Standoff At The Malheur Refuge: Day 26

[gotsnowgotslush]

Standoff At The Malheur Refuge: Day 26

January 27, 2016

The FBI arrested an eighth person in connection with the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge


Jon Ritzheimer, 32, turned himself into local authorities in Arizona and also faces a felony charge related to the occupation.


Oregon Gov. Kate Brown released a new statement following Wednesday’s law enforcement press conference

"As the federal investigation continues in Harney County, I want to acknowledge the forbearance of residents, including members of the Burns-Paiute Tribe, who have been subjected to significant disruption throughout this ordeal,” Brown said. “I hear your concerns about safety and potential damage to tribal lands and artifacts, and over the course of the occupation, I have repeatedly conveyed them to our highest levels of government. Please know I am doing everything in my power to restore normal life to Harney County. My office will continue collaborating with law enforcement partners to resolve the situation quickly and safely and hold wrongdoers accountable.”


http://www.opb.org/news/series/burn...atest-updates-standoff-at-the-malheur-refuge/


Words from Amanda Peacher of the Oregon Public Broadcasting channel, has spoken up on the current events, concerning the occupation.

Latest- working on an affidavit, that concerns interfering with police and their duties.
Highway 395 has been reopened.

gsgs comment-

It seems as though the police are allowing occupiers to leave, but new arrivals are being turned away from entering the refuge.

No reinforcements, for the occupiers. Who is stepping forward, to lead the remaining occupiers ?

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

As of yesterday, the Malheur Nature Refuge occupation has burdened the Oregon taxpayers with approximately 500,000.00 of expended money from the coffers.


Oregon Governor Kate Brown wants state lawmakers to approve roughly $500,000 in emergency funding to cover costs associated with the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Brown said the money will help offset the estimated $100,000 per week that local and state agencies are spending on law enforcement. An armed group seized control of the refuge headquarters on January 2.

Brown said she hopes that Oregon taxpayers ultimately won't be on the hook for the full cost of the occupation.

http://nwnewsnetwork.org/post/malheur-occupation-costs-oregon-taxpayers-500000

The gun fanatics insist that preventable deaths of children, women, and male bystanders are the price of the freedom to own guns. A shrug is given, when asked about irresponsibility, carelessness, and psychotic disorders. Is this the price we pay, in order to keep the freedom to protest in a responsible and thoughtful way ?

Is the freedom to protest in America loaded with burden to suffer the poor choices of the irresponsible, the careless, and the psychotic protesters ?

The legitimate protesters of Occupy Wall Street did not threaten. Did not carry guns,.
Were peaceful. But, they did require the expense of police, to keep order and safety.

OTOH, the police organization in New York indulged in overkill. It was profitable to claim that funds were necessary. New war surplus toys, pseudo military gear, the latest anti- riot gear and weapons. Funds granted for hiring more police, more hours, more overtime. The police system glutted itself with newfound money. The court system fed richly on fines. Much flows in and out of New York. The city is gargantuan, and the 1% and lesser immortals dominate.

Anyone who wanted to kick and beat defenseless people, were invited to the police brutality festival.

It was not necessary. But, it was good times and high employment for the police community.


I am sure that it was not the same for the small community in Oregon. Like small village sized towns in NH, Maine, and Vermont, there is little to go around, to afford anything. People who live there, make do with very little. The bare minimum is what is covered.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

"The occupiers style and comport themselves very differently from each other."

The Bundy brothers who self-identify as some of the leaders of the Malheur occupation wear winter felt cowboy hats in brown, and lined flannel shirts. They speak about their beliefs and plans cowboy-like: Soft voiced, deliberate and calm.


But, others who have flocked to their Mormon banner of Moroni in remote Oregon are more agitated, make sharp movements and yell. Some sport camouflage or all-black clothing and neck tattoos. Some speak with a military staccato and have shaved heads.

Pete Simi, associate professor of criminology at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, studies radical groups, extremist movements, social movements and violence. He told me my observations about the occupiers’ differences in dress and comportment signal deeper differences in ideology. “Within the larger universe of right wing extremist movements, there are smaller subcultures,” Simi says.

