Ammon Bundy, who received national attention for armed standoffs with federal authorities in 2014 and 2016, launched his campaign for governor of Idaho Saturday.
Bundy released his first campaign <a href="https://www.votebundy.com/">video</a> over the weekend kicking off his bid to be Idaho’s next governor. In the video, Bundy criticized Idaho’s state leadership as well as President Joe Biden. He is entering a field of seven other GOP candidates who have filed paperwork to run.
“I’m running for Governor because I’m sick and tired of all of this political garbage just like you are. I’m tired of our freedoms being taken from us and I’m tired of the corruption that is rampant in our state Government,” Bundy said in his opening campaign video.
“And look, let’s be real, Joe Biden and those in the Deep State that control him, will simply not be able to help themselves,” he continued. “They are going to try to take away our gun rights, freedom of religion, parental rights, and more, and further violate the Constitution in unimaginable ways — even more than they’ve already done.”
Bundy first gained national attention when he and his family led an armed resistance against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 2014. BLM agents launched a raid against the Bundy ranch, run by Bundy’s father, in Nevada to repossess land that the Bundy’s had allowed cattle to run on but refused to pay grazing fees to the federal government for.
The BLM claimed the Bundys had refused to pay grazing fees for the land for years. The Bundys said that they had paid all their grazing fees to the state of Nevada. A federal judge later dismissed all charges against the Bundys over the incident after finding that federal prosecutors had his potentially exculpatory evidence during the trial.
Bundy again received national attention when he lead an armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016, protesting what he said was the wrongful conviction of two <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/07/10/trump-pardons-oregon-ranchers/">Oregon ranchers</a> for arson. Bundy was later acquitted of all charges relating to the incident.
Last year, Bundy was arrested twice at the Idaho State House while protesting a civil liability waiver bill. His first arrest was for violating his one-year ban from entering the Idaho State House.
His second arrest was “over ‘citizen journalists’ being barred press credentials and being removed from the House hearing. He walked to the press desk, sat down, and refused to leave the chair. Police were eventually forced to roll him out of the Capitol in the chair he had commandeered in order to take him into custody,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ammon-bundy-arrested-twice-in-two-days-over-idaho-capitol-protest">The Daily Wire</a> reported at the time.
State Rep. Greg Chaney (R) may have been the lawmaker to get Bundy arrested the second time. He defended his actions at the time as necessary to restore order during the session.
“I’m not sure precisely what their goal is, but I’m absolutely sure that the two individuals whom I asked to leave were intending to create a scene,” Chaney said. “At times in the last 24 to 36 hours, this building has descended into complete chaos, and the only way to make sure that all citizens feel comfortable coming here to be heard is to make sure that we don’t allow rule deviations in general.”

Ammon Bundy

Ammon Bundy Launches Bid For Idaho Governor; Vows To Fight Biden, ‘Deep State’

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bundy-acquitted-occupation-federal-land-left-ben-shapiro">Ammon Bundy</a>, one of the ranchers at the center of the 2014 Bundy ranch standoff with federal agents in Nevada, was arrested after he refused to leave the Idaho Capitol building on Wednesday.
It was the second time in two days that Bundy was arrested at the Idaho State House. Bundy was arrested on Wednesday after being banned from visiting the Idaho State House for one year after his Tuesday arrest, according to The <a href="https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/ap-top-news/2020/08/26/bundy-arrested-at-idaho-statehouse-for-second-time-in-2-days">Associated Press</a>.
Idaho State Police arrested Bundy along with two others, Aaron Von Schmidt and Jill Watts, on Tuesday and charged each with misdemeanor trespassing. Bundy was slapped with another charge of resisting and obstructing law enforcement, according to the <a href="https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/ammon-bundy-arrested-at-idaho-capitol-removed-from-lincoln-auditorium/article_7dbf7efa-f703-5fc2-b4e9-477f1a2dbe87.html">Idaho Press</a>. Bundy was <a href="https://twitter.com/AdaCoSheriff/status/1298612367383617536">released</a> from the Ada County Jail on Tuesday night after posting bail.
Bundy gained national attention in 2014 when he and other members of his family, including his father <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charges-against-cliven-bundy-other-ranchers-amanda-prestigiacomo">Cliven</a>, took part in a standoff against federal agents with the Bureau of Land Management over years of unpaid grazing fees for their ranch in Nevada. Bundy again received national attention when he led a group and took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016, protesting what Bundy said was the wrongful conviction of two <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/07/10/trump-pardons-oregon-ranchers/">Oregon ranchers</a> for arson.
Bundy had led protests at the Idaho Capitol building on Monday and Tuesday prior to his first arrest, apparently over a civil liability waiver bill being debated in the state House chamber. He had testified against the legislation on Monday in front of the state House Judiciary Committee.
“The Idaho people are more than capable of keeping themselves safe,” Bundy said, according to the Idaho Press. “We the people are tired. We are tired of government force, and we will only take it for so long. I recommend you act wisely, because we will not live in fear.”
His arrest was not over the legislation, however, but over “citizen journalists” being barred press credentials and being removed from the House hearing. He walked to the press desk, sat down, and refused to leave the chair. Police were eventually forced to roll him out of the Capitol in the chair he had commandeered in order to take him into custody.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Bundy was wheeled out the side door of the Capital and put in an ISP car <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/idpol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#idpol</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/idleg?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#idleg</a> <a href="https://t.co/vmyYsGUyrw">pic.twitter.com/vmyYsGUyrw</a>
&mdash; Ryan Suppe (@salsuppe) <a href="https://twitter.com/salsuppe/status/1298401041679962112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Republican Rep. Greg Chaney (R-10) may have been responsible for kicking out two of the citizen journalists over whom Bundy was protesting. During the hearing, Chaney told two people sitting in hearing room seats reserved for members of the media to vacate those seats.
“I&#8217;m not sure precisely what their goal is, but I&#8217;m absolutely sure that the two individuals whom I asked to leave were intending to create a scene,” Chaney said. “At times in the last 24 to 36 hours, this building has descended into complete chaos, and the only way to make sure that all citizens feel comfortable coming here to be heard is to make sure that we don&#8217;t allow rule deviations in general.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-issues-pardon-ranchers-whose-arrest-emily-zanotti">Trump Issues Pardon To Ranchers Whose Arrest Triggered Bundy Standoff</a>

