America’s real terror threat: Domestic extremists pose a greater danger than ISIS ever will

Take America back from those who have stolen it.

Protect America from those who want to destroy it.

Restore the principles that these usurpers betrayed.

These are the messages that have defined the GOP presidential race. They have been used for the past eight years to justify obstruction of the Obama administration, and are now being used to paint the democratic candidates as dangerous. In the late stages of the GOP primary as the rhetoric became increasingly xenophobic, they were applied to increasingly broad swaths of the American population as well.

The Bundys won’t go away: The family gears up for another battle — which means more embarrassment for conservatives

Even though the occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon ended in arrests and one death, the right-wing militia movement that swirls around the Bundy family of Nevada is still hard at work, dismantling what was left of the good reputation of the more libertarian strain of conservatism in the western United States.

Cliven Bundy, the patriarch of the family that got arrested in February for allegedly threatening federal agents rather than pay his grazing fees, is in the news again for suing President Obama, Sen. Harry Reid, Reid’s son, former Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid, and U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro for supposedly violating his constitutional rights.

New Bill Would Eliminate Law Enforcement On Public Lands, Despite Risks Of Violent Extremism

Just one month after the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) introduced a bill to abolish the law enforcement capacity of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service officials. The bill proposes to instead transfer all law enforcement powers on U.S. public lands to local sheriffs, thus implementing a major demand of anti-government extremists — many of whom think sheriffs have more authority over local matters than the federal government.

Note To Media: The Heavily Armed, Law-Breaking Oregon Militants Aren’t ‘Protesters’

With news that the leader of the Oregon militia occupying a federal wildlife refuge was arrested last night, and another member killed in a confrontation with police, it’s worth taking a look back at how the media has described the crisis in the last few weeks.

The armed militia first seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon on January 2, and proclaimed early on that they were willing to kill and be killed if necessary. Since then, their occupation of the land, and their refusal to seriously negotiate with the FBI, has cost the U.S. government over $133,000 per day.

Armed Oregon Militia Creates Kangaroo Court To Indict Government

An armed group that has taken over a national wildlife refuge to protest federal land use policies continues to escalate the situation by introducing a common law grand jury, which has no actual legal standing. They have chosen Joaquin Mariano DeMoreta-Folch, St. Augustine Tea Party government accountability chairman and a longtime proponent of convening secret citizens’ panels to indict government officials to be their common law judge and at a recent event held at the refuge a New Mexico rancher, Adrian Sewell of Grant County, New Mexico, renounced his federal grazing contract from the U.S. Forest Service.

Militia Says It Will Take Up Arms To Defend Flint If Necessary

A group of vigilantes has vowed to take up arms to defend the city’s residents. During a rally in front of City Hall, an executive officer for the Genesee County Volunteer Militia announced the group is “not going to allow [the government] to step on the people of Flint any longer.”

“We’re here to defend this community,” said Matthew Krol, who was joined by approximately 30 supporters. The Detroit Free Press reported that the group carried “Don’t Tread On Me” signs and some of its members had pistols. “We’re not going to allow (the government) to step on the people of Flint any longer.”

The Daily Cost Of The Bundy Occupation

Although the armed occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge facility may seem to have done little more than camp out with guns and demand snacks, their continuing occupation is costing taxpayers dearly.

Local and federal government facilities have had to be closed, keeping public employees unable to complete their work. Harney County, which houses the preserve, schools were closed last week, adding teachers to the list of employees on paid leave and preventing students from learning. Police and security have been brought in to protect the townspeople from the armed militiamen — who have threatened law enforcement and other county officials. The occupied reserve, a valuable tourist attraction for the area, is closed to recreators. All of those costs and losses add up.

How The Bundy Standoff Endangers Local Ranchers’ Interests

The dry prairies of Southeast Oregon have been the backdrop for land disputes for centuries — long before armed men decided to set up shop in Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, demanding land sovereignty and snacks.