“Within these different subcultures they may have different emphasis in terms of things like style or how they present themselves, even some of their beliefs may have emphasis in one direction more than another. And so depending on specific ways people are dressed, that can be a signal on what kind of subculture they might be in. For instance: One of the more kind of visible subcultures among some of these right-wing groups is called the skinhead style. That’s typically associated with individuals that shave their head, wear flight jackets, often heavily tattooed and they tend to be more aggressive and in-your-face type of attitude.”

It’s important to point out that, like not all rural whites are supremacists, not all supremacists have rural lifestyles and attire. Some white power believers come highly educated in polo shirts with a GQ style; others look straight out of a street gang.


http://nwnewsnetwork.org/post/too-many-captains-could-undermine-armed-occupation

Burns, Oregon, located in the high desert of southeastern Oregon, is the county seat and largest town in Harney County.

Harney County is 10,228 square miles in size (one of the largest counties in the country) and has a population of approximately 7500 people with the majority of the people living in Burns or nearby Hines.

At an elevation of 4200 feet above sea level Burns averages 300 days of sunshine a year. Average high temperatures in summer are in the mid 80's and lows in the winter average in the teens. Burns receives about 10 inches of precipitation per year with most of the moisture falling as snow.

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/eoarc/newbannergif-about-burns-oregon


Harney County Commissioner Dan Nichols asserted that the county cannot afford to manage federal lands, and he provided examples of costs that the county would incur.

http://btimesherald.com/2016/01/27/county-court-continues-conversation-concerning-refuge-occupation/

A citizenn given speaks up-

"For the record, I cannot even begin to say how angry I am at what happened last night. These guys, the Bundy people, came to the Burns High School gymnasium during a public meeting. They have committed federal crimes, and they came to our gymnasium with guns. They walked into our high school and silently raise hell, and I am pissed!”

http://btimesherald.com/2016/01/27/officials-address-arrests-during-press-conference/


U.S. Attorney for Oregon Bill Williams said all eight of the individuals were arrested for the federal felony offense of “conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats.”


Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said, “I’ve been working on a peaceful resolution to this problem since Nov. 5, when several of the individuals arrested yesterday came into my office. They had ultimatums I couldn’t meet. I’m here to uphold the law.”


http://btimesherald.com/2016/01/27/officials-address-arrests-during-press-conference/

"...there is a reason for the increased law enforcement presence in the community."

“They are here for a reason, not because Bundy is a nice guy. He’s not a nice guy. I’ve had an experience with him that was nothing like the one you had,” Grasty said. “There are people who have left this community because they are fearful.”

gsgs comment-

A tiny community, in the middle of nowhere, getting death threats from people they do not know.

It seems the Bundy group left others to pay the price for what they wanted.

Bundy got another 15 minutes of fame, at someone else's expense.

 

[Hard_Rom]

The Ukraine protest which brought down the corrupt regime had ultra-right wing Nazis on the barricades. For the most part the vast majority of protesters were ordinary people exercising civil disobedience as is most of our right. But the presence of neo-Nazi types gave Russia propaganda to call the whole thing a radical right wing coup.

Anti-globalization protest always have a few black coverall clad radicals to capture the cameras eye, smash windows and burn police cars.

The camera has a hard time discerning between the thousands attempting to flee tear gas and the dozens chucking rocks.

Same in countries that burn US flags. The dozen or so leering at the camera look suspiciously like the hundreds standing around waiting for the streets to clear so they can go shopping.

Radicalism is the enemy of liberal democratic processes. Even if it purports to support democracy.

 

[phrodeau]

The standoff will end soon, and those arrested will be having their days in court.

Guns won't be permitted in the courtroom, but armed goons will form a perimeter on the streets.

Then the Westboro Baptists will show up.

 

[JackLuis]

https://www.rawstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/cnn_bundy_150128a-300x161.jpg

Defying his own son, Cliven Bundy rallies Oregon militants to ‘fight’ to the end​

https://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/defying-his-own-son-cliven-bundy-rallies-oregon-militants-to-fight-to-the-end/

Cliven Bundy, father of militant leader Ammon Bundy, defied his own son on Thursday and called on armed occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to stay and fight.

Following a traffic stop that ended with the death of LaVoy Finicum and the arrests of Ammon Bundy and other anti-government militants, Ammon Bundy sent a message through his lawyer that it was time for the occupation to end.

