Archive for the ‘.gov bullshit’ Category

What’s The Beef, Part Two: How Lawsuits Shape Land Management Policies

Posted: February 3, 2016 by gamegetterII in .gov bullshit, Uncategorized
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Range management is more a result of lawsuit than science…Special interest groups sue the land management agencies and they agree to settle on terms that do not benefit the general public and are almost never disclosed…

Victor Iverson in Deseret News, January 22, 2016

Sue and Settle

Back in the heyday of clear-cutting, over-grazing, strip-mining, etc, when a generation of passionate environmentalists were inspired by Hayduke and his Monkey Wrench Gang, it seemed that the only way to bring attention to the problems of over-use and degradation of lands was with aggressive, sometimes dangerous, protest actions.  From removing survey stakes and tree spiking to bombings and arson labeled as eco-terrorism, considered one of the greatest threats of terrorism in the United States, environmentalists wanted to be heard.  In desperation to save what they loved, they demanded change in the only ways they felt were left to them.  But then another way was found to effect change in land use policies.

We decided, let’s just sue instead.  It got settled with the Service agreeing to do a wolf study, which led to reintroduction.

That was the moment when we looked at it and said, ‘Wow.’  The environmental movement spent a decade going to meetings and demanding action and getting nothing done.  They were asking powerful people for something from a position of no power.  We realized that we can bypass the officials and sue, and that we can get things done in court.

Kieran Suckling of the Center For Biological Diversity in an interview with High Country News

The use of lawsuits to force the agency overseeing the land or wildlife in question to act has proven to be effective.  And it has been steadily increasing.  When the agency agrees to reach a settlement in these lawsuits, the terms are negotiated behind closed doors, outside of the public’s view, away from the public’s input.  It is referred to as ‘sue and settle.’  Here is a short definition from a report from the US Chamber of Commerce:

Read the whole thing,including embedded links here

 

 

What’s The Beef? Part One: The Anger Over Federal Land Management

Posted: February 3, 2016 by gamegetterII in .gov bullshit, Uncategorized
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The land out here is vast, in some places stretching as far as the eye can see in between homes, towns, any signs of humanity.  It is rugged and dry, and holds a sense of emptiness, of loneliness.  But to the observant wanderer, it is in fact a place full of life, from the twisted juniper trees to the strange-colored lichens spreading over the ground.  One can find traces of the animals that have passed through, coyote scat, rabbit tracks, the remnants of a cougar kill up in a tree, huge bird nests up in the craggy cliff bands.  And, of course, the evidence of people, shotgun shells, broken glass, old appliances, and cows.

People seem to have a habit of taking what they have for granted until threatened with its loss.  It is certainly true when it comes to land use.  We have a long history of over-use, it is evident in any industry that involves using or extracting natural resources.  It begins with discovery, then fortunes are made, and more and more people jump on board, and then, the resource begins to run out.  That is the point at which people either destroy the resource altogether, or take steps to protect and manage it.

It is undeniable that humans impact the environment, our proliferation around the world has clearly changed the land.  It is also undeniable that natural resources are required for our survival.  We need food, water, shelter, just like every species.  And this need, and all the times we’ve allowed it to devolve into excessive over-use of resources, along with the desire to protect what we don’t want to lose, has left us with a decades-old, emotional, sometimes violent debate.

Once again, this debate has exploded out of its usual confines of rural America and into the national spotlight with the occupation of the Malheur Wildlife refuge in Harney County.  Ignoring the very basic fact that nature seeks balance, the media is frantically fueling the polarizing rhetoric.  Either you are an angry, spoiled white guy with lots of guns attempting to grab all of the public land, or you are against the occupation and want the spoiled white guys arrested, maybe even bombed with drones.  Few seem willing to pause long enough in the argument to really listen to each other.  Just what is the beef with Federal land management?

The situation in Harney County presents a good starting place to look at this question because there is a long history of problems there.  Anyone who has paid any attention to the story of the refuge occupation knows that it began with a protest rally in support of Dwight and Steven Hammond, who were sentenced for arson under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act for starting two fires on their land that spread to BLM land, burning a total of 140 acres.  The group occupying the refuge want the Hammonds freed from prison, among other things.  The Hammonds’ battle with the BLM has been going on for decades, long before they lit the two fires that got them branded as terrorist arsons.  And they aren’t alone.

Read the whole thing,including embedded links here

What’s Really Going on With the BLM in the West

Posted: January 20, 2016 by gamegetterII in .gov bullshit, Uncategorized
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The single most important thing you need to understand about the BLM,EPA,USFS,and USFWS is the reason they are pushing ranchers,loggers,farmers,and individuals off of land that’s often been in the families for generations.

