Range War: Feds vs The People

[American Patriot]

Republicans bristle at feds' land plan

'The federal government wants to steal millions of acres and put them into wilderness without much discussion or input,' Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told POLITICO. AP

A tightly held administration plan to consider designating up to millions of acres of land in the West as national monuments has Western Republicans up in arms.



Republican members of Congress are bristling over an Interior Department “not for release” memo that was leaked to Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), outlining 14 areas, totaling 13 million acres in the West that the administration is considering for designation as national monuments.



Under the Antiquities Act of 1906, President Barack Obama can designate federally owned lands as national monuments. But members of the all-Republican Congressional Western Caucus say such designations could hurt their districts by further restricting economic development.



Members of the caucus, along with Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, fired off a letter in February asking Interior for all documents related to the possible designation of the monuments. Last week, the department released 383 pages out of more than 2,000 documents related to the deliberations.

Republicans are not pleased.



“The federal government wants to steal millions of acres and put them into wilderness without much discussion or input,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told POLITICO.



“For an administration that promised to be the most open and transparent ever, this is particularly ironic,” said Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif), whose district contains one of the sites being considered by Interior.



Conservatives in the Western region say federal ownership damages economies in those states by limiting their access to resources and deflating their tax bases. The federal government owns more land in the West than in any other region of the country, including 84.5 percent of Nevada and 57.4 percent of Utah.



“It may not be a big issue in New York City, but out West, it’s everything,” Chaffetz said. “You’re talking about grabbing people’s lands and tying it up.”

It’s also about politics.



Republicans are still smarting from President Bill Clinton’s declaration of the Grand Staircase Escalante, a 1.7 million-acre site in Utah, during the 1996 presidential campaign. His last-minute decision nixed plans for a large, lucrative coal mine in the area.



“We were burned once in a system done secretively,” said Bishop, who’s leading the caucus push for more openness with Interior. “We don’t want to go through that again.”



Republicans from Nevada, Utah, Colorado, California, Montana and Arizona have introduced legislation to exempt their states from the Antiquities Act. And Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) has introduced a bill to scrap the executive authority altogether.



Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said the department “provided members of Congress the documents that were responsive to their request and in accordance with federal law” and that more documents could be provided when deliberations are complete.



Supporters of the national monument designations say that, beyond the preservation argument, there’s an economic one as well. In addition to the millions of tourism dollars, supporters say monument designations attract a diverse array of businesses and residents.



“We have seen no evidence of economies performing badly because of designation,” said John Shepard, senior adviser of the Sonoran Institute, which did a study comparing Western counties with protected land against those that use their lands for mining, grazing and logging.



“The natural amenities, wildlife and scenic views remain strong economic draws whether from footloose businesses that can be anywhere, people getting away from environment — all of those people are drawn” to the West, he said.



But McClintock countered that hasn’t been the case in his district. “We’ve been told for years, ‘Don’t worry, it’ll be more than made up by tourism,’ and that’s just not true,” he said. “Experience has shown us that is a lie. I think [the administration has] been actively hostile to the West.”



For Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), there are hints of political pandering at play. “There are three groups that run D.C. right now: unions, environmentalists and trial lawyers,” he said. “And they have to make all three of those groups happy. In this case, they’re trying to make the environmentalists happy.”

[American Patriot]

Signs Point to Administration Plan to Lock Up 13M Acres of Federal Land

By Brian Wilson
Published May 27, 2010
| FOXNews.com


Agua Fria National Monument in Yavapai County, Ariz. (AP).



A leaked partial document produced by the Bureau of Land Management and obtained by Fox News suggests the Obama administration is considering a plan to lock up 13 million acres of land -- and the Department of Interior is refusing to answer questions.


First, a little background: The federal government owns about one-third of the land in the United States -- most of it in western states. For example, 84 percent of Nevada is owned by Uncle Sam.


But the government leases large parcels of federal land for all sorts of things -- grazing, mining, exploration, recreation.


Those commercial activities create jobs and tax revenue for the states. Tax revenues from commercial activity on federal lands often pays for local schools. However, with the single stroke of his pen, President Obama can use the Antiquities of Act of 1906 to turn federal land into National Monuments.


That would effectively lock up the land from any kind of private use or development.


The plan may actually be more than 13 million acres. Republican members of the House have asked for the rest of the memo, but the Department of the Interior is refusing to hand it over.


Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said he is worried.


"When the administration is, for lack of a better word, stiffing us -- you know that causes concern," Hastings said during a hallway interview on Capitol Hill. "We do have responsibilities to our constituents to make sure that when there is a huge change on federal lands in their area, that they are part of that process. We are afraid that that process is going to be taken away from them and that's why we're asking for these documents."


Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee were unable to garner Democratic support for a resolution requiring the Department of Interior to produce some 2,000 documents it has on this matter.


The DOI did cough up 300 e-mails that Republicans say do not reveal very much.


When contacted by Fox News, the department's press secretary hinted that the GOP request is under further review.


"This is an on-going process," Kendra Barkoff wrote. "We may supplement this response as the process is concluded."


There are those who believe these lands are precious -- and should be locked up from development. But in western states this is controversial.


Western state governors are worried that the Obama administration is going to do this quickly and quietly -- without public hearings. They want the process to be more transparent. But for now, those documents are being tightly held by the Obama Department of Interior.

[zenbudda]

safe haven for illegal immigrants/obama supporters.

[Ryan Ruck]

Rancher’s Son Describes Arrest In Protest Of Federal Cattle Roundup

April 7, 2014

A son of embattled Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy spoke to the media Monday about his arrest the day before in the ongoing federal roundup of his father’s so-called “trespass cattle” northeast of Las Vegas.

Bureau of Land Management officers arrested Dave Bundy, 37, Sunday along state Route 170 near Mesquite.

“They got on their loudspeaker and said that everyone needed to leave,” the younger Bundy said in an impromptu press conference Monday with his father outside a 7-Eleven convenience store along North Las Vegas Boulevard. “I stood there and continued to express my First Amendment right to protest and they approached me and said that if I didn’t leave, they’d arrest me.”

Dave Bundy said he was taking photographs and protesting peacefully at the time.

Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the Nevada U.S. Attorney’s office, said Bundy was released from custody and given a misdemeanor citation for “refusing to disperse and resisting issuance of a citation/arrest.”

Earlier, BLM spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon said someone had been taken into custody to “protect public safety and maintain the peace,” but she declined to identify the person.

“The Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service support the public’s right to express opinions peacefully and lawfully. However, if an individual threatens, intimidates or assaults another individual or impedes the impoundment, they may be arrested in accordance with local, state or Federal laws,” Cannon said in a written statement.

Cliven Bundy, standing next to his son, viewed Dave Bundy’s arrest differently.

“What’s happening is they had stole cattle from me and now they have taken their prisoner,” the father said. “Davy is a political prisoner. That’s what you want to call him — he’s a political prisoner.”

Earlier Monday, more than 100 people gathered on private property in northeast Clark County after Cliven Bundy sent out an ominous announcement, promising a war and inviting the press to come cover it.

So far, though, it’s been more rally than war.

