Posted on 04/12/2014 10:31:38 PM PDT by servo1969
Let me obliterate a bit of confusion here: the Obama administration attempted to go to war with a rancher in Nevada. Let me amplify a little bit of truth: They tucked tail and have returned home. And let me add a bit of clarity: they had no choice!
As the nation began to become familiar with the plight of the family of Cliven Bundy, many of us harkened back to another standoff in which the Federal government attempted to bully it's outcome: Waco, Texas and the Branch Davidian massacre.
It is telling that in the Nevada case the feds pulled out so quickly, given all they had indicated they were willing to do to resolve the matter to their satisfaction. They had set up a perimeter around the Bundy's family land, ranch, and home. They had brought in extra artillery, dogs, and snipers. They were beginning the process of stealing more than 300 head of cattle that did not belong to them.
They did so--or so we were told--for the reason of protecting the desert tortoise. But then it was revealed that the Bureau of Land Management had shot far more desert tortoises than the Bundy cattle had even possibly destroyed. We were told they did it because the Bundys had broken federal laws by not paying what amounted to retroactive grazing fees to the federal government. But the Governor of the state of Nevada told us that Bundy had paid every ounce of state tax, met the state requirements, and their family had been improving the property more than 100 years previous.
Finally we were allowed to know the connection between a communist Chinese wind/solar power plant and its connection to that senator named Harry Reid. Evidently a plan had been hatched to use the Bundy property for a solar farm and instead of paying the Bundys, someone, somewhere in the administration believed it was easier to just take what they wanted.
That approach is at least consistent with the readily documented abuse of imminent domain where the government for any number of reasons--few of them valid--have taken to taking what doesn't belong to them. Americans then watch as it gets handed over to some multi-national corporation for the "cause" of the "greater good."
There were a few specific reasons why the feds chickened out in the Nevada desert though.
1. Technology - As the Bundy family members were abused, cameras captured it. Not television network cameras, but dozens of cell phone video devices that gave witness to a Bundy aunt being shoved to the ground, and a Bundy son being tazed. All of this while threatening protestors with dogs, brandished weapons and vehicles was captured, uploaded and made viral to the watching world.
2. States' Rights - As the drama unfolded it became clear that the Governor of Nevada, and the Sheriff of Clark County knew that Cliven Bundy's family had not only not broken any state law regarding the land, but that they had gone to the enth degree to insure compliance with Nevada laws on the property. The Governor and the Sheriff, to their credit, did not favor the feds as a more powerful party in the conflict. Though there must have been pressure from Senator Reid's office, the administration via the Bureau of Land Management, and local officials who were bought and sold like the Clark County Commissioner who told those coming to support the Bundys to have "funeral plans in place."
3. Grassroots Response - As other incidents have transpired in the past, the amount of time it took honest information to reach the grassroots and thus the response to the action came to slow. In the massacre in Waco, most of the nation had been sold a single narrative from the limited media outlets covering the events. Similarly the events surrounding the abduction of Elian Gonzales from his family in Florida and deportation to Cuba took place in such a response vacuum that by the time Americans knew the real story, the damage was done. With the Bundy ranch, internet outlets by the dozen had competing information with the limited "official news" being released by the networks, and in most cases the alternative sources had it correct and usually a full day or so ahead of the news cycle. By the time afternoon drive hit, when the network news rooms in New York were preparing their first stories, talk radio audiences had already been dialing their elected officials in Washington demanding action.
The majority of Americans saw through the efforts to spin the story in Nevada. Couple that with the leadership failures that the American people view the administration responsible for, from Benghazi to the Affordable Care Act, all it took was the unedited video of federal agents tazing Bundy's son, followed by his pulling the wires from his chest and continuing to stand his ground for there to be comparisons made to the American revolution.
It's also important to note that merely pulling back from the Bundy property hasn't settled the matter for the American people either.
The feds have stolen 352 head of cattle, and will not confirm or deny if they euthanized some or all of them. Recompense must be made. And to be candid, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see if a few ambitious law firms don't try to convince the Bundy family of the validity of litigation.