The whole clusterfuck is the fault of the environmental-emphasis on the mental-movement,and the endless stream of lawsuits filed against the USFWS,BLM,USFS,and the EPA.

These lawsuits not only cost hundreds of millions,if not billions of taxpayer dollars-the lawyers from groups like the Center for Biological Diversity-many,many more lawyers than biologists-earn a living from these lawsuits.

Groups like The Center for Biological Diversity,Wild Earth Guardians ,Natural Resources Defense Council to name a few of the major serial lawsuit filers,sue and then settle for whichever agency they sued setting aside even more land that is restricted from most or all human activity.

Most of these groups file their suits by abusing the endangered species act-which by the way must go-it’s time to get rid of it to stop this abuse.

Think back to the northern spotted owl,and the 70’s eco-freaks spiking trees,maiming loggers for life,chaining themselves to trees and/or equipment.

They got almost all logging stopped on USFS lands throughout the intermountain west,and the Pacific NW by abusing the ESA.

After all the drama and bullshit-logging was NEVER a danger to the northern spotted owl-a larger,more aggressive species of owl had displaced the spotted owl.

No apologies to the loggers out of a job-or maimed for life when their chainsaws hit a spike in a tree-there was no anti-kickback feature on chainsaws,or cut proof chaps, helmets with face shields back then-if the saw kicked back and hit your arm,leg,head,face,wherever-you got seriously effed up.

None of the people or groups involved ever admitted they were wrong either.

One of the worst abusers of the ESA,and most prolific filers of lawsuits is The Center for Biological Diversity.

They’re who got all the Nevada land around the Bundy ranch closed to grazing to protect the “endangered” desert tortoise-the same tortoise that the USFWS was euthanizing at a tortoise “sanctuary”in the same part of Nevada.

The very same Center for Biological Diversity that sued the EPA in an attempt to ban ALL lead ammo-using junk science,and made up bullshit.

The very same Center for Biological Diversity that passes out condoms with picture of “endangered species”-because they hate humans.

The very same Center for Biological Diversity that got farmers banned from drawing irrigation water from the San Joaquin/Sacremento river delta due to the presence of a 3″ fish-the delta smelt

The very same Center for Biological Diversity that sued for continued ESA protection for the gray wolf-long after the wolf reintroduction fiasco had reached the goal of 300 wolves,or 30 breeding pairs,which caused a decade long legal battle,and took an act of congress to get the gray wolf removed from  ESA protection. Immediately after that loss,the CBD filed for ESA protection for gray wolves in the great lakes area,and the Mexican gray wolf in NM and AZ.

The wolf lawsuits…all 10 pages worth.

There’s another 3″ fish,the Santa Ana sucker,that the CBD filed and won lawsuits over granting ESA protections,and preventing nearly a million people from drawing residential drinking water from an existing reservoir.

The very same Center for Biological Diversity who’s metrosexual members showed up in Burns Oregon,and at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge

Is everyone starting to get the picture? CBD et-al file a blizzard of lawsuits in fed court-mostly in the 9th circus,against USFWS,USFS,EPA,BLM.

USFWS delcares whatever toad,frog,lizard,tortoise,mouse,rat,snake,bird,or fish is the “endangered species” of the day,week,month,year,or decade must have ESA protections and closes off millions of acres of “public” land to everyone except for the enviro-nazis and the few humans who  only want to go hiking and take pictures  are allowed-along with biologists “studying” the supposedly endangered species-so they can file yet another lawsuit falsely claiming the need for continued ESA protection-like they did with the gray wolf in the northern Rockies-as the wolf population swelled to 10 times the goal for removal from ESA protection.

This scam is played out over and over and over-and each time,more “public” land is closed to the public,and more families lose their land,more loggers,ranchers and farmers lose their jobs.

The Center for Biological Diversity is only one of more than two dozen such groups comprised of enviro and/or animal “rights” whackos who continuously file lawsuits in fed.court.

This shit has been going on for over 35 years now-since the first “earth day” in 1970-close to 4 decades of environmental and animal “rights” whackos dictating public lands policies via lawsuits abusing the Endangered Species Act.

This is why sawmills closed,loggers are unemployed,ranchers and farmers and anyone else in the way of the feds settling of enviro-nazi lawsuits is being pushed off of their land.

Those who refuse to sell are treated like the Hammonds were/are being treated.