Ammon Bundy Arrested Twice In Two Days Over Idaho Capitol Protest

Idaho

President Donald Trump issued a pair of pardons for two Oregon ranchers whose extreme prison sentences for arson on federal land triggered an armed standoff between the Bureau of Land Management and brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy.
<a href="http://dailycaller.com/2018/07/10/trump-pardons-oregon-ranchers/?utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_campaign=atdailycaller&amp;utm_source=Twitter">According to The Daily Caller</a>, the White House submitted the pardons Tuesday morning, officially ending a government prosecution that has trailed on for more than four years.
Dwight and Steven Hammond were convicted in 2012 of setting fire to public land after a fire on their privately-owned grazing grounds leaked onto land owned by BLM. The U.S. District Court judge who sentenced the pair objected to the government&#8217;s use of a 1996 anti-terrorism law that required both ranchers to serve minimum five year prison sentences, and instead gave the Hammonds a far shorter jail term.
The Obama Administration decided to press the issue, however, and on appeal in 2014, got the five-year minimum sentence reinstated, and a judge ordered the Hammonds back to prison. To protest both the sentencing and the Bureau of Land Management&#8217;s overreach, Ammon and Ryan Bundy took control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
The Bundys were indicted in 2016, but recently a U.S. District Court judge <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14849167/cliven-bundy-wins-case/">declared a mistrial in their case</a>, citing &#8220;gross misconduct by the Federal government.&#8221;
Recently, an &#8220;agriculture advocacy group&#8221; called Protect the Harvest began petitioning the Trump administration to overturn the Hammonds&#8217; sentences and Tuesday, the White House announced the pair would receive the administration&#8217;s fourth and fifth pardon.