Fortunately for the American people, the feds were not able to ultimately bully a simple rancher, not for a tortoise, a solar power plant, or a dirty Senator and his administration.
We owe the Bundy family a great deal of thanks for standing tall.
For if the federal government is allowed to do it with one, then there will be nothing stopping them from doing it again.
Don’t be a clown.
Read it.
Why The Feds Chickened Out On A Nevada Ranch... POLLS.
Every minute this was turning into a bigger disaster for the democrats and big govt.
They had to cut their losses.
“Most telling I think was the land broker from LV who said he had been sent with purchase offers for many years and was turned down.”
Yeah, it’s my understanding that Bundy was the “last rancher standing” in the area. The Feds have an interesting strategy; many of these ranchers could trace their lineage with their land back to the late 1800’s. At that time the government was encouraging folks to settle on land by utilizing the Homestead Act. Problem was the Homestead Act only granted settlers 160 acres which was ok for establishing a family farm back east. However, in the desert west 160 acres would/will only support a few head of cattle. So, what the original settlers did was to Homestead acreage around various water sources and utilize surrounding free range for grazing. I would not be surprised should this go to court that Bundy and other original ranchers to be not only found innocent but are grandfathered with grazing rights.
I recall an interview of a Nazi concentration camp survivor. He would help the commandant dress. He said something like this, “He started as a middle-aged dumpy man. I’d help him into his pants with the stripes and his belts and tunic with the medals. I’d strap on his gun slip him into his coat and adjust his hat and when we were done he’d changed from somebody you wouldn’t look twice at in the street to a monster.”
You put ordinary government functionaries into battle armor and give them radios and backup and suddenly they’ve gone from a clerk you wouldn’t look twice at to a powerful monster.
Truths like this will be suppressed or twisted to serve the purpose of the regime.
I heard the same thing and there was some other trust involved as well.
You didn’t dream this up.
Already done you’ve heard.
He was confirmed not weeks ago.
I think the writer’s reasons are on target.
A potential land grab to backdoor a deal for Chinese wind/solar investment brokered by a Harry Reid relative is probably the root of all of it. That, plus government arrogance and animus toward anyone freethinking and freedom loving.
It did, and might still at some point in the future, hold the potential for becoming another standoff like RR or even worse, Waco. What DID deter them was technology - social media, even though they locked out the area to network helicopters, etc. It didn’t hurt either that Holder and Obama would become an even worse pariah to freedom lovers in this country if they did it, and they knew it.
I also think that the feds got the quiet word from state and local authorities that their goon troops would not be getting support, especially if the conflict escalated to shooting.
Lastly, as the writer indicates - Grassroots. Support is/was strong here for Bundy, and all the other BLM oppressed people. The BLM/Rangers bring in their camoed shock troops, Tazers, sidearms, rifles, etc. thinking themselves akin to SEAL TEAM 6 or something when their charter was more like a Nazi Jew roundup operation. Oppression, plain and simple. They should be ashamed to call themselves Americans.
It will only be when they really start wondering whether they will be going home on any given night is when they will start acting like honorable men instead of oppressive goons.
Maniacs get the same from me...
Most points have been too clever by half.
The feds backed down because the election cycle is very near and it would be a hard row to hoe to spin blood in the streets quite so quickly, especially at this point in time.
Exactly. It was quickly becoming a PR disaster.
or Ammon Bundy is just a freaking stud.
Go with stud. Some guys can take the jolt and shake it off.
“Seems like the good ole USA is finally waking up.”
From your lips to the ears of the Creator.
IMHO
Reid may be making plans now because he might foresee that his days of Senate majority leader could be about over. He wants to make him some big bucks now.
We should look for a lot of thieving and deals being made before November.
Add it to Reid's recent issues...campaign money to his grand daughter , DOJ blocking an FBI investigation into some of his other corrupt dealings...
Nice pic of the BLM swat guy.
I am glad no one died. Even more glad that this is going back to the courts.
I suspect most of the cattle are dead though. As I have said before this whole thing stinks on both sides.
Good points.
But they didn’t kill Bundy. That was the plan I suspect.
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