The Commentariat -- January 10, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "White House chief of staff Dennis [sic.] McDonough on Sunday said President Obama will not endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary race.... He added that Obama will be 'out there' campaigning after the primary to support the eventual nominee." ...
... Kyle Cheney of Politico: "President Barack Obama has met privately with Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton several times in recent months, but his chief of staff said Sunday that he's powwowed with her chief rival, Bernie Sanders, too. 'He has seen Senator Sanders, both with the Senate Democratic Caucus and privately,' Denis McDonough said on NBC's Meet the Press. 'And so, we'll continue to do that. He's obviously a leading senator in our caucus and we'll continue to do just that.'"
Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords will endorse Hillary Clinton, a person familiar with her plans confirmed."
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton holds a three-point edge over Senator Bernie Sanders in Iowa, a tightening of the race with roughly three weeks until voting begins, according to a new set of surveys of likely voters from NBC/The Wall Street Journal/Marist." Haberman also reports other polling results.
Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "... Hillary Clinton said Sunday that attacks against her husband over past infidelities and allegations of sexual abuse 'won't work,' calling them a 'dead end' and a 'blind alley' for her rivals. Speaking Sunday on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Clinton was asked to respond to an ad released last week by GOP front-runner Donald Trump in which he sought to highlight Bill Clinton's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinskey [sic.]. 'If he wants to engage in personal attacks from the past, that’s his prerogative. So be it,' Clinton said...."
Bradford Richardson: "Donald Trump says President Obama’s irresponsible use of executive orders has paved the way for him to also use them freely if he wins the presidential race. 'I won't refuse it. I'm going to do a lot of things,' Trump said when asked if he would use executive orders in an interview Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'"
David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama has invited a Syrian refugee to sit in the first lady's box for the State of the Union address on Tuesday, the White House said Sunday."
Judith Shulevitz of the New York Times: "As Marx might have said had he deemed women's work worth including in his labor theory of value (he didn't), 'reproductive labor' (as feminists call the creation and upkeep of families and homes) is the basis of the accumulation of human capital. I say it's time for something like reparations.... The universal basic income is a necessary condition for a just society, for it recognizes the fact that most of us -- men, women, parents and nonparents -- do a great deal of unpaid work to sustain the general well-being.... Basic income proposals are sprouting up again, from the right as well as the left."
Mike Rogoway of the Oregonian: "Oregon Public Broadcasting visited the [Malheur refuge] compound Friday and reported that militants appeared to be using federal computers inside the compound, machines that can be accessed only with employees' ID badges. Lists of names and Social Security numbers were visible, alongside government ID cards."
Anthony Faiola & Stephanie Kirchner of the Washington Post: "The Islamist extremist who staged a failed attack on a Paris police station last week had been living in a home for asylum seekers in western Germany, police said, deepening fears that militants may be infiltrating Europe disguised as migrants."
*****
Kristen East of Politico: "Michelle Obama's State of the Union guests this year are two people who President Barack Obama met while campaigning for the Oval Office in 2008. The first lady's guests -- Edith Childs of Greenwood, South Carolina, and Earl Smith of Austin, Texas -- 'personify President Obama's time in office and most importantly, they represent who we are as Americans: inclusive and compassionate, innovative and courageous,' a White House official said in a release Saturday." ...
... Also to be one of Michelle Obama's guests: Air Force Staff Sergeant Spencer Stone, who was one of the men "who subdued a gunman in August on a Paris-bound train...." Per Jackie Calmes of the New York Times. ...
... Gregory Korte of USA Today: "The White House said Friday that one seat in the First Lady's box 'will be left empty for the victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice.' [President] Obama made the announcement in a conference call with more than 20,000 supporters to discuss gun safety." ...
... Neil Vigdor of the CTpost: Connecticut "Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will be a guest of first lady Michelle Obama for Tuesday's State of the Union address, further linking his legacy to President Barack Obama's progressive efforts on gun control." ...
... Kevin Freking of the AP: "A formerly homeless veteran from Las Vegas will sit in first lady Michelle Obama's visitor box during the State of the Union address Tuesday night. Cynthia Dias, 64, served during the Vietnam War on a hospital ship as a registered nurse and attributed her years of homelessness to post-traumatic stress disorder."