 

 

 

Warning to U.S. Military and Federal LEOs: Do Not Follow Orders to “Waco” Ammon Bundy Occupation, or Risk Civil War

Posted: January 17, 2016 by gamegetterII in .gov bullshit, Uncategorized
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SF insig

De Oppresso Liber?  We Shall See

Via Oath Keepers-

This is addressed first and foremost to the entire U.S. military, but especially to the military Special Operations Command and community.    Secondly, it is addressed to federal LEOs, and especially to their SRTs, such as the FBI HRT (many of whom are former military special operations).  This comes from combat arms and special operations veterans, along with veteran Sheriffs and police officers, within the Oath Keepers organization:

Critical Warning:

The Ammon Bundy led occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon must be handled as a normal, non-crisis, law enforcement matter, and preferably by Oregon Sheriffs (who are organized as the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association), and their deputies, together with the local community there in Harney County, OR.   The locals can resolve this, if given enough time.   The Oregon Sheriffs can resolve this, if given enough time.

This situation must not be handled in a military or paramilitary fashion, using military assets, military rules of engagement, or otherwise attempting to end it suddenly by use of dynamic assault, resulting in catastrophic loss of life, as has occurred twice in recent American history, with horrific results (at Ruby Ridge in 1992, and at Waco Texas in 1993).  If you do it “Waco” style here, you risk pushing this nation over the edge into a civil war, because there are “no more free Wacos.”

This is not an emergency situation, unless you turn it into one.  Ammon Bundy’s occupation of an empty building is essentially the same as civil-disobedience sit-ins that the political left has engaged in for decades, from anti-war and civil rights protesters in the 60s and 70s (including a nineteen month occupation of Alcatraz by American Indian activists), to Occupy Wall Street Movement and Black Lives Matter activists today.

These ranchers, cowboys, and veterans just happen to be armed, as westerners tend to be.   Get over it.  There are no hostages, there are no close-by neighbors at risk, there is nobody there except those who want to be.

So tread lightly, and at most handle this like the Montana Freeman standoff, where the FBI was patient and waited them out, with a peaceful surrender coming after eighty one days.   In this situation, the locals will likely have this resolved long before that length of time.  Regardless, there is no rush.

Despite that reality of there being no emergency here, we have very good reason to believe that ideologue leftist bureaucrats within the Obama Administration – such as within the D.O.J., and their politically minded “perfumed prince” puppets within the D.O.D. – are pressuring you to prepare to use military assets and military rules of engagement to conduct a dynamic raid.   We are an organization of current serving and retired military, police, fire-fighters and other first responders, and we have contacts at every major military installation in America (including Joint Base Lewis-McChord), and at the Pentagon.   We hear things.  We’ll just leave it at that.

And we know that the Obama Administration considered the use of military force during the Bundy Ranch standoff in April, 2014, pursuant to Directive No. 3025.18, “Defense Support of Civil Authorities.”  Fortunately for all Americans, they decided not to do it.  This fact was confirmed by a May 28, 2014 Washington Times article:

A U.S. official said the Obama administration considered but rejected deploying military force under the directive during the recent standoff with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his armed supporters.

From Inside the Ring: Memo Outlines Obama’s Plan to Use the Military Against Citizens. 

So, the military force hammer was, in fact, on the table during Bundy Ranch, as we suspected.  Please don’t try to tell us it’s not on the table again, now.   We know it is.  The only question is whether the Obama Admin leftist weenies will be foolish enough to try to actually use it, and if they do, whether you will be foolish enough to obey their idiotic orders and obediently act as that hammer.

In addition, it is clear you federal LEOs have not handled this in the normal law enforcement manner of cordoning off the area and immediately initiating negotiations.  Why is that?  Why has there yet to be even an attempt to open direct lines of communications between you and Ammon Bundy, as members of Pacific Patriot Network, Idaho III%, and Oath Keepers on the ground in Burns, OR have been repeatedly urging you to do for the past week, to no avail?

Don’t do it.  Do not follow unlawful orders if the Obama Administration fools decide to go “full retard.”  No matter how eager the politicians like Harry Reid are for Ammon Bundy’s head, after the black eye Ammon and his family gave them at Bundy Ranch in 2014, and no matter how much they pressure you to “make an example” out of these guys, you cannot drop the hammer on a bunch of ranchers, cowboys, and veterans sitting in an empty building without it blowing up in all of our faces.  Treat this with kid gloves, like the Montana Freeman standoff, instead of like the Waco standoff, or risk setting off a civil war.

The stuffed-shirt, pencil necked metrosexuals inside the D.C. beltway will not be the ones bleeding and dying in the chaos that could follow (at least not at first).

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Guys like this, in D.C., won’t be the ones who will bleed (not at first).

