Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

We still have time to mess this up!

People are complicated. Love is not.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

In my day, never was longer.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

This really is a full service blog.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Let there be snark.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

This blog will pay for itself.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Balloon Juice Bunker Standoff Day 27 Update: Mopping Up Edition

Balloon Juice Bunker Standoff Day 27 Update: Mopping Up Edition

by | 149 Comments

This post is in: 

——–UPDATE——–

9:30 PM: Special Agent in Charge Bretzing has just concluded his press conference. He started by clarifying that there are still four people left occupying the refuge and they are still trying to bring that to a peaceful resolution. He did show edited for time video from one of the two surveillance planes (the one with the better resolution video) of the stops and then the shooting of Lavoy Finicum. Special Agent in Charge Bretzing’s full prepared remarks and the full unedited video can be found at the FBI’s Portland Field Office website. He made it clear that Mr. Finicum was shot by Oregon State Police Officers and that there is an ongoing shooting investigation which limited what he could and could not say about the incident.

It was clear in the video that Ryan Payne exited the vehicle and was safely taken into custody. After about four minutes of standing after Payne is taken into custody, Finicum sped away and then swerved to try to avoid a spike strip and the barricade. At this point he almost ran into/over one of the law enforcement officers on site. He exited the car with his arms out, though it is unclear from the angle if they were above his head, and moved toward one of the two Oregon State Police Officers. It was also clear that Mr. Finicum twice reached across his body with his right hand into the left side of his coat. A 9mm semi-automatic pistol was recovered from a pocket inside his coat on the left side of his body. Flash bangs were then deployed around the vehicle to disorient the those left inside, followed by the deployment of less than lethal rounds to break the vehicles windows and OC spray capsules (pepper spray). The flash bangs are clearly visible on the video. Additionally, two semi-automatic rifles chambered in .223 and one .38 special handgun (most likely a revolver) were recovered from within Mr. Finicum’s vehicle once the remaining passengers were taken into custody.

—————————–

Here’s the correct link to the press conference live stream.

—————————–

It has been reported that the FBI have now entered the refuge. One person is left inside, though it has not been reported who that is. And law enforcement has indicated they will hold a press conference shortly. If there is a live link to a stream of it I’ll try to put it up.

Various militia groups, including the The Pacific Patriot Network, have put out a call for thousands to converge on Burns to force the FBI to leave the town and Harney County. They are very upset that Jason Patrick was arrested even though the FBI had announced that anyone that agreed to leave the refuge could do so peacefully once they checked in to verify their identity. The PPN folks feel that the FBI has lied to them (and everyone else I guess) and therefore they are going to try to hold a thousand person strong protest and demonstration in Burns on Sunday. One thing you can’t say about these folks is that they aren’t persistent. Not too bright, but certainly persistent.

The statute under which Bundy and company have been charged was created after the Civil War to deal with sedition. Who says history isn’t cool? Finally, Ammon Bundy and the rest of his followers that have been taken into custody, have been denied bail as flight risks. Given that they also come from a sub-culture that has a history of refusing to show up when issued summons, it is very likely that they will all remain in jail throughout their legal proceedings. They all finally got what they wanted: to live on Federal property without paying any rent!

Reader Interactions

149Comments

  1. 1.

    Mark

    Nobody elected these clowns. What screw has to be loose in a persons head when they think that they can just appoint themselves to represent the American citizenry?

  2. 2.

    Mike in DC

    I think the ideal is if you can gather all the militia from around the country into one MOAB sized area.

  4. 4.

    JPL

    Adam, I think Sean stayed behind to play the martyr. Fry just doesn’t seem to me, to have the courage to stay alone. Plus the munchies are gone.
    What’s your guess?

    Adam answered down below.. He thinks it is Fry..

  5. 5.

    trollhattan

    Flight risks? I’d say so. In fact I’d bet they’d literally go underground like so many pale El Chapos.

