From cartoonist Clay Jones about ‘A Little Militant Lunacy,’ the Bundy armed militants at a federal refuge, and the apparent difference between patriots, anarchists, and terrorists
Showing that they can do the Occupy Wall Street crowd one better, a group of right-wing militants are now Occupy Bird Sanctuary. A federal bird sanctuary that is.
Remember that crazy old rancher who was dickering with the government over his cattle grazing on federal land? Cliven Bundy inspired a standoff between armed local anti-government activists and federal officials seeking to confiscate cattle grazing illegally on federal land in Nevada. Now his two sons have overtaken a federal building in a remote part of Oregon.
Friends of the Bundys have been in a battle with the government over federal land. Dwight Hammond and his son Steven Hammond were sentenced to prison for setting fires on federal lands. There’s a terrorism aspect to the conviction which has a mandatory sentence of five years. The judge gave them less, and after finishing that sentence, another judge said, “Wait a minute, hillbillies, you have more time to serve,” and sent them back to prison. OK, I made that quote up, but that’s what happened.
So a bunch of armed militants against the federal government staged a protest and then occupied the federal refuge, and they say they’re willing to stay there for several years. They claim their group has 150 members, but some witnesses say they only counted 15, which might just be as high as they’re capable of counting. They’re calling for supporters to arm themselves and join them. They say it’s a peaceful effort, but if the government tries to kick them out, they’ll fight back. That’s peaceful?
Their supporters call them patriots. If they were black, they’d be anarchists. If they were Muslim, they’d be terrorists. The National Guard, FBI, and ATF would be all over it by now. There are now reports that government agents are on the way, but they’re kinda taking their sweet time about it. It’s a good thing they’re not a bunch of black 12-year-old kids with pellet guns or they would have been shot by now.
For some reason, these people think it’s their constitutional right to steal federal land and to rob taxpayers. If they can’t take it, then they should be able to set it on fire and endanger the lives of fire fighters.
You can be unhappy with the government and still love your country. Nobody is 100 percent happy with government. But to take up arms and threaten war with the government is declaring war on your country. It is treason. These people are traitors to the United States of America. They have all the integrity and morals of al Qaida and ISIS.
And it’s probably not going to do the birds any good.
From claytoonz.com
Super cartoon, Clay. And the text ain’t bad either.
One minor correction. Technically, it’s “sedition” not “treason”. But it’s still good for twenty years in the pen. (And I sincerely hope that a few of them get it.)