Bundy's rebellion: fiasco with a tragic ending
If you are like me, you have been watching the Ammon Bundy occupation of the Malhuer Wildlife Reserve with interest.
At first the feds left them alone and they became the laughing stock of the Twitterverse. The situation became a legitimate fiasco on Jauary 16 when Oregon state police arrested Ken Medenbach when he used one of the refuge's trucks for a trip to the local Safeway.
On January 18, Arizona rancher and Bundy spokesperson LaVoy "Blue Tarp" Finicum whined that he had lost his "main source of income" after authorities removed his four foster children.
It looked like federal law enforcement was going to wait the Bundy group out, until today when the group was confronted by FBI and state police at a traffic stop as they were on their way to a community meeting in John Day, Oregon, about 70 miles away.
As I write this, one unidentified person (RawStory is reporting that it's LaVoy Finicum) is dead and six are in custody, including Ammon Bundy and his brother Ryan. All face federal felony charges of conspiracy to impede federal officers from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.
This has been a very, very odd standoff. Usually protesters occupy a building and stay there until they are starved out or, as in Waco, burned out by authorities. They don't tend to drive around town to shop and have coffee.
My initial headline was Bundy rebellion: fiasco or saga? It seems pretty clear that it's been a fiasco since they achieved nothing and a life was lost.
What was the point?