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court starts the new year Monday with a politically charged battle over organized labor, only one of the controversies that are putting the ideologically divided and aging justices at the center of the presidential campaign. Already on the docket are abortion, affirmative action, the rights of religious objectors to opt out of legal obligations, and a clutch of election-law disputes that could benefit one political party over another."
Missed this. Samantha Page of Think Progress (Jan. 6): "TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline, announced Wednesday it is filing a claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), saying that the project's permit denial was 'arbitrary and unjustified.' TransCanada is seeking $15 billion in costs and damages due to the denial, and has also filed a separate lawsuit against the U.S. in federal court. Under NAFTA, companies can sue governments that put investments at risk through regulation. If it proceeds, the case will go in front of an international tribunal. (A U.S. company sued Montreal in 2013 over a fracking ban, using the same rationale). The tribunal cannot overturn the permit denial, but it can force payment of damages."
Presidential Race
Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is doubling down on his support for President Obama's gun background-checks plan, in the face of mounting attacks from his chief Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton. In a speech Saturday, Sanders set out to 'set the record straight' on a stance that he said has become distorted."
Kristen East: Hillary Clinton's campaign released a new ad Saturday seeking to turn the arguments of the most pointed critics of her tenure as Secretary of State back against them":
... Maureen Dowd: Donald Trump is "wielding his knife on [Hillary Clinton's] most sensitive pressure point: her hypocrisy in running as a feminist icon when she was part of political operations that smeared women who told the truth about Bill's transgressions. Hillary told friends that Monica [Lewinsky] was a 'troubled young person' getting ministered to by Bill and a 'narcissistic loony toon.' Hillary's henchman Sidney Blumenthal spread around the story that Monica was a stalker...." ...
... Your Dowd Antidote. The Phases of the Bill. Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "Twenty-four years after New Hampshire voters helped to resurrect his own political fortunes, [Bill] Clinton was back in the state, appealing to them.... A gifted Republican opponent will have plenty to say about each of these accomplishments, but over-all Bill's case for his wife was a strong rebuke to the idea that she has been on a cynical crusade to gain political power simply for the sake of holding it. Just as he did for [President] Obama in 2012, Bill made a case for Hillary that was better than the candidate's case for herself." ...
... CW: "A gifted Republican opponent...." Here's one true thing: there is no Republican candidate as gifted at retail politics as is Bill Clinton. ...
... Steve M.: "... making us feel icky about the Clintons, one way or another, is going to be a key Republican tactic this year.... If Trump is the nominee, the attacks are going to be blunt and unsubtle. If it's Cruz, we'll get something subtler. But sexualized discomfort is the goal."
Patrick Healy & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The Republican Party is facing a historic split over its fundamental principles and identity, as its once powerful establishment grapples with an eruption of class tensions, ethnic resentments and mistrust among working-class conservatives who are demanding a presidential nominee who represents their interests.... Rank-and-file conservatives, after decades of deferring to party elites, are trying to stage what is effectively a people's coup by selecting a standard-bearer who is not the preferred candidate of wealthy donors and elected officials. And many of those traditional power brokers, in turn, are deeply uncomfortable and even hostile to Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz: Between them, the leading candidates do not have the backing of a single senator or governor."
Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "Some registered voters in Iowa received robocalls Saturday from a white nationalist super PAC that urged them to support Donald Trump in the 2016 election. 'I urge you to vote for Donald Trump because he is the one candidate who points out that we should accept immigrants who are good for America,' Jared Taylor said on the robocall, paid for by the American National Super PAC. 'We don't need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our culture. Vote Trump.'... The robocall included two more endorsements from a conservative Christian talk show host and the head of the white nationalist American Freedom Party.... Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not immediately respond to a request for comment." ...
... Donald Trump & Michael Miller of the Washington Post & some former classmates argue over Trump's performance at New York Military Academy. ...
... Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "...Donald Trump says North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong-un deserves 'credit' for the cutthroat efficiency with which he disposes of his political foes." CW: Expect Kim to endorse Donald any day now & Donald to boast about it. If you want to know what kind of a president Trump would be, I believe the answer is embedded here. ...
