Was the Malheur Wildlife Refuge Incident a Federal Sting Operation?

by Al Benson Jr.

For a change this has been a good week. Given our culturally Marxist regime in Washington and the wannabees in most of our state capitals, us ordinary folks don’t experience many good weeks anymore. So we should be thankful to the Lord when He gives us one.

To start off, in a typically culturally Marxist move in Fredericksburg, Virginia, the usual culture destroyers were at it again (they never stop). A local college sociology professor and some of his students wanted to get the City Council of Fredericksburg to rename Jefferson Davis Highway there because, after all, Davis was a slaveowner. They got one  city councilman to propose a motion on that, but the effort rather fell apart when they couldn’t even get a second for the motion from anyone else on the City Council. And so, Jeff Davis Highway in Fredericksburg remains Jeff Davis Highway–at least until the next attempt to change it comes along, or until after the election.

And in the same vein, for whatever reason, the FBI has decided to reopen the Hillary email case they had blandly smoothed over last July when the recommended no indictment for Hillary.  That was expected. This wasn’t. Something happened, somehow, to make the FBI think they had to revisit this, with only 12 days until the election. Who knows what indigestion rumbles around in the bowels of the Establishment, but something happened to force them to reopen this can of political worms. Was it Wikileaks? Proof that the Lord does answer prayer. We will see what He will allow to happen in this situation.

But the one that really caught my attention, probably because I have spent time in the West and followed the Sagebrush Rebellion over the years, was the result of the trial of the folks in Portland, Oregon known as “the Malheur 7.” Two of these seven were Ammon and Ryan Bundy, whose family I wrote about in several articles on this blog back in April of 2014 during the Bundy Ranch standoff. Check my articles on this blog for April of 2014. There are ten of them, all about the Bundy Ranch situation in Nevada.

The Malheur 7 have been on trial in Portland, Oregon for their occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon. This was the tragic situation that resulted in the FBI gunning down Lavoy Finnicum at a roadblock while he was on his way to a peaceful meeting. They claimed he pulled a gun–so they shot him nine times. See the article on this blog for January 31, 2016. Personally, from what I have read about Mr. Finnicum and seen in the videos he has made, you will pardon me if I find the FBI’s account of this rather dubious. These are the same people who shot Randy Weaver’s wife in the head while she stood holding a child in her arms at Ruby Ridge in Idaho. Anyone remember Ruby Ridge? It really must have taken a brave man to shoot a woman holding a child. I understand he got a medal for that–so you will understand why I have some reservations as to their sterling qualities.

The court trial in Portland in which the Bundys were tried, along with five others,was, in my opinion, payback for the Bundy Ranch situation over two years ago.

Almost no one who followed this trial, from what I have read, expected anything other than a guilty verdict. As I have read about the occupation of the wildlife refuge on and off over the months, I was convinced that this was one situation the Bundys and their friends should have passed up. The adverse publicity they got from this was designed to portray them as the devil incarnate, given what the “news” media does to those who stand on patriotic principles.

The “Just Us” Department alleged some things during the trial they presented no evidence for, and their contention that the Bundys and the others were terrorizing the people who worked there seemed to have no basis in fact, but with the Feds, such is no surprise.

An article on http://www.lewrockwell.com for October 28th, by Roger I. Roots, noted the following: “The U S Justice Department alleged in Count 1 that the seven defendants (and many others) had engaged in an ‘armed standoff’ at the federal wildlife refuge with the intent of scaring away the various government employees who normally work there. Every defendant was utterly innocent of this allegation…In fact, Ammon Bundy and the other defendants took a monumental (and quite daring) stand for the plain text of the Constitution when they occupied the Malheur Refuge in January of this year. They pointed to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U S Constitution which seems to plainly forbid the federal government from owning land inside the states unless the states agree to sell such real estate to the federal government.  Needless to say, the present reality in the American west is in sharp contrast to this piece of the constitutional text. The feds claim to own and control millions of acres of land in the western states–most of which (such as the Malheur Refuge area) was never purchased from state legislatures or anyone else.” So where do the feds get the authority to do all this? Why they just assume it–because no one else has the power to refuse their “requests.” So whatever you think of the Constitution (and many of us are not totally enthralled with it) the Bundys felt they had a clear and consistent understanding of what it said and that’s what they operated on.

