Armed Extremists Vow to Continue to Occupy Federal Property

Extremists once again hiding behind the American flag

The lunacy - and some would say treason - on display in Oregon is the logical outcome of the contempt for government authority and the laws that apply to everyone that has become a hallmark of the Christofascist/Tea Party base of the Republican Party.  A mindset that has been only encouraged by the demagoguery of GOP candidates and their willingness to prostitute themselves to these ugly elements of the party base.  The good of the country seeming rarely factors into the GOP's partisanship priorities.  The irony, as noted by many on social media, is that if 150 blacks tried anything remotely comparable, the military or swat teams would have already moved in.  White extremist continue to get a pass from both the police and the media.  The New York Times looks at the unfolding saga.  Here are highlights:

The protesters arrived in this old lumber town to support a 73-year-old rancher and his son who had been sentenced to prison for setting fires that spread to federal lands. It was billed as a peaceful demonstration, but after “Amazing Grace” was sung and hugs were exchanged, a small, armed contingent declared outside a supermarket that it was taking a stand and asked who wanted to join.

So began the latest armed flare-up in a decades-long struggle between federal officials and local landowners and ranchers over how to manage the Western range. The armed anti-government group seized empty administrative buildings on a federal refuge for wildlife about 30 miles away through the snowy sagebrush, and by Sunday night, had hunkered down for what they vowed would be an indefinite standoff with the government.

“We will be here for as long as it takes,” said Ryan Payne, an Army veteran who characterized the group’s action as a liberation of public lands.

The Harney County sheriff, David M. Ward, said in a statement on Sunday, “These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States.”

The group was led by Ammon Bundy, a rancher whose family became a symbol of antigovernment sentiment in 2014 when his father, Cliven Bundy, inspired a standoff between armed local antigovernment activists and federal officials seeking to confiscate cattle grazing illegally on federal land in Nevada. 

Residents expressed sympathy with the underlying complaints, but elected officials criticized the armed protesters as an outsider militia group whose actions had thrown their community into a harsh national glare.

“The battle was brought to us,” said Dan Nichols, a county commissioner who is a neighbor of the Hammond family. “This county isn’t supportive of what’s being done here at all. Once again, it’s a bunch of those who live without the county telling us what we need to do, how we need to be doing it and the repercussions if we don’t.” 

The Hammonds each served sentences for the arson charges, but they were ordered to report to a prison in California on Monday after a federal judge ruled that the sentences they had served were not long enough under federal law. Ms. Hammond said her husband and son would surrender themselves as ordered.

The case caused a local uproar, but it also touched a nerve with far-right groups like the one headed by Mr. Bundy. The Bundys have been organizing opposition to the government case against the Hammonds on social media in recent weeks. They described the case as a tyrannical use of federal authority.

Mr. Payne, the veteran who is also at the site, said the group was not violent. But he also said members had discussed the possibility that the standoff could turn violent.

Referring to the federal government, he added, “If they think that’s worth bringing their armies in here and harming or fouling that endeavor, we’ll just have to read the Constitution and look at our Bibles and see who’s on the right side.”

Note the reference to the Bible, the cause of so much death and horrors over the centuries.   These people are dangerous and need to be prosecuted for what they are doing. 

Arson Fire Set in Crowded Seattle Gay Bar

No details are available as yet on the identity of possible suspects or the motivation behind an arson fire that was set at a crowded Seattle, Washington, gay bar (pictured above) shortly before midnight last night.  Thankfully, prompt action extinguished the flames and none of the 750 patrons were injured.  Frighteningly, the arsonist set the fire on the stairs leading to the second floor of the club providing overtones of the tragic and deadly Upstairs Lounge fire in New Orleans of years ago.  Obviously, the intent was to seriously harm and/or severely frighten gays.   Here are details via Joe My God:

Seattle's Fox affiliate reports:

Police are searching for an attempted arsonist who allegedly poured gasoline on a carpeted stairway leading to the second level of Neighbours Nightclub and trying to set it on fire. Seattle police said an attempted arsonist poured the gas in the stairway just after midnight New Year’s Day. The arsonist lit the gas and left, police said. Luckily, the fire was quickly discovered and put out with a fire extinguisher. Someone in the club also pulled the fire alarm, causing sprinklers to activate and dousing the flames. Police said all of the 750 patrons celebrating the New Year’s holiday managed to evacuate safely and no one was injured.

Capitol Hill Seattle has a similar report:

The Seattle Fire Department’s marshal was called to Broadway’s Neighbours just minutes after the legendary gay night spot’s midnight 2014 celebration to investigate a suspected arson fire that triggered the club’s automatic fire sprinkler system. SFD’s Ladder 10 was dispatched to the dance club at 1509 Broadway at 12:16 AM. The arriving firefighters found the building’s sprinkler system activated and the club’s 750 or so partygoers were cleared outside. Seattle Police were called to the scene to assist in crowd control to keep patrons and staff from re-entering the building.

The Seattle Fire Department has issued a preliminary report.

Suspect being sought in arson bar fire. On 1/1/2014, just shortly after midnight, an unknown suspect poured gasoline on a carpeted stairway leading to the second level of a bar and ignited it. The bar in the 1500 block of Broadway was occupied by over 750 patrons celebrating New Years Eve at the time. The fire was quickly discovered before it could spread beyond the stairway and was extinguished with a fire extinguisher. Someone pulled the fire alarm and caused the fire sprinkler system to activate. An orderly evacuation was accomplished and no one was injured. Arson Bomb Detectives (ABS) responded after being notified by SFD Fire Investigators. No suspect information available. The investigation continues.

