I sense that you might not be fond of guns. Probably just my imagination…
What have the Romans ever done for us?
/S
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Guns are fine. It’s when they escalated the situation by threatening to shoot federal agents with their guns that grabbed my attention. That escalation is what sets them apart, by a far distance, from the protesters in North Dakota.
Effective protest doesn’t require firearms. Bundy simply chose the wrong approach and one that now sees him facing some extensive charges. It didn’t have to be that way.
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Is there any loss in these trolls’ “views” tanking these threads?
If this is all the insight they have to offer, we are no worse off.
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Steve Wax, a former federal public defender who now directs Oregon’s Innocence Project, said he had wondered at the outset of the arrests why prosecutors didn’t seek a more serious charge, something that would have given the case more gravitas and signaled that the occupation broke the barriers of mere protest.
A charge of seditious conspiracy, for instance, alleges two or more people conspired to “by force to seize, take or possess any property of the United States” without authority. It brings prison sentences of up to 20 years.
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I was looking something up on this - did you all see Mumford, one of the attorneys, was tackled by 6 US Marshals and tased. Oh - as I posted this it says it that the link was posted 2 days ago - so I guess so. So I am guessing some US Marshals disagreed with the verdict.
My memory is hazy, can you link me to this? As far as I have found, only one person made actual threats, Scott Willingham, who wasn’t one of the 26 indicted in the refuge case, though he plead guilty to one count theft of government property. One other person who was from another group was arrested for an illegal machine gun, which I imagine will stick.
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I can’t disagree with you. An armed occupation is a much more dangerous thing than an unarmed one. If the shooting starts, it becomes the responsibility of the armed protesters, even if they did not fire any shots.
I am not sure that I believe that the Standing Rock protesters are less dangerous than the Bundy people. Shots were fired by at least one protester, a bunch of equipment has been torched, and firebombs, rocks and bottles thrown at police. It appears that the Standing Rock and other tribal protesters have been thoroughly infiltrated by violent radicals.
About that: there is reason to believe the person who fired shots was an instigator hired by the oil company to stir shit up and give the authorities an excuse to start busting heads.
Documents found in the man’s Chevy Silverado pickup suggest he was a Dakota Access Pipeline security guard in a company-owned truck, the Standing Rock Sioux statement said. The tribe posted photos of insurance papers linking the vehicle to the pipeline. Mother Jones reported there was an employee ID badge in the pickup.
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That has to be the height of stupidity. I would surmise it was an employee who thought he was helping.
I can’t imagine anyone in charge would think this is a good idea… and if they were to try that, they wouldn’t use an employee in one of their trucks.
It would be like Russia having one of their spies dress in black face and shoot a cop to stir up shit, and his name is Ivan and he is wearing a one of those bear skin hats.
“No, I am totally Black Lives Matter supporter. Russian spy? I have not heard of this place you call Russia. I am A #1 Hip Hop banger, yo. See, I have rap CD to prove it. Also this bottle of Hennessy which is not Vodka.” (read with Russian Accent)
It did help, assuming the goal was to convince the public that the protesters were violent and give the authorities an excuse to forcibly remove them.
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“Management of oil company proves to be both immoral and incompetent”.
That isn’t a particularly implausible hypothesis.
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While I don’t doubt that paid instigators can be important in these things, Your article refers to a man linked to the pipeline company, and what I have read refers to a woman being arrested “One woman allegedly fired shots at officers while being placed under arrest, according to the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services.” From your article "A woman who was later arrested fired three shots on Thursday that narrowly missed a law enforcement officer, authorities said. Protesters threw feces, water bottles, logs and other debris at officers during the conflict, authorities said."
So I think we are talking about different incidents. I had not heard about the guy with the AR.
It is a mess. I am following it as closely as I can. Having read the court ruling with it’s exhaustive history of the process, I think the protest is misguided, but a legitimate protest. At least as carried out by the Tribal protesters. The outside extremists are enjoying being able to torch equipment and attack police under the blanket of a spiritual, prayerful native movement.
unrelated personal anecdote- I used to work with an elderly Cheyenne gentleman. every morning at sunrise, he would go out on the bridge wing and worship the four directions. He was a really nice guy, and taught me to say “Today is a good day to die” in Cheyenne. For some reason, we ended up with several Native Americans on the ship that trip, including a couple of Navajo. We changed our November turkey celebration that year to “Thankstaking”. And I have brought the celebration home. It works pretty well for us, as two of my sisters have married into the Navajo and Taos tribes.
In the courtroom, after the judge to them to step back (which happened after the judge admonished Mr. Mumford for yelling at the court). What the hell?
So’s others don’t have to google, what i found was here.
*Edit made for conciseness of information.
(edited for spacing)
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