    Enough of this, and now let’s grab up the old man, that thief.

  6. 6.

    geg6

    Biggest bunch of losers ever.

    And I admit to being wrong and underestimating federal law enforcement in this instance. They’ve done a stellar job while I sat around sniping at them. My apologies to them all.

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mark: They all have constitutions with margin annotations and footnote commentary written by Cleon Skousen. Nuff said!

  8. 8.

    bemused

    The 2 videos the four remaining “patriots” made were pathetic. They were all outside and stuff strewn all over, just trashed. I can’t imagine what the insides of the buildings look like.

  9. 9.

    jl

    ” …very likely that they will all remain in jail throughout their legal proceedings. They all finally got what they wanted: to live on Federal property without paying any rent!”

    Glad they achieved a fitting victory.

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike in DC: Which makes it very easy for law enforcement to set up a perimeter, identify you on the way in, and then not let you out… Like I wrote: these guys and gals are nothing if not persistent. And they are nothing if not dumb. And I don’t mean unintelligent, I mean no real understanding of how anything actually works outside of what they might do for a living or certain skills they’ve picked up or learned. If they weren’t armed to the teeth, they would just be sad.

  17. 17.

    Adam L Silverman

    @redshirt: You’d be surprised. I think the migration of the cuckservative concept from white supremacists into the mainstream of conservatism and GOP politics over the past six months may mark a change in this. 20 years ago these guys, or the people they learned from if they’re not that old, were calling Newt Gingrich “Newt World Order”.

  18. 18.

    geg6

    @bemused:

    Not just the building. From the reports I’ve seen, they have done major damage to the entire property. Plus damaged property of neighboring ranchers. The whole town has been traumatized. It’s going to be a long, difficult and expensive recovery for both the refuge and the people of Burns.

  20. 20.

    Gimlet

    Has there been any comment from the Republican representative that gave the long background speech on this?

  22. 22.

    MD Rackham

    Apparently these yahoos don’t watch television or they’d know that cops lie to suspects all the time. And even without the fine legal education provided by Law & Order, why would anyone think they wouldn’t lie?

    (“But it’s not fair!” I hear them whining.)

  23. 23.

    NorthLeft12

    The FBI lied to us? Shocker. It will be interesting to see what eventually comes of the charges and trials of these vandals and nitwits. Although to tell you the truth, I don’t care if I never hear about this pack of fools again.

    They did provide the world with some great twitter fodder though.

  24. 24.

    Adam L Silverman

    @raven: I’m too tired to argue. In fact I preemptively agree to whatever GoBlue72 or AMK think I’m wrong about tonight. Kumbaya, hugs, and all that.

    PS – I’m just teasing, I’m good with both GoBlue and AMK even if we don’t always agree on things.

  25. 25.

    Roger Moore

    @Mark:

    Nobody elected these clowns. What screw has to be loose in a persons head when they think that they can just appoint themselves to represent the American citizenry?

    My understanding is that they’re trying to model themselves on Revolutionary War era “Committees of Safety“, which were basically self-appointed revolutionary governments. They appear to be engaged in a giant American Revolution LARP, but with unfortunate consequences from non-players who happen to be around when they’re LARPing.

  27. 27.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    My guess is the last guy there is trying to figure out how to get the wetsuit on without the dildos coming out.

  29. 29.

    Gimlet

    OT

    Paul Kantner, one of the giants of the San Francisco music scene, died Thursday, Jan. 28, of multiple organ failure. Mr. Kantner, founding member of the Jefferson Airplane, was 74 and had suffered a heart attack earlier this week.

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    @JPL: okay, that’s in direct contradiction to what others are reporting. I guess we’ll wait and see what they say at the press conference in an hour.

  32. 32.

    Roger Moore

    @geg6:

    It’s going to be a long, difficult and expensive recovery for both the refuge and the people of Burns.

    Hopefully those responsible will be fined of all their assets to help pay to repair the damage they’ve done.