However, the thing that made me wonder if this whole thing was, indeed, a federal sting operation, was what Mr. Roots said toward the end of his article. He stated that: “Most startling of all were the undercover government informants that were revealed in the trial. After weeks of wrangling and arguing with defense lawyers, the Justice Department finally stipulated that at least nine undercover informants were planted among the Refuge occupiers. Thus, informants outnumbered the defendants on trial. One informant was even a bodyguard for Ammon Bundy and drove him to his arrest. Another informant admitted he trained occupiers in shooting and combat skills.” In my opinion when you have more informants than defendants, something doesn’t smell right. And when you have one of the informants training the occupiers in shooting skills and combat techniques it definitely doesn’t smell right–in fact it stinks outright! At what point did these informants become involved? Were they there at the beginning? Did they have a part in the planning of this operation?

I don’t know all the facts in this case, but I wonder who got the Bundys involved in it to begin with–and were the people that got them into it among the informants? If so, then this constitutes what we call a sting operation–getting someone to take part in something “illegal” they ordinarily wouldn’t have done unless you conned them into it and then you busted them for doing what you had conned them into.

It appears, though, that the jury in this case saw through all the federal chicanery because it acquitted all seven defendants, much to the pleasant surprise of many of us and to the chagrin of those in the Federal Establishment, who, I am sure, will now seek to find some other way to punish these folks for daring to defend their rights.

The South and the West–Targets for cultural destruction

by Al Benson Jr.

Frequently in recent years I have commented on the fact that the cultural American South and the cultural American West have the very same Federal adversaries. Therefore it seems reasonable to me that Southern and Western Americans that wish to preserve their unique cultures should sit down and talk with one another and seek ways to help one another prevent the planned destruction of both of our cultures.

There has been a lot in the past couple years in the news media (if such it can be called) about problems in the West with the Feds basically, if the truth were known, trying to run ranchers off their land because they seem to have a “more compelling” use for that land than the folks who have ranched and farmed it for the past 150 years, and please let’s don’t kid ourselves–the Feds are out to destroy the ranching culture in the Far West. It is one small residue of authentic American culture that they absolutely loathe because it breeds an independent spirit and the Feds hate independence, especially for ordinary folks, when we should all be getting programmed for the United Nations Agenda 21 scenario where no one has any independence. Anyone that has followed even the crooked news media has to realize that, in the West, the Feds are laboring mightily to crush any local independence.

While this problem might not be quite as openly apparent in the South it is still there, and beginning to manifest itself more and more, both with the ethnic cleansing campaign in regard to anything Confederate, and also with what people can and can’t do with their own land (which the Feds really consider to be theirs).

I recently got an article off the Kennedy Twins web site written by my good friend and co-author Donnie Kennedy entitled Crows, Slimy Frogs and Federal Tyranny. Donnie’s article points up several areas in which the problems of the Southerner and Westerner are just about identical.

Donnie observes: “From Point (Louisiana) we turn to the other end of the once sovereign State of Louisiana, where a land owner in St. Tammany Parish has run afoul of the Federal Registry, the EPA, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It seems that fifty years ago his land was the habitat of the Mississippi Gopher Frog. The Federal Government in its ‘wisdom’ had determined to reintroduce this frog onto its ancient habitat–landowner be damned, the frogs and the Feds come first! Of course the Federal Government is assuring everyone  that it has no desire to disabuse the landowner of his property and everything will be done to make sure they can co-exist peacefully. Just stop and think. How much value has this man lost because his land is now under the ‘oversight’ of the Federal Government?  Before any change can be made on his property, it must pass Federal scrutiny. The value of his property has been greatly reduced and he must stand and obey the edicts of the supreme Federal Government.” Sound familiar to any of you folks in the West?  Can anyone say “desert tortoise”?