... Birtherism, Ctd. Trip Gabriel & Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump sharply escalated his rhetoric about Senator Ted Cruz's eligibility to be president on Saturday, suggesting that because he was born in Canada there were unanswered questions about whether he met the constitutional requirement to be a 'natural-born citizen.'... Mr. Cruz was born in Calgary, Canada, to an American mother, which automatically conferred American citizenship. Most legal experts agree that satisfies the requirement to be a 'natural-born citizen,' a term that was not defined by the founders." ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "... white Republicans -- which can often just be shortened to 'Republicans' -- support disciplining a child with spanking. In 2014, 80 percent of white Republicans agreed with [Ted] Cruz that spanking was okay.... The only region of the country in which a majority opposes spanking is New England: Very white, very Democratic New England."
... MEANWHILE. Anna Palmer of Politico: "As Trump packs stadiums across the country, and Cruz treks through Iowa expanding his lead, the rest of the Republican field -- desperate for traction -- debated the finer points of the earned-income tax credit, charter-school education and how the Republican Party can help alleviate poverty at the sedate -- and serious -- Kemp Forum on Expanding Opportunity.... Nobody was paying attention. And that's why the forum neatly explained the 2016 race. It lasted more than five hours, the crowd was tame and the candidates -- many of whom have struggled to break through -- spent the entirety of the session in a collegial back-and-forth discussion of vital, if mundane policy proposals that polls suggest most voters don't care a lick about."
Beyond the Beltway
So this guy showed up to "de-escalate" the situation at the Malheur refuge.Sam Levin of the Guardian: "A large group of heavily armed men showed up to the wildlife refuge occupation in eastern Oregon on Saturday, further escalating tensions and causing internal conflicts at the protests.... The men said they were with a group called the Pacific Patriot Network and were a 'neutral party', there to provide security and protection for everyone at the refuge. LaVoy Finicum, a regular spokesman for the armed militia, which has occupied the federal land since last Saturday, told the men they were not welcome or needed and that the militia was trying to minimize conflicts -- not bring more guns to the compound. Ammon Bundy, the leader of the militia, had no idea a new group of armed men would be coming, according to Todd Macfarlane, who said he was acting as a liaison between the militia and the public." ...
... Kelly House of the Oregonian is updating developments. After Ammon Bundy said he didn't want the "help" of the Pacific Patriots Network, members of the heavily-armed group began leaving the immediate area. ...
... Shakezula of LG&M: "Why PPN thought Ammo Bundy wanted them to come to MNWR is indeed a mystery. At the end of his Dec. 30 FB post he writes: 'CALL TO ACTION: All able body men and women come to Burns, Oregon on or before January 2nd. Come prepared and be willing to stand.' PPN showed up seven days after the deadline. That's not fashionably late, that's just gauche."
Bryce Covert of Think Progress: "On Friday, lawyers for [19 women] who alleged that employees of Baltimore's public housing agency demanded sex in return for critical housing repairs announced a settlement for all victims of sexual harassment in public housing. Besides a financial award between $6 million and $7.5 million, the settlement required Baltimore to fire and ban all the abusers from Housing Authority property, move the plaintiffs into livable homes. The Housing Authority also created 50 new maintenance positions with new policies and procedures, and cut down their backlog of repairs from over 4,000 to 1,500." CW: Being a poor woman of color in this country still is a sentence to perpetual indignities, both small & terrible. ...
... For Instance. Magee Hickey & Alyssa Zauderer of WPIX New York: "Police have released surveillance video of five men accused of holding a teenager at gunpoint and raping her inside of a playground Thursday in Brooklyn.... The 18-year-old was walking with her father in Osborn Playground near Hegeman Avenue when they were approached by five men. One of the men pointed a gun at the victims and told the father to leave. The father fled and called police, while all five men raped the teenager. By the time police had arrived, the suspects ran." ...
... CW: Wait a minute. Five men had time to rape a young woman in a public park before NYPD showed up? The incident took place in Brownsville, which is a poor, predominantly African-American section of Brooklyn. Maybe, just maybe, that explains it. Neither this NYC report nor another I read even comment on the time factor. Evidently, the sl-o-o-ow response time is to be expected.
