INTERVIEW: Hope on the Range

• Gutsy Nevada rancher, supporters refuse to bow to Feds.

By Victor Thorn —

Earlier this spring, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy successfully beat back Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials’ attempts to seize his cattle ranch. The struggle became a tense standoff that received national media attention as a true David and Goliath story. To many in the patriot community, Bundy became a heroic symbol of how a determined citizenry can stand up against federal government overreach.

The feds have not given up so easily, though. Today, the BLM is back at it, trying to quietly intimidate Bundy and his family and force them off the land he and his forebears have farmed for over a century.

During this newspaper’s initial April 23 interview with Bundy, the Nevada rancher declared: “I learned that I’m not the last man standing. Lots of courageous people  that want liberty and justice also joined me. Americans are tired of centralized government acting tyrannically and with unlimited power. They realize that the Constitution doesn’t allow for such behavior.”

As staunch supporters of Bundy and his family, AMERICAN FREE PRESS decided to do a follow-up with this gutsy man.

When asked on November 12 what life was like today, Bundy told this reporter: “On the positive side, there’s a feeling in Clark County, Nevada that life is back to normal. It’s much better because law enforcement isn’t harassing the public and trying to stop our every action. So we’re enjoying some liberties and taking care of our cows.”

However, BLM bureaucrats are taking a more clandestine approach in order to forward their agenda.

According to Bundy, “The government isn’t physically here anymore with their army, but they’re placing another layer of regulatory policy over this area, including our ranch.”

Bundy explained: “Before, it was only desert tortoises on the endangered species list. But then they took the tortoise out and replaced it with multiple species. Now, everything comes under that classification. Under what’s known as ACEC—Areas of Critical Environmental Concern—it’s claimed that these all-inclusive endangered species are now inhabiting everything, including wilderness areas and parks. They’re seeking unlimited control and policing power over us.”

Still, Bundy remains adamant that the federal government will not tread all over his rights.

“The BLM wants to lock out the public from their land,” he stated. “But they can’t affect anyone who doesn’t recognize the federal government as having any business here.”

Patriots Draw Line in Nevada Sand

• Feds single out Bundy family for special form of police state harassment

By Victor Thorn

In spring 2014, patriots across the United States rallied to the defense of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his family, who faced a showdown with federal bureaucrats intent on driving him from the land his parents and grandparents have farmed since the 1870s.

At the time, over 200 heavily armed agents from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had seized a portion of Bundy’s cattle. The story had a happy ending, though, as nearly a thousand Americans converged on Nevada to help Bundy take back his herd from federal authorities who had been seeking to extort over $1 million in grazing fees that the Bundy family in all their years in Nevada had never been required to pay.

In the May 5 & 12 edition of AMERICAN FREE PRESS, Bundy told this newspaper, “Our Founding Fathers fought a war against the British for this same reason, and today people are saying, ‘We’ve had enough of these abuses of power.’ Out here in Nevada, to a large extent the feds control our land, state laws, state regulators, the county sheriff, not to mention leasing power over how we use our resources. It’s time for us to exercise our conscience, and freedom was the key component of how we expressed ourselves against the feds. Up until this point, many Americans felt depressed and anxious. Now they see that we have a chance against big government.”

Bundy won that day. However, in an exclusive interview with AFP, he recently said the federal government is still up to no good, harassing his family in an effort to demoralize and intimidate them.

“During our standoff in April, Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declared us domestic terrorists,” he said. “Well, my son recently wanted to fly from Phoenix to Salt Lake City, but at the airport TSA [Transportation Security Administration] officials informed him that he’d been labeled a domestic terrorist.”

The results are Orwellian, as Bundy related: “The TSA searched my son and his 11-year-old daughter for a couple of hours and placed all kinds of restrictions on them. Not only did they miss their flight, but the airport refused to issue them a refund. An airline employee said to my son, ‘It’s not our business. Bring it up with the federal government.’ ”

Bundy continued: “My son went to Cabela’s [a national sporting goods chain store] to see if he could buy a gun, but they refused to let him purchase a weapon because he’d been tagged a domestic terrorist.”

The Nevada farmer sees the world changing, though.

“A line is being drawn, and everyone must decide which side they’re on,” he said. “Do they want the Constitution—an inspired document and law of our land—to protect them, or will they let a central government seeking unlimited power bring their armies against us? The government claims that the land and courts are theirs, not ours, and like commoners we’re subjects to them as if they are kings.”

Bundy concluded with these words: “We the people issued a mandate during our standoff. County sheriffs must take the guns away from federal agencies when they step onto our land. They have no jurisdiction here. If sheriffs make the feds surrender their guns while on our property, it’ll save us from a civil war.”

Victor Thorn is a hard-hitting researcher, journalist and author of over 50 books.