Americans see worst fears come true

Americans are increasingly feeling the heat from their own government, and they are starting to see the manifestation of their own worst fears; those predicted by visionaries such as George Orwell.
 
Federal agents with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) attacked a group of protestors this week in rural Nevada, using tasers, dogs, and even moving vehicles to strike people who oppose the BLM's policies toward historic cattle ranch practices.
 
The ranchers say their animals are being killed and starved on BLM property and protestors with the 140-year old Bundy Ranch say their anger was elevated when federal officials arrived with a dump truck and a back hoe to, they believe, dispose of the dead and dying cattle.
 
The BLM troops are not only attacking local non-violent protestors and denying them information, they also specifically and directly violated their Civil Rights by establishing what they called a "First Amendment Zone" - thus denying the Bundy protestors one of the most basic civil liberties, the right to peacefully assemble.
 
The US First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
 
Americans who sport progressive positions at protests, like Occupy Wall Street, are routinely attacked by police when they protest. This is a practice that extends back to the Vietnam War. But American ranchers who personify the traditional "cowboy" are not often targeted due to their generally conservative politics. The attack against the Bundy protestors is a new page turning in a book that many say is in its final chapter: Sinister Overtones.
 
The truth is that most police who attack protestors are not federal officers or agents. The notion of sending BLM officers up against unarmed citizens with vicious dogs and shooting them with tasers is nearly unprecedented, and it has left a sour taste in the mouths of people nationwide.
 
At the Bundy Ranch protest, several dozen demonstrators wanted to see what was in the back of a dump truck leaving a section of BLM land where their cattle graze. One woman at the protest, Margaret Bundy, said, "I have 11 children, I am 58-years old, and they threw me to the dirt. All I was doing was taking pictures." She suffered cuts and bruises, and her injuries led to an ambulance being called.
 
"I hurt, they scraped my knee, they tackled me." She has been battling cancer, and this week she was severely roughed up by police.
 
One protestor called the BLM enemy aggressors, "This is the road I grew up on, 1355 Riverside Road, Highway 170 Nevada, and I just saw federal agents throw my aunt to the ground. I saw my cousin get tased three times, I saw them use dogs and sick them on a pregnant woman."
 
The man says the violence came about, "All because we had a couple questions."
 
The protestors had been chanting "Get out of our state, get out of our state," over the BLM's seizure of cattle at Bundy Ranch. Before it was over, many people were hurt, including several women.
 
This level of tension is bringing all sorts of people out to the Bundy Ranch to show support and take part in the protest.
 
The group, Oath Keepers, numbering nearly 40,000, is comprised of current and former military, police, and first responders. The group is calling on its members, along with other patriotic Americans, to join the vigil at the Bundy ranch. Those organizing the support are current serving legislators and sheriffs.
 
Oath Keepers writes, "The goal is to have at least one current serving state legislator and at least one sheriff on the ground at all times until this is over. And they will be backed by a large number of military and police veterans, as well as dedicated patriotic Americans from all walks of life, to interpose and defend the rights of the protesters and to keep an eye on the actions of the BLM and any other federal law enforcement present, to prevent a recurrence of the horrid abuses seen at Ruby Ridge and Waco, and to hopefully pressure the Clark County Sheriff and the Nevada Governor to step up and do their constitutional duty."
 
Oath Keepers says the courage and resolve displayed by ranch owner Ammon Bundy and his relatives is inspiring, suggesting that this event could go down in history as a watershed moment – a turning of the tide. They say video demonstrating the heavy-handed behavior of the BLM, "risks escalating an already volatile situation into open bloodshed, that, once begun, may spiral out of anyone’s control."
 
Waco and Ruby Ridge are a blight on the American political landscape. The events demonstrate how the US government's representatives often shoot now, and ask questions later. It seems the feds are failing at the headline test, they are taking steps that will not soon be forgotten in Nevada.
 
Nevada State Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, of Las Vegas, is one politician who is not only getting involved, but digging her heels in, showing leadership where other Nevada politicians are not. She said during the launch of her vigil, “we are here because the Governor is not.”
 
And perhaps those words are what brought the state's governor out of the shadows. Governor Brian Sandoval released the following statement:
 
“Most disturbing to me is the BLM’s establishment of a ‘First Amendment Area’ that tramples upon Nevadans’ fundamental rights under the US Constitution. To that end, I have advised the BLM that such conduct is offensive to me and countless others and that the ‘First Amendment Area’ should be dismantled immediately. No cow justifies the atmosphere of intimidation which currently exists nor the limitation of constitutional rights that are sacred to all Nevadans. The BLM needs to reconsider its approach to this matter and act accordingly.”
The demonstrators say they will stay the course and remain in support of the Bundy family.