The group has made posters, heard speakers and plans to raise a huge banner near the Riverside bridge crossing the Virgin River. Their messages include that Bundy is being targeted, the federal government is overstepping its authority and trampling freedom.

“They have cattle and now they have one of my boys,” said an email sent from Bundy’s address just after 9 p.m. Sunday. “Range War begins tomorrow at Bundy ranch at 9:30 a.m.”

Asked what that reference to a war entailed, the elder Bundy said the planned protest is part of that.

“We’re going to be stirred up a little more,” he said.

Dave Bundy said he was mistreated during his arrest, which came right after he told BLM officers he was exercising his First Amendment rights.

“Without any further questions, two rangers surrounded and a third one approached me and they all jumped me, pulling different directions and then a couple other guys jumped in and they took me to the ground,” Bundy said, showing a Review-Journal reporter his scratched face and swollen, scratched hands. “… One ranger had had his knee on my spine and the other one was on my head with his knee on the side of my head and his other knee on the back of my neck.”

In a conference call with reporters, federal officials, when asked about the allegations of law enforcement roughing up Bundy, pointed to the charges he faces under the citation.

Bundy maintains his arrest was improper because he was along the side of a state highway in a state right-of-way. But BLM officials said he was in an area their agency had closed to the public.

Cliven Bundy was in Las Vegas early Monday to meet with Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie, although it had nothing to do with his son’s arrest. Gillespie said their meeting was arranged on Saturday.

Bundy wanted contact information for Metro supervisors in his area, Gillespie said, and the sheriff provided him the information. But Gillespie reiterated that his agency isn’t involved in the roundup.

“This is strictly a federal operation,” he said.

The roundup got underway Saturday morning and brought in 76 animals the first day and 58 the second for a total of 134.

Federal agents and contract cowboys — both on the ground and in the air, with at least one helicopter — are expected take up to a month to round up the rancher’s derelict herd, which could include more than 900 animals scattered over a remote, 90-mile swath of mountains and desert in northeastern Clark County.

The BLM and the National Park Service have closed off public access to almost 600,000 acres of federal land for the roundup.

Bundy considers much of that area his ranch to use as he sees fit, but the BLM canceled his federal grazing permit 20 years ago, after the rancher refused to agree to new land-use rules and stopped paying his fees.

In the decades since, Bundy has challenged or ignored repeated directives from the government to remove his livestock from public land.

Two federal court orders issued within the last year authorized authorities to impound the “trespass cattle.”

As the first cattle were rounded up and removed from the range Saturday, Bundy criticized the action but made no attempt to disrupt it. That might be about to change.

“Press- if you are going to cover this you’d better come!” Bundy’s email said Sunday night. “We going to get the job done!”

In a statement, the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association distanced itself from Bundy’s actions. The association noted that it supports effective range management through working with agencies to reach goals that encompass ranching and conservation of wildlife.

“Nevada Cattlemen’s Association does not feel it is in our best interest to interfere in the process of adjudication in this matter, and in addition NCA believes the matter is between Mr. Bundy and the federal courts,” the association said. “Nevada Cattlemen’s Association is sensitive and concerned how the Bundy cattle confiscation situation has evolved.”

As for Dave Bundy, he says he was released suddenly after receiving a citation. He was kept overnight at the Henderson Detention Center.

“They came in, wrote these citations, gave me a sack lunch and turned me loose,” he said, adding that the lunch was a tuna sandwich. “It wasn’t poison, I just ate it.”

[vector7]

Update! Police State USSA: Feds Vs Rancher Face Off

Monday, April 7, 2014 4:52

(Before It's News)
By Susan Duclos

[UPDATE] Phone Bomb these Nazi’s that think they can set aside a place as a “free speech zone.”

Bureau Of Land Management Phone Number: (202) 208-3801 [END UPDATE]

Via the comments:

Everyone!!!
Please devote 10 minutes of your time and send email to Nevada officials:
http://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Legislator/A/Senate/

[Update #2] Mr. Bundy’s blog is HERE. They have now taken his son into custody as well as STOLEN over 130 of his livestock. (Source)


Original article below.


One freedom at a time, one right at a time, one battle at a time, we the people are losing each and every one of our liberties to federal authorities, and will continue to do so until we stand up against them together.


The story below is yet another example of the police state USSA in action.


Once again a situation where federal authorities arbitrarily change laws and rules and just expect the general public to blindly follow those rules.


Well one man, a rancher by the name of Cliven Bundy, has refused and does not recognize any federal authority over the land and now dozens of armed federal officers, rangers and agents, are preparing a showdown with this one older gentleman you will see in the video below.


To understand the principle Bundy is fighting for, one has to know that Mr. Bundy’s forefathers have been up and down that area since 1877, yet in 1993 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) decided to change the grazing rules for Gold Butte to protect the endangered desert tortoise, an area Bundy and his family had been using since before the BLM even existed.


Bundy’s message is simple: “This has become a police state, and this is an example of it right here.“


The example he talks about is how the Feds have set up a “free speech zone” in the area, a media zone and have created a wall of agents to prevent the general public from entering a 600,000-acre section of “public land,” as they prepare to round up Bundy’s cattle and sell it off.


“With all these rangers and all this force that is out here, they are only after one man right now. They are after Cliven Bundy. Whether they want to incarcerate me or whether they want to shoot me in the back, they are after me. But that is not all that is at stake here. Your liberty and freedom is at stake,” Bundy said.

Bundy continues on to tell reporters “My forefathers have been up and down the Virgin Valley ever since 1877. All these rights I claim have been created through pre-emptive rights and beneficial use of the forage and water. I have been here longer. My rights are before the BLM even existed.”

He has fought this battle politically, legally and through the media, he says, his neighbors support him, and he vows he will “fight it on the ground if I have to.”

One man is standing up for not only his rights, but for freedom and liberty…… who will stand with him?






(Screenshot above: Area set aside by federal authorities as a “free speech zone”)

[American Patriot]

It's on.


Wake up People. It's ON.

[vector7]

Feds 'killing cattle' in war with rancher

Waco-style confrontation looms in Nevada

Published: 12 hours ago



Jack Minor About | Email | Archive Jack Minor is a journalist and researcher who served in the United States Marine Corps under President Reagan. Also a former pastor, he has written hundreds of articles and been interviewed about his work on many TV and radio outlets.

Federal officials have now taken to killing the calves and cattle of a Nevada rancher as part of a standoff that his family says has the potential to become another Ruby Ridge, where, in 1992, federal agents shot an unarmed Idaho woman holding a newborn infant in her arms.
“We have seen cows with tight bags but no calves on them, who are being moved by the BLM,” Ammon Bundy told WND. “This means they have separated the newborn calves from their mothers and they will eventually die.”

Ammon, 38, is the son of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher whose ties to the area go back to the 1880s and who has been engaged in a land dispute since 1993 with the Bureau of Land Management over long-established cattle-grazing rights.

The elder Bundy is the last rancher operating in Clark County, where he’s been grazing his cattle on a 600,000 acre portion of land managed by the BLM called Gold Butte.

