Posted on 04/11/2014 11:23:53 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s decades-long battle against the federal government over grazing rights has heated to the point where militia groups have joined in and taken up spots against the feds who’ve circled his land — and talk is, they’re not afraid to open fire.
A spokesman for the one of the militia groups said as much to local 8 News Now: I’m not “afraid to shoot,” he said.
Margaret Houston, Mr. Bundy’s sister and a cancer survivor, said at a town hall gathering this week that the situation “was like a war zone” and that she felt “like I was not in the United States,” The Daily Mail reported. The Las Vegas Review-Journal described it this way: “Serious bloodshed was narrowly avoided,” in a story about how dogs were unleashed on a woman who was pregnant while the rancher’s son was hit with a taser.
On Tuesday, armed Bureau of Land Management agents stormed Mr. Bundy’s property, escalating a court dispute that’s wound for two decades over the rancher’s refusal to pay for grazing fees.
~~snip~~
Now militia groups are on the scene, promising to help the Bundys keep up the fight.
“This is what we do, we provide armed response,” Jim Lordy, with Operation Mutual Aid, told the local broadcast station. “They have guns. We need guns to protect ourselves from the tyrannical government.”
Mr. Lordy also said “many more” militia groups are coming to the site to join in the Bundy family defense.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
interesting times
I have mixed emotions about this. It’s a lease, the rancher is in default. Not overly complex.
BUT, the BLM are a bunch of asshats. I’ve dealt with them trying to push me around in NM, on land I OWN. They made various claims, lost in court, and still acted like assholes, doing the same thing. (A long story I won’t go into here.)
Wouldn’t be surprised if this is the straw that starts pushing people over the edge.
Bundy declared himself a citizen of Nevada and NOT the USA:
“Bundy appears to argue in his Motion to Dismiss (#4) that the Complaint (#1) should be dismissed because this Court lacks jurisdiction since Article IV of the Constitution cannot be imposed upon him. Bundy claims that he is a citizen of Nevada and not a citizen of a territory of the United States, and he also quotes religious texts. [*6] Bundy also brings in the Property Clause, the Commerce Clause and International Treaty laws. None of these statutes, laws or other citations is relevant to the jurisdictional issue...”
He also claims the federal government cannot own land, although the US Constitution says it CAN own land, and that Congress makes the rules on what to do with that land.
“Bundy claims this “decision concerning the Desert Tortoise, if fully implemented, would lead to the end of ranching in Clark County,” and his ranching days would be over. Reply (#7), p. 5. The decision from the BLM does not inform [*8] Bundy he can no longer graze livestock due to the protection of the Desert Tortoise, but instead reminds Bundy that his grazing permit would end at the end of the next month, February 1993, and the new permit application was attached to the decision.”
One of my closest friends is a rancher who buys grazing permits in 3 states to keep his cattle and sheep on. He pays for his grazing, but then, he considers himself to be a US citizen...
Why doesn’t Sandoval do something? Kent University was going to be a footnote in history next to what this standoff is turning into.
Where the hell are the people who are supposed to be adults in this? Surely they don’t think this ranch should be the start of another civil war. Or maybe they do.
Actually, he's the last rancher on BLM land in Nevada. The BLM has been driving ranchers off for decades.
This is basically what the UN Agenda 21 end game is going to look like, only instead of ranchers it will be suburban homeowners.
Bookmark
/johnny
I dislike the BLM. I once worked a few months for the USFS, but the Forest Service was a very different organization in 1979. I loathe the environmental laws Congress has passed, and their refusal to rein in the BLM, EPA & USFS.
However, this is a pretty straightforward case: the rancher refuses to pay for grazing permits, and has argued in court that he is not a US citizen. This is NOT the place for conservatives to rally!
Another bookmark
BLM should be split up along with the lands they administer and handed off to the states.
And, really, the lands themselves should be sold off by lottery to US citizens. And BLM disbanded.
Aside from military bases and office complexes, the federal government has no need to own vast swaths of land.
“...US Constitution says it CAN own land.”
Be a little more specific. What kind of land does the constitution say the feds can own?
The original reason for the feds showing up is now a moot point.
Someone will have to back down, or there is going to be a firefight.
The feds can’t really back down, or they, from there on out, have no federal enforcement power.
So, that leaves The People backing down and capitulating, or it is settled with arms.
“What part of a civil dispute warrants over 200 federal agents with guns, and tasing protesters?”
When cops are faced with a riot, what do they do? They go in with force and try to keep things under control by having a LOT of control. This is a standard police action. The guy is a nutjob who believes US law doesn’t apply to him. He thinks he has the right to graze as many cattle anywhere and anytime he wants - which will destroy a desert environment. It did it before, in the early 1900s.
Want to fight about something? How about the town in Arizona that can’t restore its water lines except by hand? THAT would be a fight I would drive to and support! But a rancher who wants free forage, while every other rancher in the US pays for it? Nope. Wrong fight, wrong cause.
This is as good a place as any for it to begin. Lock and load.
We may be seeing the beginning of a real Sagebrush Rebellion II and an uprising of the silent majority. People are VERY fed up with the feds.
land used for a legitimate government purpose
“What is he doing that he wants to divert attention away form? “
I think there are limits to how long posts can be :-)
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