Posted by:
anybody
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Date: March 03, 2021 05:17PM
https://www.opb.org/news/series/burns-oregon-standoff-bundy-militia-news-updates/explainer-the-bundy-militias-particular-brand-of-mormonism/"I’m Captain Moroni, from Utah.”
That's how one militiaman at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge responded to OPB's Amanda Peacher when she asked for his name.
That name is not a silly response to deflect responsibility: In many ways, it encapsulates a deeply intertwined anti-federal sentiment mixed with Mormon symbolism. Captain Moroni is a crucial figure in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He's also a heroic figure for anti-federalist extremists.
In the modern day west, Captain Moroni has become one of several powerful symbols for the Bundy militia's anti-governmental extremism.
Who Is Captain Moroni?
According to LDS scripture, Captain Moroni took command of the Nephites when he turned 25. Moroni innovated weaponry, strategy and tactics to help secure the safety of the Nephites, and allow them to worship and govern as they saw fit.
In LDS texts, Moroni prepares to confront a corrupt king by tearing off part of his coat and turning it into a flag, hoisting it as a “title of liberty.” This simple call to arms inspired a great patriotism in the Nephites, helping to raise a formidable army. Vastly outnumbered, the corrupt king fled. According to the Book of Mormon, Captain Moroni continued to push for liberty among his people.
THE LATEST ON THE ARMED OCCUPATION IN EASTERN OREGON
“And it came to pass that Moroni was angry with the government, because of their indifference concerning the freedom of their country.”
An Embrace Of The “Title of Liberty”
During an April 2014 standoff with federal officials, supporters and members of the Bundy militia cited Book of Mormon passages centering on Captain Moroni. There were also several flags quoting Captain Moroni's own writing on his "title of liberty." Often next to American flags, these banners read "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children."
Cliven Bundy - the Nevada Rancher who called on militia and anti-government forces to help him in the showdown with the Bureau of Land Management – cited his own Mormon faith as a reason for what he viewed as a favorable outcome. As quoted by the Salt Lake City Tribune:
"If the standoff with the Bundys was wrong, would the Lord have been with us?" he asked, noting no one was killed as tensions escalated. "Could those people that stood (with me) without fear and went through that spiritual experience ... have done that without the Lord being there? No, they couldn't."
Those remarks represent the deep commitment to the Bundy brand of faith. Abraham Bundy – Cliven’s great-grandfather – was a deeply religious man who was driven from
prior homes first by flood, and then by revolution. He settled what would become Bundyville, home to a one-room schoolhouse and a scattering of homesteads in a harsh stretch of desert.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dwight-steve-hammond-ammon-bundy-public-grazing-permits-oregon_n_603dc2e4c5b6ff75ac3ef363The Biden administration’s Bureau of Land Management has rescinded a new permit for grazing on public lands granted to two Oregon arsonist ranchers pardoned by Donald Trump.
The arson convictions of Dwight Hammond and his son Steven for torching public lands was at the center of an armed takeover in 2016 of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, which led to a 41-day armed standoff with federal authorities. The assault was led by militant rancher brothers Ryan and Ammon Bundy.
Despite the record of violence, Trump Interior Secretary David Bernhardt granted the Hammonds a new grazing permit on Trump’s last day in office. The permit would have allowed the ranchers’ livestock to use public land for 10 years.
The Biden administration blocked the permit Friday, a day after environmental groups sued, arguing the Trump government ignored legal requirements, reported Oregon Public Radio. The Biden administration cited the same concerns in its notice rescinding the permit.
The Hammonds were sentenced to a minimum prison term of five years in 2015. Steve Hammond’s nephew testified that his uncle handed out matches and told members of a hunting party to drop
lighted matches on the ground to “light up the whole country in fire,” apparently to cover up the illegal slaughter of deer on taxpayer land. The blazes burned 139 acres.
The Hammonds’ arson conviction led to the revocation of their previous grazing permit. Trump pardoned the Hammonds in 2018.
Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, denounced the pardon at the time and said Trump “has once again sided with lawless extremists who believe that public land does not belong to all Americans.”
The Hammonds’ criminal record also includes death threats against federal officials and a 1994 arrest for trying to stop federal workers from fencing off a canal at Malheur.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2021 05:21PM by anybody.