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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSouthern Poverty Law Center: "Oregon was predictable."
The Southern Poverty Law Center is the foremost American organization that tracks racist/hate groups. This is an excerpt from what they put out about the latest outrage in Oregon.
We believe these armed extremists have been emboldened by what they saw as a clear victory at the Cliven Bundy ranch and the fact that no one was held accountable for taking up arms against agents of the federal government, said Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLCs Intelligence Project.
Among the militiamen occupying buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon, are Cliven Bundys sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy.
When the federal government was stopped from enforcing the law at gunpoint, it energized the entire movement, Beirich said. The fact is, Bundy is still a free man and has not paid the money he owes to the federal government and the militiamen who aimed rifles at federal agents have gotten away with it.
The militia groups included in the SPLC count typically adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines and subscribe to groundless conspiracy theories about the federal government.
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2016/01/04/antigovernment-militia-groups-grew-more-one-third-last-year
It seems that it's okay for a bunch of "Patriotic (white) Americans" to do stuff like this. That being said, I know that the feds are trying to avoid giving the crazies another "Ruby Ridge," or "Waco." But I don't think this will end well for anyone.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Now that his sons and all his supporters are holed up in Oregon, go in and arrest the bastard without the fanfair.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Bundy was responsible for multiple direct threats against federal officers and each count carries a sentence of 10 - 20 years.
The old bastard could die in a federal prison.
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)I don't think so. Some, or many of the crazies there, claim they will die before giving in. Who knows how many of them are actually willing to do so? But a bloody shootout is exactly what they want.
Right-wing crazies, and those who call themselves members of "militias," consider themselves to be "at war" with the federal government. Their justifications are many, but two of the most notorious are "Ruby Ridge" and "Waco." (If you don't know about them, google them.)
The best thing the federal govt. can do right now is wait them out and then arrest them (if possible).
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Nobody is at the Bundy ranch in Nevada except Bundy and his wife. His sons are all in Oregon. There is no militia there right now.
There would be no fanfare and no cameras. Just the feds showing up with a warrant, arresting the old bastard, and frog marching him away. Done deal. No shoot out, no nothing. Just a simple arrest of a criminal.
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)I get your point, and you are absolutely correct. The only problem is that "good 'ole Cliven" would then become a "CAUSE." And the crazies would feel it was a "cause" that needed to be "set right."
This "setting right" ideology/ignorance/white supremacy thing, is what "Ruby Ridge," and even "Waco (to a degree)," were really about. "Causes" with "incidents" attached to them help recruit more "patriots/bigots/fools" to join with them.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)enforcing the laws.
2naSalit
(86,580 posts)Half the county at the Bundyberg are clivenspawn! He has 14 kids, all adults now, who have also reproduced in mass quantities and only TWO of his spawn are actually at this particular catastrophuck.
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)Hopefully, they somehow turned out sane. If not, there are probably more "black helicopters gonna' attack ya all," "'guvmint, gonna' git yer guns," etc, crap not too far down the road.
I guess the one thing in life that we have to accept is that the ignorant and the crazies will always be with us.
What pisses me off is that we are willing to let them live their fantasy lives in peace. But they aren't about to let us do the same.
2naSalit
(86,580 posts)religious doctrine they are to "...go forth and multiply in mass quantities," even if you have to mate with close relatives. Most homes in mormon territory have five or more bedrooms. One of the reasons they had to come up with all those bizarre names was because so many had the same last name and they ran out of bible names that they started making up names that were combinations of their parents' first names and other terms. They only allowed POC and others into the church because the gene pool was so small that they realized that fresh blood was needed. There's a reason there are so many genetic study businesses in SLC... tiny gene pool for sampling.
It gets even weirder than that but it also gets into material that would not be appropriate to write about here.
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)Are these militia nuts in the Oregon wild life preserve also Mormons? And if so, has the Mormon church condemned them?
Without links to reputable sources, we can't be laying this insanity on any particular religion.
2naSalit
(86,580 posts)mormons and use their religious text to make statements, already have in this series of events. And the church has distanced itself from this group.