Trump Issues Pardon To Ranchers Whose Arrest Triggered Bundy Standoff

Donald Trump

Cliven Bundy, a famed Nevada cattle rancher who led a standoff with the federal government in 2014, walked away a free man when a federal judge dismissed all charges against him and three others on Monday.
U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro dropped all charges after she found prosecutors willfully withheld evidence from Bundy&#8217;s lawyers, engaging in &#8220;flagrant prosecutorial misconduct.&#8221;
&#8220;The court finds that the universal sense of justice has been violated,&#8221; Navarro said.
Since prosecutors withheld evidence, the cattle rancher&#8217;s due process rights were found to be violated. Navarro was citing the so-called &#8220;Brady rule,&#8221; a reference to a landmark 1963 Supreme Court case, Brady vs. Maryland.
Bundy&#8217;s two sons and another rancher also saw their charges dropped.
The courtroom erupted in cheers from Bundy supporters as the judge handed down her ruling, according to <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/08/charges-against-rancher-cliven-bundy-three-others-are-dismissed.html">Fox News</a>. Bundy, was jailed some 700 days during the legal process. Bundy has referred to the time spent behind bars as &#8220;political&#8221; imprisonment.
&#8220;In this case the failures to comply with Brady were exquisite, extraordinary,&#8221; said Fox News&#8217; Judge Andrew Napolitano. &#8220;The judge exercised tremendous patience. Either the government lied or [its actions were] so grossly negligent as to be tantamount to lying,&#8221; the Fox News judge added. &#8220;This happened over and over again.&#8221;
The nation was transfixed by a standoff with Bundy and his crew against the feds in 2014 after a 20-plus-year dispute over his land. Bundy &#8220;didn&#8217;t recognize the authority of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over the sovereign state of Nevada,&#8221; Fox said.
Things escalated in 2014 when the feds tried to take action against the rancher for trespassing; Bundy and company fought back, temporarily winning the surrender of the feds after a tense, armed standoff, according to Fox:
<blockquote>
Things came to a head in 2014, when officials planned to capture and impound cattle trespassing on government land. Protesters, many armed, tried to block the authorities, which led to a standoff. &#8230; Tensions escalated until officials, fearing for the general safety, announced they would return Bundy&#8217;s cattle and suspend the roundup.
</blockquote>
Bundy took the win and didn&#8217;t look back, continuing to graze his cattle on his land and refusing to pay the fines adding up.
Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan, and militia member Ryan Payne, were handed down felony charges, including assault on a federal agent, conspiracy, and using a firearm in a violent crime.
Navarro said on Monday that the FBI &#8220;was involved in the prosecution and it was not a coincidence that most of the evidence that was held back,&#8221; according to reporting from AZCentral.
A massive crowd of Bundy supporters gathered outside the courtroom erupted in cheers when the news broke that Bundy was a free man.

FREE MAN: Charges Against Cliven Bundy, Other Ranchers Dismissed

Nevada

On Wednesday, federal judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial in the case against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, two of his sons, and militia member Ryan Payne, asserting that U.S. prosecutors willfully withheld crucial and &#8220;potentially exculpatory&#8221; evidence from the defense.
Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and militia member Payne were accused of leading an armed standoff with agents from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 2014.
As The Arizona Republic <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2017/12/20/cliven-bundy-nevada-ranch-cattle-grazing-blm-standoff-trial/965402001/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>
Navarro cited five key pieces of information that prosecutors did not disclose: records about surveillance and snipers at the Bundy Ranch; unredacted FBI logs about activity at the ranch in the days around the standoff; threat assessments about the Bundys dating to 2012; and internal affairs reports about the BLM.
</blockquote>
Navarro did not dismiss charges against the four men, but it is still up in the air as to whether the men will be retried because she did not issue a judgment as to whether the mistrial was with or without prejudice. Another hearing is set for January; the tentative date for a new trial, if there is one, is February 26.
Navarro had warned there might be a potential mistrial after prosecutors produced several documents that buttressed the defense claims that the federal government had used<a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2017/12/15/federal-agent-alleges-u-s-misconduct-bundy-ranch-standoff/956525001/"> video surveillance and sniper teams during the standoff</a>, and that the FBI had been involved in the controversy. Those documents demolished prior claims by prosecutors that no video surveillance or sniper teams were used, and that the FBI was not involved; prosecutors had alleged that the defendants concocted claims about snipers, videos, and the FBI to incite their militia before the standoff occurred.
On Monday, acting Nevada U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre accused the defense of a &#8220;thinly veiled attempt&#8221; to nullify any verdict with their claim that federal law enforcement officers instigated the standoff.
A <a href="https://redoubtnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Larry-Wooten-Communication_77PI.pdf">report</a> by a Bureau of Land Management special agent, who was later <a href="https://d2jhuj1whasmze.cloudfront.net/docs/Kent%20Kleman%20Communication_786p.pdf">removed</a> from his position in the investigation conducted by Myhre into the Bureau&#8217;s 2014 standoff, claimed the BLM displayed &#8220;incredible bias&#8221; and widespread misconduct in the matter.
The BLM had threatened Bundy for decades, warning him to remove his cattle from federal lands; in 2014, the BLM obtained a court order to seize his cattle when Bundy <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nevada-bundy-verdict-20170822-story.html">refused to renew permits</a> that would have allowed his cattle to graze on public lands near his ranch.
That triggered hundreds of supporters to join the Bundys; several militia groups included. Federal agents backed off, claiming they were outgunned.
In 2016, 19 people were charged with conspiracy, assault, extortion and weapons violations for taking part in the Bundy cause. In April, a jury considering charges against six defendants only convicted Gregory Burleson of Arizona and Todd Engel of Idaho on weapons and obstruction charges, all conspiracy charges were dismissed. In August, a jury <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/20124/bundy-ranch-standoff-trial-no-one-found-guilty-hank-berrien">decided</a> that Richard Lovelien, Steven Stewart, Eric Parker and O. Scott Drexler were innocent of conspiracy and extortion.