  35. 35.

    JPL

    @Adam L Silverman: Earlier OPB had Amanda Peacher on who said only one was left. Maybe all the info is wrong, or Fry is imagining his terrorist friends are still there. You might be correct in your assessment.

  36. 36.

    bemused

    @geg6:

    It can take a long time for a divide in the community to heal if ever. I hope photos of the damage these dipshits did are published widely. It might change the minds of a few locals who have been somewhat sympathetic to them. Outsiders coming in, trashing the place, scaring locals and costing them lots of money usually doesn’t go over very well.

  39. 39.

    Morris Williams

    @Mike J: Any court room with a sovereign citizen in it needs two American flags: one with a fringe and one without.

  40. 40.

    redshirt

    @Adam L Silverman: May be. But to date, these types of yahoos amazingly only care about “Jackboots and black helicopters” when a Democrat is president. No one was telling W. Not to tread on them, after all.

    Maybe the calculus has changed, but I doubt it. This militia behavior is one in the same with Fox News behavior – when a Republican is President, we all must be loyal to the Presidency; when a Democrat is President, it’s time for a Revolution.

  42. 42.

    the Conster

    @NorthLeft12:

    #BundyMovieSnackTitles and #BundyEroticFanFic were two of the all time great twitter trends. My favorite was “From Here to Obesity”, but there were so so so many good ones. There is nothing better than twitter to mock idiocy. I like to think even these morons got a sense of their own ridiculousness.

  43. 43.

    Adam L Silverman

    @redshirt: I think just as we’re seeing with Donald Trump vs Senator Cruz, a lot of the calculus is changing. It’ll be interesting to see what exists when its all said and done.

  44. 44.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Tone Police

    @Adam L Silverman: You’re fairly new here. These freakshows only understand pain. When me and John and his mom started this blog back in late 2004, it fell to me to keep order. Sure enough, it went off the rails pretty quickly. You will notice his mom ain’t hanging around here any more.

  48. 48.

    redshirt

    @Adam L Silverman: May be. And I might guess, possibly, hopefully. Trump V. Fox News is a wonderful and unexpected development.

    That said, I assume everything will fall back in line once people realize what the money people want. We’ll see.

    But I don’t want to find out either. One assumes a Hillary or Bernie Presidency will continue the “Don’t Tread on Me” crowd as is, and FSM forbid a Republican win, which will utterly silence them by their own choice.

  49. 49.

    Adam L Silverman

    @the Conster: So funny story as a play on words for from here to obesity. The adult star in Brassiere to Eternity, who performed under the name Bianca Trump and the moniker The Latin Princess. Trump, real name Wendy Christine Iwanow, eventually left the business (as they call it). She then remade herself as an Aryan princess of Russian descent known online as tattoogirl1488 and was one of Pastor Richard Girnt Butler’s last companions at his Idaho Aryan Nations compound before he was forced to relocate to Arizona.
    https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2003/kkk-leader-richard-butler%E2%80%99s-porn-star-companion-gets-busted

    Truth is stranger than fiction.

  50. 50.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Anne Laurie: I wonder if it will. What I see is quick flareups of coverage when something happens, and just as quick diedowns. East Coast media seem to have little interest in flyover country unless blood is being spilled or there is something that their sophisticated sense of humor allows them to laugh at. I say this as a former East Coaster now in flyover country.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: Do you have a contact email on your website? If so, I’ll do it and put him on the to line with you and then he can, hopefully, take it from there.

  53. 53.

    tybee

    @Gimlet: \
    Paul Kantner, one of the giants of the San Francisco music scene, died Thursday, Jan. 28, of multiple organ failure. Mr. Kantner, founding member of the Jefferson Airplane, was 74 and had suffered a heart attack earlier this week.

    well, fuck.

