Burns Chronicles #36

Words from the Poor Losers

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Quite often, while writing an article, my heart is heavy over the actions of government that is suppressing the rights that are our birthright, as posterity of the Founding Fathers. However, as I sit at my keyboard, today, it is with a sense of pleasant surprise and extreme joy that so many felt, yesterday, when the verdict was announced in the Ammon Bundy, et al, trial.

The pleasant surprise comes because for the first time in over twenty years of watching Patriots stand trial for pretend crimes, the jury came back with a verdict that was not what the government wanted.

In a recent article, “The Bundy Affair - #16 - The Legal Shotgun”, I explained how there is a tendency for juries to find defendants guilty of something, especially when many charges, or counts, are a part of the prosecution. This seems to be based upon the infallibility of government. If they say that someone did something wrong, then we, the jury, must find them guilty of doing something wrong.

The jury found that though the government tried, desperately, to prove “intent”, they saw an “effect” in the matter of government employees failing to go to work during the occupation. Interestingly, as explained in another article, “Burns Chronicles No 30 - Officer? What Officer?”, the law that was cited in the Indictment applied only to “officers”, not “employees”. So, the jury being denied that information, what the law really is, still found no cause of intent, on the part of the defendants, to have kept any employee from doing their duty.

Before we move on to extreme joy, we will lay a foundation for a better understanding of what led to the exultation. And, it is mostly predicated upon the various government bureaucrats’ reaction to the verdict.

We will start with News Release from the FBI, the investigators and shooters in the events of this past January, with a statement by United States Attorney Billy J. Williams, in charge of the prosecution for the government (emphasis mine):

JURY DELIVERS VERDICTS IN OREGON STANDOFF TRIAL

News Release from FBI - Oregon
Posted on FlashAlert: October 27th, 2016 5:24 PM
United States Attorney’s Office Press Release
USAO Contact: Kevin Sonoff
(503) 727-1185
kevin.sonoff@usdoj.gov

PORTLAND, Ore.—A federal jury today delivered its verdicts against seven defendants charged with conspiracy, possession of firearms on federal property, and theft during the 41-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Jurors found Ammon Bundy, Shawna Cox, David Lee Fry, Jeff Wayne Banta, Kenneth Medenbach, and Neil Wampler not guilty on all counts. Jurors found Ryan Bundy not guilty on charges of conspiracy and possession of firearms, but were unable to reach a verdict on the charge of theft.

Co-defendants Jason Blomgren, Brian Cavalier, Blaine Cooper, Eric Flores, Wesley Kjar, Corey Lequieu, Joseph O’Shaughnessy, Ryan Payne, Jon Ritzheimer, Geoffrey Stanek, and Travis Cox previously pled guilty. Co-defendants Dylan Anderson, Sandra Anderson, Sean Anderson, Duane Ehmer, Jason Patrick, Darryl Thorn, and Jake Ryan will stand trial beginning February 14, 2017. Charges against co-defendant Peter Santilli were previously dismissed.

“While we had hoped for a different outcome, we respect the verdict of the jury and thank them for their dedicated service during this long and difficult trial,” said Billy J. Williams, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. “We strongly believe that this case needed to be brought before a Court, publicly tried, and decided by a jury. Despite the verdict reached, I want to personally thank all of the law enforcement personnel who worked tirelessly to bring about a peaceful resolution to the Malheur occupation. I also want to thank the residents of Burns, Hines, and Harney County and members of the Burns Paiute Tribe for their patience and resolve throughout this process.”

“For many weeks, hundreds of law enforcement officers—federal, state, and local—worked around-the-clock to resolve the armed occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge peacefully. We believe now—as we did then—that protecting and defending this nation through rigorous obedience to the U.S. Constitution is our most important responsibility,” said Greg Bretzing, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon. “Although we are extremely disappointed in the verdict, we respect the court and the role of the jury in the American judicial system.”

The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Geoffrey Barrow, Ethan Knight, and Craig Gabriel, Assistant United States Attorneys for the District of Oregon.

Note that the government still calls it an “armed occupation”, though later they also say that they “respect the court and the role of the jury”. They suggest that they will still hold the remaining defendants who “will stand trial beginning February 14, 2017”. I guess they haven’t yet realized that if the ringleaders are not guilty, then it is simply a waste of time and taxpayer money (so far over $100,000,000 has been spent in this persecution) to do so. But, maybe they are trying to pull a victory out of defeat.

They talk about the “law enforcement personnel who worked tirelessly to bring about a peaceful resolution to the Malheur occupation”. Do they not realize that this whole thing really began with the Murder of LaVoy Finicum, definitely not a peaceful event. And then after the verdict, Marcus Mumford was thrown to the floor by five US Marshal goons, then tazed, right there in the “halls of justice”, while the judge was only concerned with appearances when she ordered the courtroom cleared. (Here is a short, 2’40” video of Mumford explaining what happened). Then, David Fry, who was found not guilty by the jury, was handcuffed and put in a solitary holding cell, where he sat for hours before he was “processed out” as a free man, effectively saying that the government still retained him incarcerated.

So, we have an event that occurred over an extended period of time. The sides began to clash over a shooting that was not peaceful, and the final act in the first trial ended in an act that was not peaceful. The Defendants perpetrated neither of these acts—the government perpetrated both. Boy, the spin never stops.

