Most of you heard about the rancher in Nevada, Cliven Bundy, that is in a battle with the BLM (Federal Bureau of Land Management) over land that his family has used for grazing since the 1880 and the BLM’s pushing out ranchers in Clark County to “protect the desert tortoises” that are on the protected list.
Sidenote: the BLM has admitted to euthanizing hundreds of those same “protected species” due to “budget cuts”
He believes he has the right to use that land, the BLM says no (the Federal Government actually owns most of the land in Nevada and claims to own that land as well). Things have escalated over the last week with between 3 – 5 thousand people reportedly streaming into the area to defend the Bundy ranch as the BLM brought in over 200 heavily armed agents, helicopters and snipers. Yesterday it was announced that an agreement was made and that the BLM left.
Er, not so much. Folks from NH have headed west to join the other protectors at the Bundy ranch, including Jerry Delemus. His wife Sue emailed me an update earlier today and it doesn’t seem that the Feds have pulled back:
Jerry called me this morning to inform me that the BLM has been ordered to stand down but NOT to go away. Jerry, Jack and his son Josh arrived early in the morning and started to set up camp. They also were asked by Ryan Bundy to run security while they rescue the calves who are dying because of the stress and lack of grazing from being kept off the range. They spotted night time activity in the hills surrounding the Bundy property. After catching about an hours sleep they awoke to see three snipers skulking in the bush surrounding the camps that people have set up. The people who have been there are not leaving and more are still coming in from all over the US. The airspace over the Bundy ranch has been shut down in a 3 mile, 30,000 feet perimeter so that no private helicopters or planes can fly over to take pictures or surveil what the Feds are up to….So far, Federal Agents are still trolling the roads, surveilling the territory and the camps in big black SUVs with blacked out windows….The Government is NOT GOING TO GO AWAY. This is not cool and this is not funny this is for real!
There is also a concern that this standoff may last a while and that logistics might become important:
…There’s a Federal Express outlet in St. George, Utah on South Airport Rd. If need be ready to send supplies. If need be, be ready to send supplies If the Government decides to shut the roads down to try to contain the numbers of people coming in to take a stand, the supply lines could be compromised.
There also seems to be some worry that either DHS will become involved (e.g., remember the armored vehicles that were sweeping Boston and the surrounding towns with fully outfitted SWAT teams), the National Guard, or escalating higher.
Is that tin hat stuff, or black helicopter stuff? I hate being sucked into conspiracy theories but one must admit that this Administration has shown a shocking lack of respect for the Rule of Law in a variety of ways. I’ve moved passed, like a lot of people, that phrase of “It could never happen here” as I see, time after time, the Obama Administration trying to “fundamentally transform” our foundational beliefs (e.g., do have have the First Amendment freedom of religious expression in the full measure of our lives, or simply the “freedom to worship” (as Obama is always saying) inside a house of worship? That our government departments (e.g. the IRS, the Federal Elections Committee, the Department of Justice) would NEVER turn against citizens who merely disagree politically with them?
The list could go on for a while but we have seen demonstrable examples of increasing overreach of Government, animated by the Party of Big Government (the Democrats) that is fueled by the Progressive mantra that we cannot be left to our own devices.
