I've been hearing a lot about how citizen observers should refrain from "interfering" with law enforcement

[EarlG]

and more startlingly, that if the law enforcement officers decide that they are "interfering," then those citizens have nobody but themselves to blame if they are shot dead in the street.

I thought it might be instructive to remember how the people who are now cheering on the murder of U.S. citizens by federal agents -- citizens who are exercising their First and Second Amendment rights by simply filming agents in the street, or legally carrying a firearm with a permit -- were behaving when Barack Obama was president.

In 2014, the Bureau of Land Management finally decided to crack down on Cliven Bundy's illegal cattle-grazing in Nevada. He had been allowing his cattle to graze on federal land, which is against the law, for 20 years. Here's what happened, according to the SPLC:

The standoff very nearly ended in bloodshed, as large numbers of Bundy supporters pointed their weapons at law enforcement officials, a felony that is now under investigation by the FBI. The BLM wisely withdrew, avoiding possible violence.

(snip)

The scariest incident happened in Utah, where two men pointed a handgun at a BLM worker in a marked federal vehicle while holding up a sign that said, “You need to die.”

(snip)

For those harboring deep hatred of the federal government, the BLM pullout was seen as a dramatic victory, one instance where the armed radicals of the right stared through their own gunsights at the gun barrels of law enforcement officials and won. Rather than being condemned, their actions garnered the support of numerous politicians, including the governor of Nevada and commentators like Fox News’ Sean Hannity — a truly repulsive spectacle.

https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/war-west-bundy-ranch-standoff-and-american-radical-right/

Renee Good was shot in the face for trying to get away from an ICE agent who was attempting to violently force open the door of her car. At the time, she was committing a minor traffic offense. Alex Pretti was pepper sprayed and assaulted for filming ICE agents and trying to help up a woman who had been shoved to the ground. When ICE agents found that he was carrying a firearm -- for which he had a permit, and which he never brandished -- they removed it from him and then shot him in the back.

For this, both Good and Pretti were branded domestic terrorists by high-ranking members of the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, Cliven Bundy was in the process of committing a crime, and the Bureau of Land Management officers had come to stop him. The people at Bundy Ranch were not bystanders protesting, or filming the proceedings -- they were friends of Bundy who directly prevented law enforcement from carrying out their duties. They did this by pointing loaded weapons at the officers, some from sniper positions, and making threatening statements.

For this, the people brandishing their weapons and threatening federal agents were celebrated by the same people who support the current regime.

Do we really need any more proof that these so-called freedom-lovers have always just been rank hypocrites who care less about the country than they do about inflicting violence on people who disagree with them politically?

[leftstreet]

1. DURec

[cilla4progress]

2. Yep.

Now all we need is the majority of Americans to see through the BS!

[underpants]

3. I've seen pics of this guy portrayed as a govt personnel staring down the barrel at citizens

It’s not but they can twist anything and their sheep follow right along.



Currently, it starts from it being impossible for Trump to be wrong regardless of how many steps away from him the screw up took place. The theme is see on Facebook and Twitter is OBEY! COMPLY! DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD! They can see what we see but Trump just can’t be wrong.

[malaise]

4. Nailed it

Rec

[2naSalit]

5. Ayuh.

[OldBaldy1701E]

6. "Do we really need any more proof..."

Nope.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. There were many DU threads on that Bundy incident

and that pic of that guy with a "long gun" trained on federal BLM employees, was widely circulated.

One wonders what would happen if the protestors declared themselves "sovereign citizens", would the response be the same?

[erronis]

8. Good question. But the thugs (in the White House and out) would change their rationales quick.

In the end, if the regime gets firmly in place, there won't be any 2A for the gun-humpers to cite. They'll either be on the inside, or they'll give up their weapons or their lives.

[DFW]

9. Yeah, when ICE killers feel like shooting their guns, civilians shouldn't interfere with the bullets' trajectory. n/t

[xocetaceans]

10. Their level of hypocrisy is quite amazing. The J6 Insurrection, this incident with Bundy, and what Rittenhouse did ...

... are all seemingly perfectly fine in their collective opinion.

One side supports order and the least use of force possible to restore order, while the other side has no problem with unaccountable killing followed by defamation as a matter of course.

The ICE agents and the others involved in these goon squads should not be viewed as legitimate officers or agents of a proper civilian government: by hiding their faces and refusing to acknowledge their identities, they are trying to avoid the accountability that must be integral to system that allows a use of force.

