Posted on 01/27/2016 5:55:49 AM PST by xzins
Four days after taking the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon, LaVoy Finicum, a 55-year-old Arizona rancher told NBC News that he'd rather die than spend his days in prison.
"There are things more important than your life and freedom is one of them," he said in early January as he sat huddled in a blue tarp outside of the wildlife refuge keeping watch with his gun in his lap. "I'm prepared to defend freedom."
Finicum told NBC that night that he was staying outside to ensure that the FBI could find him if they came to arrest him.
Finicum was shot and killed Tuesday night when law enforcement stopped two cars carrying standoff leaders on their way from the refuge to a meeting in Grant County. Ryan Bundy, another militiaman, was shot and transported to the hospital, but did not suffer any life-threatening injuries, according to The Oregonian.
Before Finicum's death was even confirmed, supporters rushed to portray him on social media as a martyr who, according to unverified accounts, had his hands up and was unarmed when he was shot. Law enforcement sources told CNN that Finicum and Ryan Bundy were the only two leaders who did not surrender during the confrontation.
Finicum had taken a strong interest in land disputes with the federal government after he stood at Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy's side during his confrontation with the Bureau of Land Management in 2014. After returning home to Arizona, Finicum – a Mormon father with 11 children– made a decision. He was no longer going to write a check to the federal government for his grazing fees.
At the refuge, Finicum became a spokesman for the militiamen, fielding questions from press and helping plan events like one Saturday where ranchers were invited to come to the commandeered refuge to sign "declarations of emancipation" from the federal government, documents asserting they would no longer pay grazing fees. According to the Oregonian, Finicum had incurred about $12,000 in fees with the BLM.
In a video posting just hours before his death, Finicum described why the militiamen were still holding onto the refuge after more than three weeks and after local officials and community members had asked them to go. Finicum said that the occupation was intended to push back on the federal government's overreach.
"They do not want to let go of this," Finicum said. "They do not intend on loosing here and we do not intend on giving it back to them."
But Finicum's participation in the standoff had taken a toll. Back home in Arizona, child services had removed four foster children from his family's care, a move Finicum characterized as retribution. Oregon Public Broadcasting had reported that Finicum made most of his income from fostering.
Before Oregon, Finicum kept a website One Cowboy's Stand For Freedom where he documented his beliefs, his family and his ranch.
Finicum writes on the website that "he has drawn a line in the sand and that line is the Constitution in its original intent."
He also had written a cowboy thriller about the chaos of the American West after an electromagnetic pulse collapses the country's infrastructure called "Only By Blood and Suffering." The novel traced a family as each grown child navigated the new world and fights back against the overreach of the federal government.
Well, the man was hit 6 times, so it wasn’t 3 shots.
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Be careful, you may rule out suicide.
Well we now know that the penalty for sitting out on a “public” wildlife refuge when the closed sign is up is death.
The message was out there but not received in a sympathetic manner.
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It has been received 100% sympathetic in my household.
It hasn’t gotten any scan lines on MSM. And especially not any sympathetic responses.
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Non-violent means you don't bring a weapon. It is a self evident concept. This does not mean they don't have a right to be armed. I just think - personal opinion - that having arms in a protest turns the vast majority of bystanders watching on TV against you rather than for you.
Echo chamber / preaching to the choir is a failure to convert.
“OK, one more timeâ€
Now I see what you mean. That’s scarey. Honestly I don’t
know how I interpreted the way I did. Thanks for hanging in
there and not ripping my head off.
No problem. I think most people don’t expect my approach which was to offer an alternative TV friendly way to protest to win converts. They assume based on past debates that I was critiquing the mission or their ideology. I have a marketing background and I approached this as what kind of protest would sell in Peoria to win people over who sat on fence or did not pay attention.
he was driving a tank
right at them while in the process of molesting a little boy.
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Well you have a better case if he was trying to stop some mooslime from raping that little boy.
Well we now know that the penalty for sitting out on a “public†wildlife refuge when the closed sign is up is death.
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I may have to change my attitude about stopping at a ‘closed’ rest stop on the interstate.
People with loaded firearms who say in videotaped statements that they will resist law enforcement officers by force and in the case of the one killed last night said they would die rather than go to prison are anarchists.
