Barrett Rainey's Second Thoughts

As domestic terrorists (No, Virginia, not militia – terrorists) continue to hold the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Oregon, hostage for another week, the latest FBI statement amounts to a deep pile of bureaucratic B.S..

“Our response has been deliberate and measured as we seek a peaceful resolution” sayeth the feds. Apparently folks at the Bureau on the Potomac just can’t grasp the obvious: these bastards don’t WANT a “peaceful resolution.” They want what they want or they say they’re ready for Armageddon. The only folks not understanding the Bundy boys, three weeks into this criminal adventure, appear to be the folks who’re supposed to end it.

The latest Bundy-driven lunacy coming out of the compound in Harney County is a request that all ranchers/farmers everywhere tear up valid federal grazing and other land use contracts and refuse to pay one more cent. Day before that, their proclamation was “God has spoken to Bundy” and approves of his terrorist activity. Even demanded he continue it.

Does that sound like this band of deadbeats, convicted criminals and psych cases wants a “peaceful solution?” They’re in this for the long haul. Law enforcement has become a willing accomplice by allowing these criminals free access into town to buy food, gas, hit the bars and do anything else their larcenous hearts desire. To talk to the media, too. As long as law enforcement acts as a handmaiden, the Bundy boys feel no pressure to quit. In fact, some are now bringing young children into the compound.

Time here for a bit of a review. There are actually at least three separate stories in this stew. First, local ranchers the Hammonds – father and son – are in the slammer for good and proper reasons. They have a lengthy history of destroying federal property, illegal hunting, not paying contracted fees and threatening federal personnel. Also, at least two court convictions. Justice was warranted and they belong in jail.

The second and entirely separate story is how the Hammonds were handled in the courts. They were sent to jail under a minimum sentencing law. That’s a process I’ve soundly criticized in the past. Though put on Oregon’s law books by voters, I believe it’s wrongheaded. It removes the administration of justice – and consideration of possible mitigating circumstances – from duly qualified judges. It allows only one-size-fits-all sentencing, regardless of the situation. Given the extensive history of violations by the Hammonds, justice was likely served. But the way it was handled – sent to jail, then released, then re-sentenced and back to jail for the same crime(s) – was not right. Except for that damned “minimum sentencing” law, they’d be free today. To sin again, as it were. Or not.

The third story involves the criminals holed up in the Malheur Wildlife compound. And, criminals they are. Because law enforcement has let this illegal occupation go on for weeks, two sets of facts have become clear. First, the people inside the compound are not sterling, standup citizens. Not in Oregon – where apparently none of them live – nor in their home states. As more of their individual backgrounds come to light, we find felons, ex-cons, dopers, deadbeats and liars. Also some guys with bad mental health histories drawn to this bunch of misfits.

In addition, the hypocrisy of some of these guys is not unexpected. Terrorist-in-chief Ammon Bundy, for one. While blasting all things governmental at the top of his lungs, he took out a $550,000 federal loan on which he ultimately defaulted. Another liar in the gang had, as his primary source of income, foster children in his care for which the State of Nevada was paying him big bucks. He then loudly complained to national media that he was being “penalized for his free speech” when Nevada authorities removed the kids. Who the hell did the background check originally?

There are more of these “hidden histories” showing up almost daily. One question I’ve had since day one, how many of these criminals are drawing federal/state/county checks every month? Social security, federal and or military retirement, government disability, etc. I’d bet it’s a bunch.

Now, they’re carelessly rifling through thousands of Native American artifacts in the compound and plowing new roads over what are burial grounds on the refuge where the Paiute tribes trace much of their history. They’ve torn down signs and fences not to their liking. They’re bulls breaking things in a very valuable china shop.

The FBI is scared they’ve got another Waco/Branch Dividian situation. They don’t. The isolated Oregon location and makeup of the people holed up is entirely different. There’s no need for the frontal assault the Bureau handled so badly in Waco with tanks and SWAT teams. A communications blackout, no media, no power, no water and a road blockade through which the Bundy bandits can’t go back and forth to town. Just sit in your heated federal SUVs, tell old war stories, drink a lot of coffee and wait. Just wait.