Further, this Trump Administration should be viewed as an extension of his J6 Insurrection. The next Democratic Administration must immediately reform the Supreme Court by whatever means necessary to reverse any decisions that would grant Trump any degree of "immunity". If Trump is not ultimately prosecuted for all that he has done, this sort of abuse of the US will likely just continue to happen and will likely become progressively more dire under future MAGA/GOP administrations (As a country, we have proven that no matter what such administrations do (Iraq War, torture, etc.), they or their sort seem to be re-electable under the influence of the monies of people like Musk and the influence of media like Fox "News".)

[evolves]

11. Excellent post!

Thanks for bringing this up, Earl.

[Attilatheblond]

12. Were they some of the guys who took over a small government building

And then begged for people to send them snacks?

[Ol Janx Spirit]

13. And remember during Covid when armed right-wing protestors took over the Michigan Capitol?

Yeah, these guys:



I guess by today's standards they should have all been mowed down by a .50 caliber mounted to an armored car.

They DID bring weapons to what was supposed--I assume--to be a peaceful protest....

I guess if Democrats hadn't treated these guys with kid gloves then today's ICE wouldn't have to go around shooting protesters....

[Donkees]

25. Remembering Corporal Spivey in the movie Dances with Wolves

Spivey is a very mischievous, sadistic, arrogant, cruel, immature, greedy and dimwitted jerk who enjoys mistreating Dunbar...He also took great sadistic pleasure in killing Two Socks purely for sport, alongside the other soldiers.

[turbinetree]

14. This says everything.....................and I mean everything..............they are rank hypocrites.............

[orangecrush]

15. K&R

[niyad]

16. KNR. I remember that horror. One of the things that I remember with a certain

amount of glee, was the fact that the f'n idiots were so ill-prepared, except for their phallic extensions, that they actually begged the public for supplies. I gave a moment's thought to what I might send. .then had to sternly remind myself that the USPS has some restrictions. . DARN IT!!!

[damifino10]

17. AK 47 murder

Please don't forget the mama's boy Kyle Rittenhouse.

[Kid Berwyn]

18. They don't shoot each other.

NAZIs.

They kill good people.

[llmart]

19. Excellent reminder of the utter hypocrisy of this administration and their supporters.

This will give me some ammunition next time someone tries to tell me that "they wouldn't be shot if they would just obey ICE". (Sorry for the play on words.)

[quakerboy]

20. letting them get away with that

Was in a lot of ways the beginning of the current fiasco. That was when the rank and file racists realized that there were no real consequences for their actions, no matter what they did.

[OldBaldy1701E]

28. Exactly!

So...

[Beartracks]

21. That sign: "Big Government Takeover. Here's your proof. Who's next?"

I bet those Utah folks have no shame, and no ability to see irony. They helped pave the way for the actual government tyranny they always warned about.

============

[red dog 1]

22. K&R

[flashman13]

23. This is where the right wing-nuts learned they could get away with this with no consequences.

It was Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder that failed to prosecute. I'm sure politics were a consideration. The J6ers may have had second thoughts about storming the Capital if the Bundy supporters were in jail at the time.

[charliea]

24. And never forget his spawn; Ammon Bundy

Who created his own "People's Rights Network", another right-wing cog. He ravaged the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge with an "adverse occupation". Surprisingly he and his troop were acquitted of all federal charges despite significant vandalism. He finally went too far hassling St. Luke’s Health System in Idaho and lost a suit brought by them in 2023. It cost him $52.5 million. Don't know if he's paid it yet.

[pansypoo53219]

26. bundy was stealing from america.

[UpInArms]

27. It's the

My rules for me, my rules for you, crowd.

They just want to rule and oppress everyone else.

[Evolve Dammit]

29. Such one-side is allowed to do it, but not you Dems or liberals BS. Carried through for decades, and obvious in MN

MSM sucks. How about Bundy, Kyle Rittenhous, armed rebels in MI, Charlottsville, etc., etc. No repercussions and Rittenhous was idolized. "My next President" gushed Ann Coulter. I believe he murdered two in MN. GOP set us a fund for all his legal help and featured him at various "events."

[WinstonSmith4740]

30. I was in the damn traffic jam caused by these lunatics.

That guy splayed out on the road with his gun through the cement barrier? I WANTED to run over his damn legs, but decided I didn't want to die. You can see where the agents were in a low area where they would have been sitting ducks. Those crazies were begging the government agents to do anything to give them an excuse to open fire.