VERDICT IN: Mistrial Declared In Cliven Bundy Case

On Tuesday, the federal jury in Las Vegas considering the case against the four men accused of taking up arms against federal agents during the Bundy Ranch standoff in 2014, decided none of them were guilty.
After four days of deliberations, the jury decided that Richard Lovelien, Steven Stewart, Eric Parker and O. Scott Drexler were innocent of conspiracy and extortion; jurors could not reach a verdict on weapons and assault charges against Parker and Drexler.
Las Vegas defense lawyer Shawn Perez said, &#8220;Both Ricky and I were teary-eyed. I was shaking. &#8230; I have gotten not-guilty verdicts before, but this was really special to me.&#8221; Las Vegas defense lawyer Jess Marchese added, &#8220;(Parker) is getting released as we speak. He&#8217;s ecstatic.&#8221;
Trisha Young, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office in Las Vegas, said, &#8220;While we are disappointed with the verdicts, we thank the jurors for their service. At this time, the government has not announced its decision regarding the retrial of Eric Parker and O. Scott Drexler.&#8221; Back in April, <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2017/04/24/cliven-bundy-trial-verdict-ranch-standoff/100605480/">a jury deadlocked on charges against the four men</a>, but convicted two other defendants on multiple counts. Conspiracy charges against all six men failed.
In the standoff, armed ranchers and militia members confronted Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agents roughly 70 miles north of Las Vegas in order to help Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy stave off a government roundup of his cattle. The BLM had threatened Bundy for decades, warning him to remove his cattle from federal lands; in 2014 BLM obtained a court order to seize his cattle when Bundy <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nevada-bundy-verdict-20170822-story.html">refused to renew permits</a> that would have allowed his cattle to graze on public lands near his ranch.
A key moment in the trial <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2017/08/10/bundy-retrial-drama-judge-scolds-defendant-orders-him-off-stand/558082001/">occurred</a> on August 11, when Judge Gloria Navarro ordered Parker to retreat from the stand and striking his testimony of what he saw at the stand-off from court records. Parker returned to the defense table and started crying.
Marchese said jurors told him after the verdict was announced that the incident with Parker influenced their decision. He said, &#8220;That weighed heavily in their decision. They wanted to hear him speak. It was very bothersome to them. They felt like they weren&#8217;t getting the whole story,&#8221; though he added, &#8220;It wasn&#8217;t one thing. They (jurors) said it didn&#8217;t make sense.&#8221;
Perez explained why the defense waived closing arguments: &#8220;The jurors knew our hands were tied. By the time the government laid it all out for them, they had already made up their minds. &#8230; They knew there was no reason for us to go farther.&#8221;
Navarro would not let defendants explain why they traveled thousands of miles to join protesters at the Bundy Ranch. She also would not let them testify about perceived abuses by federal authorities that impelled them to join Bundy. As <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2017/08/22/no-guilty-verdicts-bundy-ranch-standoff-trial/592019001/">AZ Central</a> reported:
<blockquote>
Navarro also restricted defendants from raising constitutional arguments, or mounting any defense based on their First Amendment rights to free speech and their Second Amendment rights to bear arms. In her rulings, Navarro said those were not applicable arguments in the case. Federal officials did not face the same restrictions. To show defendants were part of a conspiracy, they referenced events that happened months, or years, after the standoff.
</blockquote>
19 people were charged for their roles in the Bundy incident; Cliven Bundy and his sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy have yet to be tried in court. Gregory Burleson of Phoenix and Todd Engel of Boundary County, Idaho were found guilty of obstruction of justice and interstate travel to aid extortion earlier this year.

