Oregonian – Judge quashes subpoena of former OPB reporter in refuge occupation trial

In between a display of firearms to jurors in the second Oregon standoff trial, a debate about journalistic privilege took center stage in a federal courtroom Friday and drew a larger crowd of spectators than usual.

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown granted Oregon Public Broadcasting’s motion to quash a subpoena for former reporter John Sepulvado to testify and authenticate his January 2016 recorded interview with Ryan Bundy during the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

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Video shows chaos as refuge occupiers debate whether to leave after LaVoy Finicum died

A remarkable video shot in the darkened bunkhouse kitchen of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge reveals the chaos and anger that erupted after the arrests of occupation leaders and the fatal shooting of the armed takeover’s spokesman.

Defendant Jason Patrick, who went by the code name “Clooney,” radioed to security teams to come to the bunkhouse for a vote the night of Jan. 26, 2016. He stood in the kitchen in the middle of a group gathered around him, wearing his trademark blue blazer and holding a lit cigarette in his hand.

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Oregon standoff defendant Darryl Thorn planned to sneak back onto refuge, agent says

An FBI agent on Thursday showed jurors a slew of photos and messages that he found on defendant Darryl Thorn’s Facebook page, including Thorn’s stated plan of “sneaking back ” onto the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge a year ago.

Thorn, a member of Washington’s 3 percent militia, proclaimed in a Feb. 4, 2016, private Facebook message: “I won’t let my brothers and sisters die by themselves.”

He talked of his plan to go back to the refuge, saying, “I have a good lay out of the land.”

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Feds authorized some FBI informants to engage in unlawful activity at refuge

Over the objection of a prosecutor, a defense lawyer Wednesday asked Oregon’s recently retired top FBI agent about his reaction to the jury verdict from the first trial stemming from the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

“You do not believe the participants that went to trial in the fall of 2016 were held accountable, that’s correct?” asked Michele Kohler, representing defendant Duane Ehmer.

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Gary Hunt – Freedom of the Press #9 “Prior Restraint”

In the previous article, though suggested in the government’s Supplemental Memorandum in Support of Government’s Motion For an Order to Show Cause, of February 7, 2017, it really didn’t get to the heart of “Prior Restraint”. So, let’s get to the heart of that matter.

Let’s start with the law that explains the potential severity of publication of certain information, in a case similar to what the government and Judge Anna J. Brown are attempting to construct against me. Section 793 (e) of the Espionage Act was cited as the authority by which the government attempted to impose “Prior Restraint” on the New York Times for publishing what was known as the “Pentagon Papers”. The Papers had been leaked to the press by a government employee who had signed a non-disclosure agreement (not just based upon a Protective Order), which precluded that employee from divulging any information protected by Section, 793 (e):

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OPB moves to quash federal subpoena of former reporter John Sepulvado

A lawyer for former Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter John Sepulvado has filed a motion to quash the government’s subpoena that calls on Sepulvado to testify and authenticate his January 2016 recorded interview of Ryan Bundy during the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Attorney Duane A. Bosworth, representing Oregon Public Broadcasting and Sepulvado, argues that the compelled testimony will “chill future sources, even nonconfidential ones” for Sepulvado and all other OPB reporters.

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Oregon’s retired top FBI agent testified why he didn’t send agents to ‘assault the refuge’

FBI agents kept away from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for weeks based on what they knew about occupation leader Ammon Bundy and his armed supporters and Bundy’s pledge to take a “hard stand” and turn the property into a base for patriots for years, according to testimony Tuesday from the man who led the police response.

“For us to go in there, we believe would provoke a confrontation,” said Greg Bretzing, who just retired as Oregon’s FBI special agent in charge.

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Gary Hunt – Freedom of the Press #8 – “Qualified Press Privilege”

Gary Hunt
Outpost of Freedom
February 21, 2017
In Freedom of the Press #6 – “Tilting at Windmills” – Redux, I address the jurisdictional issue that the government addressed in their Supplemental Memorandum in Support of Government’s Motion For an Order to Show Cause, of February 7, 2017. Due to the length of the Supplement, and the length of #6, I chose to address two remaining issues in a subsequent post. Those two issues, Prior Restraint and Qualified Press, will be addressed in that order.

