Armed Militia Takes Over Malheur National Wildlife Refuge HQ

Harney County Sheriff David M. Ward said authorities from “several organizations” are working to peacefully resolve the standoff, which began Saturday when an unknown number of armed activists occupied an uninhabited building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, about 30 miles outside the town of Burns, Ore.

“These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives, to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States,” Ward said in a statement Sunday.

The Hammonds slaughtered a herd of either deer or elk, killed at least 7 and injured more according to a witness.

Ah the good old days. Harken back to when the tobacco industry had completely unfettered access to the American (and World) population without the nuisance interference of the government.

The Hammonds slaughtered a herd of either deer or elk, killed at least 7 and injured more according to a witness.

but the message and the realities of the Hammond case are 100% legit.

I'm sorry, but just because they lease some federal land doesn't mean they get to run it like they own it.

As someone said upstream, if you don't want to deal with federal land regulations, don't make your living off of federal land

According to records obtained by Reveal, two ranching families at the center of the Battle Mountain protests received $2.2 million from a federal drought disaster relief program.

If you educate yourself on the history of the Hammond Ranch, you will discover that the feds have basically coerced or simply bought out all the surrounding property and have been butt-hurt over the fact that the Hammonds (one of the original settlers of the area) didn't sell out and have been putting the squeeze on these people for decades.

When you dig into the history of some of these cases the tactics and systematic harassment gets lost in the cacophony of the final "act". No different than many other things, it allows .gov to pit citizens against each other while they pull the puppet strings and continue their march. With a couple of you on here goose stepping in the front.

... the history of some of these cases the tactics and systematic harassment gets lost ...

How come when the government exploits and assaults people of color (i.e. Ferguson) the resulting protests are dismissed as riotous, ineffective and misplaced but when the government allegedly bullies white people anyone criticizing the resulting armed assault on a government building isn't educated enough and is "goose stepping?"

The Hammonds hold grazing rights on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land and own private grazing acres intermingled with BLM land in the Steens Mountains. For 45 years, the Hammonds have used their BLM grazing rights and private property to run a successful operation. But now, their operation is being threatened not only by criminal and civil charges brought by the federal government, but with the loss of their grazing permits, as well. The BLM has refused to renew their grazing permits for two years running.

...

The fire later spread to approximately 139 acres of public land, land that happened to be one of Hammond’s grazing allotments. The Hammonds presented evidence that the spread onto public land was not intentional. However, back in 1999, a similar scenario had occurred (a prescribed burn on their land spread to public land), and the Hammonds had been warned that they would face serious consequences should it happen again