Bundy Ranch Standoff Trial: No One Found Guilty

An FBI agent has been indicted for lying about the shooting of one of the right-wing protesters who occupied a federal building in Oregon.
The agent, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-fbi-oregon-shooting-20170628-story.html">W. Joseph Astarita</a>, faces charges of obstruction of justice and giving a false statement about not firing shots at Robert &#8220;LaVoy&#8221; Finicum. Astarita plead not guilty to these charges in court on Wednesday.
The incident in question occurred early on in 2016 when FBI agents and Oregon State Police attempted to arrest some of the Oregon protesters as they were heading to a community meeting. Finicum fled from law enforcement in his truck and when the truck crashed, Finicum emerged and appeared to reach for a gun in his pocket, prompting state troopers to fatally shoot him. The rest of the Oregon protesters were arrested peacefully. 
While an investigation concluded that the gunshots toward Finicum were justified, investigators were unable to account for two gunshots that missed Finicum, one of which had struck his truck. Now, Astarita is being indicted for failing to report that he had fired those two shots and lying to investigators about it. Four other agents are under investigation for covering up Astarita&#8217;s gunshots, although it is unknown if they will face any charges.
FBI veteran Michael German told <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2017/06/fbi_agent_indicted_in_connecti.html">The Oregonian</a>, &#8220;Here you have one of the best trained units in the FBI. They&#8217;re only supposed to shoot when there&#8217;s an active threat. You would hope they would be accurate in doing so.&#8221;
Finicum&#8217;s attorney, Brian Claypool, told The Oregonian that they applauded the decision and would be filing a lawsuit claiming that &#8220;excessive force&#8221; was used against Finicum.
&#8220;Nobody is above the law,&#8221; Claypool said. &#8220;The fact that the U.S. Department of Justice stepped in and investigated one of their own and said, &#8216;You can&#8217;t obstruct justice, you&#8217;re not above the law&#8217; sends a very positive message. This is about upholding public trust and preserving the integrity of any investigation involving a death at the hands of law enforcement.&#8221;
What happened in Oregon began when <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/10330/oregon-militia-leaders-who-took-over-federal-aaron-bandler">the federal government attempted to harass the Hammond family off their land</a>, prompting Ammon Bundy and seven others to occupy a federal building to protest the federal government. Bundy and the other members were acquitted after Bundy gave an impassioned defense against government overreach.
This article has been modified to state that Finicum was fatally shot by state troopers.
<a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter">Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.</a>

FBI Agent Indicted After LYING About Shooting At Oregon Right-Wing Protester

Oregon

In the media&#8217;s mad rush to proclaim everything in America racist, they&#8217;ve decided racism is to blame for the acquittal of Ammon Bundy and six other defendants for taking over an empty federal facility in the middle of the Oregon wilderness. Bundy and company took over the facility to protest the arrest and imprisonment of Steven and Dwight Hammond, <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/2303/here-are-five-reasons-you-should-side-hammond-ben-shapiro">two Oregon ranchers</a> who were pushed off their land by the federal government.
The prosecutors said that Bundy and his group were responsible for an &#8220;invasion.&#8221; The jurors felt differently &#8211; they believed the defense line that Bundy was engaging in peaceful protest. Bundy himself gave 10 hours of testimony, including stating that &#8220;Everything comes from the Earth and if [the government] can get control of the resources, they can get control of the people.&#8221;
Here was The New York Times&#8217; Paul Krugman in response to the verdict:
<blockquote>
&#8220;I&#8217;m staggered that a bunch of armed men can take over federal property, maintain their siege &#8211; and then get off scott free. Does anybody think the outcome would be the same if armed Muslims, black men, or Native Americans tried this? And I fear it may encourage others to try similar stunts. Thoughts?&#8221;
</blockquote>
Here&#8217;s the problem with that theory: Bundy and his compatriots were prosecuted. The jury nullified. That&#8217;s actually different than the situation for some black leftists who have taken over buildings peacefully while armed &#8211; they&#8217;re not even arrested. In 1969, members of the Afro-American Society (AAS) occupied Willard Straight Hall at Cornell, and brought guns with them. Here&#8217;s the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiX6-Tk_f3PAhUKiFQKHTR-DLkQFggcMAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.news.cornell.edu%2Fstories%2F2009%2F04%2Fcampus-takeover-symbolized-era-change&amp;usg=AFQjCNEpBaRsvDhAUco8Axp53cNYs66nXQ&amp;sig2=_zF2gQN7kDVAFyjNCb1Kkg">Cornell Chronicle</a> recapping:
<blockquote>
On Sunday afternoon, following negotiations with Cornell officials, the AAS students emerged from the Straight carrying rifles and wearing bandoleers. Their image, captured by Associated Press photographer Steve Starr, in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, appeared in newspapers across the country and on the cover of Newsweek magazine under the headline, &#8220;Universities Under the Gun.&#8221;
</blockquote>
During that era, similar student occupations were met with arrest but very few prosecutions. Not much has changed today. The left celebrates armed and dangerous riots in major cities around the country associated with the Black Lives Matter movement &#8211; how many people have been charged and convicted? How many leaders of BLM have been invited to the White House, by contrast?
The reality of protest in the United States is that Americans typically tolerate it, and refuse to convict. In 2011, leftist student protesters occupied Berkeley&#8217;s Wheeler Hall; those who were <a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2011/09/20/six-wheeler-hall-protesters-found-not-guilty-of-disturbing-the-peace/">arrested were acquitted</a>. Mass arrests aren&#8217;t uncommon, but mass convictions are. Krugman asks if protesters at the Dakota Pipeline would get off scot-free &#8211; and the answer is likely &#8220;yes,&#8221; or with a slap on the wrist at the very least. The media labels those who are blocking the Dakota Pipeline &#8220;<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dakota-access-pipeline-141-activists-arrested-tense-clash-police-n674361">activists</a>,&#8221; even though at least one woman fired shots at the police &#8211; something the Bundy clan never did. 
So no, this isn&#8217;t about racism &#8211; or if it is, there&#8217;s no evidence of it yet. It is about many Americans&#8217; doubts about government overreach and high tolerance for civil disobedience.