Anti-government militiamen have occupied the refuge’s headquarters since last week in response to sentences leveled against two local ranchers, Dwight and Steven Hammond, for intentionally setting fires on federal land. Led by the sons of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher with a history of federal standoffs, the group occupying the refuge is also calling for a broader federal surrender of land they believe belongs to ranchers.

The Dumb and the Restless

First of all, when did it become OK for cowboys to cry in public?

The coolest thing about the Gary Cooper-Clint Eastwood-James Coburn-Yul Brynner-style cowboys is that they never said a damned thing. They walked slow, asses sore from all that riding, and kept things to a syllable or two if they could manage it: "Whiskey." "Bath." "Draw."

Ammon Bundy Rejects Sheriff's Offer To End Oregon Standoff

BURNS, Ore., Jan 7 (Reuters) - The leader of a group of armed protesters occupying the headquarters of a U.S. wildlife refuge in rural southeastern Oregon on Thursday rejected a sheriff's offer of passage out of the state to end the standoff.

During a meeting at a neutral site, Harney County Sheriff David Ward offered to escort Ammon Bundy and his group of occupiers out of Oregon, but Bundy declined.

Bundy met the sheriff on a roadside after leaving the compound with other occupiers in two vehicles.

As The Bundy Brothers Occupy A Federal Building, Here Are The GOP Candidates Who Supported Their Dad

On Saturday, a large group of armed militia members took over a federal building in rural Oregon, claiming the property to protest the conviction of two local ranchers found guilty of setting fire to government land. The protesters — many of whom openly brandish firearms — say they are “planning on staying…for years,” and have not ruled out violently defending themselves against any attempt to expel them.

Heavily Armed 'Oath Keepers' Bring New Unease To Ferguson Protests

Four civilians carrying military-style rifles and sidearms patrolled a riot-torn street in Ferguson, Missouri, early Tuesday, saying they were there to protect a media organization but drawing swift criticism from police and protesters alike.

The appearance of the four men, all white, quickly drew stares in the mostly black neighborhood, which exploded into violence again on Sunday night as protesters marked the police killing of an unarmed black teen a year ago.

Harper Says Gun Comments Did Not Promote Vigilante Justice

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says it is "patently ridiculous" to suggest that comments he recently made about guns and the safety of rural Canadians encouraged vigilante justice.

"Gun owners in Canada are not allowed to take the law into their own hands," Harper said Wednesday after an announcement in Mississauga. "Nobody here is suggesting they should be able to do that."

Harper taking flak from legal experts over rural gun-justice remarks

Ontario’s former attorney general is accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of irresponsibly counselling Canadians to commit a crime by using guns for their own security.

In an interview Tuesday with the Citizen, Michael Bryant said the prime minister has completely “misstated” the truth about Canada’s laws by linking gun ownership with the right of rural Canadians to use firearms for their own safety if police forces aren’t close enough to respond.

Bryant’s assessment of whether Canadians have the automatic legal right to use a gun to defend themselves was echoed by other legal experts and a spokesman for the Canadian Bar Association.

Texas Cop Shoots His Neighbor’s Dog, Gets Away With It Under Law Authorizing Vigilantism

Kenneth Wayne Flynn, a former deputy chief in the Fort Worth, Texas police departmentwill not be tried for hunting down and fatally shooting a German shepherd dog that escaped from a nearby home’s yard. Although the former officer was initially charged with animal cruelty/torture, a grand jury decided not to indict him on Wednesday. Flynn was a senior leader in the police department at the time of the shooting, although he decided to retire after he was initially charged.

Nevada Rancher Warns Land Dispute With BLM 'Could Turn Into' Next Waco

Carol Bundy, the wife of a Nevada rancher locked in a tense standoff with federal rangers, warns the ongoing dispute could escalate to the point of a confrontation similar to those at Ruby Ridge and Waco.

"If you saw the artillery and their presence -- the intimidation they are trying to put on us -- it could turn into that," Bundy told The Huffington Post.