  55. 55.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Tone Police

    @JPL: Laura got a gig that was taking a lot of her time. Then she started back to school full-time to finish her Master’s or Doctorate, I forget which. Then she found True Love ™. I guess that was enough action for her. She was never thrilled with the way Balloon Juice went from sort of a raunchy bar/anything goes hangout to the freaks and geeks thing it is now.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    Just as an update to a question from the other night: JJ McNabb at her twitter feed is providing a rundown on Blaine Cooper. He did, as I indicated at the time, left the refuge two nights ago and apparently fled to Idaho. Click over to McNabb’s twitter and get the rundown:
    https://twitter.com/jjmacnab

  58. 58.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Here’s my favorite quote:

    “The option is you go out there and they get you and it’s a felony crime and it’s a prison sentence,” Fry told Think Out Loud host Dave Miller. “A lot of us are scared of that option.” …“I don’t really want to kill people,” he told Dave Miller. “But I don’t want to be put in prison.

    OPB link

    Seriously not bright people. Leave after committing a felony and face prosecution for a felony. Persistent and not bright is an exceptionally apt description of these fools. The unnerving part is that they are heavily armed, angry and skittish. With anger management problems, also, too.

  59. 59.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    That’s cray cray – including that “Trump” is part of that whole thing. Makes me think that there is a universal mastermind, and that it has a wicked sense of humor – and that my spidey sense is right – that we’re in the event horizon of the wingularity. Wheeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  63. 63.

    ThresherK

    @debbie: Serious question? I mean, I’m treating it as such, so:

    No, the colonials weren’t. I don’t know if today’s rebellionists have a great hold on George III’s role in the Declaration; the Stamp Act and the Tea Act and the quartering a huge standing army in citizens’ homes, and dissolving legislatures and all the rest.

    (And if you’re being rhetorical, I shoulda known.)

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    Updated up top with links to KATU’s live stream, which should carry the press conference at 5:30 PM PST/8:30 PM EST.

  68. 68.

    redshirt

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: Don’t get your hopes up. The Wingularity is impossible from our perspective in this reality. But, should we shift our reality, then maybe the small chance exists to portal to Right Wing Land, where everything is as you wish it, especially the bad stuff.

    Or maybe suffer a severe head injury. That might do it, also, too.

  69. 69.

    dogwood

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I’m surprised we haven’t been seeing all the nude center folds of Melania Trump. And her interviews about her great sex life. Nancy LeTourneau at the Washington Monthly had a piece on Melania potentially being the first First Lady to have posed nude. I’ll be waiting for the Evangelicals to rationalize that.

  70. 70.

    Adam L Silverman

    @ThresherK: The other thing the founders and framers understood was the difference between the rights that Jefferson wrote about in the Declaration, which are endowed upon all by the Creator – whatever Jefferson actually meant by Creator and the rights enumerated or implied in the Constitution. These latter rights were the result of entering the social contract/compact that was the Constitution and being a citizen.

  71. 71.

    A Ghost To Most

    This pathetic final scene reminds me of Flick stuck to the flagpole, and Ralphie and the rest scattering when the bell rings.

    Beware the dreaded Triple Dog Dare.

  72. 72.

    debbie

    @ThresherK:

    No, I meant my question. I just finished reading “The Witches,” a book about the Salem witch trials. I knew the Puritans were strict, but I didn’t realize the depth of their fanaticism. There are so many parallels to today’s RWNJs. Maybe they’re not an aberration after all.

  75. 75.

    The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...

    @bemused:

    I can’t imagine what the insides of the buildings look like.

    I’m guessing a really big pile of empty beer cans, Fritos bags, and dildos in the corner…

    Damned near close to a Superfund clean up site…

  77. 77.

    japa21

    I have to wonder when all is said and done if this may not end up economically benefiting Burn. I would imagine a lot of people may show u.p as tourists who would never have thought of there as a vacation destination.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Pogonip: she wasn’t. She had a routine procedure I alluded to in an earlier thread when Schroedinger’s Cat asked if I’d do a loon update. My answer revolved on how much wait we had to do before she was discharged. But thanks for the good thoughts.

