Idiots with Guns

First, they want the federal government to relinquish control of the wildlife refuge so "people can reclaim their resources," he told CNN early Monday. And second, they want an easier sentence for Dwight Hammond and his son Steven, ranchers who were convicted in 2012 of committing arson on federal lands in Oregon.

Oh yeah and they wanted an end to the government’s “tyranny.” Someone ought to buy them a dictionary or maybe just electro shock treatments along with years of talk therapy.

Tyranny noun, plural tyrannies.
1. arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.
2. the government or rule of a tyrant or absolute ruler.
3. a state ruled by a tyrant or absolute ruler.
4. oppressive or unjustly severe government on the part of any ruler.
5. undue severity or harshness.

"At the heart of this is a complaint that the federal government owns so much land, and that feeling is typical in a lot of Western states," said Heidi Beirich, a lead researcher with the Southern Poverty Law Center. "But that land doesn't belong to them. It belongs to all of us and the government is working to preserve it.

"And I don't know where they get off thinking that the land doesn't belong to those who originally had it," she quipped.

 Essentially, they wanted the land for themselves, free of charge, and were putting this ginormous FREE-DUMB justification spin on it all. Do they honestly believe the monster, whack-job bullshit they spout or are they bunco artists with guns and a spectacularly ill thought out grift?

Jim Wright of Stonekettle Station has a brill post up about these cretins. The briefest of snippets here:

These are not patriots.

They do not believe in democracy.

They do not believe in the republic.

They do not stand with the rest of us against the fall of night.

They believe in guns and violence and brutality. They are a howling mob and nothing more.
~~~
A gun doesn’t make you a patriot.

I’m very happy this whole shit show’s beginning to close down. Yes, there are more brain-deaders left at the reserve but, without their heroic scam artist leader, will they really continue their Red Dawn cosplay?

It is unknown how many militants remain at the refuge. Fewer than a dozen have been seen on the live stream, but the camera is in a stationary spot. Despite pleas for cooler heads, the men and women at the refuge seem intent on going down in a firefight with law enforcement.

Let’s hope they reconsider and lay down their weapons to surrender.

Perhaps they will if they understand that, unlike the movies, you don’t get up and go to lunch when the scene ends. Of course, these folks may all be radically suicidal. Suicide by Cop.

The characteristics for classifying a suicide by cop incident become clearer when we look at four basic criteria:

1.   The suicidal subject must demonstrate the intent to die.
Check.
2.  The suicidal subject must possess a clear understanding of the finality of the act.
Unclear.
3.  The suicidal subject must confront a law enforcement official to the degree that it compels that officer to act with deadly force.
Gettin’ there.
4.  The suicidal subject actually dies.  (If the subject survives, this becomes an attempted suicide by cop).
So far, only Finicum, who really seemed just so with his loud, proud, delusional militia “poetry.” When asked if he would die for the cause, he replied:
“There are things more important than your life — and freedom is one of them,” he said. “I’m prepared to defend freedom.”

It’s fascinating how his very white, extreme right wing defenders are going all Hands Up, Don’t Shoot now. Finicum’s daughter, who was on the floor of the back seat of the car, says he was on his knees with his hands up. That’s disputed by Finicum’s fellow overthrowers of TYRANNY who say:

“He was not on his knees, none of that,” McConnell said. “He was none of that nonsense. You know, that was a miscommunication on somebody else’s part. But he went after them. He charged them. You know, LaVoy was very passionate about what he was doing up here.”

So then, suicide by cop.

Asshole.

You can read Jim Wright’s take on Finicum's exit strategy (well worth the click) here.

Meanwhile, here in beautiful Valhalla, the temps will get above 40º later. Yes, I’m getting my trike out from under it’s winter sanctuary and I’m gonna have a nice long, mind clearing ride. I’ll momentarily forget that paranoid, blindingly selfish, gun wielding idiots like this exist.