It was about a year ago that LaVoy Finicum was shot to death
by Federal and Oregon State law enforcement UNJUSTLY. Justin reminds us
that government tyranny is very possible in America – especially in an America
that has a Dem Party Administration that has consistently lied to Americans for
EIGHT YEARS.
JRH 1/24/17
***************
One Quiet Man's Fight for Freedom
By Justin O. Smith
Sent 1/23/2017 7:38 AM
"Destroyers are they who
lay snares for many, and call it the state ... " -- Nietzsche
Americans should pause and take some time to recall and
celebrate the life of Robert LaVoy Finicum, an American patriot, who loved his
family, God and country. He placed his life on the line in defense of all
Americans' right to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness', joining the
ranks of thousands of other ranchers who have been fighting the overreaches of
the federal government and the tyranny of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
for the past forty years. Robert LaVoy Finicum died on January 26th, 2016, one
day before his 55th birthday, defending the U.S. Constitution and this America
he loved so well.
By all accounts, LaVoy Finicum was "a quiet man who
worked his to-do list from sun-up to sundown" (The Oregonian) and had a
"light reading" list that included many history books, the U.S.
Constitution and Alexis de Tocqueville's 'Democracy in America'. He
also thoroughly enjoyed his big family - his wife and eleven children - and
their evening discussions on the Scriptures, the Constitution and the Founding
Fathers' ideas on freedom.
Although Finicum had generally viewed his interaction with
the BLM to be "very good" over the years, he became active in
opposing them in 2014, after the BLM fined him $12,000 and claimed his cattle
had grazed on federal lands past his allotted permit time. He was also heavily
influenced by his own research into the BLM and the high-handed tactics he
witnessed the BLM employ against the Bundy family in 2014.
Finicum rode with Cliven and Ammon Bundy on their Nevada
Ranch in April of 2014, along with hundreds of other supporters, in order to
reinforce the fact that Bundy's grazing and water rights, documented in an 1878
title, predated any BLM claims and had to be honored by the BLM. And when the
BLM moved along Interstate 15 to confiscate Bundy's cattle on April 5th,
Finicum, the Bundy family members and well-armed supporters stopped them cold
where they stood; this would become a sore-point for the FBI that carried over
to the Malheur Wildlife Reserve occupation in 2016
and the stand-off near Burns, Oregon.
After the Bundy Ranch Stand-Off, LaVoy Finicum said: "I
had to do a lot of soul searching. I realized that Cliven Bundy was standing on
a very strong constitutional principle, and yet, here I was continuing to pay a
grazing fee to the BLM."
Finicum and the Bundy clan understood that the Enclave
Clause [Thoughts from 2014 & 2016] (Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the
Constitution) did not allow government bureaucrats to act like
kings and ignore the 9th and 10th Amendments, and it did not authorize the BLM to
arbitrarily seize the water rights, cattle and property of ranchers and
arrogantly nullify 200 years of constitutional history. They understood, much
like the U.S. Supreme Court (New York v. U.S.), that the
Constitution is not a tool to protect the sovereignty of the State or for the
benefit of government officials, but rather, the Constitution secures all
Americans' liberties through the diffusion of sovereign power.
However, the BLM sees things differently. Many cases
spanning the years can be found, that are similar to Raymond Yowell's experience.
The BLM garnished the $200 Social Security check of this former chief of the
Shoshone Indian Tribe and seized 132 head of his cattle in 2002, for grazing
"unlawfully" on government lands. The BLM sold Yowell's cattle at
auction and pocketed the money.
Between 2006 and 2012, the BLM had intimidated and finally charged Steven and Dwight Hammond
with nine federal counts of arson for setting backfires on their own lands that
supposedly spread to federal land. The Hammonds were subsequently imprisoned,
released and then sent back to prison, even though the facts illuminated that
some of those out-of-control backfires actually
originated with BLM employees, in an attempt to stop several
lightning strike fires such as the Granddad fire that burned 46,000 acres.
Politics played heavily in the cases regarding Steven and
Dwight Hammond, because the BLM wanted the Hammond ranch.
Gold mining companies like Calico Resource USA out of Vancouver, Canada and
uranium mining concerns like Australian owned Oregon Energy LLC had their eyes
on the area, and the BLM was hoping to profit and grow more powerful through
the General Mining Law of 1872.
