"Tool of Tyranny"

The federal government seems poised to take its first major action against the patriotic protesters who took over a government facility in Oregon, intending to enlist the aid of the weather to help chase the protesters off.

The standoff between the government and a large but disparate group of patriotic westerners who have gathered to oppose the overreach of the federal government has now been going on since last week. Opinions have varied over how to address the actions of these protesters but the feds have not done much to confront the group just yet. This may be changing.

According to RawStory, federal officials may move to cut off gas and power to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge buildings where the protesters have taken residence.

Officials seem to hope that the subfreezing temperatures in the area will help drive away the protesters once the power and heat are cut off in the building.

“It’s in the middle of nowhere,” a federal official told The Guardian newspaper. “And it’s flat-ass cold up there.”

“After they shut off the power, they’ll kill the phone service,” the unnamed government official added. “Then they’ll block all the roads so that all those guys have a long, lonely winter to think about what they’ve done.”

Weather services are predicting snowstorms and continued cold temperatures in the area.

The paper also reports that the FBI has been brought in to coordinate the response to the protests. The FBI will use the capabilities of the local sheriff’s offices to supplement their own capabilities. The U.S. Park Service is also involved since the Malheur facility is in their purview.

The protesters, though, say they are ready if the power goes out. Amon Bundy, the leader of the group, assures the media, “We’re ready and waiting if the power should be shut down.”

Bundy claims that they have supplies and equipment ready to use in case their stay is protracted.

“This refuge from its very inception has been a tool of tyranny,” Bundy has said of their actions. “Steven and Dwight Hammond would not have been abused the way they have if we had adhered to the constitution. When government steps outside the bounds the people have given it, it is the duty of the people to put it back in its place.”

Bundy is referring to the actions taken by the government which precipitated the whole situation.

Steven and Dwight Hammond own land adjacent to federal-owned lands and 2001 the pair tried to complete a controlled burn of the brush on their own property as a way to prevent accidental forest fires. The burn got out of hand, spreading into federal land and burning 139 acres of land belonging to the government.

In 2013, the two men were sentenced to three months in prison for the burning. But the federal government wasn’t happy with the sentence and absurdly decided to use terrorism charges on the pair in order to take the case to a higher court–the very liberal 9th Circuit Court. The government pushed for a full five years in prison and the compliant 9th Circuit agreed. The two men were then ordered to report back to prison to serve the full five-year sentence.

In the end, the protesters insisted that the five-year sentence is obscene and that opinion spurred their takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge buildings.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/breaking-look-what-the-feds-are-reportedly-about-to-do-to-oregon-militia-protesters/