Posted on 01/03/2016 9:04:52 PM PST by Nextrush
Ammon Bundy emerged from a small brick building at the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge shortly after 11am.
He wouldn't say how many protestors were present at the site of the occupied federal complex, but fewer than 20 people were visible Sunday afternoon.
The leader of the occupation spoke in cool, calm tones as he explained why and other self-described militiamen broke into and took over the complex Saturday......
Protestor LaVoy Finicum, an Arizona rancher, said they're being careful not to damage the buildings or property. He claimed the protestors accessed the buildings after they found a set of keys. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service disputed that claim.......
When asked how long they plan to occupy the complex, Bundy would only say, 'for as long as it takes.'
Finicum said he plans to stay 'until the constitution is upheld." They brought food, fuel and supplies and local supporters visited the site Sunday adding to the stockpile.
Bundy said he hasn't heard from any law enforcement "since we made the stand." No officers were visible near the refuge, nor were marked police vehicles patrolling the remote ice-covered highways near the site.
But Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said federal and local officers are paying close attention.
"They're following it literally by the minute and that's whey it's so important that we have this close coordination between the FBI, which of course takes the lead at the federal level, because of the wildlife refuge, and the state police and the Harney County Sheriff's Office," Wyden said.
Oregon state police told OPB that a joint command center of federal, state and local law enforcement offices will be established Monday.......
(Excerpt) Read more at opb.org ...
Just because you say it doesn't make it so.
The Constitution says it, thus ends the argument.
You claim that the Constitution says that, thus the argument continues.
Feds are intimidating them.
I suppose some would be I don't know about 'many.' I would be laughing my ass off. I would be laughing at these clowns (for what they are doing not why they are doing it) if the FedMob weren't treating them like they were an ebola outbreak. That just gives them credence. Something neither liberals nor the FedMob has an ounce of.
Let's be accurate here. What happened is that the government appealed the sentence as being to lenient, and the court determined that the original judge disregarded the mandatory sentencing guidelines for the crimes which they were convicted of committing. The court then had to re-sentence them in line with the mandatory minimum.
Now we can agree that they should probably not have been charged they way they were in the first place, and we can agree that this whole situation seems to be a case of overkill on the part of the prosecutors and BLM. But on the issue of sentencing, the problem is the mandatory sentencing guidelines that remove the discretion of the judge to be lenient in cases like these.
What crime? Lighting a back-fire on THEIR OWN property to protect it from a wildfire burning on BLM land? A back-fire that actually helped put out the fire that the Feds had failed to put out?
From what it appears, there were no game violation charges because there was actually zero evidence of such a crime - that it was just part of the "story" the Feds came up with to get a conviction.
And someone posted that there was a plea deal...? The documents I have read indicate that they did not plead anything - they were convicted by a jury that was allowed to hear 6 days of bluster from the prosecution, but the defense was only allowed 1 day. The ONLY witness was a mentally disturbed child who was, at the time of his testimony, estranged from his family (grandfather and uncle on trial). Even the judge said the testimony was unreliable - yet he allowed it.
The back-story, even from a non-biased source, gives enough evidence for a truckload of red flags - and a very good reason to distrust ANYTHING the Feds have said or done in this case. This is more dirty than the operations of the Mafia...
Lighting a fire when conditions were so dry that a burn-ban was in effect. A fire which, once again, got out of their control and spread to federal land. This was the third time they had done that. The first two times they were warned and not charged. The third time was the charm.
From what it appears, there were no game violation charges because there was actually zero evidence of such a crime - that it was just part of the "story" the Feds came up with to get a conviction.
That was the allegation on the second fire in 2001. Not the last one in 2006.
The documents I have read indicate that they did not plead anything - they were convicted by a jury that was allowed to hear 6 days of bluster from the prosecution, but the defense was only allowed 1 day.
If the defense had only one day it's because they needed only one day for their case. They were not told they have a finite amount of time. Had the judge done that then there would have been a mistrial right off the bat.
The ONLY witness was a mentally disturbed child who was, at the time of his testimony, estranged from his family (grandfather and uncle on trial). Even the judge said the testimony was unreliable - yet he allowed it.
That would be the relative who was almost killed by the second fire.
Amazing the wide variety of renditions of the history of this case... they cannot all be correct.
If you would like more information about what's happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me.
I lost my Oregon list when my computer crashed last year, so please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
True. The real truth lies somewhere in the middle.
If the truth is genuinely somewhere in the “middle” then there is still a truckload of VERY serious concerns (crimes) committed by the Federal Government.
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