Bundy now says he won’t talk to the FBI again (a) without the media present and (b) unless the Harney County Sheriff deputizes the feds because he doesn’t recognize any law authority above the county. Further, he won’t leave until the Hammonds are out of jail which ain’t gonna happen. Where in there do you read “peaceful solution?”

There’s no basis – none – for the occupation. Again, none! Laws – county, state and federal – are being broken hourly. Locals are frightened of the whole situation and want the bastards out! Our governor has pleaded with the feds to act. No response. Damage is being done not only to the land but also to decades of cooperation between the BLM and Forest Service and ranchers, farmers and other public land users. Valuable historic artifacts are being mishandled at best – destroyed at worst. It’ll take months – if not years – to clean up the compound and restore it to working order when this is over. Innocent people are being held hostage by not having safe access to their own community. City, county and federal property is being vandalized.

Now, sympathetic elected officials from other states are making trips to Burns to meet with these lawbreakers. With media in tow. Criminals receiving support from politicians as crazy as they are. They’re getting care packages from all over the country. What was thought to be a short protest – of something – has now turned into a national disgrace and a gathering spot for more nut cases. Still they come. Daily.

Nothing good has come – or will come – from this self-serving, criminal enterprise. Nothing! The vast majority of citizens affected want this ended. Now! These guys must be starved out, charged and jailed for a dozen or so crimes against the rest of us. The land they’re squatting on is our land. Not their private, illegal domain.

There will be no “peaceful resolution” under any other circumstance. Anyone who still holds out that ludicrous hope is a damned fool. Or, works for the FBI.

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For many months now, the chattering class of talking heads has been telling us people in this country are mad. More directly, a lot of prospective voters are angry at nearly everything governmental, they say. Thus, the voices reason, that pent up anger is being turned to support for two of the most unqualified belligerents ever to run for president. Trump and Cruz.

We’re repeatedly reminded this anger comes from feelings of frustration, disappointment and outright rejection of all things governmental. The rise – so far – in political influence of the far right is being offered as “proof” of this oft-quoted speculation. Trump and Cruz – though they be liars, cheats, lacking in facts or ideas for improving our national condition – these two have become lightening rods attracting every sort of angry condition being thrust on our national political environment. So we’re told.

Here – at the edge of the Pacific – my response to this “common wisdom” is that it amounts to a lot of conjecture, speculation and outright B.S..

The flaw in this widely accepted “theory,” is only a portion of the populace is “angry” and acting out – that the rest of us looking for sanity, leadership and exceptional quality in our next President aren’t unhappy, too. That we are content with things – accepting of how governmental affairs have been conducted – and are trudging along in a national attitude of peace and love.

Not by a long shot! A VERY long shot!

Like Howard Beale in Paddy Chayefsky’s “Network,” I’m “mad as Hell.” And, as followers of the electronic musings in these “SECOND THOUGHTS” can attest, I’m not a dues-paying member of any right-wing fringe element. Neither, I’m happy to say, are most of my friends, most of my day-to-day contacts and regular correspondents who are equally as mad but who’ve not turned to supporting or accepting the aforementioned B.S.. Still, we are angry. We are mad! We are frustrated every bit as much as any Trump/Cruz backer. And we’ve probably got more concrete examples for our angst. Here are a few raising my civic temperature:

## One Greg Abbott, governor of Texas. He’s launched an effort to call a constitutional convention to rewrite portions of our grand old document so states could refuse any federal government law or mandate states don’t like. This from a licensed attorney. Now, I’ll be first to say being a law school graduate doesn’t give him any special intellectual prowess. But the doctrine of federal supremacy – over which an entire Civil War was fought – was settled many eons ago. He could, of course, have slept through an entire six weeks it was featured at the University of Texas. But this bastard’s serious!

