Posted on 01/04/2016 10:33:31 AM PST by ObozoMustGo2012
Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas.) on Monday slammed the protesters who have taken over a federal building in rural Oregon, urging them to lay down their arms.
“Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds,†Cruz told reporters at campaign event in Iowa, according to NBC News.
“But we don't have a constitutional right to use force and violence and to threaten force and violence on others,†he said. “And so it is our hope that the protesters there will stand down peaceably, that there will not be a violent confrontation.†Cruz said he is praying for everyone involved in the dispute, particularly law enforcement officials who “are risking their lives.â€
The protesters, led by two sons of the Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, say they are taking a stand against a prison sentence for two landowners convicted of arson on federal property.
They’re also part of a group that frequently protests against federal government's management of Western lands. They protesters have told media outlets that they plan to stay on the refuge for years.
The standoff has put Republican presidential candidates on the spot, with some of them having expressed support in a similar dispute in 2014 between Bundy and the government over unpaid grazing fees.
The support for Bundy eroded when he began making racially charged statements in interviews.
Up until Monday, most of the GOP's White House contenders had refrained from speaking out on the Oregon dispute, but that is beginning to change.
Like Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) condemned the takeover at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, though he told an Iowa radio station that he sympathizes with the movement to shrink federal land holdings.
“You’ve got to follow the law. You cannot be lawless,†Rubio told KBUR in an interview highlighted by Buzzfeed. “We live in a republic. There are ways to change the laws of this country and the policies. And if we get frustrated with it, that’s why we have elections, that’s why we have people we can hold accountable.â€
Rubio lent some credit to the stated goals of the occupation, reported by local media to involve a small group of armed men with very few local residents. The group is objecting to federal land control and ownership and pushing for the federal land to be given to states or individuals.
“I agree that there is too much federal control over land, especially out in the western part of the United States. There are states, for example, like Nevada that are dominated by the federal government in terms of land holding, and we should fix it,†Rubio said, adding that it shouldn’t be done “in a way that is outside the law.â€
Among the 2016 hopefuls, Cruz has been one of the most vocal advocates for reducing federal land ownership, along with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Cruz led the charge against the Bureau of Land Management’s claims over property around the Red River in Texas, saying he wants to “protect landowners from federal overreach.â€
Rubio has been less vocal about federal land ownership, but his energy policy platform calls for more local and state control over federal property for oil and natural gas drilling or other uses.
Land management is a major political issue in Western states. Nationwide, the federal government owns and manages nearly 630 million acres, with most located west of the Mississippi River.
Cruz and Rubio have increasingly clashed in recent weeks, with both seeking to overtake Donald Trump in polls of the Republican race.
While Rubio is seeking to gain ground in New Hampshire, the first primary state, Cruz has taken the lead in Iowa, which will hold its caucuses on Feb. 1.
(1) What is wrong with the Club for Growth, exactly?
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Club for Growth is the old Rockefeller Republican liberal camp. The Establishment is anything BUT conservative. Look at who funds and who is funded by Club for Growth.
2. I think Trump’s knowledge of Hillery’s pie is what scares the hell out of the uniparty. Trump contributed heavily to republicans too, but we never hear about that.
3. I think bush was an establishment candidate in 2000, but he was head and shoulders better than the Dem’s Commie. Bush loves America and Gore will do anything to destroy us in favor of the One World Order. Bush was not all bad. Gore is all bad.
Yep, very suspect.
The professionals politicians on the biggov payroll should have been rocking their podiums over this oppressive government control/intrusion and illegal taxation decades ago. Do nothing, say nothing, go along to get along. Business as usual.
This is exactly why tens of millions are now supporting Trump.
Duncan hunter was the best thing California had!
“What will the Trump supporters say and think if Trump were to tell them to stand down ?
Will they change their criticism of Ted Cruz for saying to stand down ?”
Don’t scramble the issues.
One is standing down from this remote, forced and forlorn hope ‘show down’.
