I took from that article was that they were paper files that are on site. At least that seems to be what they’re claiming, which is all we’re going on here.
Okay. This has probably gone on long enough. I don’t want to second guess the FBI, or DHS, or whoever, but it seems like something should be done at this point.
They’re reportedly harassing local residents now, and this was apparently planned for months.
I’m wondering if there is something more going on here, some sort of threat, that is preventing authorities from acting.
I was on the “let these idiots sit in a remote area and resolve it peacefully” camp. But now, after the fence destruction and the computer tampering, and the use of federal property to commit crimes, I’ve changed my mind. They’ve gone from dumbasses desperately craving attention to criminals, and I can’t help but conclude that the earlier refusal to smack them down has led to this.
Charge them with crimes, give them a chance to go to court and resolve it peacefully, and, if they refuse, cut them off. No power, nobody in and out, and no snacks. If they still refuse to deal with it peacefully, arrest them.
These guys could be apprehended by using a box trap baited with cheese danish. There are eleventy thousand ways they could be dealt with that would pose little or no danger to anybody including them. Why that has not happened, twice now for this bunch, is a question that interests me.