## One Sam Brownback, governor of Kansas. His new Executive Order 16-01, “Protecting Kansas from Terrorism” attempts to block relocation to Kansas of refugees from “anywhere in the world” who present a “safety and security risk.” Which, to him, means all. For the rest of us, details of how to define or assure someone meets those two qualifications were, of course, not defined. Read “shut the borders of Kansas.”

## One Matt Bevin, governor of Kentucky, who, upon election, promptly killed the state’s Obamacare participation which immediately disenfranchised a half-million people who lost coverage.

## A U.S. Supreme Court that made Citizen’s United the law of the land. Also, the Chief Justice who said “states have learned their lessons, changed their procedures” and portions of the Voting Rights Act requiring federal approval of local voting changes “are unnecessary.”

## The entire legislatures of Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, North and South Carolina, Florida and Mississippi have – since that decision – enacted new laws disenfranchising voters totaling a million-plus. Wiped ‘em out.

## The U.S. Congress which has voted 59 times – 59 – to kill the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Both houses this time. Would have become law were it not for a Democrat in the White House with a veto stamp. More than 12 million Americans could’ve been without health insurance.

## Louis Ghomert, Steve King, Raul Labrador, Darrell Issa, Roy Blunt, Jim Risch, Tom Cotton, Duncan Hunter, Michael Burgess, Pete Sessions, Don Young, Pete Sessions and several dozen more members of Congress who’ve repeatedly shown their existence along the Potomac is for no other reason than to remain on the banks of the Potomac and perpetuate themselves at the public trough they repeatedly decry. They offer nothing constructive, author no positive legislative improvements, complain bitterly about a system of government they were elected to run – if not improve. All the while depositing $175,000 a year from us. Plus-plus-plus.

I could run this on for a couple more pages. I won’t.

The point is, there are millions of Americans just as mad – just as angry – just as frustrated about government, about stagnation and bitterness in our political system as those the media counts as Trump/Cruz voters. But the fact is, we who reject those two voices of political lunacy, may be more deeply affected because we know why we’re “in the winters of our discontent.” We understand the failures. But we’re not ignorantly casting around for someone – anyone -regardless of qualifications – to solve our national issues. Our anger is because we know what’s wrong. We understand why. And who. We even have some serious thoughts about how to get back on track.

Trump, Cruz, Carson, Fiorina, Santorum and others are not the answer to our anger. They represent the cause of it! A system – a political party – that can produce nothing more positive than these cretins is the result of previous elections when voters lashed out by choosing flawed candidates offering no answers to perceived wrongs at the time.

Like anchorman Beale, I, too, am “MAD AS HELL!” His next words were “…and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Individually, none of us can make that a meaningful, serious threat. But – collectively and informed – we can answer what the talking heads tell us is anger from the right. We can express our own displeasure with conditions – doing so in a more thoughtful and informed way.

The ballot’s in your hands. Just how mad are you?

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This damned armed stand-off in Burns, Oregon, has got to come to an end. It’s escalating to dangerous proportions. Three more out-of-state gun-toting “patriot” groups have now joined up. It’s got to be stopped. Now!

What started as some far-right nut cases with rifles holding an isolated Oregon, federal game refuge hostage has gone from that to now drawing more right-wing seditionists from other states as a rallying point. And they’ve now taken an entire community hostage – the community of Burns.

Guys with rifles slung over their shoulders are roaming the streets at all hours. People are being directly threatened – including the elderly parents of the Harney County Sheriff. Tires were slashed on the sheriff’s personal car. Schools have been closed for two weeks. Members of a local Native American tribe are being harassed and frightened. Citizens of Burns are literally being held prisoner because of these seditionists.

There’s no local radio station in Burns – only a weekly newspaper. So, the town is filled with swirling rumors and people are having a hard time finding out what’s really going on. Social media has been the main source of information and we all know how reliable that can be.

The sheriff has been extremely patient. But, when he met with the Bundy boys last week, they refused his offer to get safely out of town until all of their “demands” are met. Demands that will never be met. At that point, it would seem, the time for patience ended.