If each man is free to interpret the Constitution as they see fit, then how could you object if a group of armed Black Lives Matter people took over a park in your home town and claimed it as theirs because of the abuses of slavery.
It works both ways.
“Mark McConnell, a bodyguard for Ammon Bundy, gives a more detailed eyewitness account of the arrests of Oregon militants and the fatal shooting of LaVoy Finicum” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP-b6_X4M4k
This is a play by play from people connected to the Patriots at the Refuge.
Citizens for Constitutional Freedom Support Group
10 hrs ·
Breaking Update.... FINAL STAND IN PROGRESS....
I’m Live with a contact at the refuge.... will post updates as I get them...
RELOAD THIS POST EVERY FEW MINUTES FOR NEW UPDATES
3:46 am EST
Vehicles incoming... FBI in the process of surrounding the compound. Some of the militia have fled. Others are remaining to take a stand. Some of the men are giving final farewell messages to their families.
3:59 am EST
The roads leading out of the Refuge have been blocked off. There is no way out.
4:00 am EST
It appears that cell communications have been jammed.
4:16 AM EST
I’m back in contact... Feds have still not moved in yet. Militia taking up positions.
4:24 am EST
Jason Patrick from the Refuge has reached out to KTVZ to say that the people in the Refuge want a peaceful resolution and do not want the FBI to come in guns blazing.
4:39 am EST
Communications with the compound continue to be difficult. Service continues to be sporadic.
4:49 am EST
Jason Patrick on the phone with the FBI which is claiming to offer “safe passage” through the front entrance to the Refuge.
5:03 am EST 5:22 am EST 6:00 am EST
No new updates. Signals from the refuge appear to be jammed.
5:15 am EST
THE BUNDY RANCH IS CALLING FOR EVERYONE TO CHANGE THEIR FACEBOOK PROFILE PICTURES TO THE ‪#‎LIBERTYREVOLUTION‬ picture of Lavoy Finicum. You can find the photo on our FB page.
5:32 am EST
Militia members are still in their positions. FBI still has refuge surrounded.
6:20 am EST
Jason Patrick has told the media at the entrance of the refuge that the militia is prepared to defend themselves.
6:38 am EST
A member of the media has entered the compound and is now embedded with the militia.
6:43 am EST
Militia at the Refuge just told media that LaVoy Finicum was unarmed when he was shot and that his personal firearm is still at the Refuge where he left it before leaving for the day.
6:45 am EST
Militia members told media that they will shoot to kill if the FBI launches an armed invasion into the compound. “This is armageddon”.
6:46 am EST
Confirmed: the militia has moved a front loader to block the road into the refuge. Jason Patrick is continuing to speak to reporters at the front entrance.
6:53 am EST
Multiple militia report FBI vehicles moving in... militia members moving to positions.
6:56 am EST
FBI MOVING IN ON ALL SIDES
6:57 AM EST
People at the compound overheard saying they hope they are not slaughtered like the people at Ruby Ridge and Waco. They are extending love and well wishes to one another.
7:01 AM EST
My connection has gone dead. Hoping for it to be restored ASAP.
7:36 am EST
FBI holding latest positions have not moved in further. More media arriving. No fighting to report at this point. Fed vehicles still at a distance with lights off. At least 5 media outlets on the scene, including CNN.
8:16 am EST
Everything at a stand still. Militia at the refuge are still angry over the murder of LaVoy and are in no mood to surrender.
9:12 am EST
Unfortunately, nothing new to report... I’m still checking in with my contacts but nothing else has happened. I’m sure the people at the refuge are getting tired from having been up all night. For those who made fun of them for asking for energy drinks early on, now we can see the sense in the request.
9:48 AM EST
Some of the militia have been able to eat breakfast and refuel with coffee. Media are walking around bugging the militia members to sign permission forms to use their faces on camera... a request that is not being met with much interest from the people who are preparing for a gun fight with federal agents.
10:31 am EST
Gunshots heard in the distance. Not sure who shot. Some speculation that other militia may have arrived.
10:44 am EST
No additional shots heard. Militia in position.