Bundy Acquitted for Occupation of Federal Land, Left Blames…Racism

So the feds finally got their men.
On Tuesday, the FBI and Oregon State Police pulled over nine militia members who had taken over a federal building in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to protest the unjust jailing of <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/2303/here-are-five-reasons-you-should-side-hammond-ben-shapiro">Steven and Dwight Hammond</a>. The militia members included outspoken anti-federal bureaucracy activists Ammon and Ryan Bundy, members of the Bundy clan that faced down the Environmental Protection Agency in Nevada last year. As <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oregon-occupation-leader-ammon-bundy-arrested-law-enforcement-sources-n504911">NBC News reports</a>:
<blockquote>
Officials had been waiting for an opportunity to arrest the group&#8217;s leadership away from the refuge to minimize the potential for violence, a senior law enforcement official told NBC News. The nine activists were traveling in two vehicles 45 miles outside of the refuge when the FBI and Oregon State Police pulled them over, the official said. Some tried to get away, then there was gunfire. Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum, 54, was killed in the shooting, his daughter told NBC News. Ryan Bundy was injured, the official said. It was not year clear who fired the shots. Reportedly, Bundy and Finicum were the only two members of the group not to immediately surrender.
</blockquote>
Finicum left 11 children and 19 grandchildren.
Finicum&#8217;s daughter, Challice Finicum Finch, said that her father had told her he would not pull a gun first on law enforcement. &#8220;We all thought it would end, but not like this,&#8221; she said. &#8220;My dad did stress that they couldn&#8217;t pull a gun on them [officers] unless they pulled a gun. They were all committed to not firing on federal agents.&#8221; Filicum told NBC News on January 6, &#8220;There are things more important than your life, and freedom is one of them. I&#8217;m prepared to defend freedom.&#8221;
NBC News reports that law enforcement have now set up checkpoints along key routes in and out of the Malhear National Wildlife Refuge.
The Bundys were supposed to meet with authorities at 6 p.m. in John Day, a nearby town; the shootings happened at 4:25 p.m. according to the FBI. Finicum told <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oregon-arrests-dead-occupier-lavoy-finicum-was-dad-11-n504976">The Oregonian</a> the day before his killing that &#8220;the tenor has changed, [law enforcement] have become more hardened&#8230;They&#8217;re doing all the things that show they want to take some kinetic action against us, and we&#8217;re saying, &#8216;Why be so unfriendly?&#8217;&#8221;
So, here&#8217;s what we don&#8217;t know: who initiated the shooting; why the authorities scheduled a meet with the Bundy group, only to arrest them on the way to the meeting; whether the feds planned to arm up or precipitate a conflict, as Finicum suggested in advance; and most of all, why somebody had to die so that the government could prove that wrongfully-imprisoned farmers the feds want to push off their land should remain in jail.
If somebody pulls a gun on the authorities, they should expect to be shot, obviously. The danger of the Bundy protest was always that the feds would get aggressive.
But it is worth noting the selective aggression of the federal government here. When college students take over government-owned buildings, the feds are nowhere to be found; the President of the United States justifies riots in places like Ferguson and Baltimore. If a few ranchers take over an empty federal building in the middle of nowhere, however, that&#8217;s worth drawing out the protesters and then risking a shooting.
As government grows larger, such run-ins will become more common. That&#8217;s particularly true when those targeted by the government have no association with an important political constituency. The Hammonds aren&#8217;t a national issue because they&#8217;re ranchers fighting the Bureau of Land Management, not blacks in Ferguson fighting the &#8220;white establishment.&#8221; The Bundys claim that LaVoy Finicum &#8220;had his arms in the air&#8221; when he was shot, but there will be no mass movement, no protest photos on CNN &#8212; an ironic counterpoint to the national movement that sprang up in the aftermath of the fully fictionalized account of thug Michael Brown&#8217;s death at the hands of Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson.
Every law is enforced at point of gun. Finicum knew that. So do we all. But his death should remind us that before we regulate selling &#8220;loose&#8221; cigarettes or the ability to feed your cattle in public areas, before we hand power to bureaucracies, before we go along with another &#8220;meaningless regulation,&#8221; we ought to take stock of the fact that someday, somebody might lose their life to resist the consequences of such government action.
We ought to ask: is this law worth it?

