{"id":8405,"date":"2016-01-27T19:42:06","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T03:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/?p=8405"},"modified":"2016-09-27T11:51:09","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T18:51:09","slug":"fbi-pulls-the-trigger-on-the-demonstration-at-the-malheur-national-wildlife-refuge-in-burns-oregon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/fbi-pulls-the-trigger-on-the-demonstration-at-the-malheur-national-wildlife-refuge-in-burns-oregon\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Pulls the Trigger on the Demonstration at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bundy\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Betrayed with a Handshake <\/strong><\/h1>\n

FBI\u00a0Turns\u00a0Peaceful Protest into Deadly Standoff<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Governor Kate Brown and Senator Ron Wyden call for\u00a0 Immediate End to\u00a0Occupation of the Refuge.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Scott Rohter, January 27 2016<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 – \u00a0F.D.R.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"BurnsNot\u00a0far from Custer\u2019s last stand along a\u00a0remote\u00a0strip of highway in\u00a0southeastern Oregon,\u00a0near the\u00a0little town of Burns there\u00a0is a small wooden cross lovingly placed in the snow. It marks the\u00a0place\u00a0where Robert Lavoy Finicum died. He was\u00a0shot in the back three times\u00a0by two Oregon State police officers for his role in the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. It is a rather crude\u00a0little cross that was hastily erected in the snow to mark the\u00a0exact\u00a0spot where Lavoy Finicum fell… where was murdered and where he made\u00a0HIS last stand defending the Constitution and the kind of America\u00a0that he believed in.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Robert Lavoy Finicum\u00a0was\u00a0deliberately killed by\u00a0Oregon\u00a0State Police officers after\u00a0the truck he was driving crashed into a snow bank next to a roadblock that was intentionally positioned along a blind curve in the road. When he exited the vehicle trying to\u00a0draw\u00a0their gunfire away from\u00a0the other passengers his hands were up in the air in a sign of surrender.\u00a0\u00a0 The\u00a0crude wooden cross placed where he lay marks\u00a0Finicum’s last stand. I\u00a0hope\u00a0it does not\u00a0represent\u00a0the last time that Americans are willing to risk their lives for freedom and stand\u00a0for the Constitution which protects their freedom. The place where\u00a0Finicum\u00a0died is a\u00a0place where\u00a0tall Pine Trees\u00a0dot the hills.\u00a0 It is the place where America’s first LGBT Governor, and its two\u00a0Democrat Senators\u00a0called on\u00a0Barack Obama to\u00a0bring in\u00a0Federal Agents to\u00a0end\u00a0a\u00a0peaceful\u00a0protest at the\u00a0Malheur National Wildlife Refuge\u00a0thirty miles east of the little town of Burns.<\/p>\n

A handful of demonstrators who had taken over the Refuge were trying to draw attention to\u00a0the plight of two local\u00a0ranchers, Dwight and Steven Hammond who were wrongly convicted and twice wrongly incarcerated in a double jeopardy\u00a0situation that violates the 5th Amendment. These demonstrators were also protesting\u00a0against\u00a0egregious, and unconstitutional land use policies of the Federal Government <\/a>in twelve\u00a0western states\u00a0where the Federal Government claims ownership over half\u00a0the land west of the Rocky Mountains. I don’t remember Democrats being that upset when Occupy Wall Street demonstrators took over parts of Eugene\u00a0and Portland in an attempt to call attention to the\u00a0abuses of Wall Street a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Half of the land in Oregon is controlled by the Federal Government. If you live in Oregon and you would like to see the\u00a0control of\u00a0public land returned to the State and to the Counties and\u00a0to\u00a0the people then please read and sign this petition\u00a0at http:\/\/www.ipetitions.com\/petition\/oregons-federally-administered-lands\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is another link to a separate NATIONAL PETITION TO RETURN CONTROL OF ALL FEDERAL LAND ADMINISTERED BY THE BLM TO THE STATES AND COUNTIES RESPECTIVELY OR TO THE PEOPLE. PLEASE SIGN IT AND SHARE IT. YOUR NAME WILL NOT BE PLACED ON A MAILING LIST. http:\/\/www.ipetitions.com\/petition\/congressional-petition-regarding-federal-lands<\/a><\/p>\n

The huge 180,000 acre Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near the little town of Burns, Oregon\u00a0has doubled in size since\u00a0it was originally created back in 1908 by Congress\u00a0at the\u00a0insistence of\u00a0Teddy Roosevelt. It\u00a0seemed like the\u00a0perfect place to\u00a0draw attention to the current problem of Federal ownership of State Land, but\u00a0instead it became the\u00a0proximity of a murder instead and the place where the Bureau of Land Management finally got their revenge on Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. Oregon was the place where the Feds\u00a0found a way to\u00a0even the score\u00a0with him for refusing to kowtow to the BLM\u00a0in an earlier\u00a0dispute\u00a0he had with them over his own land rights in Nevada.<\/p>\n

\"bundy

Nevada Rancher Cliven Bundy vows that the resistance movement isn’t over<\/p><\/div>\n