However, after years of wrangling in the courts, last week BLM secured a federal court order declaring Bundy’s herd to be “trespass cattle” and began removing the animals.

While media has reported the cattle seizures, Ammon Bundy says the impression people have is that the cattle are just being re-located. But he says authorities are going far beyond that and are taking actions resulting in the death of many of Cliven’s cattle.

“They are flying helicopters over the herd to chase them,” Ammon said. “It was over 90 degrees here today, and the cattle can’t run very far in this heat before collapsing. This is especially true for the young calves. We have a lot of them being born because it is springtime, and they don’t have the strength to keep up with their mothers when they are running. The cattle then become overheated and die.”

Since 1998, the Gold Butte area has been off-limits to cattle grazing because it has been designated home of the protected desert tortoise. Despite that, ranchers have been continuously using the land. BLM officials say they are tired of local citizens ignoring their regulations, and they believe they have exhausted all other options.

“For more than two decades, cattle have been grazed illegally on public lands in northeast Clark County,” BLM said in a statement. “BLM and (the National Park Service) have made repeated attempts to resolve this matter administratively and judicially. Impoundment of cattle illegally grazing on public lands is an option of last resort.”

Following the actions taken by the federal government, the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmentalist group, praised the federal government for taking action.

“Despite having no legal right to do so, cattle from Bundy’s ranch have continued to graze throughout the Gold Butte area, competing with tortoises for food, hindering the ability of plants to recover from extensive wildfires, trampling rare plants, damaging ancient American Indian cultural sites and threatening the safety of recreationists,” Rob Mrowka, a spokesman for the organization, said in a statement.

The federal government appears to be taking steps to escalate the situation, causing concern the incident could develop into another Ruby Ridge or Waco episode in which federal agents engage in assaults with mass civilian casualties.

Bundy told The Blaze that more than 200 armed federal officers currently are in the area, and his wife Carol said it appears snipers now surround the family’s 150 acre ranch.

Officials would neither confirm nor deny the sniper allegation to The Blaze.

Additionally, Cliven’s son, Dave Bundy was taken into custody after allegedly being roughed up for taking pictures along State Road 170, which has been closed. His camera was confiscated.

“They gave my nephew Dave a concussion, stomped him on the ground to where he has kidney problems,” Kay Sessions, Dave’s aunt, told WND. “They hauled him to jail and interrogated him all night before letting him go. Before they took him to jail officials left him in a hot vehicle for three hours.

“He was trying to get pictures of what government officials are doing and they confiscated his camera and tablet.”

Ammon said while what happened to his brother Dave was bad enough, federal officials have turned up the pressure yet again when they attacked him and members of a group peacefully protesting the removal of the cattle.

“We were protesting peacefully when, suddenly, 14 units with Rangers came off the mountain – 13 of them were armed ranger vehicles with two rangers per unit,” Ammon explained. “There was about 50 of us protesting when we went over to see what was in a dump truck that was with them, because we were afraid this might have been a rendering vehicle, and we wanted to know what was in the back of the truck.”

He said the rangers got out of their vehicles and the conflict escalated.

“Things got pretty ugly for awhile. They threw a 65-year-old woman on the ground, they tased me twice and they had dogs out there.”

The confrontation had the potential to spiral out of control rapidly. The Nevada Militia issued an alert on the Bundy Ranch’s Facebook page calling for supporters to mobilize in the area.

“Nevada Militia is mobilizing and requesting mutual aid if any Winter Soldier wishes to go, no further permission is needed – you may do as you wish. We will be monitoring the situation at this time as a group,” the alert said.
The alert concluded, “If things escalate we will mobilize as a group.”

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, spoke out in opposition to the BLM’s establishment of so-called “First Amendment areas,” which are the only areas the federal agency will allow Americans to protest the removal.

“Most disturbing to me is the BLM’s establishment of a ‘First Amendment area’ that tramples upon Nevadans’ fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution,” Sandoval said in a statement Tuesday.

Clark County’s sheriff has called for both sides to resolve the issue peacefully, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal “no drop of human blood is worth spilling over any cow.”

Ammon said while local officials are rattling the saber against the federal incursion, they are not willing to stand up to protect residents of their state and county from federal officials.

“The local sheriff has said they are not going to get involved in what is happening, saying this is a BLM issue,” he said. “This means they are leaving us completely vulnerable, because the BLM are the only side with the weapons and if they decide to use violent force there is nothing we can do.”

Cliven Bundy said he sees the issue as one of long-established rights going back to the early days of America versus a federal government determined to regulate citizens out of business to achieve their own ends.

“I have raised cattle on that land, which is public land for the people of Clark County, all my life. Why I raise cattle there, and why I can raise cattle there, is because I have preemptive rights,” he said, explaining that among them is the right to forage.

“Who is the trespasser here? Who is the trespasser on this land? Is the United States trespassing on Clark County, Nevada, land? Or is it Cliven Bundy who is trespassing on Clark County, Nevada, land? Who’s the trespasser?”






Cliven Bundy and Eric Holder's 'Rule of Law'

Jason Kissner
April 10, 2014

See also: Ruby Ridge Redux?

By now, you’ve surely heard tell of a land dispute between the federal government and a certain Nevada rancher.

A publication back in Texas called The Blaze has relayed certain pointed, and mighty raw, sentiments of one Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who would match tricks with the federal government:

The 67-year-old veteran rancher, who has compared the situation to similar confrontations with government officials in Ruby Ridge and Waco, Texas, told TheBlaze that his family has used land in the 600,000-acre Gold Butte area since the late 1800s.

“I have raised cattle on that land, which is public land for the people of Clark County, all my life. Why I raise cattle there and why I can raise cattle there is because I have preemptive rights,” he said, explaining that among them is the right to forage.

“Who is the trespasser here? Who is the trespasser on this land? Is the United States trespassing on Clark County, Nevada, land? Or is it Cliven Bundy who is trespassing on Clark County, Nevada, land? Who’s the trespasser?”

The Federal Government’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has no truck with Bundy’s late 1800’s tradition-based claims, and thinks him an unkind man. BLM lays it down that commencing with the 1934 Taylor grazing act, sufficient rights with respect to land were conferred upon the federal government by an august, self-respecting body known as Congress, such that in 1993, BLM was authorized to abridge, in the interest of a varmint referred to by the rude as a “desert tortoise,” certain grazing-related rights theretofore enjoyed by Bundy.

Bundy, clearly an ornery sort, has not complied with federal court orders that would vindicate BLM’s varmint interest in the land. In essence, BLM views Bundy and his cattle as illegal invaders of what amounts to federal land in terms of title.

A fellow at Forbes by name of David Blackmon offers a level-headed analysis, filed in a different cabinet as it were, of what many consider to be the by-and-large unreported substance of the enmities:

The dispute in question goes back to 1993, when the BLM cut the grazing rights of the rancher in question, Mr. Cliven Bundy, from a herd of thousands of head of cattle to one of no more than 150 head in order to “protect” a species of desert tortoise that inhabits the same area of the state. Most mainstream news media reports on this story naturally did not inform their readers of this fact, or of the fact that this tiny herd allotment would be spread over the 158,000 acres of land to which Bundy held the grazing rights.

