Apologies to Burns, Oregon, but you really are a long way past the last trolley stop.
My prediction: the Feds will wait. May take a long while. Uncle Sam can have the event catered. The guys occupying the wildlife refuge building can't. Don't think for a minute the Feds didn't learn a little from Ruby Ridge and Waco, at least about what "bad PR" means. I'm darned sure they learned from the Indianapolis Baptist Temple standoff -- in which they simply stood off as long as it took.
This situation -- look it up, you can find the long, sad history on the Web -- is a classic example of frog boiling. By the time the frog jumps, it's too late.
Much to be learned here. Nothing to be won. And that's sad.
Note for future reference: make noise about bad situations sooner.* Make it where's there's good cellphone service and a big airport isn't far away. You can't whup 'em in a straight-up fight -- but play it right and you've got a chance to do so on The Internet and TV screens. These guys? Not a chance. And that's a pity.
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* It's nearly always too early or too late. Timing is critical -- too soon and you're a paranoid nut. Too late and, surprise, you're still a paranoid nut -- and the injustice you have suffered is the new normal.
Definitely seems like a mess of a situation. The coverage is all about the protest now, with essentially no discussion of what they were protesting in the first place. Mandatory minimums strike again! Isn't getting rid of mandatory minimums something both the left and the right can agree on?
ReplyDeleteThe locals (and especially the Hammonds)don't support the "Occupiers"...and taking control of a Federal facility (even one in the middle of nowhere) is a line that cannot be uncrossed.
ReplyDeleteRyan Payne seems to be the driving force....agent provocateur?)
What's a "mandatory minimum" and how does it apply here?
ReplyDeleteWestern land-use politics is a mystery to me.
Later, less ignorant. Mandatory minimums as in criminal sentencing. Yeah, well, judges-- Legislators try to rein 'em in. Especially when they are courting the Law & Order vote. Or legalizing something or another. It's messy, as such things often are.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was, "Gee, this would be a non-event if it were, say, Occupy doing the occupying."
ReplyDeleteThe "mandatory minimum" is five years for setting a fire that damages Federal real estate. The judge sentenced them to far less and the prosecutor appealed.
ReplyDeleteIf the Feds are smart they'll wait them out. Given the current administration, I wonder if they are.
ReplyDelete