We’ve been talking about Really Serious Stuff around here for awhile, and it’s time to lighten up. But first, whatever you are doing now, please be sure to put your beverage aside — ladies and gentlemen, I give you … Ammon Bundy’s legal defense.
And it is: The feds have no jurisdiction over federal land.
I’ll pause now to let you catch your breath.
Bundy, who led an armed occupation of the Malheur national wildlife refuge, has long claimed that the federal government has no right regulating public lands in the west, and now his legal team is bringing that argument directly to US prosecutors, who have filed a slew of serious felony charges against the activist.
The new motion, which lays the groundwork for a request to dismiss the criminal case against Bundy, presents an argument that legal experts have rejected as an inaccurate interpretation of the US constitution – that the federal government has unlawfully claimed ownership over the wildlife refuge and other public lands.
Talking Points Memo elaborates:
“Once statehood occurred for Oregon, Congress lost the right to own the land inside the state,” the defense argued in the brief.
Bundy’s defense is expected to argue in court that Malheur was not federal land because it had been doled out to homesteaders and was “relinquished.” It is also expected to “provide evidence about foundational documents from the Federal Convention of 1787.”
Prosecutors will prepare a rebuttal as soon as they stop giggling, I’m sure.
Ok, which one of you dips of shite stole the Native Americans hidden stash of magic mushrooms at that park/bird-sanctuary?
Ah!
Now we know!
This defense, Mr. Bundy, proves it was you!
Who’s on his legal defense team?
Besides Cheech & Chong, I mean…
There’s more going on here than meets the eye. Bundy and his legal team know that the motion to the court to dismiss will be denied. So he’s playing to a different audience – the radical armed tea party crowd who believes the federal government is invalid except w/in the 10 miles square of DC and as a military force to impose the will of the States on the world. There are thousands and thousands who belong to militias who have swallowed this – hook, line and sinker.
Bundy knows he’s going to jail – he wants to go as a martyr. How will this play out? If Bundy has his way, with a violent revolution against the federal government, which will fail. If it’s bloody enough, the feds will also react with repressive surveillance and intrusion – which will feed the paranoia. At that point, the nation has entered a death spiral with increasing domestic terrorism which precipitates more repression. The only way out of this is not to enter the cycle.
Protesting with a gun is not protesting. This has to be hammered by social media by the mainstream media, etc. Outside the cult following they have, the Bundy trial must be framed as the government reacting to armed insurrection.
Here’s the deal. I defied the federal government and got 4 months. I wasn’t armed and didn’t hurt anyone, unless you count the feelings of fat-ass bureaucrats. Bundy and crowd need to go down for 20 times longer than me. The feds need to make it clear that bringing guns to the party makes the difference.
They should have gone with a Twinkie defense or a Gummy Bear defense because it would have a better chance of success. I guess the important thing is that Ammon doesn’t feel like is lawyers sold him down the river, so by continuing the delusion his lawyers will be able to pat him on the back and send him away with his sense of suffering an injustice still intact.
Now Ammon isn’t going to be asking if a bear shits in the woods..He’s gonna be asking why doesn’t a bear get 5 years in jail for shitting in the woods.
WWCMD…What would Captain Moroni do?
Looks like the crazies are going to run out of Ammonition long before the government does.
I’m sorry to hear about the jail sentence, Doug.
It seems that “bringing guns to the party” does make a difference, maybe even THE difference, if you’re a “real American,” that is. Guns give every crackpot the imprimatur of a defender of the Second Amendment, no matter how delusional.
When the shouting subsides and the body of thought behind actions like the Malheur occupation is aired, the reality is always as bad or worse than we had suspected. I suppose there must be an element of denial in this. As for myself, I can get along with somewhat crazy people just fine, but, when they’ve pegged the crazy needle and they’re carrying a gun or holding public office, it makes me uneasy.
I’ve been a bit quiet lately, despite some great posts, or rather because of some great posts. Sometimes, it’s better just to listen.