https://www.oathkeepers.org/trial-century-ryan-bundy-opening-statement/

Ryan Bundy's opening statement at the Bunkerville trial, a must read.

Interesting. I kinda pity the guy for having to raise that many teenage girls.
Didn't realize the family had been there since 1877.
All this over grazing rights?

Red flag.
Something doesn't add up.

Must be one heck of an operation. .gov needs funding.

The government is going broke and will go to any length to get something for nothing.
Just sayin.

Clever cherry picking regarding the Constitution and law. It should go over well with low information types.

This entire "conspiracy" is tailor made for them.

Fish on...

Todd

Are you referring to jurors??

I think he did a brilliant job in explaining the constitution and how it relates to states rights and more importantly how it relates to he and his families situation. I think what he did is bring his argument to the simplest of terms, and showed that what he is explaining Is clearly common sense if you are an origionalist when it comes to the constitution. So what this case will come down to is weather or not the court and the jurists believe in the constitution and how it relates to states rights and power verses the United States government, will they take the constitution literally or view it as an outdated living document when deciding the verdicts.

Sheeeittt Rich...that ship sailed a LONG time ago.

Also a note to Mrs. Bundy: it's a vagina - not a clown car. This isn't a contest and you can shut yer' meat curtains now.

Hell, I don't know - maybe they're all so dumb that they gotta play the statistical odds against ma nature. Stands to reason I guess. It won't work, but the logic is kinda sound.

Regarding my remark that this would go over well with low information types, I rest my case.

You homos all just want to open Mrs. Bundy's curtains.

The Bundys are idiots. I don't condone gangsters in the hood looting every time they think they've been " wronged" and they need to be punished severely for it. The same goes for the Bundys. Who the hell do they think they are? Do some real research and see just how they've bilked the same government they are bad mouthing. Similar to the Indians it's never enough is it? Don't forget that for those of you on this site that WORK for a living and pay taxes it's your money they are messing with. It's your money that is financing these fvcking trials. They don't deserve any more rights than the rest of us. They should pay us back for their law breaking and phony anti-government BS. Look at some of the sources that our genius Rich G is getting his information from. Stam is right regarding our government being crooked and especially now that we have a professional crook in office but that doesn't give the Bundys any more rights than the rest of us.

Heard a lot of mockery in the comments but not much competing facts, logic or reasoning. If his opening statements only make sense to "low-information" types then what's the high-IQ version?

Beyond that I see no reason to disrespect Mrs Bundy - looks like she's raising a much finer bunch of kids than an inner-city welfare queen raising a bunch of gang bangers.

Why so racist bU?

Full circle.

Nicely done.

No disrespect to Mrs. Bundy here. Maybe some colorful language while pointing out that more kids require more natural resources. Maybe if the Bundy's didn't have such a big brood (and more like 1 or 2 kids), they could get by with a smaller land footprint? Like say a condo in Vegas perhaps?

Big picture?
Just wait until the great water wars start and the Colorado gets shut off.
This ain't nothin'.

They will be coming for the Columbia...

Yep - the pipeline to Cali. As the Colorado continues to suffer and the aquifers dry up, they'll continue to look north and will probably eventually succeed. Man first. Nature second.

I have a friend who's family settled the Colorado front range foothills near Lyons (which is in between Fort Collins and Boulder). A cattle and sheep Op on 1000's of super prime acres with a gorgeous little river running directly through it. The land alone with worth millions upon tens-of-millions. They laugh when folks comment on this fact and then educate them that the land "ain't worth nothin". Their 150 year old grandfathered water rights are are worth 10x the land value. They could lose everything except a single water share and still be set for generations.

Now times that with the entire SW. It's going to be a blood bath.

This case is a good trial balloon and may set some precedent for when those dark days arrive. The Bears Ear Monument issue is already heavily triggering a lot of misguided folks on all sides (so much disinformation).

[ grabs popcorn and settles in ]

Water is the big issue. For those who want a Border Wall to keep those dirty Mesicans out, I wonder how many would be trying to come if the US met it's treaty obligations for water in the Colorado and (probably) the Rio Grande. We dry up their country and wonder why they don't stay.

I understand, too, that CA is (or was) taking more than their legal share of Colorado River water. Because they could. Add in some tribes getting senior water rights to desert aquifers.

A really big pipe, plugged into Bonneville, would meet the needs for a while.

If you give them water they will grow, and that is why government policy in a lot of places appears to work against people. Its kinda like parking spots in a lot of cities, people want more but gov gives less because they know more spaces equal more cars and the same problem comes back around. Im not defending gov but they are very forward thinking in a lot of places and water rights is one of the few powers they can use to actually curtail massive and expensive problems that come from letting the public build wherever and live however they want. I wish freedom were still the answer but we are reaching a point where people are the problem and so is freedom in its purest sense.

Older ways of life will change and may become unsustainable. It is sad but all things change and eventually end including the ways of making a living. I still think it is pretty telling that commercial fishing and ranching hold a special place in peoples hearts and these lifesyles get special treatment while something like manufacturing is just accepted as being unstable and nobody cares. It just ideaology and nostalgia, its not prudent, and thats the real problem. Who woulda thought ranching and commercial fishing would be a hard way of life 30 years ago!?!

Back when Jerry Brown's (CA current gov) Dad was governor he was in favor of sending water from NorCal to SoCal. Why? It would keep them down there rather than have them move north to where the water was.

The problem is more and more people. If we are unwilling to deal with that, then we can at least move forward on paying for the infrastructure to move that water.