Here are some links...
http://www.sltrib.com/news/lds/3377742-155/mormon-authorities-strongly-condemn-oregon-militia
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/01/04/why-the-oregon-militia-is-citing-the-book-of-mormons-military-stud-muffin/
http://kutv.com/news/local/lds-church-condemns-militia-takeover-of-oregon-building
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/heres-what-you-need-to-understand-about-mormon-history-if-yo#.dqGqrwGA2
http://www.opb.org/news/article/explainer-the-bundy-militias-particular-brand-of-mormonism/
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)2naSalit
(86,580 posts)the middle of their "zion" and refuse to leave because I don't see how they should be the only ones here, though they make it really hard to survive in these parts while not subscribing to their brand of skydaddy fantasies.
ashling
(25,771 posts)to pick up their Cheetos
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)State. What is happening was predictable.
mrdmk
(2,943 posts)Why the news media is so short on facts needs to be the real story. Promoting a total anti-government point of view at the point of a gun is not making sense. The only that does make sense concerning this scenario is money trumps civility. I just do not get it...
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)the attention span of the "average American" is very short. Outside of DU, I really don't know if one out of 10 people know about Ruby Ridge, or Waco.
However, those two places are the reason the federal govt. is taking it slow in Oregon right now. They don't want to feed more dung into the wing-nut-insanity-propaganda machine.
Nonetheless, something will eventually bring this to a conclusion and the right wing media will spin it as some kind of federal fascism. Most morons who believe that don't realize that the real fascists are those they vote for (if they vote at all).
fredamae
(4,458 posts)dembotoz
(16,802 posts)the nutters keep getting nuttier
phantom power
(25,966 posts)These insurrections cannot go unpunished. I assume that should be possible without actually shooting anybody, but then again if they're truly determined to force somebody to shoot them, then maybe that's the way it has to be.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)Cyrano
(15,035 posts)The "militiamen" holed up there want a shootout. They want the federal government to look like fascist oppressors. They want, (need), another Ruby Ridge or Waco.
(For those who don't know about Ruby Ridge or Waco, please google them and see what happened in those places.)
Some, (perhaps not all), of these "militiamen" want to be martyr's for their "cause."
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Have a small plane fly over and do a "home made" drop of coffee and beans or something.
Drug all the food so they all are in a stupor and then go collect them with a fork lift....
And then arrest Bundy himself after all this.... maybe even months from now..... while he's on the jon....
Seriously.... slowly arrest them all over a period of time as nonchalantly and unnoticeably as possible.
2naSalit
(86,580 posts)That's what should have been going on since the Nevada showdown! It's not like their whereabouts aren't known when they aren't holding government buildings hostage.
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)It was labeled: "More break through to help 'the cause." Break through what?
So if this thing goes on for a while, are they going to eat the guns for food? Burn them for heat? Fire them for practice? Hang them up and worship them?
So far, (as of the time I'm writing this), the federal govt. had left these fools alone to do ... whatever it is they're doing out there in the middle of nowhere.
And so it goes. I'm all for leaving them alone for the time being, cutting power and communications, and letting them scream their protests into the freezing wind.
CanonRay
(14,101 posts)Cyrano
(15,035 posts)Give them an inch and they'll take the country.
(Yeah, I know that some might post. "It can't happen here."
Gore1FL
(21,130 posts)In 2000, to be exact.
Scotus appointment in 2000.
Stolen in Ohio in 2004.
But most Americans still believe the fantasy that "It can't happen here."
lark
(23,097 posts)They want the government to "give" this land to those aholes, why??? Because they want it?? That's stealing public land for the benefit of the few and against the interests of the many. That's all these asses are about, getting their piece of the 1% pie and playing with guns. They are all for the government in the form of police killing unarmed minorities for no reason, but damn, they better let them steal and destroy government (aka the people's) land just because it's next to theirs or their "buddies".
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)The piece of land these people really want is the part that lies between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
And they don't want any black, brown or yellow immigrants coming into their land.
And they don't want the black, brown and yellow people who are Americans to be here. So they'll work out a way to get rid of them. One way or another.
That's what these "Patriotic (white) American 'militiamen'" are all about.