11:17 am EST
No significant developments. Some women chose to remain in the compound to fight along side the men.
11:20 am EST
Some media are leaving the area after having been warned off by the FBI. WKTVZ has posted that the FBI told them that they will be provided no protection. This is a bad sign. If the FBI is trying to get the media to leave, they must not want footage of what is going to happen.
11:49 am EST
Despite 6 witnesses who saw LaVoy Finicum get shot while he was unarmed, with his hands above his head, MSNBC is now reporting that FBI officials are claiming that LaVoy “jumped out of his vehicle brandishing a firearm and was shot and killed.” THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE LIE. Federal Authorities are also claiming that they do not know who fired the “shot or shots” that killed LaVoy. Shot or shots? They riddled the man with bullets. Eyewitnesses say he was shot 6 times, including 3 times after he had fallen to the ground dead.
11:59 am EST
Word has spread around the compound that the FBI has ordered the media to leave. Militia were heard saying that they believe the FBI doesn’t want media coverage of the “bloodbath” they are getting ready to perpetrate.
12:01 pm EST
Militia in the process of digging trenches. Government drones are flying overhead to gather aerial footage.
12:05 pm EST
Multiple checkpoints have been set up by the FBI along key routes in and out of the refuge. Only ranchers who own property in the area are allowed to pass, but only after providing identification and submitting to a vehicle search.
12:20 pm EST
Most, if not all, media vehicles have pulled out and left the Refuge.
12:21 pm EST
FBI using the same type of spy plane over the Refuge now as they used over Waco - a military version of the Britten-Norman Islander, developed for roles such as utility transport, casualty evacuation, counter-insurgency and light attack, forward air control, patrol and reconnaissance.
1:02 pm EST
Militia members are expecting a group of Navy Seals to parachute in to the Refuge to come to their aid. The goal is now to hold on at the Refuge until the Seals arrive. Trenches continuing to be dug with backhoe.
1:18 pm EST
Yes, some militia members have spoken with retired Seals who are en route. This is not a joke.
(From Facebook, I don’t know much about the group posting this but put it here on FR for information for interested parties.)
Sounds like what happened to Bonnie and Clyde.
elicit sympathy and support from people outside of the movement.
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So my household is in the movement??????
Or in the choir?????
You don’t know.
But I AM sympathetic (so maybe THAT means that I am in the movement or choir).
I will state that their message has not gotten out, positively or even negatively very much, via ‘normal’ means (MSM, etc.)
So they haven’t had a chance to get ‘sympathy’ as our culture operates these days. I blame that on a complicit media. The extreme lack of coverage on this case (vs. Waco, Ruby Ridge) is condemning against the Govt/Media.
I have a marketing background and I approached this as what kind of protest would sell in Peoria
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OK. Good.
I think the protest and the cause (background, etc.) would sell well in Peoria.
Do we have to buy air time there?, the Media seems to be ignoring intentionally.
Hmmmm. Trump’s non PC tactics/antics got him on the air.
Brainstorming: Bring in LGBT, Trans, the other BLM, mooslimes,(maybe white oscars), so ‘out there’ it can’t be ignored.
I assume people on Freerepublic are in the club and they are not the wider world/.
No, they are not anarchists, even if they are willing to use guns to defend themselves..
Your label simply does not jive with what they were doing, what they believe, and the definition of an anarchist:
“a person who believes in or tries to bring about anarchy.”
These men were not trying to bring about anarchy in the least. They were in fact, trying to restore constitutional law and were willing to defend themselves in the process.
Words have meaning...meanings matter. Your definition of these people does not match the word you are using to label them with.
You may not agree with them...and that is fine and your right. You may think what they were doing was bad...that too is your right.
You may even use the wrong words to label them...but in that case you will meet opposition from the people who know what those words mean.
ping234
“Make the story sympathetic “
It would certainly help. I like the idea of an all woman protest. They’d have to combat the common view purported by the press that “right wing” women are loons. Barefoot and pregnant types. Part of the marketing plan to consider.
Yep, and the Feds assume the same.
It seems like the State of Oregon decided it was GO time before the Feds. They had to wait until the group left the Federal land to jump them, though.
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