Years ago a man in the John Birch Society gave a speech I never forgot. He talked for over two hours with no notes. He had it all in his head. I heard him give the same speech on two different occasions. One thing he said always stuck with me. He said “It’s not really who owns the property that’s important. It’s who controls it.” The one who controls what can or can’t be done with the property, in essence, “owns” it no matter whose name is on the deed.

Same situation with property taxes. You may own property and have your name on the deed, but if you fail to pay your yearly rent for the use of that property then some governing body will come along and take “your” property and you can light your cigar with your deed because all it will be worth is the price of a good match.

We really need to begin rethinking our concepts of property, of taxes, of Federal regulations and a whole lot more because implicit in all government taxes, both West and South, is the concept that government really owns it all and we are only there by their sufferance. You may not like that thought. I may not like it but we really need to start thinking about it because, in Federal eyes, that’s the way it really is.

The Federal Government’s War On the West

by Al Benson Jr.

The federal government and its One World Government advocates in the United Nations and elsewhere are locked in a culture war with the American West in much the same manner as they are with the American South (Dixie). Here in Dixie they simply loathe people who display or carry Confederate flags and who want to preserve their culture.  In the West they loathe and despise  people who wear cowboy hats and boots and who just might work the land for a living. They hate these folks because, with their Marxist worldview, they feel all the land belongs to them and private property is something that should be beyond the pale for anyone (except themselves). The Westerners, their way of life and their culture have to go. There is just no room for them in the “Brave New World” these Marxist mentalities in Washington and New York are “reconstructing” for all of us docile people who don’t know any better than to believe the prevarications they spin out there for us to swallow.

I just yesterday (2/14) read a news article on http://www.newstarget.com  with the headline EXCLUSIVE: FBI sting to arrest 86 Americans in massive BLM cover-up. Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was arrested on Feb. 10th in Portland, Oregon while stepping off a plane.  Bundy, his family, and a whole bunch of neighbors and some militia people contested the BLM’s right to steal Bundy’s cattle at his ranch in Nevada as part of their agenda of moving him off the land.  Now the feds have arrested him and I expect they will come up with some legal mumbo-jumbo to confiscate his ranch and other property and do whatever they had planned to do with his land while they were trying to get him off.  And I expect they are going to try to “arrest” those that helped him resist the BLM’s machinations back in 2014. One thing you must always remember about these Marxist mentalities (both parties) that run “our” government–like the good little loyal Marxists they are, they never, never forget.  If you end up besting them in some sort of confrontation they will hold the grudge until and beyond the tenth generation. After all, they are still holding the grudge against the South because she dared to secede in 1861. If you think that’s all over just look at what’s going on with Confederate flags down here.

But the plot thickens. The News Target article noted: “While taking up occupancy of the Malheur  Wildlife Refuge, protesters reportedly gained access to sensitive information stored on the computers there, revealing sinister plans by the BLM to confiscate privately owned land with uranium reserves before auctioning it off to foreign interests that have donated to the Clinton Foundation, according to a source that requested anonymity. In an effort to suppress this information, the FBI is believed to be conducting  a nationwide warrant roundup of protesters and independent journalists involved in the recent protests and standoffs against the federal government. A total of 86 people, including Bundy, are believed to be on the FBI’s roundup list and could subsequently be arrested for their ‘crimes’.”

It is observed that the Obama administration is in the midst of a crackdown on journalists that is part of a large-scale federal effort to use political correctness (cultural Marxism) and accusations of “hate speech” in order that they might silence and denigrate First Amendment rights–an effort to destroy citizen journalism, http://obama.fetch.news/

And, of course, you must realize that if the First Amendment goes, then so will the Second, and for that matter, the Tenth. You might be tempted to wonder what Congress will do about all this. Well, they may sit up, stretch, and yawn once or twice, and make some trite statement about how they are opposed to Obamacare and how we should all vote Republican in the next election to defeat those “liberal” Democrats. Don’t look for anything more than that. They gripe about Obamacare, even though they continue to vote to fund it. And you may be tempted to ask–what does Obamacare have to do with this situation? Good question. It’s just their way of saying, (without actually saying it) that they really don’t intend to interfere with whatever he plans to do. His agenda is also their agenda. Which they won’t admit because they need your votes in the next election.