Thus, by effectively slaughtering the bulk of Bundy’s herd in such a blunderbuss way that the varmint interest is scarcely served, BLM can be understood by reasoning folk to have attempted to run Bundy -- and other ranchers -- off the land entirely. Here again is Blackmon:

When one understands these key facts, one realizes that such a tiny herd of cattle on such an enormous space would have no impact at all on the desert tortoise or any other plant or animal that lives there, and that no rancher could possibly make any sort of a living running such a tiny herd. Thus, the obvious conclusion is that BLM rendered its absurd decision with the clear expectation of running the Bundys off the land entirely. And that is a very reasonable conclusion to reach. After all, Mr. Bundy is in fact the “last man standing” here – the BLM strategy has worked so well that every other rancher with grazing rights in the region has given up and abandoned what had been their family’s way of life, in many cases, for generations.

Thus, BLM’s regulatory determination and implementation was very arguably, in the language of judicial review as it applies to administrative “lawmen,” “arbitrary and capricious” -- and therefore unlawful, whether a federal court has so declared or not.

Now, if you fancy, let us add some context. The same federal lawman, Mr. Eric Himpton Holder, that contends Bundy is an invader successfully argued in the 2010 9th Circuit case United States vs. Pineda Moreno that the warrantless trespass of DEA officers onto a private driveway, in the curtilage of a home, in order to physically attach a GPS device to the homeowner’s vehicle did not violate the Fourth Amendment.

And BLM and therefore “lawman” Holder are talking about trespass with respect to Bundy and his cattle?

It’s mighty understandable if by now you’re mad as a hornet.

And what of the spy state snooping -- doesn’t much of that meaningfully implicate forms of unconstitutional trespass? And illegal immigration -- is that not trespass?

Back to Holder. He participated in an armed insurrection while at what’s said to be a school of learnin’ called Columbia, but would eliminate the Second Amendment if he could. Some think that makes him a terrorist. In addition, “my people” Holder is a pesky racist; and not just because he scotched the New Black Panther voter-intimidation case. There are many other reasons to believe this is so (Fast and Furious; the IRS; etc.); one that stands out is his played out “no comment” posture in response to the New Black Panther Party’s placement of a February, 2012 $10,000 bounty on George Zimmerman’s head -- which sounds more like prairie justice than givin’ Zimmerman his day in court, doesn’t it? What does that say about Holder’s commitment to the rule of law?

And, Holder remains mum as a church mouse with respect to February, 2014 death threats against Zimmerman -- even though Zimmerman by then had been vindicated in court (that shouldn’t make a difference, but remember who we’re dealing with).

Then there’s the fact of Holder’s white shoes, white collar, Wall Street lawyer pedigree and his “Wall Street is Too Big to Jail” Justice Department. We mustn’t forget to mention, of course, the District of Columbia’s scared up prosecution of Mark Witaschek for possession of a single shotgun shell, while having totally excused odious David Gregory’s brazen display (see link), and therefore wilful and knowing unlawful (according to unconstitutional D.C. Code) possession of a firearm.

So, what law is it that Bundy is alleged to have crossed again?

And, we might ask, given Holder’s avowedly racist proclivities and his support of the New Black Panther Party: what if Bundy were, shall we say, different-toned? Would he be contentedly grazing his cattle, perhaps with financial assistance from BLM and pats on the back from deputies (of a sort) Shirley Sherrod and Tom Vilsack?

In closing, here is a very incomplete list for still more context: DHS, DEA, ATF, FBI, FPS, IRS, DOE, HUD, SSA, USPS, all agencies with federal law enforcement capacities, and all heavily armed. And, 200 armed and armored snipers aiming at Bundy’s head--all over a little set-to about a patch o’ land they’d be hard-pressed to budge Bundy from were he an actual unlawful invader.

We have to wonder: might the unfettered growth of federal law enforcement power be related to the federal government’s own brazen lawlessness?

[American Patriot]

This is going to start some shit.

Wait until a guy with a 30.06 takes out a chopper.

[vector7]

The Fed escalates this as Apr 19th approaches.

[American Patriot]

AH HA! I forgot about the 19th.....

[American Patriot]

Looks like SOME SHIT took place.

They are killing and rounding up cattle. People were tased. A court order stopped them for a few hours, but they are back. I am going to say "This isn't over" quite yet... though it appears that Mr. Bundy has lost this round.

[Malsua]

4g

[vector7]

‘Expect To See A Band Of Soldiers’: Militia Members Arrive At Nevada Ranch


LAS VEGAS (CBS Las Vegas/AP) — Militia groups are rallying behind a rancher whose cattle are being seized by the federal government.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that two militia members from Montana and one from Utah have arrived at Cliven Bundy’s ranch.



“We need to be the barrier between the oppressed and the tyrants,” Ryan Payne of the West Mountain Rangers told the Review-Journal. “Expect to see a band of soldiers.”

Payne said that militias from New Hampshire, Texas and Florida are likely to join and stand with Bundy and stay at his ranch.

“They all tell me they are in the process of mobilizing as we speak,” Payne told the Review-Journal, adding that hundreds of militia members are expected.

The Review-Journal also reports that Bundy’s son, Ammon Bundy, was shot with a stun gun by law enforcement officers Wednesday and that the rancher’s sister, Margaret Houston, was pushed to the ground.

“I pulled the tasers out of him,” Cheryl Teerlink told the Review-Journal.

Lawmakers are adding their voices into the fray, criticizing the federal cattle roundup fought by Cliven Bundy who claims longstanding grazing rights on remote public rangeland about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada said he told new U.S. Bureau of Land Management chief Neil Kornze in Washington, D.C., that law-abiding Nevadans shouldn’t be penalized by an “overreaching” agency.

Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval pointed earlier to what he called “an atmosphere of intimidation,” resulting from the roundup and said he believed constitutional rights were being trampled.

Heller said he heard from local officials, residents and the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association and remained “extremely concerned about the size of this closure and disruptions with access to roads, water and electrical infrastructure.”

The federal government has shut down a scenic but windswept area about half the size of the state of Delaware to round up about 900 cattle it says are trespassing.

BLM and National Park Service officials didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to criticisms of the roundup that started Saturday and prompted the closure of the 1,200-square-mile area through May 12.

It’s seen by some as the latest battle over state and federal land rights in a state with deep roots in those disputes, including the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s and ’80s. Nevada, where various federal agencies manage or control more than 80 percent of the land, is among several Western states where ranchers have challenged federal land ownership.

The current showdown pits Bundy’s claims of ancestral rights to graze his cows on open range against federal claims that the cattle are trespassing on arid and fragile habitat of the endangered desert tortoise. Bundy has said he owns about 500 branded cattle on the range and claims the other 400 targeted for roundup are his, too.

BLM and Park Service officials see threats in Bundy’s promise to “do whatever it takes” to protect his property and in his characterization that the dispute constitutes a “range war.”

U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, noted that BLM officials were enforcing federal court orders that Bundy remove his animals. The legal battle has been waged for decades.

