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Why The Feds Chickened Out On A Nevada Ranch
Townhall.com ^ | 4-12-2014 | Kevin McCullough

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.


TOPICS: Editorial; Miscellaneous; US: Nevada
KEYWORDS: bhoblm; blm; blunders; bundy; bundyranch; bundyranchmap; propertyrights; rancher; reid
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To: GilesB

Now that is interesting. I know that the law in Nebraska is different in regards to BLM land (same with Wyoming). The range is much different in most places also.


201 posted on 04/13/2014 5:02:07 AM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: everyone
the endangered desert tortoise, a tortoise so “endangered” that their population can no longer be contained by the refuge constructed for them so the government is closing it and euthanizing over a thousand tortoises. The tortoises, the excuse that BLM has given for violating claims to easements and running all but one lone rancher out of southern Nevada, is doing fine. In fact, the tortoise has lived in harmony with cattle in the Gold Butte, Clark County Nevada for over a hundred years

http://danaloeschradio.com/the-real-story-of-the-bundy-ranch/

Don't you just love it when your government lies to you?


202 posted on 04/13/2014 5:04:11 AM PDT by McGruff (I wouldn't be surprised if Jeb Bush pulled a Charlie Crist)
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To: dragnet2

Who were the Posters who were doing the spinning? I would like to know so I can look for them in the future.

I have been away for a while and the only news I got was from talk radio.


203 posted on 04/13/2014 5:06:57 AM PDT by wintertime
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To: Darksheare

Feds lost the battle in a PR victory for the Conservatives, but they haven’t lost the war. They will do their best with their Hollywood allies to paint the Ranchers as fools and Tea Party nut cases (and racists too). They will be back and this time they will win—If we let them! Remember Folks its all about Power and the November Election. The Democrats do not want a bloodbath on National Television—that will presage a Bloodbath at the polls that even corruption and ballot box tampering can not stop.


204 posted on 04/13/2014 5:07:09 AM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll)
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To: Republican1795.

“I bet if the truth about the Harry Reid connection did not come out as it did... that the government would have not quit as they did.”

I’ll second that. Apparently, info on that subject started to “disappear” from sources. Fortunately, not fast enough!


205 posted on 04/13/2014 5:11:08 AM PDT by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like it)
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To: jcon40

Yes, indeed! It would be good to know the names of those federal thugs.

Why should they remain anonymous? I certainly do not want any harm to come to them or their families but they should have to suffer the embarrassment of explaining their actions to other American citizens.

Where is their loyalty? To the Constitution? Or..Is to their paycheck?


206 posted on 04/13/2014 5:12:27 AM PDT by wintertime
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To: GilesB

Thanks for the explanation!


207 posted on 04/13/2014 5:15:14 AM PDT by spankalib ("I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.")
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To: servo1969

They didn’t chicken out. They are regrouping politically and will be back in force.


208 posted on 04/13/2014 5:23:22 AM PDT by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Are!)
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To: Republican1795.

I still have not heard that part of the story on the so called CONSERVATIVE FOX NEWS CHANNEL,they are all corrupt including Fox news


209 posted on 04/13/2014 5:24:56 AM PDT by ballplayer
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To: dragnet2

A perfect example of the GOPe, anti- Conservative take on this was Fri, on The Five, the dweeb filling in for Gutfeld ( “the edgy conservative” on the panel) characterized Bundy Sr as a “nutty guy” (paraphrased).
Another “loony right winger” memo from the “establishment”...
Sick. Of. It.


210 posted on 04/13/2014 5:28:51 AM PDT by matginzac
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To: Darksheare

I appreciate what you (and the other ‘real’ FReepers) have done. The time and attention it took to sift through the whole tangled skein, while fighting off and debunking stooges is a credit to you, and what has made FR great over the years.
Being just an everyday joe (I am Spartacus!), believe me, it HELPS!

To sum up:
The BLM, with Reid’s guiding hand (his son was in it too, right? - & I wouldn’t discount others, including 0) - makes a “grab”.
When their perfidious behind-the-scenes machinations are “outed”, they tuck tail and run.
Izzat about it?

Be sweet if this was trumpeted in any “News” (which I don’t watch or listen to - relying instead on FR, Rush, etc.)

These power-hungry statists are beneath contempt.


211 posted on 04/13/2014 5:30:09 AM PDT by spankalib ("I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.")
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To: Ray76; ponygirl; TigersEye
So who sent you? /s

Thank You Ray for my first LOL of the day!
I also want to Thank everyone following the leads.
Know am not remembering everyone that broke this info
and brought forth The Truth. My apology. There are
so many to Thank and my memory eludes me.

212 posted on 04/13/2014 5:34:35 AM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: Reb Raider
It is obvious BLM has systematically used their power to run off ranchers in a lot of places. FOX had a special on Fed over reach tonight and I assumed it was on Bundy—but it was a rancher with a horror story so bad he wrote a book about it. After that they got harassed and fined pretty much daily. One fine was for a single nail being out on the fence on top of a mountain. People are past ready to remind the Feds they are not our boss, but our employees!

Thank You. I too would like to see more interviews with any former Ranchers in this area where a cover up appears to be ongoing.

213 posted on 04/13/2014 5:46:38 AM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: Ray76
Everything was “nice and legal”, but it was criminal.

Pretty much sums up FedGov in general and Harry Reid in particular.

214 posted on 04/13/2014 5:53:34 AM PDT by Flick Lives ("I can't believe it's not Fascism!")
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To: servo1969

Their plan to provoke the protesters into violence failed as well. No video of those evil, violent right-wingers to run on the evening news and in political ads.


215 posted on 04/13/2014 5:57:17 AM PDT by ArcadeQuarters (Starve the RINOs: Not one dollar, not one vote.)
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To: andyk

“They (the Feds) left at a time and place of their choosing.”

They left with a$$ spanked.

Think of it like the British march back from Concorde.
The centrists were stopped well short of their goal by armed citizens and then retreated humiliated.

To paraphrase Churchill....or plagiarize him....It is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is, however, the end of the beginning.

The people have learned that played wisely and maturely, they are feared by the Feds, even if only meekly supported by state and local officials.

There will be a next time. Here or somewhere else. Both sides will continue to test.

But for the first time in a long time, the people stood and the Feds folded.

Glorious.

Who do you think is having a few brewski’s and back slapping each other today?

Of course, Mormons don’t drink. Oh well, you get my point.

Be happy. It is a good day for freedom.


216 posted on 04/13/2014 5:57:59 AM PDT by Lowell1775
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To: TigersEye

FR is the gov’t secret finding BORG!


217 posted on 04/13/2014 5:58:30 AM PDT by Principled (Obama: Unblemished by success.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck; Ray76

Lots of emotion because is an emotional situation when investigating elected people. Elected people hate investigators because; Finding the Truth is always emotional or lead to greater emotions. When one reads all the disinformation coupled with bits of the truth it is difficult to not become emotionally involved. May all of the truth come into the light but normally all of the truth stays in the shadows because people know the consequences of holding the truth and sharing said truth. Makes finding the truth all the more difficult for everyone when people are afraid. (imho)


218 posted on 04/13/2014 6:03:54 AM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: Ray76; HiTech RedNeck

I truly wish I had time to read everything, remember everything I’ve read, digest everything I’ve read and seek out the parts that are true. I too have been attacked for seeking the truth. Is a normal day when one seeks the truth.


219 posted on 04/13/2014 6:07:38 AM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: snoringbear
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.

Makes one wonder how many laws have been rewritten since the 1800s to possibly and probably remove 'grandfathered rights'?

220 posted on 04/13/2014 6:10:39 AM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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