The Feds Just Shot An Oregon Protester. Here’s The Big Lesson.

Ammon Bundy, says the left, is acting in ways unprecedented in American history. That&#8217;s a lie. He may be wrong, but he&#8217;s well within a tradition running from the Whiskey Rebellion through Henry David Thoreau.
Bundy has holed up with his armed supporters in a federal facility in the wilds of Oregon to protest the re-arrest of Steven and Dwight Hammond. Their case is <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/2303/here-are-five-reasons-you-should-side-hammond-ben-shapiro">explained here</a>.
At 2:12 AM, someone claiming to be Bundy on Twitter tweeted, &#8220;We are doing the same thing as Rosa Parks did. We are standing up against bad laws which dehumanize us and destroy our freedom.&#8221;
This prompted spasms of ecstasy on the left.
Shaun King, the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=5&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjL9cCxh5bKAhUK52MKHRusB54QFggqMAQ&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Fbig-government%2F2015%2F08%2F20%2Ffamily-members-and-childhood-friends-confirm-shaun-king-is-white%2F&amp;usg=AFQjCNH18Yij7f1Oemu-gO82ET4gYqF8qQ&amp;sig2=fw9RmyMjYFqUj45nEHBTDA">whitest black activist in history</a>, wrote a full column on the tweet, in which he stated that Bundy must have &#8220;sleep-tweeted that foolishness.&#8221;
Actually, as it turns out, he didn&#8217;t tweet it at all. Bundy isn&#8217;t on Twitter.
But that didn&#8217;t stop King from <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-bundy-comparing-rosa-parks-joke-article-1.2487066?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter">going insane over the fake tweet</a>, writing:
<blockquote>
Whatever the case, I&#8217;ll indulge whoever wrote that comical tweet for just a few moments, and if you butt-dialed it in your sleep, just ignore everything I&#8217;m about to say. Rosa Parks was a human. You are a human. OK, I&#8217;m thinking, thinking, thinking&#8230;. that&#8217;s where the similarities end, actually.
</blockquote>
King then describes Parks as a woman who spontaneously &#8220;bravely refused to get out of her seat that evening. The bus was stopped. The police were called and Parks was placed under arrest then and there. As a brave black woman in the Jim Crow South, Parks risked her life on Dec. 1, 1955. She did it without an armed posse to back her up. She did it as a petite woman of the oppressed class in the face of white men who were fully empowered to brutalize black bodies with little threat of punishment.&#8221;
By way of digression, it&#8217;s worth noting that King&#8217;s description of Parks doesn&#8217;t tell the real story. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-schmitz/how-change-happens-the-re_b_6237544.html">The Huffington Post</a> details all the extensive activities that went into the Montgomery bus boycott, and Parks&#8217; involvement in virtually every aspect of the planning. Her heroism was planned, not spontaneous &#8211; which actually enhances her heroism.
But in any case, Bundy isn&#8217;t Parks. Obviously.
Bundy is in the line of the Whiskey Rebellion. In 1791, shortly after George Washington became president, the federal government attempted to levy a tax on whiskey. Western farmers attacked tax collectors, and 500 armed men surrounded the home of a tax inspector. Washington rode in with an army 13,000 strong. The rebels left, and all of those arrested were pardoned; the tax itself became almost impossible to collect. After Thomas Jefferson took power, the federal government repealed the tax altogether.