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Prosecutor: No formal agreement to conspire in refuge takeover, but a ‘meeting of the minds’

A federal prosecutor Tuesday told jurors they won’t hear evidence of a formal meeting, written contract or verbal agreement between the defendants on trial, charged with conspiring to impede federal employees from carrying out their work at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Instead, they’ll be able to infer through the words and actions of defendants Jason Patrick, Duane Ehmer, Jake Ryan and Darryl Thorn, that they used the federal property as their own last winter as a “platform for their cause,” essentially keeping staff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or Bureau of Land Management from coming to work.

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Jury of 12 plus four alternates selected for second Oregon standoff trial

A jury of seven women and five men, plus four alternates, will return to court next week for opening statements in the trial of four remaining defendants in the occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys picked them after U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown spent a day and a half of questioning about 58 prospective jurors out of an original pool of 1,000 people from across the state.

The judge referred to the jurors only by number in court and rarely identified the person’s hometown or type of work.

Most of the jurors are from outside of Multnomah County and come from outlying areas in western Oregon, including coastal communities, a defense lawyer said. A couple are from Multnomah County and at least one from central Oregon.

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Timber Companies Sue Over Cascade-Siskiyou Monument Expansion

Two lumber companies filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the legality of President Barack Obama’s expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument during his last days in office.

Murphy Co. and a related company, Murphy Timber Investments LLC, filed the complaint in federal court in Medford against President Donald Trump, acting U.S. Secretary of the Interior Kevin Haugard, the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management. The new administration could choose not to defend the lawsuit.

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Police often provoke protest violence, UC researchers find Aggressive actions anger activists, UC study finds

This article from August 2014, not long after the 2014 Bundy Ranch Standoff in Nevada, details a UC Berkeley Study that puts a great deal of responsibility for the escalated, violent results of Protests, at the feet of Law Enforcement and their presentation into the event.

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Gary Hunt – Freedom of the Press #7 “Judicial Discretion” and Tyranny

Let’s review this whole situation from the beginning. After all, it has taken a month and a half to get to this point, so perhaps a refresher is in order.

On January 5, 2017, I was hand served a “Cease and Desist Letter” by an FBI agent. Since the service was disclosed on Facebook, I wrote a “Statement with regard to the Freedom of the Press“, on January 6. That was followed with a series entitled “Freedom of the Press“, beginning on January 7 entitled Freedom of the Press #1 – Meeting with the FBI. The following day, January 8, I explained the Cease and Desist Letter with Freedom of the Press #2 – Cease and Desist.

These events were preceded by a number of articles that I had written in the “Burns Chronicles” series. In those articles, I exposed FBI informants associated with the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge outside of Burns, Oregon. The information used to identify and expose the informants was derived from some Discovery documents I had obtained.

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Letter names BLM agent in charge of Bundy case as target of federal ethics probe

Bureau of Land Management agent Dan Love, a central figure in the government’s case against rancher Cliven Bundy, has been identified as the target of a federal ethics probe in a letter two congressional lawmakers sent to the Office of the Inspector General.

The Feb. 14 letter, sent by U.S. Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, accuses Love of scrubbing emails, influencing witnesses and deleting hundreds of documents the day before a congressional investigative committee issued a records request. Chaffetz and Farenthold sit on the U.S. House Committee for Oversight and Government Reform.

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Jake Ryan Patriot and hero PURE COUNTRY

Jake is a total country boy .
And unless you have lived in the mountains of Montana , grown your own food, milked goats and cows , and cut your own fire wood to survive, you may just not understand what real country life is like .

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Las Vegas jury views video of April 2014 rally led by Cliven Bundy

In response to news that federal agents decided to stop rounding up his cattle, rancher Cliven Bundy grabbed a microphone and delivered an ultimatum to the local sheriff.

“Disarm the park service,” he bellowed at a morning rally on April 12, 2014, after Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie announced that the Bureau of Land Management would cease a cattle impoundment operation that resulted from decades of unpaid grazing fees.