It will be you current serving military and LEO, and it will be us patriotic veterans, along with our many active duty brothers who still take their oaths seriously (and we are truly everywhere, including within your immediate ranks) who will bleed.  It will be the warrior class of America killing each other while the political hacks laugh (they hate you too, don’t you know).

Read the rest @ Oathkeepers here

Lawsuits seek to abolish country’s bail bond system

Posted: December 27, 2015 by gamegetterII in .gov bullshit, Uncategorized
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Crystal Patterson didn’t have the cash or assets to post $150,000 bail and get out of jail after her arrest for assault in October.

So Patterson, 39, promised to pay a bail bonds company $15,000 plus interest to put up the $150,000 bail for her, allowing to go home and care for her invalid grandmother.

The day after her release, the district attorney decided not to pursue charges. But Patterson still owes the bail bonds company. Criminal justice reformers and lawyers at a nonprofit Washington, D.C., legal clinic say that is unconstitutionally unfair.

The lawyers have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Patterson, Rianna Buffin and other jail inmates who argue that San Francisco and California’s bail system unconstitutionally treats poor and wealthy suspects differently.

Wealthy suspects can put up their houses or other valuable assets — or simply write a check — to post bail and stay out of jail until their cases are resolved. Poorer suspects aren’t so lucky. Many remain behind bars or pay nonrefundable fees to bail bonds companies.

San Francisco public defender Chesa Boudin says some of his clients who can’t afford to post bail plead guilty to minor charges for crimes they didn’t commit so they can leave jail.

View gallery

In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015, Riana …

In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015, Riana Buffin, 19, poses outside her home in Oakland, C …

Boudin represented Buffin, 19, after her arrest for grand theft in October. Buffin couldn’t afford to post the $30,000 bail or pay a bond company a $3,000 fee and so contemplated pleading guilty in exchange for a quick release from jail even though she says her only crime was being with the “wrong people at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Fortunately, the district attorney declined to charge Buffin and she was released after being held for three days.

“My family was worried,” said Ruffin, who lost her $10.50 an hour baggage handler job at the Oakland International Airport after her arrest.

The lawsuit filed by the Equal Justice Under Law in San Francisco federal court in October seeks to abolish the cash bail system in the city, state — and the country. It’s the ninth lawsuit the center has filed in seven states.

“The bail system in most states is a two-tiered system,” said center founder Phil Telfeyan. “One for the wealthy and one for everyone else.”

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In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015, a number …

In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015, a number of bail bonds offices are seen across from th …

The center has settled four lawsuits, convincing smaller jails in states in the South to do away with cash bail requirements for most charges.

Telfeyan said a win in California could add momentum to the center’s goal to rid the country of the cash bail system, which the lawyers say is used by most county jails in all 50 states. The federal system usually allows non-violent suspects free without bail pending trial and denies bail to serious and violent suspects.

“The country watches what happens in California,” said Telfeyan, a former Department of Justice attorney who founded the Washington organization in 2013 with a partner and the first-ever grant from the Harvard Law School Public Service Venture Fund in 2013.

Telfeyan said it’s not his goal to put out of business the classic neon-advertising bail bonding industry, but conceded the business model would become obsolete if he convinces courts that the cash bail system is unconstitutional.

The industry didn’t acknowledge Telfeyan’s first lawsuits filed earlier this year.

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In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015, a number …

In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015, a number of bail bonds offices are seen across from th …

But on Monday, lawyers for the California Bail Agents Association filed court papers seeking to formally oppose the San Francisco lawsuit. The association argues that government lawyers for San Francisco and the state are offering only “tepid” opposition to the California lawsuit.

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi argues that most jail inmates are awaiting resolution of minor, non-violent crimes and that letting them free while awaiting court hearings will save the city millions of dollars. Mirkarimi said non-violent suspects can be monitored electronically and with frequent visits from law enforcement officials to ensure they don’t flee the area and attend all their court hearings.

In January, Telfeyan and his colleagues from Equal Justice Under Law will ask a judge to temporarily suspend San Francisco’s cash bail system until the lawsuit is resolved. Telfeyan said a victory in San Francisco and the elimination of cash bail in the city will most likely lead to the abolition of cash bail in all of the state’s 58 counties.

Maggie Kreins, who is president of bail agents group, the says the longtime system of putting up money or an insurance-backed bail bond is better at getting people to show up in court and it saves the public costs of monitoring defendants or hunting down bail jumpers.

Kreins said that California’s “bail schedule” could be reformed to lower bail amounts for minor crimes, but that scrapping the system completely would be a mistake.

“What is the incentive to go to court if you don’t lose anything for failing to appear?” Kreins said.

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