Way Beyond
Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "After long resisting requests from Washington, the Mexican government is moving toward extraditing Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo, to the United States to face drug and murder charges there, Mexican officials said on Saturday." CW: Also, less likely to escape from U.S. max security prison. ...
... While Guzman was on the run, actor Sean Penn interviewed him. Rolling Stone has published the interview along with a lo-o-o-ong prologue by Penn. Penn fancies himself an "author," which he thinks means composing an adverb-laden internal monologue. ...
... Educardo Castillo & Katherine Corcoran of the AP: "A Mexican federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to comment on the issue, told the Associated Press it was the Penn interview that led authorities to Guzman in a rural part of Durango state in October.
Erik Kirschbaum & Marcia Adair of the Los Angeles Times: "Pitched battles erupted during an anti-immigration demonstration in Cologne on Saturday between the right-wing marchers and police as tensions in Germany remained high more than a week after hundreds of women were sexually assaulted and robbed on New Year's Eve." ...
... BBC News: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed changes to make it easier to deport asylum-seekers who commit crimes, after the New Year's Eve sex attacks on women in Cologne." ...
... Der Spiegel (English): "New Year's Eve in Cologne rapidly descended into a chaotic free-for-all involving sexual assault and theft, most of it apparently committed by foreigners. It has launched a bitter debate over immigration and refugees in Germany -- one that could change the country."
News Ledes
AP: "Egypt's first legislature in more than three years, a 596-seat chamber packed with supporters of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, held its inaugural session on Sunday, signaling the completion of a political road map announced after the 2013 military overthrow of an elected Islamist president."
AP: "No ticket matched all six Powerball numbers following the drawing for a record jackpot of nearly $950 million, lottery officials said early Sunday, boosting the expected payout for the next drawing to a whopping $1.3 billion. The winning numbers -- disclosed live on television and online Saturday night -- were 16-19-32-34-57 and the Powerball number 13. All six numbers must be correct to win, although the first five can be in any order. The odds to win the largest lottery prize in U.S. history were one in 292.2 million."
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Reader Comments (14)
As a birders and naturalist, this is but one example of the sort of articles myself and my friends are passing around: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/travel/angry-birders-standoff-at-oregon-refuge-has-riled-a-passionate-group.html?_r=0
We are so damn pissed! As we see it, wildlife is being squeezed onto ever smaller parcels of land, and these refuges may help slow down extinctions. Some of us hold out hope that as a nation we will come to our senses before it's too late. Sometimes it seems like a losing battle.
Signed,
Julie - A bit discouraged in Massachusetts
The pictures in the Oregonian, including the one above, remind me of some of my friends' kids who, while suppressing a giggle, strike a mad dog pose for a selfie. The difference is these guys are adults who can afford to buy guns and ammo, but retain the intellect and self control of early adolescence. I expect armored codpieces next. Even the other idiots don't want them.
Is Gary Trudeau a RealityChexer? Today's Doonesbury echoes a point that some of us have made here:
http://doonesbury.washingtonpost.com
Are you out there, Gary? Say hello to the nice folks. We're all friends here. We don't mind if you take inspiration from us.
I've often wondered whether some on the Religious Right understand that when Jesus said: "Suffer the little children to come unto me." he meant allow them to come. He didn't mean make them suffer first.
Could explain a lot.
On my list of irrational ideas, the idea that a gun will protect you is number two. I mean tell that to the cop who got shot in Phila., the two cops shot dead in NYC last year and of course tell it to someone who was shot while he was protected by a whole group of professionally trained armed men, Ronald Reagan.
D.C., the Religious Right hates every word Jesus ever said and I suspect a large percent have no clue what he said. "Right' means 'I don't give a damn about anyone or anything besides myself'.
It is becoming clear that there are two Americas. The one on the Right wants to protect their situation by blame. Blame the goverment (yes with red line underneath), blame the Muslims and blacks, blame the liberals. Blame, blame and blame. They are responsible for nothing. And if they want to violate the law, they have gods permission.
There was a quote from Conan O'Brien in yesterdays paper that says it all.
"Since Jan.1, Texas is allowing gun owners to carry their guns openly in most public places. However, you still have to conceal your science book."
