Oath Keepers including founder Stewart Rhodes was the only organization to predict how Ammon Bundy’s vague calls for action on the part of the Hammond Family would actually play out. They received a lot of ignorant attacks in response, and yet, they were absolutely right.
Ammon, apparently trying to recreate what cannot be recreated, is looking for another Bundy Ranch stand-off. First, I would point out that such events can’t be artificially fabricated. They have to happen in an organic way. Whenever a group of people attempt to engineer a revolutionary moment, even if their underlying motivations are righteous, it usually ends up kicking them in the ass (Fort Sumter is a good example). Ammon’s wingmen appear to be Blaine Cooper aka Stanley Blaine Hicks (a convicted felon), and Ryan Payne (who claimed falsely during the Bundy Ranch standoff that he was an Army Ranger and who worked diligently to cause divisions between involved parties on the ground). This was the first sign that nothing good was going to come from the Hammond protest.
The plan is basically this – use the Hammond family as a vehicle (yes, this is what is being done) even though they did not want any kind of standoff to result and specifically refused aid. Occupy federally owned buildings which have little to do with anything of importance and have no symbolic power as did Bundy Ranch. Elicit federal response. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Bundy Ranch had many positive elements going for it, which is why it ended the way it did. This standoff has none of the same elements.
– From Brandon Smith’s article: Oregon Standoff A Terrible Plan That We Might Be Stuck With
I wasn’t originally going to write anything about the armed occupation of a Federal outpost in Oregon by a group of opportunists creating an infantile and staged reaction to yet another egregious injustice of the U.S. criminal justice system. This is a very important distinction, because in today’s world everyone feels the need to take an immediate and unyielding stance on every national story without appreciating the nuances involved. One can support the Hammonds, while at the same time denounce the tactics of Ammon Bundy.
Pretty much all of you have heard about the situation by now, but if you’re like me, you probably haven’t had the time to dig into the nitty gritty of the situation. For this, I turn to an excellent post at Patterico titled: What Are the Bundys Protesting? Here are a few excerpts:
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“My administration has been closely monitoring the situation in Egypt, and I know that we will be learning more tomorrow when day breaks. As the situation continues to unfold, our first concern is preventing injury or loss of life. So I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protestors.