Bundy Ranch Standoff, Bunkerville NV

I have no idea if this is a Big Thing. I read the hick newspapers in order to laugh at the letters to the editor, and this is Big Thing to rural people Out West. (Here is a good one.)

Mr Bundy has had a ranch in Nevada his whole life. He makes a big deal that it has been in his family for a long time too. But, like many such operations, he never owned the land, it is owned by the federal government. (Something like 90% of Nevada is own by the federal government and managed by the Bureau of Land Management.)

Mr. Bundy has refused to pay his fees for permission to graze on what he considers to be his land. He owes about a million bucks. (He has not paid for decades.) In fact "his" land has been "bought" by another party who has taken it out of production in order to preserve some sort of turtle. Mr. Bundy has kept his moo-moos on the land despite a number of requests for him to move them.

So now the BLM has started to remove the cows and and structures (some sort of watering devices) Mr. Bundy has placed on the land. The Feds are of course heavily armed as Mr. Bundy has promised a "war" if the Feds act. He now claims he is surrounded, although he is free to come and go as far as I can tell.

So anyway, the Militia people and others (like the local governor) have objected to the BLM generally, and their enforcing the law in particular.

Is this a Big Deal, back in the US? Should it be?

I googled it and it seems there was a rather serious standoff between government agents (armed) and local people (also armed). In the end the agents were forced/decided to return the cows (i think also some farmland) they had confiscated.

Rather peculiar story. If it shows something it is that there appears to be a very notable anti-government force sentiment in those areas (Nevada? in other parts of the US too, surely). And it almost got to the point of a mass government-civilian shootout, which would be major news indeed.

And while guns rarely lead to a good conclusion, something tells me that the gov agents would be highly unlikely to cancel their action (deemed unlawful/unjust i suppose by the local people) if they were not under direct threat of being answered back with gunfire like their own.

Without reading anything else I can only assume that the Feds have put away the guns in order to escalate their use of force to lawyers and judges and paperwork. No militia can withstand the might of mountains of paper and deadlines.

Funny to see a bunch of militia types support a welfare queen.

Kyriakos said:

(deemed unlawful/unjust i suppose by the local people)

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This is a prime example of how stupidity can lead to bad things. This guy was a clown who broke the law. The only thing unlawful about this whole thing was his behaviour. It's ridiculous how some people seem to think they are above the law and can do whatever they want.

It's almost funny how these kind of people, who love to talk about the constitution and waving their weapons around, have actually no clue whatsoever about this very topic. They are living in a fantasy-world were the constitution isn't what it actually is but what they think it is. As such they violate the law and contradict the very thing they claim to hold dearest. Absolutely pathetic.

The feds stood down to avoid another ruby ridge/waco. They'll probably continue and prosecute the hell out of the guy when those freedumb-loving militia leave.

Hopefully.

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
George Washington

"The militia, like a spring, must come forth to douse the flames tyranny."
The Fruition of Patriotism

Great story. I would like to see a fixed battle and the gov get their asses handed to them.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
Jefferson http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/The_tree_of_liberty...(Quotation)

illram said:

Without reading anything else I can only assume that the Feds have put away the guns in order to escalate their use of force to lawyers and judges and paperwork. No militia can withstand the might of mountains of paper and deadlines.

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Yeah

IAM said:

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
George Washington

"The militia, like a spring, must come forth to douse the flames tyranny."
The Fruition of Patriotism

Great story. I would like to see a fixed battle and the gov get their asses handed to them.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
Jefferson http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/The_tree_of_liberty...(Quotation)

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One of the things I really don't like about the advent of technology is its application to warfare. Revolutionaries don't stand a chance I'm sorry to say.

Not that these folks are revolutionaries, I just don't know.

CavLancer said:

One of the things I really don't like about the advent of technology is its application to warfare. Revolutionaries don't stand a chance I'm sorry to say.

Not that these folks are revolutionaries, I just don't know.

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Yea any outside revolution will almost certainly fail big time. Any real hope for revolution would start with a global disaster that would render the technological advantage mute or there would have to be a sizeable number of people in the tyranny that would actively support the resistance. Both unlikely scenarios.

The USA will likely continue it's march towards a police state and will only collapse after the war with China in 50 to 100 years.

Technology is a double edged sword.

And sometimes dull. Application of technology to the War on Drugs certainly ended that affair in an efficient manner as you might recall.

"Everything that has a beginning has an end."

JollyRoger said:

Funny to see a bunch of militia types support a welfare queen.

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I saw a quote like this earlier. I couldn't help but laugh.

CavLancer said:

One of the things I really don't like about the advent of technology is its application to warfare. Revolutionaries don't stand a chance I'm sorry to say.

Not that these folks are revolutionaries, I just don't know.

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While 'revolutionaries' indeed do not stand a chance against tanks/missiles/nukes etc, if an actual revolution takes place and it is bathed in blood then in our times it is surely not something which will be brushed off and business will be as usual.

So even such "militia" can bring about change, although it would (sadly) need a river of blood for the ship of change to sail.

(in the medieval era it was common for kings/emperors to have a regular guard, loyal to themselves. Often that guard was consisting of foreign troops as well, or very dependant higher classes. They were stationed in the capital, exactly to fend off against revolts).

Kyriakos said:

(in the medieval era it was common for kings/emperors to have a regular guard, loyal to themselves. Often that guard was consisting of foreign troops as well, or very dependant higher classes. They were stationed in the capital, exactly to fend off against revolts).

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Saddam's elite troops were stationed in Baghdad during the first Gulf War. If anything, the practice is still alive and kicking.

JollyRoger said:

Funny to see a bunch of militia types support a welfare queen.

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Its time Obama did what Putin did and send in US militia armed with attack helicopters

IAM said:

Yea any outside revolution will almost certainly fail big time. Any real hope for revolution would start with a global disaster that would render the technological advantage mute or there would have to be a sizeable number of people in the tyranny that would actively support the resistance. Both unlikely scenarios.

The USA will likely continue it's march towards a police state and will only collapse after the war with China in 50 to 100 years.

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Please apply a stronger grip to your hold on sanity.

Kyriakos said:

While 'revolutionaries' indeed do not stand a chance against tanks/missiles/nukes etc, if an actual revolution takes place and it is bathed in blood then in our times it is surely not something which will be brushed off and business will be as usual.

So even such "militia" can bring about change, although it would (sadly) need a river of blood for the ship of change to sail.

(in the medieval era it was common for kings/emperors to have a regular guard, loyal to themselves. Often that guard was consisting of foreign troops as well, or very dependant higher classes. They were stationed in the capital, exactly to fend off against revolts).

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'Our times' mean different things to different people. To Putin the times are good for a land grab. To China the times are good for a sea grab and all the resources that go with it. To the west times are good for delusions of a new green age of reason intended to save a planet that is doing what its always done.

Tech has evolved to the point where the eye in the sky can blow you up and you won't even know its there, and that's what 'our times' means to me.

Lord of Elves said:

Please apply a stronger grip to your hold on sanity.

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What do you perceive as unsane?

JollyRoger said:

Funny to see a bunch of militia types support a welfare queen.

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Obviously, they're succeeding monarchists from the repressive Feds.