I have had only limited knowledge of the justification used by the BLM in trying to use armed force and property seizure against Cliven Bundy and family. Even Fox News though sympathetic with the Bundy family, gave legal opinions from their contributors – Liberal and Conservative alike – that the BLM had an authentic judicial case against the Bundys.
After you read Justin Smith’s report below you will realize the actions of the BLM smack of YET ANOTHER SCANDAL to be assigned to the Obama Administration AND because of the Dem Party Senate Majority Leader – who represents Nevada – a Democratic Party scandal as well!
This smacks of money and abuse of power kick-backs to Harry Reid’s son Rory Reid; Chinese land grabbing for a renewable energy plant for a fraction of the land’s worth; connections to convicted lobbyist Harvey Whittemore, the hypocrisy of claiming protection for a tortoise that isn’t even endangered any longer yet willing to look the other way for Rory and Justin throws in the sovereignty grabbing of U.N. Agenda 21.
Read and be outraged by the truth of BLM vs. Cliven Bundy!
JRH 4/19/14
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Violations of the Constitution
(A Land Management Nightmare)
By Justin O. Smith
Sent: 4/18/2014 11:54 PM
Cliven Bundy's twenty year battle over grazing rights became tense and volatile on April 10, 2014, when supporters protested and confronted Bureau of Land Management officers, who had illegally confiscated Bundy cattle, private property, calling them "trespass" cattle. A 1998 court order required Bundy to remove the livestock and pay damages for trespassing; since then, the BLM has exceeded its authority in its attempts to enforce BLM regulations. It is also now evident that Bundy did, in fact, have preemptive rights, which superseded federal claims to the land. And, while this confrontation was troubling and riveting, it is just a small part of a much greater federal assault on all private property rights across America.
An estimated 200 BLM armed officers deployed to the Bundy ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada, and over the period of three days, they threw Bundy's 57 year old sister, a cancer survivor, to the ground, tasered one son and arrested another for not protesting in a "designated free speech zone". The BLM also actually had snipers targeting the protesters, but unknown to them at the time, they had been flanked and militia members from Montana, Texas and Utah had them in their scopes.
Several elected officials were deeply troubled by what they saw. Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, who could have de-escalated the matter by interceding, only remarked, "No cow justifies the atmosphere of intimidation which currently exists nor the limitation of constitutional rights that are sacred to all Nevadans." But, Arizona Rep Kelly Townsend was so disturbed by the BLM's actions that he drove to the Bundy ranch, and later he stated, "I don't recognize my country at this point,"
Since the BLM retreated and ended their siege, Sen. Harry Reid has called the Bundy family "domestic terrorists", and he has stated that action against the Bundy family would continue; however, as Texas Rep. Steve Stockman (R) explained in a letter to Obama, BLM Director Neil Kornze and Interior Secretary Sally Jewel, the BLM acted in a lawless manner, because it had no "right to assume preemptory police powers; and, it was required to seek assistance, if force was necessary, from local law enforcement", under U.S. code - 43 U.S.C. Section 1733, Subsection C (April 17, Chris Agee, Western Journalism).
Regardless of the coercive manner the federal government acquired this land upon Nevada gaining statehood in 1864, there remains States' rights and property rights issues, and, according to the BLM's own regulations concerning improvements and land patents, under sections 49.3.3 - public lands division and 49.3.4 - private lands division, Mr. Cliven Bundy did hold preemptive rights to this land in question. Land patents are the first conveyance of title of ownership to land, which the U.S. grants a citizen who applies for one. As an assignee to his grandfather's land patents from 1877, Bundy's grazing rights fell under these rules, as well as the Homestead Act, which states that this land "cannot be held liable in order to satisfy any debt", which includes the $300,000 in grazing fees Bundy admits owing to the State of Nevada and Clark County; this is the reason the BLM went after the "trespass" cattle, although their court order did not authorize the seizure and sale of these cattle.
While it is true that initially much of the problem started in the 1990s and after the Environmental Protection Agency declared 600,000 acres "protected federal land", due to the "endangered desert tortoise", this tortoise is no longer on the endangered list. So, why is the land still considered "protected"?
The answer is found in over 50 renewable energy projects slated for this land, many of which have been lobbied before Congress by Rory Reid, Senator Harry Reid's son. The tortoises' "endangered" status was ignored when Harry Reid pressured the BLM to allow one of his top donors, Harvey Whittemore - convicted of illegal campaign contributions to Reid in 2013, to develop some of the land. The tortoises' manufactured plight was again ignored, when the communist Chinese ENN Energy Group wanted to buy 9,000 acres in the area for a solar energy farm, at a reduced price of $4.5 million, down from its appraised value of approximately $36 million, according to Reuters.
Neil Kornze, appointed by Senator Harry Reid to head the BLM, and, Sen. Reid's son, Rory Reid have both had their hands in numerous renewable energy projects that considered Bundy's land and surrounding areas. As of March 21, Kornze was assisting Jonathan Magaziner, an associate of the Clinton Foundation, in his Moapa Southern Paiute Project; and, they have both been instrumental in helping First Solar and CEO Michael Ahearn, former fundraiser for both Reid and Obama, get his project in the area for investors Al Gore, Ted Turner and Goldman Sachs and billionaire Obama fundraiser, Paul Jones, as reported by James Simpson at WND.
Also in March, the EPA and the Corps of Engineers have colluded to redefine "navigable waters" and impose a new rule, Waters of the United States that would give them authority over streams on private property, even when the water beds have been dry for hundreds of years, in conjunction with the Clean Water Act. And, as pointed out by Rep Harold Rogers (KY-R), this is "the biggest land grab in the history of the world", and the economic impact will be profound, essentially freezing economic activity in America.
This sort of regulation allows the EPA to join the BLM, the Dept. of Energy and the Army in dictating to the American people, on a massive scale, everything from grazing rights, food production, animal units per month per acre/animal health and the use of energy on private lands. The true goal here is the enrichment of Progressive Democrats at the taxpayers' expense, as they place every last foot of private land under government control, essentially destroying private property rights.
This is a "land management" nightmare straight from the marxofascist ideology of the Progressives, which implements the "sustainable development" of UN Agenda 21 through the illegal and unConstitutional Obama Executive Order 13575 that circumvented Congressional votes rejecting this direction for America. [Blog Editor: I took the liberty to add the bold highlight print]The federal government has never had unlimited authority over the land, and to the contrary, the Constitution made a point of limiting the federal government in this respect in the last two paragraphs of Article I - Section 8, and yet, the Federal Leviathan has taken this authority through our own complacency and acquiescence, and, in many cases, ignorance: This month the Bundy Family and hundreds of American Patriots refused to have their Liberty and Freedom taken away, and they stood against Tyranny, for themselves and all America.
By Justin O. Smith
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Edited by John R. Houk
© Justin O. Smith
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