 Updates will be provided as more is learned about suspects and motive.
 

40 Years Later Catholic Church Apologizes for Lack of Compassion for Anti-Gay Arson Victims

Personally, I believe that when the scales are balanced, religion, particularly Christianity, has done more harm and ruined and destroyed countless more lives than it has saved or aided.  Put another way, Christianity and religion in general have proved to be a pestilence to mankind.  Hate, bigotry, discrimination and the out right murder of those of other faiths have sadly been the norm rather than the exception.  Even within the last decade an Anglican Archbishop i Africa is suspected of having ordered the massacre of over 600 men, women and children.  Making matters even worse, break away Episcopal parishes in America have aligned themselves with such hate-filled and murderous clerics.  A piece in the UK's Daily Mail looks at the Catholic Church's belated apology for its behavior following the Upstairs Loungearson attack that claimed 32 lives.  Here are article highlights:

New Orleans marked the 40th anniversary on Saturday of one of the saddest days of its history and a tragic event which is regarded as the largest mass murder of gay people in U.S. history.

The Upstairs Lounge arson attack occurred on June 24, 1973 when a flash fire tore through a gay bar in New Orleans’ French Quarter.   In less than 20 minutes, 32 people were killed, dozens more critically injured and those who managed to escape watched helplessly as friends and lovers burned to death before their eyes. 

At the time local politicians and religious leaders wanted nothing to do with it and little effort was made to bring whoever started the suspected arson to justice.  The powerful Catholic Archbishop of New Orleans at the time, Phillip Hannan, did not offer his support or sympathy to victims.

Now 40 years on, the event is gaining greater recognition for its significant role in the fight for greater rights for gay people.  This year’s milestone anniversary was marked with a special mass in New Orleans, while the current Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans has apologized for the church's silence over the tragic event.

'In retrospect, if we did not release a statement we should have to be in solidarity with the victims and their families,' Archbishop Gregory Aymond recently wrote in an email to TIME.   'The church does not condone violence and hatred. If we did not extend our care and condolences, I deeply apologize.'

New Orleans in the early 1970s was an extremely homophobic place as typified by the response of authorities following the fire.  Neither Mayor Moon Landrieu or any other government official made a public statement about the tragedy. 

The UpStairs Lounge fire was a seminal moment in the history of gay New Orleans and significant advancements have been made in the years since and now the city leads the South in extending civil rights to gay city employees. 

Other events being held to mark the 40th anniversary of the tragedy include a lecture at the Historic New Orleans Collection, a jazz funeral procession from there to the site of the fire and even a musical. 

The city recognizes domestic partnerships for gay and straight couples, and Mayor Mitch Landrieu - son of Moon Landrieu - has issued an official certificate commemorating the anniversary of the fire, something that would have been unthinkable for his father to do at the time of the fire.

Better late than never is how the saying goes, but sadly, the Catholic Church is still preaching and disseminating the same anti-gay vitriol that helped create the mindset that caused 32 individuals to lose their lives with little or no response for government officials.  Religion is a form of poison that yields death and damaged lives as its principal fruits.

GOP Congressman Darrell Isa's Own Questionable Background

Among the GOP demagogues seeking to manufacture a presidential crisis out of virtually nothing  is GOP Congressman Darrell Isa.  Like most of today's GOP base and its Christofascists puppeteers, Isa puts on a false air of piety and feigned outrage over claims that the facts do not even support.  What the media needs to actually be reporting about is Isa's own questionable past that suggests that he has far more things to answer for than Barack Obama.  Here are highlights from NPR: 

Issa made his fortune building and selling Viper car alarms. He is the wealthiest member of Congress, worth as much as $450 million. In fact, it's Issa's voice on the popular alarm's signature warning to would-be thieves: "Protected by Viper. Stand back."

What's less well known is how Issa got into car alarms in the first place.

"For years I used to tell everyone that I went into it because my brother was a car thief. Then they found out when I ran for office my brother did spend time in prison as a car thief, and it ruined the whole joke I'd had for 20 years in business," Issa said during an interview with WhoRunsGov.
Issa himself was accused several times of auto theft. In the early 1970s, he and his brother were arrested after police suspected them of stealing a Maserati sports car from a dealership in Cleveland. Issa says the police mistook his identity, and the charges were later dismissed.

Another time, Issa was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon. Police found a handgun and a tear-gas gun — plus ammunition for both — in Issa's glove compartment.

Issa had a warehouse full of electronics that, one night in 1982, caught fire. Investigators later found "suspicious burn patterns," Lizza reported, and found that Issa had done some odd things.
A co-worker claimed that before the fire, Issa had put important electronic prototypes in a fireproof box, and that he'd removed the business's computer and financial files from the building. Investigators also found that less than three weeks before the blaze, Issa had increased the company's fire insurance from $100,000 to more than $400,000.

"So you add the more than quadrupling of the insurance along with the taking the computer and putting the other stuff in a fireproof box, and you can see why both the arson investigators and the insurance investigators pointed a finger, you know, at Issa after this fire," said Lizza.

Issa said he had nothing to do with the fire, but the insurance company refused to pay the claim. The two later settled out of court.

It was in part because of these allegations that Issa lost his Senate bid in 1998. He went on to win his House seat, he worked to recall the governor of California, and now he chairs the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Of anyone, Isa ought to know the dangers of smearing others based on sketchy facts and inuendo.  But, given the depravity of today's GOP base, Isa ignores such an approach.