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    I just updated the link to KGW’s livestream. If you want to see the press conference just click on it.

  88. 88.

    Steve in the ATL

    @geg6:

    And I admit to being wrong and underestimating federal law enforcement in this instance. They’ve done a stellar job

    Indeed, but let’s also give due credit to all the people who sent dildos to the terrorists, which helped make them a laughingstock

  89. 89.

    redshirt

    I predict the following:

    These types of incidents will continue if a Democrat wins the Presidency.
    These types of incidents will cease if a Republican wins the Presidency. Mostly.

  92. 92.

    Gvg

    I have become suspicious someone has been funding these idiots for awhile n hoping the fed delay was checking for money trails. Doesn’t have to be of course but the amount of money the kochs have been burning on what amounts to similar idiocy plus how come these losers seem to have the money and time to do this stuff?

  96. 96.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    @Adam L Silverman:

    Just an FYI, when I need John’s attention in regards to the blog, I hit him up on Twitter – his email gets crazy with spam, so many times he just deletes it all says fuck-it.

    With twitter, I usually get a quick response. Not always a helpful one, but response none the less. (Love that guy).

  98. 98.

    Adam L Silverman

    @amk: If I was working the case I’d make the best argument I could for why there was probable cause for an arrest and present an analysis of the best ways to bring him and the possible ramifications for each. Remember that at the end of the day the decisions are made by the prosecutors who have to go and apply for the warrants, not the agents and not the analysts.

  104. 104.

    amk

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Right. Hence, my gripe how doj and the feds fucked up the case against daddy bundy, who is still out there spewing the same seditious bs. We will see what they do with the present buncha terrorists.

  105. 105.

    The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...

    @Gvg: Well, if they can trace this sh*t show back to the Kochs, across state lines, wouldn’t that make everyone eligible for RICO charges?

    Gosh, I can dream, can’t I?

  106. 106.

    toschek

    I’m sure these Wal-martyrs will join up with the jail’s local Aryan Nation chapter as soon as they are processed. I really hope they’re locked up for a long time and this will be last we hear of the Bundy brothers forever. Might as well send ’em to Gitmo while they’re at it – that place could use some actual terrorists to justify staying open.

  110. 110.

    D58826

    @NorthLeft12:

    they checked in to verify their identity

    The FBI said they could go their own way after their ID was checked. The FBI didn’t say what they would do if the person failed the ID check. The FBI certainly isn’t going to let someone with outstanding warrants to go merrily along their way or someone who broken the law in taking over the refuge. These folks make a bag of hammers look like rocket scientists.

    Unfortunately these folks will look on this as one more grievance and they have their martyr so we can expect they will be back. Like Daesh you can’t kill an idea no matter how badly warped that idea is.

  111. 111.

    D58826

    @toschek: If they sent them to GITMO the GOP would demand that the whole navy instillation be returned to Cuba. Then they would blow up their own heads.

  112. 112.

    mapaghimagsik

    Wow. If the report and observations were accurate, what did he think was going to happen going for his weapon?

  113. 113.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Four occupiers are still at the refuge. FBI is negotiating with them “around the clock.”

    An overhead video of Tuesday’s vehicle encounter was shown. The unedited version is here. Caution: shows the death of LaVoy Finicum.

    It looks like the video was shot from the helicopter that has been reported at the Burns airport, or possibly a sophisticated drone with sophisticated cameras. It also automatically recorded a great deal of information, probably time, location, airspeed, direction of camera, and other things that were blanked out.

    What happened was different from any of the reports. Finicum’s truck sped away, tried to go around a roadblock, got stuck in deep snow. Finicum got out, ran, reached in his jacket, and was shot.

  114. 114.

    currants

    @Gvg:

    hoping the fed delay was checking for money trails.