The second and more important issue is Cruz apparently brushing away the rights of defense of self and defense of others as being unconstitutional in principle.
Yeah, I have had a couple of good cases like that as well.
One involved a speeding ticket I got because the officer, who did not see me speeding, concluded that I must have been based on the extent of the damaged he observed to my car - the trunk got wrapped around a tree when I lost control and spun off an icy road. Asked for supporting deposition, cop told judge what happened, and judge said - “What, are you Sherlock Holmes”? Case dismissed.
Second one was helping out my daughter. Some guy was standing right outside a courthouse to interview defendants coming out for his blog - courthouseconfessions.blogspot.com . So my teenage delinquent daughter, who had done some shoplifting, made yet another big mistake by not only telling this guy that she had done this, but by acting like it was all a joke and that she’d get off with a slap on the wrist and some community service - which naturally was NOT now going to happen after the prosecutor viewed the blog. So I pointed out the fact that the location where this blogger conducted his interviews was still court property, and that by allowing him to stand there, he essentially was being given access in exchange for information the police could use, hence making him an agent of the police, and subject to all the same procedures and rules of evidence that the police must follow. After all, they wouldn’t let me stand in that same spot for my lawyers-caught-nose-picking blog, would they? So the DA, who wasn’t going to make any deal because she thought that blog gave her all she would need, backed down and gave me the deal I wanted, which was a remitter agreement - she stays out of trouble for a year and then her record is expunged.
I also told my daughter it was the last time I’d help her with anything like this - and I’m glad to say, that she turned things around after that.
please add:
And proposed taxing the American people to support the British soldiers installed in America to force compliance with parliament’s laws to which there was no recourse or even discussion. It was an absolute act of suppression and tyranny.I
The manager of the wildlife refuge is married to the woman who got the Hammonds back in court, conveniently waiting until after they had served their first sentencing.
Additional the wildlife refuge too the Hammond’s to court over water rights, and lost, but still - costly and stressful for the Hammond’s.
They also blocked roads on the Hammond’s own property and then tried to block them from using another road.
About a decade of harassment from the wildlife refuge.
And if true (I have no way to verify this other than he said she said)? This means people with guns get to occupy a federal building? I am not saying the protestors are wrong for feeling aggrieved - but how that is remedy but veiled threats at some sort of armed uprising is beyond me.
Ted Cruz said they had no RIGHT to arm themselves. He pretends to be so expert on the constitution. Obviously he neither understands nor believes in the Second Amendment. The ranchers have the RIGHT accorded by the Second Amendment to bear arms at all times. They do not need anyone’s permission.
This is the best summation by Bob Wright:
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2016/01/from-bob-wright-why-bunkerville-was-so.html
Thank you! It is obvious a great number of FReepers have no idea about Agenda 21 and how many years it has been in implementation. America is losing the battle for our sovereignty. Far too many good hearted people are sound asleep.
That is the underlying dispute that western state governors are meeting with the Feds now. Thank Jimmy Carter for this.
The wildlife refuge has been trying to get that ranch, because the refuge literally surrounds the refuge, shut down for at least a decade.
The manager of it is married to the woman who took the Hammonds back to court.
Of coarse they have a right to bare arms. They don't have a right under the law to take over a gubbamint building. I don't necessarily disagree with what they are doing because I realize they're frustrated just like us all and want to get their message across to an overbearing federal behemoth. I get that.
Ted Cruz is running for president. What the hell would you have him say? Way to take over a federal facility boyz. Aim straight and try to hold out as long as ya can.
????
Who paid for the “Federal Facility?” Seems to me it was OUR tax dollars. The Feds have overstepped the constitution and Cruz is telling us we have no constitutional right to arm ourselves in self defense. Make no mistake. This is not about the Bundys. This is about ALL AMERICANS who own property the government wants. AGENDA 21 is at work here.
You mean as opposed federal government for decades rewarding tens of millions of illegals with tax paid prizes and gifts as they routinely break our laws and rules?
Got it.
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