Kornze, the new BLM chief, is familiar with the area. He’s a natural resource manager who grew up in Elko, Nev., and served previously as a senior adviser to Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Reid aide Kristen Orthman said her boss “hopes the trespassing cattle are rounded up safely so the issue can be resolved.”

Sandoval, a former state attorney general and federal district court judge, weighed in late Tuesday after several days of media coverage about blocked roads and armed federal agents fanning out around Bundy’s ranch while contractors using helicopters and vehicles herd cows into portable pens in rugged and remote areas.

“No cow justifies the atmosphere of intimidation which currently exists nor the limitation of constitutional rights that are sacred to all Nevadans,” the governor said in a statement.

Sandoval said he was most offended that armed federal officials have tried to corral people protesting the roundup into a fenced-in “First Amendment area” south of the resort city of Mesquite.

The site “tramples upon Nevadans’ fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution” and should be dismantled, Sandoval said.

BLM spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon and Park Service spokeswoman Christie Vanover have told reporters during daily conference calls that free-speech areas were established so agents could ensure the safety of contractors, protesters, the rancher and his supporters.

The dispute between Bundy and the federal government dates to 1993, when land managers cited concern for the federally protected tortoise and capped his herd at 150 animals on a 250-square-mile rangeland allotment. Officials later revoked Bundy’s grazing rights completely.

Cannon said Bundy racked up more than $1.1 million in unpaid grazing fees over the years while disregarding several court orders to remove his animals.

Bundy estimates the unpaid fees total about $300,000. He notes that his Mormon family’s 19th century melon farm and ranch operation in surrounding areas predates creation of the BLM in 1946.

Since the cattle roundup began Saturday, there has been one arrest.

Bundy’s son, Dave Bundy, 37, was taken into custody Sunday as he watched the roundup from State Route 170. He was released Monday with bruises on his face and a citation accusing him of refusing to disperse and resisting arrest.

A court date has not been set.

His mother, Carol Bundy, alleged that her son was roughed up by BLM police.

Meanwhile, federal officials say 277 cows have been collected. Cannon said state veterinarian and brand identification officials will determine what becomes of the impounded cattle.

[vector7]

UPDATE: Up to 5,000 Armed Militia Members Will Be Arriving in Bunkerville, Nevada Today

Kimberly Paxton
April 10th, 2014

The Daily Sheeple
Comments (263)
Read by 19,561 people

Update: Word on the street from sources close to the militia movement is that up to 5,000 armed militia members will be arriving in Bunkerville, Nevada sometime today. (See full report below)

SHTFplan.com Editor’s Note: It is apparent that the Federal government was under the impression that they could simply move into the ranch land surrounding Bunkerville, NV and have their way with the property and livelihood of the Bundy family. What they didn’t count on was the outcry from Americans across the country. And now things may be headed to the next level. As Kim Paxton of The Daily Sheeple notes, citizen militias in several states have been called up. Many members of those organizations are taking up arms and are making their way to Nevada.

And it’s not just the citizen militias that are preparing to take action. The governor of Nevada has officially condemned the federal government’s actions, though he has yet to take any steps afforded to him under State law. Sheriff Richard Mack of Gilbert, Arizona has weighed in and calls the actions “terrorism.”

At last count there were some 200 federal agents from various agencies on the ground in Nevada and it appears that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of armed militia members will soon arrive to confront them.

The Federal government will no doubt step up their efforts, as they are facing the possibility of a widespread rebellion resulting from their actions against a private citizen whose only “crime” was to graze his cattle on the land his family has used for this purpose for over a century. It would not be at all surprising to see the President of the United States call up National Guard troops and more militarized law enforcement officials for fear of having this spiral out of control. A declaration of martial law to go along with already established First Amendment Areas is not out of the question.

We may well be on the cusp of a serious stand-off involving thousands of people. Keep in mind that most of them will be armed.

Given the circumstances, things could turn very bloody very quickly.

---

Militias Are On Route: Is the 2nd American Revolution Starting in Bunkerville, Nevada?

By Kim Paxton via The Daily Sheeple

An area just outside of the little town of Bunkerville, Nevada, with a population of around a thousand people, may go down in history. This little spot in the desert may be compared with Lexington, Massachusetts, the site of the “shot heard round the world” – the first shot fired in the American Revolution. Because it looks like the second American Revolution may start there…and soon.

Yesterday, The Daily Sheeple reported that tensions were running high outside of Bunkerville. It seems that the US government, in all of their infinite wisdom, has declared war on a cattle rancher named Cliven Bundy.

In a stand-off that has been likened to Ruby Ridge and Waco, the federal government has now deployed armed agents in a case of what the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has deemed “trespass cattle,” escalating a 20-year battle over grazing rights and what actually constitutes “public land” use in Southern Nevada.

Cliven Bundy, a 67-year-old rancher says his family has worked the 600,000-acre Gold Butte area since the late 1800s and that they were there well before the government’s Land Management Bureau ever came along. (source)

Armed federal officers have arrived to steal Bundy’s cattle and close down the land he is using. What’s more, they have declared a zone around the area to be free of the restrictions of the Constitution, specifically, the First Amendment right to assemble and speak freely. They’d like to keep their reprehensible actions quiet and out of the public eye. It’s really difficult to mow down a bunch of protesters ala Waco with the whole world watching.

Yesterday, tensions began to rise even further and numerous protestors were tazed and assaulted. (You can see the actions of those brave BLM officers on this video HERE).

It looks like tensions will rise even further because Americans have had enough.

Militias have been mobilised. It’s going to get real.

Bundy may be facing down a bunch of armed federal thugs but he’s going to be backed up by militia members from across the country.

This is the day that Patriots have been talking about and training for. They will not stand down.



CBS reports that militias from Texas, Montana, Utah, New Hampshire, and Florida will be standing with Bundy against the Bureau of Land Management.

If you aren’t a combatant, this doesn’t mean that you can’t participate in this revolt against tyranny. This is a call to action.

Here are the pertinent email addresses and phone numbers:

• Bureau Of Land Management Phone Number: (202) 208-3801
• Brian Sandoval Email Contact Form- http://gov.nv.gov/Contact/Governor/
• Brian Sandoval – Carson City Phone # - (775) 684-5670
• Brian Sandoval Las Vegas Phone # -(702) 486-2500
• Senator Dean Heller Contact Form - http://www.heller.senate.gov/public/...m/contact-form
• Phone #’s For Heller – Reno: 775-686-5770/ Las Vegas: 702-388-6605/ Washington: 202-224-6244
• Sheriff Douglas Gillespi - (702) 828-3231 or (702) – 828 – 3111
• Email: Sheriff@lvmpd.com

(source)

Share information in support of these people who refuse to stand idly by while theft, violence, and tyranny occurs at the hands of the government. If we all spread the word, there is no way that another Ruby Ridge or Waco can quietly occur. We can combat the disinformation spouted by the mainstream media by publishing REAL photos, REAL videos, and REAL accounts of what is happening. We can keep the communication open and tell the world what the United States government is doing to its own people.