With their hands in the air so everyone could see that they posed no threat to anybody, eight\u00a0loyal\u00a0 Americans including two of Cliven Bundy\u2019s\u00a0own sons, Ammon and Ryan\u00a0surrendered to authorities after one of the group’s\u00a0\u00a0leaders was murdered in cold blood by\u00a0Oregon State Police Officers.\u00a0The government assault on Lavoy Finicum occurred along a remote stretch of road in eastern Oregon as\u00a0members of the Committee for Constitutional Freedom were headed to a community meeting in Grant County to address a local group of ranchers. They were going there to explain local ranchers how they could defend themselves\u00a0against the federal government\u2019s unconstitutional assault on their property rights. They were warned by local authorities in Harney County not to spread their\u00a0 message of freedom\u00a0and\u00a0following\u00a0the Constitution to citizens in nearby communities, but the protestors refused to be silenced. Oregon Governor Kate Brown and President Barack Obama decided that their dangerous gospel of limited government could not be allowed to spread\u00a0outside\u00a0the confines of the\u00a0Harney County\u00a0to adjacent counties. The message of individual freedom and limited government had to be contained\u00a0no matter what the\u00a0cost.<\/p>\n

\"Bundy

The scene of an FBI roadblock near Burns<\/p><\/div>\n

On the way to their meeting\u00a0the members of the Committee for Constitutional Freedom\u00a0were\u00a0followed\u00a0by a\u00a0armed Federal agents and members of the Oregon State Police in their patrol cars. With their lights flashing they ordered the two vehicles to pull over. As they pulled\u00a0to a stop\u00a0they were ordered over\u00a0loudspeakers to get out of their vehicles with their hands up in the air. All the protestors in\u00a0the vehicle driven by Mark McConnell which included Ammon Bundy surrendered to police without incident, but the people in the other vehicle driven by\u00a0Lavoy Finicum reported that they were fired upon\u00a0while their vehicle remained there.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Shawna Cox who was in the backseat of the vehicle at the time that it was\u00a0fired on, one round narrowly missed\u00a0Ryan Payne who was in the front seat. After being fired on Mr. Payne\u00a0exited the\u00a0vehicle with his hands up in the air screaming that there\u00a0were women in the car.\u00a0Both women decided not to leave the vehicle. After\u00a0a few\u00a0minutes police officers fired a second\u00a0round at the drivers side of the\u00a0truck\u00a0nearly missing\u00a0LaVoy Finicum according to the\u00a0 testimony of the other woman in the backseat named Victoria Sharp. At that point Mr. Finicum believed that they were all going to be killed if he stayed there so he\u00a0made a decision to leave. He did not get very far as\u00a0FBI agents had\u00a0set up\u00a0a road block about a mile and a half down the road. The\u00a0truck driven by Mr. Finicum was shot at as it approached the roadblock and it crashed into a snow bank along the side of the road.\u00a0\u00a0Lavoy Finicum immediately stepped out of the vehicle with his hands up in the air, and he\u00a0was\u00a0targeted for death by Oregon State Police officers.<\/p>\n

\"Lavoy

Arizona Rancher Lavoy Finicum shot multiple times while not holding a firearm<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fifty five year\u00a0old Lavoy Finicum was shot dead\u00a0<\/a> Thursday January 26th one day before\u00a0his 56th birthday. He\u00a0didn’t have\u00a0a gun in his hand when he was\u00a0killed and he didn’t pose a threat to anyone.\u00a0He did nothing to justify the use of\u00a0deadly force.\u00a0According to eyewitness testimony<\/a>\u00a0Mr. Finicum\u00a0left the vehicle to draw police gunfire away from the other passengers in the truck.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0police investigation into the use of deadly force\u00a0confirms the eyewitness testimony of Shawna Cox and Victoria Sharp that he was shot\u00a0three times.\u00a0The fatal blows appear to have come from\u00a0two Oregon State Police Officer who were positioned behind Mr. Finicum. He was shot three times in the back, twice in the back of the right shoulder and once in the lower left back near his waist<\/p>\n

As LaVoy\u00a0tried\u00a0to get as far away from the truck as he could in order to draw\u00a0police gunfire away from the other passengers in the vehicle he was stumbling around in the snow on a steep embankment with his hands up in the air trying to maintain his balance. I believe he\u00a0had already been shot\u00a0when he lurched forward and momentarily\u00a0dropped his hands. His entire upper\u00a0body\u00a0seemed to jerk forward and down as his hands dropped just as if he had just been hit with a bullet. Then he\u00a0turned\u00a0his head\u00a0and tried to move in the other direction. He was still leaning back as he tried to\u00a0reposition his right foot on the ground when another officer\u00a0came at him from out of the woods.\u00a0This Oregon State Police officer charged\u00a0at him with his arm fully extended. This officer is said to have been holding a tazer. Just at the moment he looked like he fired his weapon Mr Finnicum fell over backwards on the ground with his hands still in the air.\u00a0\u00a0 The FBI claims that he had a gun in his pocket and he was reaching for it.\u00a0That is an assumption, but it is also the precise\u00a0proof\u00a0that he never had\u00a0his hand on a gun.\u00a0If he had a gun it was still in his pocket when he was shot because it sure wasn’t in his hands… and it was perfectly legal to be in his pocket. Oregon is a concealed carry State so if he had a gun then it had\u00a0to be concealed in his pocket or in some other place. The important\u00a0thing to remember\u00a0is that he never had the gun in his hand so the contention that the officers behind him fired in self defense is absolutely absurd.<\/p>\n