Regarding Malheur Wildlife Refuge, a news page called 21st Century Wire, observed in a January 4, 2016 article that “In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt, in a political scheme, created an ‘Indian reservation’ around the Malheur, Mud & Harney Lakes and declared it ‘as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds’. Later this ‘Indian reservation’ (without Indians) became the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.”

In 1964, the Hammond family (remember them?) bought the ranch they owned in the Harney Basin. It included “approximately 6000 acres of private property, 4 grazing rights on public land, a small ranch house and 3 water rights. The ranch is around 53 miles south of Burns, Oregon. By the 1970s nearly all the ranches adjacent to the Blitzen Valley were purchased by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and added to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge covers over 187,000 acres and stretches over 45 miles long and 37 miles wide.  The expansion of the refuge grew and surrounds the Hammond’s ranch. Being approached many times by the FWS, the Hammonds refused to sell. Other ranchers also chose not to sell.” Then the federal fun began. There is way too much to go into here, but suffice it to say the feds made life miserable for those poor souls who had really thought their property was “their” property. The feds are, as I write, still in the process of teaching them otherwise. Just ask yourself–why does the government need a wildlife refuge that is 45 miles long and 37 miles wide? And why do they need it so badly that they have to force people off their land by hook or by crook (mostly crook)?

In this same vein, I came across yet another article on teaparty.org that mentioned our Marxist-in-Chief seizing 1.8 million acres in California for three “national monuments.” This article stated that: “The new monuments will almost double the amount of land Obama has set aside for conservation. It brings the total land and water Obama has unilaterally protected under the Antiquities Act to about 265 million acres, far more than any previous president.” And why not? As a good Marxist Obama realizes that all this land must be shut off from real public use so it can be protected for “the people.” Which means, in the typical Aesopian language the Marxists employ, that real people will be deprived of any real use of it. So you have to wonder what “people” it’s being protected for–those in the Clinton Foundation maybe?

All this land acquisition is destroying the ranching and farming culture of the Far West. Let’s be frank–this is its intention. It is a form of cultural warfare being perpetrated on Western folks and their way of life because the Ruling Elite has made the decision that all this has to join Confederate flags, monuments, and Southern (Christian) culture on the trash heap of history. And besides, there are big bucks to me made off those”public” lands!

After all that I have read and researched in the past several years, I have come to the conclusion that the One World Elite (CFR/Trilateralists) in this country don’t much like us real people and they’d just as soon dispense with us and replace is with illegal immigrants and Middle Eastern “refugees” (terrorists) because these are the people that have been selected to erase American culture–with the help and consent of the federal government. You may not like them apples, but that’s the way it is and you better start getting used to it and start finding out what you can do to forestall it.

I  just posted an article on my other blog spot http://thecopperhead.blogspot.com dealing with the concept that this country is now in a “Pre-revolutionary” moment. Some of the American people are finally beginning to get it. They are beginning to feel they have been pushed far enough by a federal government that, at all its levels, doesn’t give a tinker’s damn about them, has absolutely no concern whatever for their God-given rights, and, in fact, has plans to remove them. Not all of them are willing to go along with that. The question comes to mind–Is it 1860 all over again???  

Our Marxist Regime and Our Land

by Al Benson Jr.

I recently dealt with how our Marxist Regime in Washington (which is omnipresent regardless of which “party” controls the White House or Congress) feels about the biblical concept of private property. Since the origin of private property is biblically based they naturally hate and loathe it. Any expression of biblical truth must be expunged so “those people” (the Yankee/Marxists) can indulge their lustful desire to play god. After all, what is this desire on their part for a One World Government but a gross magnification of what occurred at the Tower of Babel?