Share this and other stories through email, through social media, through links in the comments sections of mainstream news sites. Whatever you do, don’t wait for someone else to take action. Now is the time to speak up for liberty. Make this story too viral for the mainstream to ignore. Do not allow these brave people staring down the barrel of a gun to do so without our support.

The Bureau of Land Management has picked up a snake by the tail, and it looks like that snake is going to bite.

Delivered by The Daily Sheeple
This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to www.TheDailySheeple.com.



BREAKING: Ryan Bundy Calls From Cliven Ranch with Urgent Message: No Backing Down (4/10/14)

Published on Apr 10, 2014 Ryan gives latest update on the showdown, the family, and what this is really all about. They will not back down and he has a message for those listening.

[vector7]

BLM fracking racket exposed! Armed siege and cattle theft from Bundy ranch really about fracking leases

Thursday, April 10, 2014
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)
Tags: BLM lies, fracking leases, Bundy ranch

NaturalNews) The Bureau of Land Management says its 200-man armed siege of the Cliven Bundy ranch in Nevada is all about protecting an "endangered tortoise." But a Natural News investigation has found that BLM is actually in the business of raking in millions of dollars by leasing Nevada lands to energy companies that engage in fracking operations.

This document from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology(1) shows significant exploratory drilling being conducted in precisely the same area where the Bundy family has been running cattle since the 1870's. The "Gold Butte" area is indicated on the lower right corner of the document (see below), and it clearly shows numerous exploratory drilling operations have been conducted there.

What's also clear is that oil has been found in nearby areas and possibly even within the Gold Butte area itself.

It is, of course, customary for the U.S. government to bring armed soldiers to an oil dispute. (Operation "Iraqi Freedom" for starters...) Heavily armed snipers, helicopters and militarized soldiers have never been invoked over tortoises. (Anyone who thinks this siege is about reptiles is kidding themselves.)

Here's the map showing the oil exploration conducted on the land where Bundy runs his cattle (all the red crosshairs are oil and gas exploration drilling operations):



BLM collects $1.27 million in shale fracking leases

The Bureau of Land Management has just cashed in with $1.27 million in oil and gas leases in Nevada. This was just reported two weeks ago in ShaleReporter.com, which states:

U.S. Bureau of Land Management geologist Lorenzo Trimble tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal the Elko County oil and gas leases sold Tuesday for $1.27 million to six different companies. The auction took place in Reno. The leases are near where Houston-based Noble Energy Inc. wants to drill for oil and natural gas on 40,000 acres of public and private land near the town of Wells. The Review-Journal reports the project would be the first in Nevada to use hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract oil and gas from shale deposits.

The way this works, of course, is that BLM runs land theft operations by claiming they are "managing" the land and thereby kicking everyone else off it. They then invoke a reptile, an owl, a bird, a snake or some other animal which they claim to be "saving," even while they are stealing and destroying hundreds of cattle belonging to a private rancher trying to make an honest living in a nation where productive Americans are increasingly branded "enemies of the state."

Once control of the land is established via court order or by bringing armed men with automatic weapons, BLM then turns around and leases the land to fracking companies who proceed to exploit the land using hydraulic fracturing techniques that inject toxic chemicals into groundwater supplies (and have been linked to earthquakes). The money collected by the BLM is then used to increase BLM salaries and bonuses.

In essence, the BLM is a criminal mafia racket, and Cliven Bundy just happened to be in the way of their next target, the Gold Butte area of Nevada. That is why they brought hundreds of heavily armed men to a "save the tortoise" operation.

"Endangered tortoises" is merely the government cover story for confiscating land to turn it over to fracking companies for millions of dollars in energy leases. In truth, the BLM was rapidly euthanizing these very same reptiles en masse last year.(2)

As part of its police state intimidation to control the land, BLM unleashed attack dogs on a pregnant woman.

See the brutality invoked by the BLM against peaceful protesters in this video of a near-riot just outside the Bundy ranch:

Does anyone really believe this is still about a tortoise?

Sources for this story include:
(1) http://www.naturalnews.com/files/Petroleum-D...
(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/25/des...

More details from a man on location:

[American Patriot]

I didn't think this was going to go away quietly.

[American Patriot]

I think I will change this thread title.

This is a subject that is getting pretty sticky. Fox is covering it. Militias are showing up. People with weapons have shown up. The Government has placed snipers on a hill to take out the guys with guns. A LOT of people apparently are headed there today.

This might end up being the first "true shots" fired in this revolution. I had hoped it wouldn't go this far, but the government has decided a tortoise (which isnt even endangered) is "endangered". Rumors abound this is about fracking rights on that land and leases to the government. Again, it's about the government seizing power, stealing from the people, rounding up and killing private cattle being raises on that land in a place it has been allowed for decades.

Bundy vs. BLM: Interest in cattle dispute widens

Federal law enforcement officers block a road at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Overton, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014. In the foreground are the shadows of protestors. Two people were detained while protesting the roundup of cattle owned by Cliven Bundy on the road. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Buy Photo

Bureau of Land Management law enforcement officers block the Overton Beach Road at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Overton, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014, as protestor's shadows are seen in the foreground. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Tyler Shillig, left, and Spencer Shilling sit on a truck before they are released by federal law enforcement officers at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Overton, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014. The brothers were detained and cited by the Bureau of Land Management while protesting the roundup of cattle owned by Cliven Bundy.(John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Federal law enforcement officers guard a convoy of cattle at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Overton, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014. Two people were detained while protesting the roundup of cattle owned by Cliven Bundy on the road. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Federal law enforcement officers open a gate to allow a convoy of cattle to get through at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Overton, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014. Two people were detained while protesting the roundup of cattle owned by Cliven Bundy on the road. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Ammon Bundy, right, talks with Spencer Shillig at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Overton, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014. Shillig and his brother were detained while protesting the roundup of cattle owned by Cliven Bundy on the road. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

A protestor motions towards a convoy of cattle at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Overton, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014. Two people were detained while protesting the roundup of cattle owned by Cliven Bundy on the road. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Jim Olson puts up a flag near what was the Bureau of Land Management's "first amendment area" in Bunkerville, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014. The Bureau of Land Management removed their two "first amendment areas" from the area. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Scratches can be seen on the face and neck of Spencer Shillig at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Overton, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014. Shillig and his brother Tyler Shillig were detained while protesting the roundup of cattle owned by Cliven Bundy. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Charlie Brown holds up a sign from the Bureau of Land Management's "first amendment area" during a protest of the Bureau of Land Management's roundup of cattle near Bunkerville, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014. The Bureau of Land Management removed their two "first amendment areas" from the area. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Federal law enforcement officers guard a convoy of cattle at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Overton, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014. Two people were detained while protesting the roundup of cattle owned by Cliven Bundy on the road. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Federal law enforcement officers block a road at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Overton, Nev. Thursday, April 10, 2014. In the foreground are the shadows of protestors. Two people were detained while protesting the roundup of cattle owned by Cliven Bundy on the road. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Related links

• Collins manages to insult, offend Utahns with comments on Bundy roundup
• Utah brothers detained by feds in area closed for ‘trespass cattle’ roundup northeast of Las Vegas

By HENRY BREAN
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL




The Bureau of Land Management quietly dismantled its so-called “First Amendment areas” in northeastern Clark County on Thursday, as the fight over Cliven Bundy’s cattle widened into a national debate about states’ rights and federal land-use policy.


