Discussion: Authorities Cut Off Power To Stop Standoff From Expanding In Oregon

Discussion for article #244433

Been wondering about the power thing…It’s my understanding they can’t cut off the power to the main building because they expect a burst pipe disaster if it freezes and don’t want to have to deal with the aftermath. I don’t know how the water is provided…but if that is able to be cutoff as well maybe it’ll be an option at some point. But apparently it’s not as simple as Trump yelling at someone and it’s magically all better.

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“Cletus? Cletus?!? I cain’t get mah Gameboy ta work!”

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Well that only took about a week. If I understand the ground rules though, the State police (as opposed to the County Sheriff I suppose) are still letting the bozos out of the Refuge to refuel, so they may just go out and buy the necessary provisions to get past this temporary inconvenience. I can’t really understand the logic in the half-measures any more. But whatever. Maybe this idiotic siege will all collapse from its own weight. Too bad local children are still caught in the middle of this crap by not being able to attend school.

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why in the hell is this taking so long… the deference shown to these terrorists is maddening. and the feds are going to regret this, because their refusal to act is certainly going to encourage other similar acts.
i’m not advocating an assault on the place and shooting these guys; but to allow them to come and go, head in to town to have dinner at a restaurant without taking them into custody is mystifying.

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Power at the main facility is still on, according to the Oregonian.

Why? Would there be potential damage to the museum – outside of what the men are going to do?

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They can’t do that! If they cut off power there, it’d cut off power to, like, a couple hundred ranches.

Or so some dumbass in the original thread declared.

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I know it’s a minority opinion but I think I see a rationale in this approach. I have to imagine there are really high-powered psychological folks advising the authorities, and it would make sense to just let these guys make themselves look ridiculous. The militia guys imagine themselves in this super-dramatic historic role, and here the tyrannical oppressors just won’t play their parts. “You fellas need anything, Cheerios and milk, bacon, ground beef, just run on into town, it’s no problem. Maybe hit the laundromat, take your time, it’s all good.” What fun is that, if you’re a heavily armed drama queen? You imagined a tense standoff, but nobody seems all that tense. You’re an annoyance, maybe, people would wish you’d go home, but they feel the same way about mosquitos in the summer. And by every measure the whole damn country is laughing at you. Worst. Standoff. Ever.

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This situation needs to be dealt with promptly to discourage similar ridiculousness in the future.

My tax dollars are being spent on dealing with this stupid crap. It’s completely unacceptable.

Put an end to it now. Nobody needs to fire a weapon. Drive in there in overwhelming numbers, put a stop to it. Period.

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I’m with you on this. Better to charge them with trespassing later (we are going to charge them, right? right?) than storm the place and risk people getting killed.

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Someone was talking about burst pipes, but what about just turning the power off for several hours/day? Make it uncomfortable? And maybe some unpleasant taste in the water? I’d donate urine to that cause… How about a surprise sewer backup? Some load speakers playing grunge rock? Just keep ratcheting up the discomfort level.

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Plus I cain’t see the screen thoo this dang tarp!

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They probably want to keep all the armed ignoramuses corralled in one place, and electricity will do that.

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Every account I’ve read says the feds and local authorities intend to charge them. It’s really the worst of both worlds for those guys—you don’t get to go out in a blaze of glory, you get to slink home like the loser you are, and then you have years of legal problems and maybe a spell in the clink. Works for me.

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let the pipes burst… pretty uncomfortable sitting in the middle on an ice house…

be much more effective if they just cut off the beer and beef jerky deliveries to the local 7-11 or Kwiki-Mart…

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Ya’ll might enjoy reading Ryan Bundy’s 1994 arrest report from Zion National Park http://media.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/other/Bundy1994.pdf

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Thank you, Mattin! I’ve been trying to convey this notion, but with much less (none?) clarity and success. Think of it as “what if we gave a war and nobody came?” If anyone here is into behavior modification, think of extinguishing undesirable behaviors–basically in most cases by ignoring them, not rewarding them. They clearly want a dramatic standoff with the Feds, who in their eyes are betes noir (imagine the necessary diacritical mark there). With such a standoff they could strut and pose their way across the stage very gratifyingly, and attract all sorts of supportive attention from the world’s macho idiots. What fun! What headlines!

But if there’s no standoff, or even serious containment, their claims to being tyrannized somehow lack all substance, their martyred macho poses look increasingly ludicrous, and the whole venture leaks all meaning. Extinction takes a little time and MUST not be interrupted; and usually there’s an uptick in the undesired behavior (extinction burst) before those exhibiting it give it up. But it’s a nonviolent, effective, and relatively inexpensive tactic. It also doesn’t encourage others to try the same things, because they can see there’s no reward in doing so. This tactic can’t be used in all places, for safety considerations, but this situation seems made to order for it.

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They certainly won’t pay fines if they won’t pay $1M in grazing fees, so jail is really the only stick left to tamp down these rogue herdsmen.

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the burst pipes would only result if the water was shut off… the least they could do is reduce the stream flow to leave some water running. that’s what we always had to do when the temps dropped drastically.

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Thanks for telling us about the power cutoff, Josh. Now, is it true that militianoids are fighting amongst themselves and even Keyboard Kommandos like oh…John Hildinger of Maryland are ripping into them?

When an enraged Hildy wasn’t pounding out two-fisted screeds of Militiakook rage at the presence of guys like former Cliven Bundy standoff ‘head of security’ Brian ‘Booda’ Cavalier, activist Lewis Arthur and ESPECIALLY Blaine Cooper,. he was doing warning videos.that were pure Militiakook balls of fire.

The videos were aimed at Militia Midget, Jon Ritzheimer, an ex-Marine who could make a Commie plot out of the fact that once there was no prize in his box of Cracker Jack™.

Hildy also called Booda Bear (I swear this was his name at the Bundy Ranch) nothing but ‘a mean motherfucker,’ pointed out that he had never served in the Marines, claimed that Arthur had started a fight at The Swamp and called Cooper a federal informant. He urged The Midget to get away from him before he got him killed.

And I haven’t even mentioned Hildy’s opinion of John Oshaugnessy taking donation money and using it to get drunk in a local motel

This Red White and Blue dedication to breaking the law needs to be followed, Josh. Before I wanted these clowns arrested. Now I’m not so sure. They are the biggest source of unintentional comedy since Orly Taitz.

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