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NPR is reporting on this tale of direct action:
A self-styled militia in eastern Oregon grabbed national headlines Saturday when they broke into the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. There the armed group remains Sunday, occupying the federal building in protest of what it sees as government overreach on rangelands throughout the western United States.
"We stand in defense," Ammon Bundy, the group's apparent leader and spokesperson, told Oregon Public Broadcasting. "And when the time is right we will begin to defend the people of Harney County, [Ore.,] in using the land and the resources."
Ammon's brother, Ryan, has reportedly used harsher rhetoric, saying members of the militia are willing to kill or be killed.
Their last name may ring a bell. Ammon and Ryan Bundy are sons of rancher Cliven Bundy, who notably took part in an armed standoff with the federal Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, in Nevada in 2014.
Ammon Bundy now is part of a group of 15 to 150 people — depending on which source you believe — who are protesting the arson convictions of two Oregon ranchers, Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven.
Also at Oregon Live, NYT, and the Associated Press.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday January 04 2016, @05:29PM
Asking them to follow rules and pay a pittance to be allowed to graze on my land sounds
Its not your land.
Secondly you missed the third required step, which is to always agree with and support big brother at all times, or else you too will get a murder-level sentence for poaching a deer and not filing certain meaningless paperwork.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fadrian on Monday January 04 2016, @09:02PM
It is my land. And the land of all of the people in this country. It sure as hell doesn't belong to the asshats who are sitting in that center now. And we, as a people, under our government, made laws saying how this land should be used. People need to follow laws. Unless you think that anyone who thinks that they're right should bypass the courts, the government, and (quite frankly) the will of the people at both the state and country levels by means of arms. I hope the feds put some bullets in heads. It should show these little militia pissants what's what.
That is all.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday January 05 2016, @01:23PM
made laws saying how this land should be used
No, we didn't. That's kind of the core of the problem.
Weirdly enough congress sets the price per grazing animal/month for the whole country, and there are no problems with the billing side. Its hard to believe congress ever did anything right, but they did, for that small part. The laws are not a problem.
Lease terms are written on the spot by political appointment hacks and are widely seen as corrupt as hell. Nothing to do with biology or ecology and a lot more to do with party membership and saying the right things to the right people and having the right friends and making the right campaign contributions. Not all are crooked, in fact probably most are not, but enough are, and there is basically no oversight or legal remedy other than taking up arms, sounds crazy but its true.
A pretty good SN car analogy of the situation would be driving-while-black. The muni council or governing body sets the costs for local driving tickets, parking tickets, etc. Then some fraction of the cops selectively bust black people for driving on what they declare to be white roads. The problem is not the careful regulation and oversight of the price of tickets, the problem is the complete lack of regulation and oversight of the above the law cops.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 05 2016, @03:54AM
It's not yours either unless you're a Native American.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 05 2016, @09:17AM
Are you suggesting that Native Americans are not citizens of America, and so do not own the land in question? Or are you just stupid?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 09 2016, @04:29AM
That is exactly what 'Reservation Sovereignity' is all about, and also the plan in the 40s-60s to buy reservations in exchange for Native Americans becoming wholly American Citizens (Like the Amish and Quakers and a few others, they have a unique status, for better and sometimes worse apart from that of normal American citizens.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 05 2016, @04:26AM
BLM land is much more for the people than privately owned land. Since it belongs to all it needs to be managed accordingly. You can camp on BLM land near indefinitely but must move camp after a few weeks, you can move freely across it. Of course I'm sure I'm sure there are some restricted areas, but I really prefer BLM managers to ranchers with guns who think we're still in the wild west. The world is getting crowded, and as much as I love the idea of absolute freedom, it is easy to see that it is not feasible and some rules are needed. Keep the park rangers, get rid of the surveillance tech.