The feds are allowing a leftist group to occupy the same Oregon preserve that constitutionalist cowboys were evicted from and arrested for taking over. One constitutionalist, a hard working cowboy and landowner, lost his life. All of the occupiers were overcharged by the prosecutor and seven were fully exonerated.
The Feds have picked sides.
The hippie “Rainbow Family” is illegally occupying Oregon’s Malheur National Forest
The Associated Press reports that 600 members of the Rainbow group are currently camped near Flagtail Meadow in the park with between 10,000 and 30,000 expected to arrive by July 4th.
“The group refused to sign a special use permit, required for groups of more than 75. The group has noted that it claims no leader, and consequently there is no one to sign such permits. The Malhuer Forest Service said it will require operating conditions that users must abide by,” according to the AP. The official gathering will last from July 1-7.
Ryan Nehl, the deputy Forest Service supervisor, will not stop the gathering to avoid presenting a danger to employees and the public.
Different rules for right and left
How differently they treated the constitutionalists in January 2016 when the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom camped out in the headquarters of the refuge to protest the feds taking over lands that belong to the states or the people.
The government has been gradually making it harder and more expensive for ranchers to graze their cattle on federally-controlled lands.
The Bundys led the protest and were fighting of their rights against an imminent threat as they saw it. They clearly stated they would not use intimidation or force. They were armed as is allowed by law in Oregon.
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Lavoy Finicum, 54, was one of the protesters who died after being shot multiple times. The Feds were shooting at him before he even left his van. His family is suing the Feds for using excessive force and improper police procedures.
The feds leveled very serious charges against the cowboy occupiers and seven were found innocent.
Don’t challenge the Feds, the Deep State or they’ll destroy you
KrisAnne Hall, a constitutional lawyer, issued a statement pointing to the glaring difference in treatment by the feds of one group over the other.
In part she said, “The federal government’s choice to continually placate some groups compared to the violent and punishing reaction that ensues in regard to anyone who challenges them, should make it clear to the American people that the federal government is sending a message; do not challenge us, do not question us, and if you do we will destroy you.”
The Rainbow coalition will harm the environment but they aren’t challenging the Feds, and therein lies the difference, KrisAnne believes.
The First Amendment should protect people from the Feds punishing protests. That isn’t what is happening.
Joe Miller, executive director of the U.S. Justice Foundation and publisher of Restoring Liberty, agreed that there is a double standard.
“I’m not surprised,” Miller said. “If you’re a committed activist for imposing constitutional restraints on D.C., we’ve entered an era where you can count on losing your property, freedom, and maybe even your life. But if you’re a committed activist for unrestrained personal license, this is your era where you can count on being rewarded infproportion to the insanity of your actions.”
Meanwhile, Malheur will soon be a dump
The U.S. Forest Service said that as of Tuesday, it had made two arrests, and handed out 31 warnings and three violation notices.
Rancher Loren Stout, who has a federal grazing permit on land adjacent to the event site, was upset, saying the Forest Service would punish ranchers if they ignored permit requirements and tapped a spring for drinking water like the Rainbow Family has done.
“People are furious over this,” Stout told the Blue Mountain Eagle, a weekly newspaper in John Day. “Not because it’s a friggin’ bunch of hippies. It’s the different standards.”
Last year, the same hippies were in Green Mountain National Forest and the U.S. taxpayer was on the hook for $500,000 in damages. There was a lot of damage alongside the roads where people parked. Some stayed behind to clean up but it was hardly enough.
The ACLU was there to make sure no one bothered the hippies camped out illegally.
When 200 citations were handed out, the government bragged that it was only 2% of the attendees who received them.
The leftists’ message is “light and love” but they’re an inexcusable drain on the federal taxpayer. If they were constitutionalists, they might be risking their very lives.
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