One of the more disappointing features regarding how this situation has been allowed to fester into something more dangerous, is the seeming near non-reaction of government. At all levels. County commissioners are hiding under their blankets. They’ve publically said nothing. Oregon’s governor issued one news release saying how awful this situation is and asking the Bundys and their followers to leave. The feds have been silent. Nothing from the F-B-I except another news release saying “We’re keeping an eye on things.” The only visible law enforcement presence near the occupied federal property was when the sheriff came to talk last week and a couple of vehicles of armed folk followed him in. And silently back out.

The Bundy Bunch is in the small compound of the Harney Wildlife Refuge. They’ve moved federal heavy equipment out front as barricades if attacked. Media is corralled several hundred yards away – out of sight of the place.

The plain fact is the seditionists are free to come and go as they please. And they please a lot. They go to town to eat in local restaurants – buy five gallon cans of gas for their small generators – shop for groceries with rifles at the ready – hit the bars when they need a stiffener. One of them used social media to plead for money to supply his needs “for the struggle,” then took the proceeds to a Burns bar and got blitzed. O’Shaughnesy was his name. Stealing money is his game.

In all previous encounters with these heavily armed “constitutionalists” across the country, government has backed down. No shots fired. No one hurt. No arrests. As a result, the seditionists are getting bolder, more organized, more heavily armed and more of a threat to the rest of us. They feel emboldened each time they “face down the terrible federal monster.” And do it with impunity.

Some government entity – or all of them – needs to act. Shut these bastards down. Block all communications. Turn off all electricity. Turn off all water supplies. Overnight temperatures last week dropped to near zero in the area. No heat, no water and no way to communicate with families or other supporters can become great non-violent but effective “weapons.”

However, if a government push-back produces shots fired from inside the compound, an armed response will be necessary. Required. I’d hate to see it end that way. But these guys are nothing but criminals. They have no legitimacy in the eyes of the law. They’ve committed criminal if not seditious acts. Offered safe passage and a pat on the back, they refused. But leave they must. Peacefully or otherwise.

When I was a kid, like almost all kids everywhere, I used to push my parents and their rules. I learned where to stop just short of their response triggers. That’s what the Bundy’s and their criminal ilk are doing with our government – from county locals to the feds. All previous encounters have ended with figures of governmental authority backing down and walking away. These guys have learned to just “hang in there” because they know no one is going to move against them. But someone must.

The occupation is 30 miles outside an isolated desert community, clustered in a very small compound, well-known to local law agencies and with no non-participants that can get hurt if shots are fired. Such ideal conditions for stopping these guys cold may never exist again. This is where it can end with the least amount of casualties.

One more thing. Something that hasn’t got a lot of media attention. While overwhelming local sentiment opposes the majority governmental land ownership in the area, committees of locals and feds have worked for decades to operate together. To work out their differences. Sensible locals admit relations are better than ever and cooperation has greatly improved. Not perfect. But better. All that work, over all that time, can be blown to bits if these out-of-state terrorists walk peacefully away from this.

There’s more at stake here than getting the Bundy’s and their cretin sycophants out of the compound and out of the state peacefully. Large ruptures of many relationships in Harney County and other western states could be a terrible, long-term price to pay.

The Bundy boys have been given their chance. And then some. It’s time to get ‘em out. Or take ‘em out. Now!

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There’s a time bomb ticking in our western states that’s going to blow one of these first days. And Americans are going to die. Whether it’ll be a gun-happy citizen out to prove some sort of perverted loyalty to the old Constitution, or a lawman who’s finally pushed into a corner, depends on who shoots first. And who shoots last.

The latest Oregon standoff is near our eastern border – about 30 miles outside of Burns in Harney county – one of the largest such jurisdictions in the nation at some 10,000 acres but only about 7,500 people. From beautiful to desolate, it’s remote by all definitions. Can be hot like the fires of Hell in the summer – frozen as the arctic in the winter. Conservative by the traditional definition of that word – not by the standard use today which too often equates to craziness.

Some 200 people have taken control of a federal BLM site 30 miles out of town. Several brick buildings and a few trees. Men, women and children in the compound. Along with enough guns and bullets to take over a small country. The occupants – some with past criminal convictions – have vowed to stay “40 years” or more. While claiming peaceful intentions, they say they’ll shoot if fired upon.