Bundy is in the line of Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau, whose Civil Disobedience you were forced to read in high school, talked openly about armed resistance. After all, Thoreau believed that one ought to resist a tyrannical government rather than complying with it if such resistance forwarded the cause of ending the tyranny, and even went so far as to defend the actions of anti-slavery vigilante John Brown, who killed 6 civilians in his attempt to start a slave rebellion:
<blockquote>
I know that the mass of my countrymen think that the only righteous use that can be made of Sharp&#8217;s rifles and revolvers is to fight duels with them, when we are insulted by other nations, or to hunt Indians, or shoot fugitive slaves with them, or the like. I think that for once the Sharp&#8217;s rifles and the revolvers were employed in a righteous cause. The tools were in the hands of one who could use them. The same indignation that is said to have cleared the temple once will clear it again. The question is not about the weapon, but the spirit in which you use it. No man has appeared in America, as yet, who loved his fellow-man so well, and treated him so tenderly. He lived for him. He took up his life and he laid it down for him.
</blockquote>
We find this over the top &#8211; so, in fact, did Abraham Lincoln, who ripped the <a href="http://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup_publicity/2012/12/abraham-lincoln-on-john-brown-february-27-1860.html">John Brown raid</a>:
<blockquote>
An enthusiast broods over the oppression of a people till he fancies himself commissioned by Heaven to liberate them. He ventures the attempt, which ends in little else than his own execution. Orsini&#8217;s attempt on Louis Napoleon, and John Brown&#8217;s attempt at Harper&#8217;s Ferry were, in their philosophy, precisely the same.
</blockquote>
By the time the Civil War started, however, Union soldiers were going to war singing not the later lyrics of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, but these original lyrics to its tune:
<blockquote>
John Brown died that the slaves might be free,
John Brown died that the slaves might be free,&#8232;
His soul goes marching on.&#8232;
The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down, /&#8232;
The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,&#8232;
His soul goes marching on.
</blockquote>
As Christopher Hitchens wrote in The Atlantic, &#8220;Brown, far from being a crazed fanatic, was a serious legatee of the English and American revolutions who anticipated the Emancipation Proclamation and all that has ensued from it.&#8221;
We may not be in the active resistance phase of Thoreau&#8217;s philosophy. We may stand with Lincoln. I hope we all do when it comes to Oregon, particularly since passive resistance will do far more good than active resistance.
But let&#8217;s not dismiss that there&#8217;s a serious strain of Americanism that runs from the American Revolution to Henry David Thoreau and down to Ammon Bundy. What&#8217;s happening in Oregon may be wrongheaded, but it isn&#8217;t unprecedented. To paint it as such is simply historically ignorant &#8211; and dangerous. After all, as Thoreau wrote, there may be some causes that require resistance. Giving up that right altogether is a recipe for tyranny.

No, The Bundy Militia Isn’t Rosa Parks. But They’re Not Doing Anything Unprecedented. Just Ask Thoreau.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) gave a strongly-worded statement condemning Ammon Bundy and his armed militiamen in Oregon.
In response to reporters in Iowa who asked him about the situation, Cruz <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/ted-cruz-calls-oregon-armed-protesters-stand-down-n489846">said,</a> &#8220;Our prayers are with everyone involved with what&#8217;s happening with Oregon and especially those in law enforcement that are risking their lives.&#8221;
&#8220;Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds,&#8221; the conservative firebrand continued. &#8220;But we don&#8217;t have a constitutional right to use force and violence and to threaten force and violence against others. So it is our hope that the protesters there will stand down peaceably, that there will not be a violent confrontation.&#8221;
Bundy and his armed militiamen would be wise to heed Cruz&#8217;s words.
(h/t: <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/ted-cruz-calls-oregon-armed-protesters-stand-down-n489846">NBC News</a>)
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Here’s What Ted Cruz Said DIRECTLY To The Bundy Militiamen in Oregon

Ted Cruz

CNN asked Ammon Bundy, who is leading the armed protesters in occupying a federal building in Oregon, if he is a &#8220;terrorist.&#8221; Bundy had the perfect answer waiting for them.
&#8220;There&#8217;s been a lot of social media discussion about what you all are doing out here,&#8221; a CNN reporter <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/01/05/bundy-confronted-by-cnn-reporter-on-terrorism-allegations-how-do-you-respond-to-these-kinds-of-accusations/">said</a> to Bundy Monday night. &#8220;They&#8217;ve used words like &#8216;Ya&#8217;ll Qaeda&#8217; and &#8216;Vanilla ISIS.&#8217; And while they sound like funny names, they are basically calling you terrorists. How do you respond to these kinds of accusations?&#8221;
&#8220;Well, one, I think that is the minority,&#8221; Bundy responded. &#8220;But I would encourage people to look into what is really happening and find out who is truly doing the terrorizing. Who has been taking ranches? This refuge alone, over 100 ranches have been taken so they can make this refuge.&#8221;
Bundy has a point. <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/2315/here-are-seven-things-you-need-know-about-bureau-aaron-bandler">The Daily Wire</a> reported Monday on the numerous abuses of the Bureau of Land Management and about how the BLM has <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/2303/here-are-five-reasons-you-should-side-hammond-ben-shapiro">unfairly targeted</a> the Hammond family.
A former Navy seal involved with the original protests told <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/2310/exclusive-former-navy-seal-armed-protesters-split-aaron-bandler">The Daily Wire</a> on Monday that Bundy and the other armed protesters did not cause any damage to the federal building and are not threatening anyone; describing them as &#8220;terrorists&#8221; would be inaccurate. That said, some are <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/01/04/oregon-takeover-ammon-bundy-federal-land-editorials-debates/78277842/">breaking the law</a> and should peacefully stand down, as Ted Cruz and others have said, but the larger point is that the scrutiny should fall more on the BLM than Bundy.
H/t <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/01/05/bundy-confronted-by-cnn-reporter-on-terrorism-allegations-how-do-you-respond-to-these-kinds-of-accusations/">The Blaze</a>.
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