oops they're seeking presidential clemency now. shoulda brought more snacks you nutter butters.
So they're asking for clemency from a government they're protesting. The same government that they refused to pay for using federal land for their cattle despite the taxation rate being less than a fifth of what a private landowner would charge. Federal Land that was set aside, in part to protect it from people with poor land management and planning skills. Poor planning skills such as the inability to plan for food for an extended camping trip. Poor planning that has lead to them to ask for food donations, shipped to them by US Mail, from the same government they're protesting yet seeking clemency from. These guys are complete hypocrites.
Well - it's actually crazier than that. So there's these ranchers. They've got a shit-ton of land and a shit-ton of cattle, and their shit-ton of land abuts a wildlife refuge. They've gotten in trouble for letting their shit-ton of cattle off of their land, and getting uppity when the BLM tried to put up a fence to keep their shit-ton of cattle on their land. Then they set a fire, probably to cover up poaching, and were told "don't do that." Then they did it again, and again, and stood trial for arson, which has a 5-year minimum. They didn't get that minimum but served their time. Then the prosecutors appealed and got their five year minimum and the ranchers self-reported to prison. Then the Bundy brothers showed up with all their friends, despite being told not to by the ranchers, the rachers' wives, and Old Man Bundy himself. That last sentence pretty much eliminates any need for discussion of rationality or patriotic interest. Wanna see my favorite bit? Now - it may have been a hell of a hardship to cough up 400 large. But When the Send Snacks Militia takes up arms for landowners with 12,000 acres (half the size of Manhattan, Wolfram Alpha tells me helpfully), you know that the Conservative spin doctors are doing a masterful job of shaping the narrative.In a separate 2014 civil judgment, the Hammonds were ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution to the U.S. government for the related arson fires. The pair paid half the amount immediately and the remaining $200,000 in December 2015.
Dwight Hammond, a cattle rancher in Harney County, owns 12,000 acres (4,900 ha) of land, much of which abuts public land.
Oh yeah. I'm caught up on all of that for the most part too. I think the best part is that the people who they're protesting on behalf of are saying "Uh, we don't really want any part of this." I read somewhere else that these guys are hoping for a Waco, so they keep acting up and acting out. I think (or at least hope) our current government is far too savvy to give it to them.
Yeah, Lon's retired. Kinda keeps the bloodshed down. If you're white, at least, you're looking more at John Joe Gray than Randy Weaver.