“To those remaining at the refuge, I love you. Let us take this fight from here. Please stand down. Go home and hug your families,” Ammon Bundy advised in a statement. “This fight is ours for now in the courts. Please go home.”

Cliven Bundy, however, disagreed with his son, and called on the remaining militants to fight on.

“I’ll tell you one thing, we’re dang sure going to have to fight this battle over and over if we just give up right today,” Cliven Bundy told CNN during an interview at his Nevada ranch. “I mean, we’ve got a life lost, but that life was wasted.”

See what happens when you don't prosecute scofflaws? If the Fed's hadn't let Bundy posture about his lawlessness in Nevada, the Refuge cluster fuck would have never happened.

 

[JackLuis]

Cenk unchained: Watch Cenk Uygur absolutely destroy militants and FBI over ‘right-wing privilege’

Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, has finally had it with the militants in Oregon and the hands-off approach taken by law enforcement, and he let them know it with a blistering rant on his Wednesday show.

Following the death of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum and the arrest of Ammon Bundy and other militants, the remaining occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge indicated that they were ready for a “bloodbath.”

But after one unhinged militant called to “kill” law enforcement, Uygur appeared unable to contain his rage on Wednesday’s show.

“We’re going to have a conversation with these guys?” Uygur asked. “They were free to come and go for three weeks, there was no perimeter. The FBI says, ‘Oh don’t worry, we just set up a perimeter.'”

“God damn right, I’m worried!” he exclaimed. “Why didn’t you set up a perimeter the first time they captured a federal building, armed, talking about how they’re going to murder people who come and try to take it from them.”

“And here are these guys on camera saying, ‘We’re going to murder the cops if they come to get us.’ You stole, sh*t, you criminal, you thug!”

Uygur observed that black and liberal activists would have been quickly stopped by authorities if they attempted similar actions.

Perhaps if the authorities had shut off the electricity and water to the building when it first happened and sent a couple of companies of the Oregon National Guard to surround them this would have ended weeks ago. It's hard to maintain your righteous indignation when you're cold, hungry, and thirsty.

 

[phrodeau]

Cenk unchained: Watch Cenk Uygur absolutely destroy militants and FBI over ‘right-wing privilege’



Perhaps if the authorities had shut off the electricity and water to the building when it first happened and sent a couple of companies of the Oregon National Guard to surround them this would have ended weeks ago. It's hard to maintain your righteous indignation when you're cold, hungry, and thirsty.

I don't know; the guy screaming about Armageddon looks like he could last a few more weeks on his water weight.

 

[Hard_Rom]

Much of this reminds me of the Oka standoff in 1990. Although I am inclined to agree with the native point of view (trying to a build a golf course and condos on disputed native land is just plain stupid). I did agree with sending in the Van Doos. The SQ when dealing with natives is a highly suspect force with known racist tendencies.

Native property claims go back thousands of years not less than two hundred. Maybe the Yank Feds should give the land to the natives. Then the white righties wouldn't dare touch the land.

Armed insurrection cannot be allowed. It sends a message of government weakness that other groups with far less "right" on their side can take advantage of. Then again properly dealt with it should not get to the point of armed protest.

Ruby Ridge and Waco scared the shit out of the US feds. Innocents died not just armed whackos.

In the Oka Crisis the natives, I feel, were defending their property from illegal takeover. There is nothing illegal in the BLM administering the Oregon property.

Glad I'm not a politician and have to balance shit and please everybody.

 

[forestmonk]

there seems to be little difference between those asshats and the socalled sovereign citizens. both posture as being rugged individuals yet generally are taking as much as they can from society and the government all the while whining about being oppressed and whining about how other people take from the govt. a perfect example are the bundys who owe the taxpayers a million dollars in grazing fees (which are LESS than the actual market price of grazing on private ranch land). were they black and living in the city without their cowboy hats, they would be called welfare chiselers by their own supporters

 

[someoneyouknow]

This is the complete, unedited video from the FBI showing Finnicum charging an FBI roadblock, initially complying with orders to surrender then reaching for his gun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGxDWKrjPQ

 

[phrodeau]

This is the complete, unedited video from the FBI showing Finnicum charging an FBI roadblock, initially complying with orders to surrender then reaching for his gun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGxDWKrjPQ

The incident occurs at 9:32.