    I’ve been wondering if they were nailing down exactly who all their like-minded contacts were. Bonus if they were also gathering evidence for charges against them for offering to help and support them. Well, not the dildo and lube people but the others

  115. 115.

    Keith G

    @mapaghimagsik: The video shows Finicum reaching to the pocket area twice. He seems to make that motion once as he is facing one officer, but is interrupted by a cop whom he did not see who was closing from behind. That second cop must have yelled because Finicum turns to him (and way from the camera) with his right hand near his chest as he turns. The second cop then fires.

    Finicum did not rush the cop, but his actions were certainly of a dangerous type.

  116. 116.

    Adam L Silverman

    I’ve just updated up top with a run down on the press conference and links to Special Agent in Charge Bretzing’s prepared remarks and the full, unedited video of the arrests and the shooting of LaVoy Finicum.

  117. 117.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: @Keith G: It was airplane surveillance. As for Finicum’s movements: he was carrying a 9mm handgun in his inside left coat pocket. The moving he was making was a cross draw movement. At the time they shot, the two Oregon State Police officers had no way of knowing if he was reaching for a gun or not, because they had no way to be sure that he was armed. SAC Bretzing did report that all of their information was that all of these folks were armed. Finicum was, in fact, armed and in hindsight he appears to be reaching to draw his weapon. Two semi-automatic rifles chambered in .223 and a .38 Special were found in his vehicle.

  121. 121.

    Adam L Silverman

    @amk: As I’ve replied repeatedly, and I’m paraphrasing: I get your frustration. I personally expected both Cliven Bundy and his accomplices to have been brought in by now. All of that said, there’s not much either of us can do about it.

  124. 124.

    Keith G

    @Adam L Silverman: Indeed. As I said upward a bit…a fool.

    If He’d put his hands up, he would have seen his wife again. Suicide by cop? A narrow, brittle mind too filled with idiot propaganda to be rational?

  125. 125.

    WarMunchkin

    From the prior thread I requested a high burden of proof on LEO’s for use of lethal force. Seems met to me.

  126. 126.

    AnotherBruce

    @Cheryl Rofer: It’s worth noting that he almost ran into an agent went he (Finicum) went into the snowbank. God I hated watching that video, but I had to know what really happened.

  127. 127.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Keith G: I think had he not been surprised/distracted by the second state trooper he would have actually tried to draw on the first cop. Once he realized there were two the adrenaline took over and he kind of got stuck trying to draw, trying to deal with two cops at once, trying to…

  130. 130.

    Adam L Silverman

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Whether that was really his intent or he thought he could take one out and then do something else even though there were numerous other law enforcement officers on site there or he just wanted to try to take one out before they took him out or he just decided he was going to do what to us is suicide by cop and to him was embracing martyrdom, it all amounted to the same thing. Absolutely, completely senseless and pointless.

  132. 132.

    KS in MA

    @Gvg:

    That’s exactly what people wondered about James Earl Ray, as I’m sure I don’t need to mention. Maybe there are better ways of tracing the $$ now.

  133. 133.

    Calouste

    @dogwood: I bet Larry Flint is buying up all those Melanie naked pictures for a “Trump’s wives” Penthouse special edition in October.

  134. 134.

    AnotherBruce

    @WarMunchkin: Yes they did meet it, I’m not glad about it, but they did. I give a lot of credit to law enforcement for the way this was handled. However I say that knowing it’s not quite over.

  136. 136.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: Updated: I Just went back and rewatched the video of the shooting. Its very clear. There was an agent just on the left side of the road block but moving towards the snow back along the road. When he swerved to avoid the spike strip and then plowed the car into the snowbank on the side of the road the vehicle was driving straight at the agent. The agent had to dive to his right to avoid being hit and just barely got out of the way. At this point one of the state troopers was back towards the tree line on the vehicles left. Finicum dismounted the vehicle, clearly heard the officer back towards the right rear of the vehicle shout commands at him because he swung in an arc to his to face him with his arms out akimbo and then reached across his body inside the left side of his coat. At this point he circles again, clearly in response to the presence of the second trooper who had come up from the tree line, his arms again akimbo in the pivot and then his right arm reaching across his body inside the left side of his coat. It appears he reached inside his coat at least four times. He then seems to freeze for a second, and then quickly turns back to the second officer closer to the tree line, reached inside his coat again, and then he was shot.