In order to control people, their lives, thoughts, and activities totally you must first take away their guns and then you must control the land (which is always much easier if they don’t have any firearms). Years ago someone gave me a copy of an independently printed book called The Battle of Jefferson Canyon, written by a Don Bowman. Mr. Bowman dealt primarily with much of what has been called The Sagebrush Rebellion. The book was published back in 1996 and similar situations to what Mr. Bowman described in the book are still occurring. The Bundy Ranch situation was one.

Bowman called it a “war” and he was right. It was, and is, first and foremost, a cultural war, just like the war being waged on the South over her flags and symbols. It’s all the same war and Westerners and Southerners both need to start realizing this and getting together and talking about how they can help one another, because we all have the same problem and the same adversary (and just because you can’t see his red tail doesn’t mean he’s not there).  It is to the advantage of him and his disciples to keep us divided. It is to our advantage to sit down and talk strategy with one another, making sure in that process we weed out the agent provocateurs.

Bowman noted in his book a story by writer Lee Pitts that was in a September, 1994 issue of the Livestock Market Digest. Mr. Pitts stated: “You can’t tell a New Mexican family that all the Bureau of Land Management does is to look after the welfare of our federal lands. In July of this year BLM Rangers allegedly shot out their car’s tire, maced the driver twice, kicked one woman, stomped another and broke her ankle and told the other family members they would have their heads blown off. What was this family doing wrong you may ask? Who knows? The BLM Rangers to this day  have failed to file any charges…The driver’s mother tried to help her son but was knowked to the ground by the ranger who then stomped on her leg before handcuffing her. After handcuffing the mother the BLM Ranger went back to the driver and sprayed him again in the face with mace.  All this time the children were crying and the ranger yelled at them to shut up.  According to the complaint the BLM Ranger said he was going to blow their (expletive deleted) heads off. Only the timely arrival of a deputy sheriff and a tribal police officer may have kept the rangers from brutalizing  the family further.” It gets worse, but I could only type so much without gagging at what these so-called “public servants” do to those that pay their salaries. Folks, these are the jack-booted federal thugs that are supposed to “protect” public lands and they seem to do a thorough job of “protecting” them from the public. That give you any ideas about who they think the land really belongs to?

Last week I read an article on http://thefreethoughtproject.com   by John Vibes which stated: “This week militia members have begun a standoff with federal agents after occupying  Malheur National Wildlife Refuge HQ in Oregon. The protesters are refusing to leave and are demonstrating against the impending imprisonment of two ranchers, and the overreaching policies of the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency that has been appropriating land for their own benefit…In 2013 it was reported that the BLM sold 29 federal land leases which covered more than 56 square miles in northeast Nevada. The agency itself reported that the oil and gas leases in Elko County sold for $1.27 million to six different companies.” Question–If this is public land then why is the BLM selling it off? Where do they get that authority? Maybe, like good old Mao in China they believe their “authority” comes out of the barrells of their guns. Whatever you think of fracking one way or the other, $1.27 million ain’t exactly chump change. Where did they get the authority to sell public land? I thought they were supposed to be preserving and protecting it for “the people.” Well, yes, that may be true, but for what people? Certainly not the American public.

Going back to Bowman’s book we run across Zane Miles, Lander County District Attorney, who had some thoughtful comments to make about the land. Bowman observed: “Citing legal and historic authorities, Zane says  that public lands in Nevada and in many other Western states are not ‘federal lands’ owned by the federal government. According to Miles, the federal government has continued to control the public lands, but only as a trustee for the states. The Lander DA says the United States coerced the people of the territory into an illegal act of ceding the public lands to the federal government.”  And remember, in Nevada, this all happened during the Lincoln administration when Lincoln wanted to get more states into the Union so he’d have those extra electoral votes to beat McClellan in 1864. So would the federal government lie, cheat, coerce, and steal to promote one of its agendas? In a New York minute, Baby!

And don’t forget, they are engaging in a culture (Marxist) war here, so there are no holes barred. And don’t forget also that a culture war is also a theological war. Our total destruction is their agenda, specifically if we are Christian, in the South and West, so we better wake up!