State lawmakers from Arizona to Washington are headed for Nevada to rally alongside the Bundy family and its supporters. Most of them are tea party Republicans or Libertarians associated with a patriot group known as the Oath Keepers.


Several of the elected officials said they were drawn into the issue by video footage of Wednesday’s clash between angry protesters and BLM rangers that shows Bundy’s sister being tackled to the ground and one of Bundy’s seven sons being shot with a stun gun.


“Watching that video last night created a visceral reaction in me,” said Arizona Rep. Kelly Townsend, a tea party Republican who is driving up from Phoenix to take part in a rally with lawmakers and Oath Keepers near the Bundy ranch Monday. “It sounds dramatic, but it reminded me of Tiananmen Square. I don’t recognize my country at this point.”


Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, R-Las Vegas, called the footage “horrifying.” The pro-gun lawmaker has made two trips to the Bunkerville area in the past two days so she could meet with protesters, “protect our Nevadans and keep the peace.”


“I’m highly offended by the feds coming in as aggressively as they have,” Fiore said.


Federal officials have said the large law enforcement presence and high level of security come in response to direct and indirect threats of violence made by Bundy family members and others.


Before the federal roundup of Bundy’s livestock began, the BLM set up two orange plastic pens as rallying points for demonstrators wanting to protest the ongoing operation on federal land 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The move drew criticism from elected leaders and others. In a statement Tuesday, Gov. Brian Sandoval said the First Amendment areas were “offensive” and called on the agency to remove them.


During a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon, Amy Lueders, state director for the BLM in Nevada, said the agency heard the governor’s concerns and “made some adjustments” to address them.


“We are allowing people to congregate on public land as long as they don’t inhibit the operation,” she said.


Bunkerville resident Jim Olson lives across the street from where one of the First Amendment areas was set up. He said it reminded him of East Berlin during the Cold War, and he was glad to see a crew of BLM firefighters take it down Thursday morning.


“It took five minutes. They hooked a truck onto it, and bing, bang, boom the fence was gone,” Olson said. “Of course the publicity has just been horrid, and they (BLM officials) are not handling it very well.”


The Bundy family and its supporters have established their own rally area on private property along state Route 170 near the Virgin River. The “First Amendment areas” went largely unused, except as a repository for protest signs bearing slogans such as “1st Amendment isn’t an area” and “1st Amendment: Corralled like an animal.”


Almost 600,000 acres of public land has been temporarily closed to the public as more than 900 cattle are rounded up from a vast swath of mountains and desert where Bundy has left his livestock to roam even though he hasn’t paid federal grazing fees since 1993.


The BLM’s Lueders said the seizure of cattle on federal land was being done as a “last resort,” and there is only one person to blame for the situation.


“Mr. Bundy is breaking the law, and he has been breaking the law for 20 years,” she said. “He owes the taxpayers of the United States over $1 million.”


Townsend, the lawmaker from Arizona, said Bundy “may be in the wrong as far as the law is concerned,” but the way the roundup is being conducted is “un-American.”


She is part of a delegation of sympathetic state lawmakers, former law enforcement officers and military veterans who have been invited to stand with the Bundys and camp at their 160-acre ranch, with certain conditions.


On the Oath Keepers’ Facebook page, those planning to make the trip are instructed to bring cameras and “film everything” but not to wear military camouflage or openly carry rifles.


“Any rifles people may have with them need to stay in the vehicles,” the post says.


Gov. Sandoval is urging “all individuals who are near the situation to act with restraint.”


“Although tensions remain high, escalation of current events could have negative, long lasting consequences that can be avoided,” he said in a statement Thursday.


Review-Journal writer Ben Botkin and photojournalist John Locher contributed to this report.

[American Patriot]

BLM agents and pro-Bundy protesters clash, Clark County, Nev., April 9, 2014 | Photo County of courtesy of GMN Telemedia/YouTube, St. George News

Range war: BLM agents, protesters clash, rancher’s son hit with stun gun

Written by Mori Kessler on April 10, 2014 in Local News, Nation/World, News - No comments

Tweet ?

CLARK COUNTY, Nev. – Video of an altercation between protesters and federal agents Wednesday has gone viral across social media and the news. Shown in the video are protesters – among whom are members of the Bundy family – shouting at agents of the Bureau of Land Management. The protesters are blocking a dump truck from getting onto the road while the BLM agents attempt to move them away.


In two separate videos posted online, one of the protesters is hit with a stun gun, while another is thrown to the ground by a BLM agent after getting too close to a passing vehicle.


The clash between the BLM and the protesters stems from the federal agency’s removal of some 900 cattle from public lands in Clark County, Nev., that began Monday. The BLM says the cattle are illegally grazing on public lands, while the rancher Cliven Bundy, the owner of the cattle, claims the federal agency is violating his constitutional rights and is engaged in cattle rustling.


The BLM confirmed in a statement that an altercation had taken place Wednesday and that agents did use tasers on a protester. The agency also said a BLM truck had been struck by a protester on an all-terrain vehicle, and that a police dog had also been kicked during the incident.

Story continues below | Viewer warning: Strong language

Video courtesy of GMN Telemedia/YouTube

some peaceful protests have crossed into illegal activity

“In recent days, some peaceful protests have crossed into illegal activity, including blocking vehicles associated with the gather, impeding cattle movement, and making direct and overt threats to government employees,” the BLM stated. “These isolated actions that have jeopardized the safety of individuals have been responded to with appropriate law enforcement actions.”

After multiple requests and ample verbal warnings, law enforcement officers deployed tasers on a protester

The BLM said the ATV and a large group of protesters had blocked and surrounded “a BLM truck driven by a non-law enforcement civilian employee …. Law enforcement officers attempting to protect the civilian federal employee from the attack were also threatened and assaulted. After multiple requests and ample verbal warnings, law enforcement officers deployed tasers on a protester.”


The protester hit with the taser was Ammon Bundy, one of Cliven Bundy’s sons.


Ryan Bundy, Ammon’s brother, said the group had stopped the BLM truck, a dump truck, in order to find out what it was hauling. On the video, a man can be heard shouting a question about why the BLM is using a backhoe.

the Bundys suspect the BLM is using the heavy equipment to help remove cattle killed during the roundup operation

Ammon Bundy was able to jump up and get a quick glimpse of what was in the back of the truck, Ryan Bundy said, and described seeing pieces of ranch infrastructure and associated debris. In other words, the BLM is tearing out corrals and other improvements the Bundys have made to the range, Ryan Bundy said. As well, the Bundys suspect the BLM is using the heavy equipment to help remove cattle killed during the roundup operation.


“They are killing cattle and tearing up our infrastructure,” Ryan Bundy said. He said that the BLM and their contracted help are running the cattle hard with their helicopters and are causing them to break down from exhaustion. The cattle that can’t keep moving are exterminated via “mercy killings,” the Bundys claim.