One of my all time favorite sayings:

[Bleeeeep!] 'em and take their water."

Been around long enough that you hear all sorts of weird ideas. Heard somebody propose to dam the Carquinez Straits (a narrow passageway for the Sacramento and San Juoquin rivers. Convert it all to freshwater and ship it south. Lots of folks believe that any freshwater allowed to flow unused to the sea is wasted.

Which suggests that we are going to see lower flows in the Green and Cedar and Tolt as populations continue to grow.

I agree. There is technology, although expensive, that is being used in SoCal that converts sea water to fresh water. It's not enough at this point to sustain a large population but when does it stop? More people more freshwater needed. Does that mean eventually we use up the oceans when there are too many people. Scientists have said for years the perfect maximum population for earth is 500,000,000. If that's true we wrote earth's obituary a long time ago. This is another reason why I have problems with the Republican's slash and burn mantra. Total disregard for the earth (and people) in the name of money. (They call it progress.) We are already seeing some crazy sh!t with Trump lifting a ban on certain pesticides proven bad for the earth and bad for people because Monsanto put big cash in his campaign. Then of course his intention of opening National Forests, monuments and even some National Parks to private companies for mining, mineral rights, logging, and who knows what else. If we let that happen those private enterprises will have the authority to keep us out. No fishing or hunting. (Except for their wealthy CEO's and their buddies.) OR, they will charge an arm and a leg for use of the land they are leasing. I wonder if we are at a point of no return. Can/will we be able to reverse the damage that has been done and continues to be done? Do we just not give a sh!t and think it doesn't matter because by the time the sh!t hits the fan (as that genius Rich G says) we won't be here anyway? Or, do we think about our kids and their kids etc.? Unfortunately I was born with a conscience and do have kids and grand kids and that's why I rail on the party of evil. Because they simply do not give a sh!t and/or have no long term insight all in the name of greed. I will quote the famous philosopher Rich G again, "It's just getting wronger and wronger."

Man's greed will fuuck up this rock.
Book it!!

So much for an open and shut Bundy case.

Earth's total water carrying capacity has remained more or less the same since the early days of the planet. Water never really goes away. It just goes through chemical reactions - back and forth between states. Beer in...pee out. Evaporate. Condense. Liquid water. Beer again. The cycle repeats.

Drinkable fresh water is another story. Desalination plants are in their technological "infancy" and are still much too expensive to be market stable and competitive. Besides massive costs, the next problem is what to do with all the leftover salt. You can't put it back into the ocean or you increase the overall salinity & kill PH levels. There are mountains of salt stacked up in the desert out on the Baja peninsula from Mexican desalination plants. That in turn, kills the ground, flora and fauna all around it permanently. The actual water tastes like crap too (think Florida tap water nasty).

The good news is that we are probably headed back into a mini ice-age. On-ground rainfall and snowpack is going WAY up in certain areas. Alaska has seen more snow in the last 200 years than since the days of the last mini ice-age (1300 - 1500 AD give or take). Of course, some areas are the opposite. The Sahara is getting drier and bigger by the day. It'll eventually push the entire north African population straight into the Med.

So where in North America will have good climate, water, farming and minimal demand in the future? The Montana & southern Alberta zone. Montana now has a climate like Wyoming used to have and Colorado had before that. Colorado is the new New Mexico. Drier than hell and it never used to be that way. The food belt is moving north. But as we all know, not too far north because the climate is not conducive to growing crops (unless the Earth axis tilts bigtime and then we wouldn't care anyway). Eventually there be only a very small band of optimal growing area running along the 45th parallel. Everywhere else is gonna be chit for humans. But in the end, none of this matters because it will take geological ages to occur. We won't be around for that long. We have like 200 years to get off the planet or that will be that. I for one think we'll tear ourselves apart within the next 200. It's gonna be a show!

fkn bundy...

Yeah. The **cking things up has been a group effort by most, if not all of us.

so wait.... Rich was right?

AGAIN?

It isn't that Rich was right. Massive incompetence on the part of the federal attorneys for withholding evidence. Stupid move.

Did you guys hear about the gold-backed yuan?

Juan has some gold? Hell yeah - that guy can stay then.

Salmo - exactly. Rich doesn't get credit for this one. The default assumption is that the Government will find a way to screw it up (they ALWAYS find a way, hence being the auto-default).

Getting credit for this would be like getting credit for calling your shot on the morning sun coming up in the east.

There you go, that could be your New Years resolution. Starting with your obsession of .GOV workers. Beats sniffing M.E.K products for 30 years. Have a great Christmas and a happy New Year Pam.

It simply doesn't fit your 'reality' for Rich to be correct.

So the outcome obviously proves the government and it's employees are "the low information types".

Salmo was 100% correct once again.

Cheers to 2018.

Ryan Bundy looks like he has cocksuckers cramp.

He has really bad Bell's Palsy.

My stepdad had it and to "cure it", they cut off one side of his face, stretched it up tight over the top of his head and stapled that sucker down tight. Good as new....sorta.

I thought Bundy got shot in the shootout or something.

I still think the Bundy clan was in the wrong letting their cattle grazing on public lands without paying.

We raised cattle on our private property. I've read (James Michener Centennial) that back in the 1800s that cattle in the southwest we raised in huge herds along stretches of public land or land adjacent to rail lines. Not sure that just because your ancestors had rights before that they automatically are grandfathered. One of my ancestors was a commercial fisherman and fished here in the sound. I can't go fishing any time I want using nets.