There were at least three other\u00a0law enforcement officers who had their weapons\u00a0trained on\u00a0LaVoy Finicum\u00a0from different directions as lay on the ground bleeding\u00a0to death.\u00a0 Victoria Sharp was in the\u00a0backseat of Mr. Finnicum’s truck as it was now being fired\u00a0upon by\u00a0police. She is an emergency medical technician. In an interview with Reuters\u00a0<\/a> she\u00a0states that she screamed at the police that she was an emergency medical technician and asked if she could get out of the vehicle and provide\u00a0medical assistance to Mr. Finicum.\u00a0She stated that she heard multiple gunshots in rapid succession and then she saw\u00a0Mr. Finicum\u00a0fall and no one was providing medical assistance to him. From the video and the eyewitness testimony it doesn’t sound\u00a0like anyone had any intentions of\u00a0taking\u00a0Mr. Finicum alive. The facts on the ground contradict the statement of FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing who said they did everything possible to take all people alive.\u00a0 There were\u00a0numerous other shots fired at the car after\u00a0LaVoy was wounded when they should have been\u00a0providing him with medical assistance.<\/p>\n

Lavoy Finnicum was a native of Kanab, Utah. At the time of his death he was a resident of Colorado City, Arizona. He was a friend of Cliven Bundy.\u00a0Mr. Finicum\u00a0was a rancher and the father of eleven children whom he dearly loved. Fox News depicted his death as a \u201csuicide by cop.\u201d That media spin put\u00a0out\u00a0there by the FBI to shift the responsibility away from the people who\u00a0wrongfully shot him.\u00a0On the contrary\u00a0Mr. Finicum\u00a0had everything to live for… a lovely wife, a beautiful family and twenty nine grandchildren. He was shot to death in cold blood while he was trying to minimize the danger to the rest of the passengers in the vehicle. FBI agents and Oregon State Police were there to put an\u00a0end to the protest at the Wildlife Refuge\u00a0at the request of\u00a0Oregon’s\u00a0Governor Kate Brown,\u00a0and Oregon’s Democrat Senator Ron Wyden and\u00a0Democrat Congressman Earl Blumenauer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If we had a\u00a0decent Governor and a decent President they would have told\u00a0the Oregon State Police and the FBI agents on the ground\u00a0to hold their fire until the one of the protestors\u00a0fired the first shot, but they didn’t do that. All of the police officers were wearing bullet proof vests so\u00a0Mr. Finicum\u00a0posed no real threat to any\u00a0law enforcement officer. The\u00a0police and the FBI fired the first shot. They fired the last shot, and they fired all\u00a0of the shots. None of the protestors fired a single shot. Mr Finicum didn’t even have a gun in his hand.\u00a0\u00a0 He was\u00a0stumbling around in the snow on the side of\u00a0an\u00a0embankment\u00a0at the edge of the road trying to\u00a0turn away from\u00a0one police officer\u00a0who\u00a0had probably just shot him. He was trying to\u00a0face another police officer who was\u00a0charging\u00a0at him from out of the woods with a weapon pointed at him in his hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was more than a mere traffic stop. It was an ambush.\u00a0 FBI special agent in charge Greg Bretzling said they tried to resolve this matter peacefully and capture Mr. Finicum alive. That is a lie. No one tried to preserve Mr Finicum’s life after he was shot three times in the back. They just left him there to die as they continued their assault on the\u00a0other passengers in the vehicle as their testimony and the cell phone video indicates.. They didn’t want to capture Mr. Finicum alive. They wanted to kill him. They wanted\u00a0to send a message to the rest of the demonstrators at the Refuge and they wanted to send a message the other ranchers in Oregon, and in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and all of the western states where the Federal Government and the Bureau of Land Management administers\u00a0half of all the land west of the Rocky Mountains. They wanted to send a message to all\u00a0Americans who\u00a0still believe in the Constitution and are willing\u00a0challenge the government’s authority to control 700 million acres of public land.\u00a0Some people have suggested that\u00a0Mr. Finicum \u00a0should have\u00a0remained at the traffic stop he would still be alive today. What\u00a0they fail to remember is that\u00a0the\u00a0police began shooting at the\u00a0vehicle\u00a0while it was there at the traffic stop\u00a0and Mr. Finicum was\u00a0still inside\u00a0of the vehicle. The only reason he drove away was because\u00a0the police\u00a0began shooting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n