When I say no one cares about the refuge, I don’t mean that literally no one cares about it ever. I mean that right now, in the dead of winter, it’s not an operational facility. They are empty buildings.
The implication of this fact is that “occupation” of the location means absolutely nothing. They are simply sitting out in the wilderness like idiots. It’s effectively a crappy camping trip.
If they damage the property, or if it was actually occupied, then there would be an immediate problem that needed to be dealt with. Because then their actions would have negative impacts on other people. But as it is, their actions are ultimately impotent, and silly.
For instance, if this actually happened during the season when people use that building, and the people prevented them from doing their jobs, then it would matter. The reason I don’t care isn’t because it’s a remote wildlife refuge. The reason I don’t care is because their presence at the refugee doesn’t actually impact anyone right now.
You seem to be insisting on making a distinction without a difference. The wildlife refuge is occupied by an agency of the government, by definition. These dipshits have taken over the buildings with guns and are effectively saying “this is ours now, for as long as we want or until you come and remove us.”
A reasonable response, given that there doesn’t appear to be any non-combatants in the vicinity is to wait them out. Eventually they’ll come out of the forest, and then hopefully they’ll be hammered, legally-speaking. I’m sure even a mildly talented federal prosecutor can find a dozen or so laws they’ve broken.
I picture the granola bar, the last piece of food left, laying on the floor. The milita members, hands hovering over their triggers, their eyes darting around like Blondie, Tuco, and Angel Eyes in the cemetery.
The only reason I’m pointing out that the facility is unoccupied, is that it makes a difference in terms of the options we have for dealing with them.
Since they are occupying a faculty which had ZERO utility in the near future, and whose occupation does not impact anyone in even the smallest way, that is the reason why we can afford to do nothing at all and just wait.
Folks seem to think I’m pointing out the fact the faculty doesn’t matter as an excuse for their actions, or a suggestion that they don’t need to be punished. I’m pointing it out because it explains why their occupation is impotent, and we can easily afford to just mock them until they inevitably go home, and then we can prosecute then for the laws they have broken.
To give more insight into the type of person involved in this, I present Daniel Brewer, who laments not being able to join the militia to fight against the federal government, because he can’t afford the gas money, because he is waiting to get his disability check from the government.
A jury convicted the Hammonds of the Section 844 charge, acquitted them on other charges, and failed to reach a verdict on additional charges. While the jury continued to deliberate on the remaining charges, the Hammonds and the government reached a deal: the Hammonds would not appeal the verdict and the government would recommend that the Hammonds could stay out on bail pending sentencing and that the government would recommend that their Section 844 sentences be served concurrently — that is, that though the Hammonds were convicted of multiple counts of Section 844, each carrying a mandatory minimum five-year sentence, the government would recommend that those five-year terms not “stack,” but result in just one five-year sentence.
At sentencing, the United States District Judge on the case refused to impose the five-year mandatory-minimum sentences required by Section 844, ruling that to do so would violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The court instead imposed sentences of twelve months and a day on the father1 and three months on the son.
The government appealed the sentence, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed and sent the case back, instructing the trial court to impose the statutory mandatory minimum sentence. The Court found — rather convincingly, given the precedent — that a five-year sentence for arson does not violate the Eighth Amendment
So yeah, they were convicted of Arson on Federal property by a Jury, and agreed to not contest that in exchange for other charges being dropped (and getting concurrent sentences on the charges) and aren’t contesting that, yet the Bundy’s of the world have a problem with it.
Looks like law enforcement is living up to their usual high standards.
Their supplies look to be dwindling and militia men who overtook the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon have pleaded with sympathizers to send food, but law enforcement tell TPM that the men are free to resupply on their own.
“Right now, they are allowed to come and go as they want,” says Bill Fugate, a spokesman for the Oregon State police.
The unknown number of militia men involved in the stand off are calling themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom. The group sent an alert message to supporters Monday asking for snacks as they are holed up in the refuge center, but authorities confirm that they are free to drive to the grocery store and pick up snacks.
Fugate says that to his knowledge, law enforcement are “not monitoring what they are doing.”
“We are not monitoring their movements,” Fugate says.
Naturally if you are white and have guns and take over a building that doesn’t belong to you, not only are you not accountable, aka have no consequences, for your actions apparently you can get a Republican congressman to speak on your behalf (Greg Walden) too.
So … why would law enforcement set up a command center if they aren’t monitoring the individuals involved? Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it; that does not make sense.
I bet if law enforcement had plans to pounce and arrest any of these yahoos that left the grounds for re-supply, they probably wouldn’t be dumb enough to announce their plans in advance.
Someone pointed out that as soon as the media gets bored of nothing happening, they will stop covering it, which will then cause the idiots to leave. Then you can just fine them, arrest them, or whatever.