I really like that line but it has one error. The 'gun owners' don't have any science books because even if they did they could not read it.
I'm trying to remember the number of candidates running for President who lost because of their spouse's controversial behavior. Trump's digging into Hillary's husband's past sexual liaisons might just backfire on him. After the deplorable Monica gate, Bill's polling numbers skyrocket and many esteemed writers wrote negative responses, not so much
about Bill, but about the way this was all handled and especially vitriol toward Ken Starr who seemed much too much involved in all that sexy stuff rather than proceeding in a more lawyerly mode. And then there is the fact that Hillary has indeed stood by her man and that could be tweaked or milked and made into a positive. There is something that smacks of strength in that––and loyalty––not giving up––strong characteristics for someone who wants to run our country.
Some time ago Trevor Noah had a segment called "Donald Trump Wants to....His Own Daughter" giving us clips of very inappropriate things he has said to his daughter and about his daughter. So––be careful Donald, that bear that Dowd writes about today may just come back to bite you–––in a most inappropriate place.
A word about our conversation yesterday re: spanking. Back in the good old days the kind of spankings I spoke about were common and they were not looked at as being abusive––it was called strict discipline. It's discouraging that today we still are seeing this type of abuse prettied up AS discipline.
Here's another take on Gov. Greg Abbott's manifesto of suggestions for Constitutional changes. Ben Mathis-Lilley points out that a few of the proposals would amount to nullification of U.S. laws. Nullification, of course, was a big issue prior to the Civil War, and reared its head again during the mid 20th century integration battles.
And the way population is distributed, a 2/3 majority of states required to overturn a S.Ct. decision might only represent 1/3 of the population.
ALEC, which is pushing a lot of these proposals, is a scary organization. Even scarier is that mainstream Republicans are supporting them.
Another unsolicited Sunday Sermon:
Ever since Max Weber (and maybe before but that's where my generation's education began) intellectuals have attempted to find connections between Christian beliefs, particularly the beliefs associated with the various Protestantisms that rose from the Reformation, and the way people subsequently behaved. We're still doing it, and we're still puzzled when all those messy contradictions tell us our explanations are not working out too well.
Perhaps, we shouldn't be puzzled by all those insufficient explanations because Christianity (and most religions most of the time) isn't that influential at all. People behave the way they do, peacefully or belligerently, generously or greedily, large- or narrow-mindedly because that is who they are and the who they are is far more dependent on the the place and time of their birth, their parents and their experiences than it is on any religion they might eventually espouse.
That is not to say religion isn't handy to have around. No doubt, having a belief system to wrap oneself in provides comfort and purpose for many, but I'm suggesting it's not the religion that comes first. It's an add-on, a means to explain and justify the person we already are.
That's why we can do almost anything in the name of religion. We can fight slavery or poverty. We can give alway all our worldly goods. We can value the planet or destroy it. We can run hedge funds or big-box hobby stores and duck taxes because, you know, all those millions are ours. Or we can murder doctors who provide abortions or dozens of innocent people at a Paris concert. It's not our religion that moves us to do these things. It's what we credit or hide behind after we've done them. Any contradictions are only apparent.
Of course, we can never make sense out of religion. Religion is not about sense-making. It's about making us feel better when we don't trust ourselves to do good on our own, need justification for doing evil, or simply don't take the trouble or have the capacity to make our sense for ourselves.
Fundamentally (had to say it), religion is irrelevant. It's a smokescreen, the curtain we are too timorous to pull aside to take an unflinching look at who and what human beings, collectively and individually, really are.
Probably because we don't want to know.
Seeing as the issue of sexual relations has come up in numerous instances today, Rachel Maddow reported on a very interesting bill being proposed in Missouri by a Republican (!) that would formally include "sex" as a "gift" from lobbyists, which must then be documented and put into state records. Maddow then proposes her own sheet which could be used to document the official, um, deeds.
Another grotesque instance of Republicans wanting to know about the sexy time of everyone happening behind closed doors. But hey, maybe we could compile a national database on the dirty sex lives of all of our society's bearers of Christian values, and who's providing the "goods". Then name and shame, if anyone actually cared.
