I Have Not Said Much About the Oregon Standoff

Looking at this video doesn't look good for the guy who the FBI shot.  It isn't very close but the behavior does not look like someone surrendering to police, and the claim that they he was reaching for a gun is utterly plausible.  Just because the FBI has a long criminal history doesn't mean they are always in the wrong.

This article about Captain Moroni defending them is a really disturbing reminder of the odd connections this group has.

The underlying issue of the sentences given the Hammonds remains unresolved:

The U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement Monday: "The jury convicted both of the Hammonds of using fire to destroy federal property for a 2001 arson known as the Hardie-Hammond Fire, located in the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area," it said.

"Witnesses at trial, including a relative of the Hammonds, testified the arson occurred shortly after Steven Hammond and his hunting party illegally slaughtered several deer" on Bureau of Land Management property. "Jurors were told that Steven Hammond handed out 'Strike Anywhere' matches with instructions that they be lit and dropped on the ground because they were going to 'light up the whole country on fire.' "

Federal law mandates that the offense carry no less than a five-year sentence. The first federal judge to oversee the case thought the sentence was too harsh and gave them two years which they served. In October 2015, the Ninth Circuit ruled that they had to serve the mandatory minimum.

Not every injustice is an argument for insurrection.