All the great ideas and principles that shaped America went
with LaVoy Finicum, as he and many other American Patriots occupied Oregon's
Malheur (French for "misfortune" or "tragedy")
National Wildlife Refuge, about 30 miles from Burns, Oregon, in order to force
the return of 188,000 acres to local control and the release of the Hammond
brothers from prison. They acted through peaceful, political protest, even
though they were armed to ensure the security of their protest, and they
advocated for property and states' rights, as they took a hard stand against
federal ownership of 250 million acres in America and years of oppression by
the BLM and several other government agencies, including the Environmental
Protection Agency.
Twenty-five days into the protest, Robert LaVoy Finicum,
Ammon and Ryan Bundy, Shawna Cox, Ryan Payne and Victoria Sharp headed to John
Day, Oregon for a "singing" and a meeting with Grant County Sheriff
Glenn Palmer to discuss their demands, explain their views to local people and
seek a peaceful end to the stand-off. But they were ambushed along the way by
the Oregon State Patrol and the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, which used
combat-grade operation protocols rather than "civilian" deadly force
standards, firing once without warning at the initial stop, according to many
witnesses, and numerous times at the second roadblock using concussion and live
rounds.
Does this remind anyone else of Ruby Ridge and the murders
of Randy Weaver's wife and son by the FBI?
If the federal authorities had been serious about desiring a
peaceful resolution to this conflict, they could have coordinated with Sheriff
Palmer to arrest Finicum, if just cause existed for an arrest (they knew
Finicum's destination). Instead they chose to shoot him numerous times and refuse him medical attention from Victoria
Sharp, a trained EMT and his friend, as he lay on the snowy ground
dying. They murdered LaVoy on a
lonely, desolate stretch of Highway 395.
If the FBI had negotiated LaVoy Finicum's peaceful
surrender, as they certainly could have, he would simply have been taken into
custody and released after his acquittal by a jury, just in the same manner
that a jury acquitted his so-called "co-conspirators" in October
2016, including Ammon Bundy and a friend and activist, Shawna Cox. And, it
should alarm everyone that the HRT agents initially concealed the fact they had
fired their weapons during the stop.
Upon her release, Shawna Cox made a plea before a mass of TV
cameras and supporters, imploring: "We have to be vigilant people. Wake up
America, and help us restore the Constitution. Don't sleep with your head in
the sand.
Isn't it odd that FBI agents, who are sworn to protect and
defend the U.S. Constitution -- lawyers all -- regularly side with government
imposed tyranny against U.S. citizens?
Arianna Finicum Brown, LaVoy's 27 year old daughter, stated
shortly after his death: "My Dad was such a good man, through and through.
He would never want to hurt somebody, but he does believe in defending freedom
and he knew the risks involved.
During LaVoy's funeral, his brother, Guy Finicum remarked on
LaVoy's deep faith in God, adding: "He has absolute confidence that he
will be with his family again. He believes that as much as he believes the sun
will rise. And that's what gave him the ability to do what he did. He always
looked at a higher goal."
When any government, including ours, puts forth its strength
on the side of injustice and murders fine men like LaVoy Finicum, it reveals
itself as a mere brute force, and it becomes apparent more than ever that
tyranny rules. And other patriots are served warning to desist their opposition
or meet the same fate.
And what are Americans to think of a government to which all
the truly brave and just men in the land are enemies, standing between it and
those whom it oppresses?
Robert LaVoy Finicum did not recognize unjust human laws,
and he persistently stood for the dignity of human nature, knowing himself for
a man, the equal of any government. He regularly fought against established
injustices and the hypocrites of bureaucracies who seemed to ask, "Why do
you assault us". And LaVoy's death -- the death of an American hero -- was
like the planting of a good seed, and it is giving rise to a new crop of
American heroes.
By Justin O. Smith
+++
Youtube video added by Blog Editor:
Posted by The Oregonian
Published on Mar 8, 2016
In a video shown at a
Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office press conference today, the aerial FBI video
of the LaVoy Finicum shooting has been synced with a cellphone video Shawna Cox
recorded from within Finicum’s truck.
_______________
Edited by John R. Houk
All source links are by the
Editor and all text enclosed by brackets are by the Editor.
© Justin O. Smith
This is an outrage,
ReplyDeleteThis is an outrage,the man wasn't a threat to them, he was going to the sheriff.
ReplyDeleteHarry Reid and his water boy , Neil Kornze played a major role in several ranchers being run out of business. Both are retiring from public office before they can be investigated by Congress.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a sufficient public outcry to President Trump will inspire him to have the FBI investigate?
Delete