So they were charged with conspiring to prevent federal employees from doing their jobs? And I guess the ironclad defense against that is, “we never said they couldn’t come here and do their jobs.” Good grief.
It seems like these guys were either charged with the wrong things, or else we don’t have the right laws (yet) for what they did. Probably the weapons charges hinged on a conspiracy conviction.
On the plus side, a number of these people still face serious charges from their quasi-range war in 2014.
Armed people going to be taking over Liberty Island and demanding it be turned over to them next…but it’s OK. It’s a civil disobedience protest when you declare it to be one later in court.
So this means that everyone being arrested in the Dakotas is being let go as I type this?
Does this also mean that any black, brown, yellow, red person can take over a federal institution, while armed, just to express their displeasure or are those colors an exception? What about non-Xtians or Muslim?
So I guess what this DOES mean is that all these paranoid delusional bigot “patriots” are going to be emboldened whether tRump wins or loses.
That’s private property, I think stand your ground applies and tRump can legally shoot you and it won’t affect his chances of being elected - but federal property? It’s a free-for-all apparently.
I assume it doesn’t, and that’s why it comes back hostile.
In other exciting news, the protest at the North Dakota pipeline is up to 117 arrests! You know, in case anyone wonders what America still values if not its own parks, property, and employees.
Suddenly, a group of about six U.S. Marshals surrounded Mumford at his defense table. The judge directed them to move back but moments later, the marshals grabbed on to him."What are you doing?‘’ Mumford yelled, as he struggled and was taken down to the floor. As deputy marshals yelled, "Stop resisting,‘’ the judge demanded "Everybody out of the courtroom now!‘’
Oh you morons! That “stop resisting” shit doesn’t work in a courtroom when you have a white guy in a suit.
What I don’t understand is why the Feds found it necessary to charge these loons with “conspiracy to keep people from going to work” instead of nailing them for staging an armed takeover of public/Federal property. This implies such an occupation is basically legal (provided the occupiers are of the proper complexion, of course.) and you must make something up to get at them .Expect more of this bullshit in days to come.
A number of participants in the takeover already pleaded guilty. The joke’s on them, since their fearless leaders will go free shortly.
Similar tactics have been used by Native American activists in the past, like the occupation of Alcatraz and the Wounded Knee Incident. The Wounded Knee Incident included actual gunfights between the activists and federal agents (as opposed to posturing as at Malheur). Russell Means and Dennis Banks were charged with conspiracy (not unlike the Malheur people) and assault after the end of the Wounded Knee occupation. They were acquitted on all charges (also not unlike the Malheur people).
I am mentioning the incidents above because I think there are some interesting parallels. I am not suggesting that these are comparable causes.
I think we may not actually have a good federal law for what you describe. It’s probably legal for the public to be on public land, and it’s legal to carry firearms on lots of different types of federal land. There really may not be a law specifically against armed occupation of a public facility.