'Christian Patrols' Warning In East London Investigated By Police

Muslim community leaders have expressed growing fears of community tension after a far-right group posted a video threatening "Christian patrols" in Tower Hamlets.

The East London Mosque said it was "shocked to note the provocation and antics" of Britain First, a splinter group of the British National Party, which has claimed it carried out ‘Christian Patrols’ outside the mosque last Friday evening. It was a reaction to the so-called "Muslim patrols" by individuals in the area, where a number of Muslims had threatened to attack gay people and confiscate alcohol.

George Zimmerman Unprotected By Self-Defense Law in Trayvon Martin Killing, Florida Lawmakers Say

Republican state lawmakers in Florida responsible for a controversial 2005 self-defense law said it shouldn't apply to a neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old, in February.

Police in Sanford, Fla., declined to charge George Zimmerman, 28, saying they lack evidence refuting his claim of self-defense in the fatal confrontation. Under the 2005 law, called Stand Your Ground, Florida residents can use lethal force against an attacker if they believe their life is threatened, regardless of the location.

In recorded calls to police, Zimmerman describes following Martin in his car and calls him 'suspicious.' A dispatcher tells him not to pursue Martin, but Zimmerman persists. In statements to police, Zimmerman claimed that Martin then attacked him and he shot the teenager in self-defense, police said.

Martin weighed nearly 100 pounds less than Zimmerman and was found carrying only a bag of Skittles candy and a can of iced tea. Police said that without evidence proving that Zimmerman attacked Martin first, they had no grounds to charge him with a crime.

Dennis Baxley, a Republican state representative and co-author of the 2005 self-defense law, said Zimmerman negated his ability to claim immunity under the law by chasing Martin.

Trayvon Martin and the Parameters of Hope

Were the elements of the Trayvon Martin story—the plaintive cry for help punctuated by a gunshot; the image of a Martin, seventeen and looking young for his age, in a football jersey; the iced tea and Skittles he carried—not so indelible, the events would seem like something from a Tom Wolfe novel: in a Presidential election year, an unarmed black teen is shot by a Hispanic man in a county the African-American President narrowly lost, in a state that accounts for twenty-nine electoral votes, resulting in demands that the Attorney General (also black) open an investigation. The miasma of racism in this storyline is compounded by a police department’s refusal to make an arrest, gun laws that confuse jurisprudence with football and suggest that a good offense is now the equivalent of self-defense, and wild rumors of a black militia preparing to occupy the town and take the shooter into custody. That Al Sharpton will be covering a planned rally rather than leading it is perhaps an irony too far even for Wolfe. More than that, the case, like similar ones, highlights the complicated matter of expectations and a black Presidency. Call it the parameters of hope.

Walking While Black: Florida Police Resist Calls to Arrest Shooter of Unarmed Teen, Trayvon Martin

The Justice Department and the FBI have announced they will conduct a criminal probe of the killing of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and the ensuing police investigation that allowed his killer to walk free. Martin, an African-American student at Michael Krop Senior High School, was visiting his father in a gated community in the town of Sanford, Florida, on February 26 when he walked out to a nearby convenience store to buy candy and iced tea. On his way back, Martin was spotted by the shooter, George Zimmerman, who had been patrolling the neighborhood. Zimmerman has told police he was attacked by Martin from behind. But in the tape of Zimmerman’s own 911 call to the police, Zimmerman tells the dispatcher he is the one following Martin. The Miami Herald reports Zimmerman had taken it upon himself to patrol the neighborhood and had called police 46 times since January 2011 to report suspicious activity or other incidents. We play excerpts of the 911 calls and speak with Jasmine Rand, an attorney who heads the civil rights division at Parks & Crump Law Firm, which is representing Trayvon Martin’s family. "I think we have all of the evidence in the world to arrest him. And I think what the state attorney is trying to do is to try the case and the investigation, and that’s not the state attorney’s job," Rand says.

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Source: Democracy Now!
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