As well, it’s calving season, Ryan Bundy said, and many calves are being left behind as their mothers are rounded up, which will ultimately spell doom for young cattle as they starve to death. “They are killing them,” he said.

the BLM has denied intentionally killing any cattle

KLAS-TV out of Las Vegas reports the BLM has denied intentionally killing any cattle.


During the altercation, Ammon Bundy was hit by a taser three times, Ryan Bundy said. Though not directly shown on the video, Margaret Bundy-Houston, a sister of Cliven Bundy, was thrown to the ground when she approached too close to a passing vehicle. The incident involving Bundy-Houston was caught on video by another individual in the group.


Story continues below | Viewer warning: Strong language
Video courtesy of sergionewsman/Instagram
This is the second confrontation between the Bundys and federal agents. On Sunday, Dave Bundy, another one of Cliven Bundy’s sons, was arrested by BLM agents while filming roundup activities in an area that had been closed to the public. He was released from custody the next day, having been charged with failure to respond to multiple requests to leave, as well as resisting arrest.


Though the BLM states its activities are sanctioned by federal court orders, it has nonetheless received extensive criticism from various sources. On Tuesday, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval issued a statement regarding the BLM’s conduct up to that point. He also attacked the use of the agency’s use of a designated First Amendment zone.
The governor said:

“Due to the roundup by the BLM, my office has received numerous complaints of BLM misconduct, road closures and other disturbances. I have recently met with state legislators, county officials and concerned citizens to listen to their concerns. I have expressed those concerns directly to the BLM.

No cow justifies the atmosphere of intimidation which currently exists nor the limitation of constitutional rights that are sacred to all Nevadans

“Most disturbing to me is the BLM’s establishment of a ‘First Amendment Area’ that tramples upon Nevadans’ fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution. To that end, I have advised the BLM that such conduct is offensive to me and countless others and that the ‘First Amendment Area’ should be dismantled immediately. No cow justifies the atmosphere of intimidation which currently exists nor the limitation of constitutional rights that are sacred to all Nevadans. The BLM needs to reconsider its approach to this matter and act accordingly.”

Ryan Bundy confirmed Thursday that the BLM has dismantled the First Amendment zone located near Interstate 15 Exit 12 in Nevada.


Though Cliven Bundy has gained support from far and wide, the BLM is not backing off in its plans to roundup and impound the some 900 cattle, estimates vary, that have been left to illegally roam and graze on public lands for the last 20 years. The whole affair began in 1993 after Cliven Bundy refused to continue paying grazing fees to the BLM. It was at this time the agency began to add regulations and restrictions on grazing in favor of preserving desert tortoise habitat found in the Gold Butte area of Clark County.


BLM spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon said Cliven Bundy owes the federal government $1.1 million in grazing and trespass fees and that impounding the cattle is done as a last resort given Bundy has had ample time to comply with federal court orders.


Cliven Bundy, who refuses to acknowledge the BLM’s federal authority, has said the issue is bigger than him. He claims it the be a matter of state sovereignty and calls the BLM a trespasser on Nevada state lands, and that his rights to graze cattle on the disputed range were secured and inherited from his ancestors who settled the area in the 1870s.


As of Wednesday, the BLM reports that 352 trespass cattle have been impounded. BLM operations are ongoing.

[American Patriot]

Congressmen urge BLM to keep seized cattle out of Utah

Written by or for St. George News on April 10, 2014 in Government, Nation/World, News, State - 5 Comments

Tweet ?

WASHINGTON D.C. – Five members of Utah’s congressional delegation – U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee, and Reps. Rob Bishop, Jason Chaffetz, and Chris Stewart – Thursday urged the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to keep cattle seized in Nevada out of Utah. In a letter to BLM Director Neil Kornze and Amy Leuders, state director of BLM’s Nevada field office, the members of the delegation cited health and safety concerns to Utah’s cattle industry, workers involved in a potential sale and that of residents in the communities around where any sale may take place.


In the letter, Hatch, Lee, Bishop, Chaffetz and Stewart wrote that “We strongly support Governor Herbert and echo his concerns, expressed in his April 2nd letter to you, that going forward with the plan to transport the Nevada cattle to Utah may endanger the health of Utah herds and place Utah state employees and other Utah residents in danger.”


The letter adds that “endangering (the cattle industry), particularly when there are alternatives available for selling the animals in Nevada, would be imprudent and careless.”


The text of the letter follows:

Mr. Neil Kornze

Director

Bureau of Land Management

1849 C Street, N.W., Room 5665

Washington, D.C. 20240

Ms. Amy Lueders

State Director

BLM Nevada State Office

1340 Financial Boulevard

Reno, Nevada 89502

Dear Mr. Kornze and Ms. Lueders


Over the past several weeks, Utah leaders have expressed to you in letters, hearings, and personal conversations our concerns with the Bureau of Land Management’s plans to transport cattle seized in Nevada to Utah for sale. As members of the Utah delegation, we again strongly urge you to develop a plan for the cattle which does not involve transporting them to Utah. The fact that the BLM is legally able to transport the cattle to Utah does not mean it would be wise to do so. Under the circumstances, bringing the cattle to Utah would be foolish and unnecessary.


We strongly support Governor Herbert and echo his concerns, expressed in his April 2nd letter to you, that going forward with the plan to transport the Nevada cattle to Utah may endanger the health of Utah herds and place Utah state employees and other Utah residents in danger. With 5,589 beef producers and 364,744 beef cattle, the Utah cattle industry is an important part of the state’s economy. Endangering this industry, particularly when there are alternatives available for selling the animals in Nevada, would be imprudent and careless.


We also share the concerns of Governor Herbert and other stakeholders that bringing any of the animals to Utah—not just those determined to be feral—may precipitate a needless confrontation. Regardless of who is to blame for the current environment, you clearly have the power to lower the emotions involved by keeping the cattle out of Utah. As Governor Herbert wrote, “the proposed transaction is a Nevada issue, involving Nevada residents and Nevada livestock.”


We ask that BLM please implement an immediate change of course. Simply postponing your plan will not solve the problem. We hope to work productively with you in your respective roles in the coming years, and to that end we hope you will recognize the very legitimate concerns of Utah leaders and respond accordingly.
Sincerely,


Click here for copy of the signed letter: April 9 letter from Utah Republican Congressional Delegation to BLM
Email: news@stgnews.com
Twitter: @STGnews

[American Patriot]

Sandoval urges calm in BLM conflict

Print Email


11 hours ago
(0) Comments

LAS VEGAS – Gov. Brian Sandoval today issued the following statement regarding the Bureau of Land Management’s roundup and reports of organized protests against it:
“Earlier this week, I advised the BLM not to limit or hinder the constitutional rights of Nevadans and be mindful of its conduct. The ability to speak out against government actions is one of the freedoms we all cherish as Americans. Today I am asking all individuals who are near the situation to act with restraint. Although tensions remain high, escalation of current events could have negative, long lasting consequences that can be avoided.”