Now, the real kicker in this press release is a statement by Greg Bretzing, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon, when he says, “that protecting and defending this nation through rigorous obedience to the U.S. Constitutionis our most important responsibility.” Especially when that Constitution that he was “protecting and defending… through rigorous obedience to the U.S. Constitution”, and the Court absolutely refused to let the word “Constitution” be spoken during the trial.

Next, we can look at the press release of Harney County Sheriff David Ward, a key player, and supposed lawful authority in Harney County. His statement is quite brief:

PRESS RELEASE

October 27, 2016

I have been notified of the not guilty verdict in the United States Federal trial of Ammon Bundy and other individuals involved in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge takeover.

While I am disappointed in the outcome, I believe our form of government and justice system to be the best in the world. These folks were tried in a court of law and found not guilty by a jury of their peers.

This is our system and I stand by it.

David M. Ward
Barney County Sheriff

However, Sheriff Ward assumed guilt by his participation, and submission, to federal overreach. The fact that he was “disappointed” is indicative of his belief that he was right and the jury was wrong. Then, considering how weak he has been through the entire ordeal that comes as no surprise.

Next, we hear from, well:

Governor Kate Brown
@OregonGovBrown

Statement regarding the Malheur Refuge Occupation trial:

“While I respect the jury’s decision, I am disappointed. The occupation of the Malheur Refuge by outsiders did not reflect the Oregon way of respectfully working together to resolve differences. I appreciate the due diligence of our federal partners and stand with the communities of Harney County and residents of Burns.

Governor Kate Brown”

She begins by “respect[ing] the jury’s decision”, but in the same breath, says that she is “disappointed”. How utterly condescending can one be, especially with that being her opening statement? She then refers to those in the Refuge as “outsiders”, but rather than dealing with those “outsiders” as the Governor of Oregon, she calls in some other outsiders, the federal goons, to deal with what is, and as determined by the jury, not a federal problem. Civil eviction, under state law, would be the proper remedy. But, well, what kind of governor is she? Now, she can refer to the other outsiders as “federal partners”, but those many supporters in Harney County, and from other parts of Oregon, are not allowed to have the support of their partners, the Defendants. Finally, we can look at her reference to “resolv[ing] differences”, and wonder why nobody was willing to address the “Redress of Grievances” that included her as one of the addressees of that obvious “difference”. She simply ignored the “differences” that she suggests are “the Oregon way”.

Finally, let’s look at what the operators of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge have to say:

While we are profoundly disappointed in the outcome of the trial, we are eager to move forward. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is committed to the security, healing and comfort of our Malheur National Wildlife Refuge employees and the Harney County communities they serve, and to continue strengthening the collaborations and positive relationships cited throughout this trial.

Dan Ashe
Director, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Jason Holm
Assistant Regional Director—External Affairs
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Region

Again, we find that they “are profoundly disappointed” in the verdict. However, they are “committed to the security, healing and comfort of our Malheur National Wildlife Refuge employees”. Dan Ashe, also tells us, in a February Oregon Live video (3’15” @ 2’06”), the direct cost of the occupation was $2,000,000. Then, he tells us that the direct cost includes the “relocation of 17 employees who received threats, along with their families and expenses, to Portland, Bend, or Seattle, for their safety, to live in hotels.”

There is no indication that any of those “employees” suffered (though they may feel “offended” and need a safe space) and need any “healing”. After all, they did not lose a day’s pay, during the entire event. And, at least one of those employees visited that Refuge during the occupation, though that testimony was never presented to the jury.

What stands out is that they who have taken an oath to the Constitution, and are paid by the government the Constitution created, are so “disappointed” when the Constitution is adhered to. They attempt to transfer the responsibility back on the defendants.

However, they do want to transfer any sympathy from those who spent 9 months in jail, paid thousands of dollars for their defense, and suffered undue hardship at the hands of local, state, and the federal government. They don’t address the “security” of the Defendants and their families—especially financial security—as they lost their jobs and source of their sustenance. They offer nothing with regard to the “healing” that the Defendants and their families will have to achieve only among themselves, their friends, and supporters. They have offered nothing in the way of “comfort”, especially Jeanette Finicum, who lost her husband, at the hands of those seeking ”to resolve the armed occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge peacefully” or “respectfully working together to resolve differences”.

None of them has extended a hand of care, or an APOLOGY, for the hardships that they have imposed on others, as is truly warranted based upon the verdict of the jury—that process that they claim to revere as our constitutional form of government. They are nothing more than hypocritical leeches, sucking at the government teat.

By Gary Hunt 

Pro Deo et Constitutione – Libertas aut Mors

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis

Joseph F Barber

“I decided it is better to scream. Silence is the real crime against humanity.” 

“I decline to accept the end of man... I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among the creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.” 

Most men are a little better than their circumstances give them a chance to be.” 

A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom

"We are living in a demented world

Everywhere there are doubts as to the solidity of our social structure, vague fears of the imminent future, a feeling that our civilization is on the way to ruin. They are not merely the shapeless anxieties which beset us in the small hours of the night when the flame of life burns low. They are considered expectations founded on observation and judgment of an overwhelming multitude of facts. How to avoid the recognition that almost all things which once seemed sacred and immutable have now become unsettled, truth and humanity, justice and reason? We see forms of government no longer capable of functioning, production systems on the verge of collapse, social forces gone wild with power. The roaring engine of this tremendous time seems to be heading for a breakdown. But immediately the antithesis forces itself on our minds. Never has there been a time when men were so clearly conscious of their commanding duty to co-operate in the task of preserving and improving the world's well being and human