The pretext for the outlaw’s illegal activity was to come to Oregon to defend two ranchers they believed were being persecuted by the court system. Under appropriate law – and as a result of a legal conviction for their crime – the father and son were not being “persecuted” and have peacefully turned themselves in to serve their sentences. So, it would seem the armed interlopers should go home. Right? Not hardly.

Even the Harney County sheriff now says that whole “protect the innocent” claim was B.S. and the intent of the occupiers is – and has been from the start – to confront government. They’re using social media to loudly urge like-minded government haters to come to Oregon, join the movement and make the BLM compound their rallying point for a national offensive to attack government at all levels.

Two of the loudest voices in the compound are those of two sons of Nevada criminal Clive Bundy. Bundy was the focus of an armed confrontation two years ago in which feds backed down even though he’d been convicted of not paying over $1 million he owed the BLM for past grazing on federal lands. Our lands. Our money. Yours and mine.

Both Bundy boys have served time on convictions for this and that. They are what they are – small time criminals with experience in our judicial system. When the NY Times did a well-researched story on the first Bundy confrontation, it found many gun toters on-site had previous criminal and mental problems. Some were actively wanted by the law. It can reasonably be assumed the same situation exists in Harney County – likely with some of the same offenders.

This is at least the third such confrontation forced by armed outsiders in Oregon in the last year. The other two ended with the law backing down and occupiers doing high 5’s for “whupping those damned feds again.” In my opinion, the Harney county situation must not end the same way. These people must be stopped. There. Now.

While I don’t want to see anyone killed in or outside the compound, there are ways to bring this illegal occupation to a head – and to an end. First, use existing technology to block cell phone use. No communications in or out not controlled by law enforcement. Isolate those bastards in every possible way. Second, cut electricity. All of it. Temperatures there this week will be about 30 degrees during the day and low 20’s and teens at night. Third, cut the water. All of it. Nothing like backed-up toilets and no bathing for making very close quarters uninhabitable.

Shortly, based on my own survival training, I believe three things will happen. First, parents will want to get their children out. Let ‘em out. Second, the occupiers will start arguing among themselves. Not all are hardcore or there because this is the most important thing in their lives. Maybe for the Bundy boys, but not all. They’ll want out. Let ‘em out. Arrest ‘em. Third, just sit tight with guns holstered. Outlast ‘em. They’ll either start a fight the law can win or they’ll give up. I’d bet on surrender.

There should be no concessions. None. Haul their criminal butts off to the Harney County jail. Try each one on whatever charges are appropriate. Jail time for those convicted. Which should mean all.

A basic precept of our national freedoms is that we are “a nation of laws.” While administration of those laws should be done with compassion and tempered by situations at hand, we cannot – must not – allow roaming bands of armed citizens to go unchallenged when they decide to ignore our laws. Laws all of us are expected to obey. Some large American cities are being faced with the same situation. Large groups – armed or not – are flaunting the legal process we must maintain.

Citizens of Harney County have not flocked to support these criminals. News reports and social media are filled with demands that law enforcement at all levels end this occupation and punish all those involved. Get ‘em out!

One more thing. To the media. All media. The people illegally inside that federal compound are not militia. Not in thought, word or deed. The occupiers may call themselves that. But the rest of us – starting with the media – must not. They are defending nothing. They are offending many.

These are armed criminals whose activities border on insurgency. We have laws aplenty to deal with insurgency. If action isn’t taken to stop these folks, they’ll keep coming back again and again. This is the largest collection of them law enforcement has encountered. If they aren’t met with the full force of the law this time, the next “incident” will be larger and more dangerous. And maybe not in such a remote location where they can be confronted as easily.

Eventually, someone will pull a trigger. Someone will die. If this mess in Burns can be ended peacefully, I’m all for it. But if it takes the full efforts of law enforcement at every level to do it with gunfire, now is the time. And 30 miles out of Burns, Oregon is the place.

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