Hope the link works, otherwise goggle "Rachel Maddow Sex as a political gift"
on.msnbc.com/1PUpJ8e
Marie, re new elements:
I feel your pain. Having the misfortune to be both a Science Geek and a Word Weenie, I am often conflicted.
Is/was Pluto a god/planet/dog? All of the above? Beats me.
The Periodic Table is one of the most important discoveries in the history of science. It demonstrates that elements have similar properties in a regular periodic sequence of whole numbers. This Atomic Number, is the number of protons in an atom’s nucleus. There can be no gaps in the table, no fractional atomic numbers, no half protons. And that meant there were no gaps in our knowledge of the elements. We had discovered, or knew something about, all of the elements that could exist.
Then, we started making elements that do not (often), or cannot (maybe), exist in nature. But they’re still elements, still periodic, still defined by integers — although very big ones.
It is still customary to refer to the first 92 elements as natural. Even though two of them do not exist in nature. Abundance and stability are not good criteria either. Some Natural Elements are vanishingly rare, and some Synthetic Elements have half lives of millions of years.
If it’s made out atoms, with a unique number of protons, it’s an element. Natural or Synthetic? What’s in a name? All of the heavier elements, all the stuff we’re made of, are products of Stellar Nucleosynthesis — synthesized in the cores of ancient stars.
CSN are right: “We are stardust… We are billion year old carbon…”
And that’s too wonderful to worry about words.
FYI: http://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-ivanka-sex-trevor-noah-daily-show. The "ewwwwwww" factor with Donny Trump is remarkable.
The Pacific Patriot Network is not specifically mentioned in a search of Southern Poverty Law Center, https://www.splcenter.org/news/2016/01/04/antigovernment-militia-groups-grew-more-one-third-last-year. My guess is there are zero non-white males involved in the leadership of the PPN and in fact they are the fractured remnants of the Aryan Nations with an unhealthy dose of KKK thrown into the mix together with a dash of Warren Jeffs and crazy-ass gun loving Mormon. And they think nothing of using their children as human shields. How many of these armed rebels was trained by the US military at taxpayer expense? Are they still receiving VA, PX and all the other benefits of former members of the military? I think once the tax payers in Burns get the bill for the costs associated with these guys, they will question things a lot more. Until then there is a lot for journalists to report about these guys.
RE: The Brownsville Rape (along with Everywhere's-ville)
Osborne Park remains unlit and un-patrolled, which is inexcusable (understatement).
And NYPD (and EMT) response-time is all too often sluggish - even in the "better" neighborhoods - while I do not doubt that statistics would prove shorter-shrift given areas such as Brownsville, Bed-sty & The Bronx.
But something I was to learn while working with victims of rape/gang rape:
Pre-violation, the perpetrators are "excited" at-the-ready, and so can take their "turns" swiftly, one after the other. Thus, five heinous subhumans can complete their objectives in a matter of minutes, with ample time to flee the scene.
(There was another reported rape, in Brownsville, last week: The victim, a 64 year old woman, was followed into her apartment in broad daylight.)
"The Good News" (understatement) - at least something hopeful - is that The Gang of Five may be identified via a video-cam, arrested and brought to justice. Harsh justice.
As for this 18 year-old . . . in addition to any/all physical injury sustained . . . she is poised at the mere cusp of an extensive (for many, a lifetime) recovery.
The PPN currently has "Articles of Resolution" with 3 demands including, "the transfer and unconditional return of the lands in question to Harney County and Burns Pauite Tribe." Seems clear that if you are driven by all this pure belief in "the people's" ownership and control of the land ( yeah I know, federal land is the people), the Pauite Tribe has it all over a bunch of white guys with a perverted sense of patriotism and a lot of guns. The Pauite Tribe leader, Charlotte Rodrique, has repeatedly denounced these clowns and their actions. I don't think being included in this "resolution" will make her an ally.
http://www.pacificpatriotsnetwork.com/proposed_resolution_2016-01-10.php
@Citizen625. I was interested in the origins of the PPN also, but was unable to find much. It appears that they are linked closely with the Oath Keepers and III% groups. Perhaps they are an offshoot trying to grab some attention. They seem to have a short history of activism. Given their actions in Oregeon, they seem a bit confused about their role anyway.