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Here’s what Ryan Bundy told a BLM agent before the Bunkerville standoff in 2014

The trial against six men accused of conspiring with rancher Cliven Bundy to block federal agents from carrying out a court order to impound his cattle is underway in federal court in Las Vegas, and prosecutors on Tuesday played recorded phone conversations between a Bureau of Land Management agent and one of Bundy’s sons.

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Duane Ehmer – Patriot and hero – THE MAN WITH THE HORSE

He served in the military. He loves his country. He wears his American heritage with pride . He stands behind a constitution that he swore to uphold.

And his daughter is is pride and joy.

He’s a welder and a blacksmith.

He works for himself doing odd jobs that he finds, from mechanic work on vehicles, to welding and as a hobby black smithing, making art out of horseshoes.

Lady liberty become a mascot for the Refuge that the world will never forget.

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BLM council to meet about public lands, tour Red Cliffs

ST. GEORGE – The Bureau of Land Management-Utah’s Resource Advisory Council will hold meetings in St. George Thursday and Friday, including a field tour of the Red Cliffs National Conservation area.
On Feb. 23, the council will meet from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at the BLM-Utah St. George Field Office/Arizona Strip District Office, 345 E. Riverside Drive. A one-hour public comment period will take place from 3-4 p.m. during this session.

On Feb. 24, the council will meet at the field office from 8-10 a.m. and then proceed to the optional field tour of Red Cliffs from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. the public is invited to attend the field tour; the BLM asks those interested RSVP to Lisa Bryant at telephone 435-260-7003.

Agenda topics for the meetings include an introduction of new BLM managers, an update on the Planning 2.0 Rule (a 2016 initiative to increase public involvement and incorporate the most current data and technology into the BLM’s land use planning) and updates on current resource management planning efforts and projects including the greater sage-grouse.

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Tyranny to Victory: a Bundy Ranch Montage by Shannon Bushman w/ Jordan Page

Published on Apr 18, 2014
A photo montage of images captured by Shannon Bushman of the complete Bundy Ranch timeline of events that transpired from the protests at the cattle auction, to the standoff, to the cattle release. Music donated by http://JordanPageMusic.com Please support artists who love Liberty.

Download your free Next News “Heroes & Villains” Poster here: http://nextnewsnetwork.com/the-2013-h…

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3% of Idaho founder arrested after process server says he threatened her with gun

Brandon Curtiss, sued after he failed to turn over rents and other payments on properties he managed for clients, was arrested last month in Payette County after a confrontation with a woman serving him papers for an Ada County lawsuit.

The incident happened Aug. 9 when the process server for Tri County Process Serving of Boise went to a Fruitland home rented by Curtiss in the 400 block of N.W. 9th St. The woman said she knocked on the front door. Moments later, Curtiss came from around the back side of the house and confronted her.

“Get the (expletive) off my property. I have a gun and I’m going to use it,” the woman said Curtiss told her, according to an incident report filed by Officer Brian Wallace of the Fruitland Police Department. “I’m going to (expletive) shoot you if you don’t get off my (expletive) property.”

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Bundy Message from Malheur Standoff, Crossing Party Lines in Oregon

House Bill 2365 is what’s known as a message bill, a legislative way for lawmakers to take a stand, even though their proposal won’t pass. It’s walking dead.

The bill would establish a task force to study transferring most of Oregon’s federal land to state control. Places like the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and the Mount Hood National Forest would move a step closer to being owned by a state already on the brink of selling public land.

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Oregon standoff defendants seek Pete Santilli testimony to impeach government witness

Defense lawyers for the four Oregon standoff defendants set for trial this week want Pete Santilli, who awaits prosecution in Nevada, to be flown to Oregon to testify on their behalf and to impeach another co-defendant, Blaine Cooper, now expected to be a government witness.

Jury selection starts Tuesday morning for the remaining four defendants accused of federal conspiracy, weapons and depredation of government property charges stemming from the 41-day seizure of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last winter.

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Who are we? What do we stand for? How do we do it?

Lord, please guide us, please humble us, please let us have clear faith and understanding not only of our own desires, trials and tribulations, but those of others, both friend and foe, and that we may treat each with the same love and understanding.

Amen.

“This message is dedicated to our Patriot Political Prisoners and their Families in appreciation for their unending sacrifice and faith in themselves and others that we all may make a difference with each action we may take.”

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