  138. 138.

    dimmsdale

    No live video for nine hours….I wonder what they’re up to at the sanctuary? It’s getting a little Jim Jones-koolaid creepy. Still to be heard from, the thousands of patriots from around the country answering the “broken arrow” call…or did that get called off? I would wish that anyone in thrall to that degree of self-delusion and self-deception might use this episode to wake up, even a little bit, but I doubt that will happen.

    I’m a little concerned that the only leverage these lunkheads have left is threatening to damage the refuge if their demands aren’t met. Really, what else have they got? It’s a lovely CCC-era building, full of enormously valuable tribal artifacts. “Give us what we want or the building gets it.” Otherwise I’d say let them enjoy their camp-out experience until they run out of snax and start having to eat fried cactus.

    Quite a distance they’ve come since this time last week, when they were riding high. An entertaining journey to watch, but dangerously so.

  140. 140.

    Soylent Green

    I went looking for the full FBI video and found dozens of enraged videos recently posted by various militia hotheads, all raging about how this upstanding and blameless citizen was cruelly murdered by the G-men.

    They reflexively say the FBI did it, although the takedown was by state troopers.

    What’s the next chapter? How will they seek vengeance?

  141. 141.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Pogonip: She’s in better shape than I am right now. If I go to bed now, I’ll be back up at 3 AM and then I’ll be in worse shape.

  142. 142.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Soylent Green: I put the link to the FBI videos up top at the 9:30 PM update. If you click on it you’ll find the videos below the transcript of the SAC’s full, prepared remarks.

  143. 143.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks, Adam. I may go back and look at the video again, but not tonight. I recall that it was pretty clear that Finicum was responding to at least two of the officers shouting at him at different times, probably deliberately to disorient him. I also saw him going for his pocket at least twice.

    It was all very well planned, including the two planes. I am curious about where the officers were placed, which is why I might go back to the video.

    Law enforcement is also doing an excellent job of public outreach.

  144. 144.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    To be fair, the Salem Witch Trials and the American Revolution happened over 80 years apart. It would be kind of like saying that the US is the same today as it was in 1935 — there have been quite a few important events (WWII, civil rights, etc) between now and then.

  145. 145.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: I remember seeing a news report of a woman who was attacked by her, I think it was, estranged husband. She had a restraining order. She was able to get to her shotgun and shot him before the cops could arrive in self defense. The cops arrived and from behind her ordered her to put the gun down and hands up. She turned around, most likely because her hearing was shot from the shotgun blast so she was turning towards the sound. They shot her. Fortunately she wasn’t seriously injured and survived. He was probably so hopped up on his own adrenaline and anger and even fear that two cops screaming orders at him was sensory overload.

  146. 146.

    Mobil RoonieRoo

    Well I was one that was complaining about the Feds not doing anything and I was flat out wrong. They did an amazing job considering there has been only one death.

  147. 147.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mobil RoonieRoo: It really does take time to assemble the right team of specialists for a job, to put enough supplies and support people on the ground, and recce the area. Once that happens, a plan can come together. I am impressed at how quickly it happened..

  148. 148.

    dc

    I read somewhere, now I can’t remember where, that the authorities took advantage of this road, winding with forests for the operation. The other roads the Bundy terrorists had been driving on, from the refuge into town, for example, were basically flat, with views for miles on all sides. So their decision to go to the meeting in the other county and hence travel on this winding road in a forest was the great opportunity the police had been waiting for.

Comments are closed.