Players in the dark. This was my initial thought when mainstream media organisations ‘went dark’ with a news embargo. It was as if the military-style operation the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was mounting against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was of less interest than reporting the local weather. Players in the dark require a cloak but light is a disinfectant. There was to be no light shone on what was about to transpire. But then, the people heard and the people came. This is good because when law and response is out of balance, it is the duty of citizens to challenge the law. A 67-year-old rancher had worked within the confines of his principled convictions through legal means. Available avenues for recourse were now limited in scope. This legal wrangling had been progressing through the court system for two decades. What happened next gutted my own visceral sense of justice. Let us examine the players and look at events as they moved along at the Bundy ranch. Cliven Bundy: Mr Bundy hails from a ranching family with ancestral roots in the soil of Nevada, which go back to the mid-19th century. His family’s land use predates that of federal acquisition; the Bundy family began homesteading on the land in 1877. Since 1993, Mr Bundy has refused to pay grazing fees to the federal branch. He has remained in current good standing on all fees and taxes due to the state of Nevada. He currently owes the federal branch approximately one million dollars in back taxes for grazing rights for his cattle. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM): like many of the federal alphabet agencies, the BLM has evolved into a powerful nebulous vortex of irresistible force. According to the department of the interior, the BLM is one of the primary federal landholders. The US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service are additional well-known federal agencies, which make up part of the larger puzzle box for administration of federal lands. These agencies are engaged in husbandry of the land but it seems their operational administration is no longer immune to radical environmentalists who believe that human beings and their own livelihood are a blight on God’s perfect design. It is the highest order, which must bow to the lower order of things. The earth is not a self-sustaining orb. It is the playground for politically charged anti-theists who play the devil’s advocate for corporations reaping healthy profit margins by trafficking eco-commerce policies to a sympathetic administration. As of March 2012, 28 percent of the total acreage of the US was owned by the federal government. Of the more than 70 million acres of land in Nevada, 83 percent is federally owned. More than 50 percent of the acreage of Alaska (the biggest state in the union), Idaho, Oregon and Utah are owned by the federal branch. The Sagebrush Movement: the initial Sagebrush Movement within the western states began in the 1970s. The impetus was to seek a state takeover of federal public lands. Even today there are many ranchers, loggers and miners who feel strongly regarding the federal branch and their ownership of land within state borders. They maintain the federal branch does not hold a legitimate claim within a republic form of governance. Sagebrush is not so much a movement as it is a system of organised thought based on conviction. Senator Harry Reid and his gold-mining clan: Senate majority leader Harry Reid opined that Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his supporters are “domestic terrorists”, adding that Bundy does not respect his country nor its laws. So what laws does Harry respect? The patriarch is known as ‘Dirty Harry’ with good reason. On January 4, 2013, Judicial Watch released its list of Washington’s 10 most corrupt politicians for 2013. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) made the list for his influence-peddling scandal involving ENN Energy Group, a Chinese green energy corporation. The corporation is a major client of the Nevada law firm where Rory Reid, son of Harry Reid, runs his own gold-mining endeavours. Naturally, a Chinese billionaire wishing to do business on US soil was aided with procurement of land for development. He got it for pennies-on-the-dollar. The land acquired by Chinese energy tycoon Wang Yusuo was appraised at $ 38.6 million and purchased for a mere $ 4.5 million. Did Lil’ Rory profit from a sweetheart land deal? Regardless, Rory, Leif, Josh and Key have all found their father to be a benevolent benefactor who looks after their needs. Son-in-law Steve Barringer and granddaughter Ryan Elizabeth Reid have also found themselves with cozy provision from that fount of family blessing, Harry Reid. However, “domestic terrorist” Cliven Bundy and his family will see themselves starved off the land. Neil Kornze: In April 2014 Senator Reid’s former senior advisor, Neil Kornze, was approved to take the command position at the BLM. Convenient. The BLM oversees 245 million acres of public land and approximately 48 million acres in Nevada. This includes the Gold Butte and Lake Mead National Recreation Area where rancher Cliven Bundy grazes his cattle. Shayne Sampson of Sampson Livestock, Meadow Utah: The BLM contracted with Mr Sampson to seize the Bundy cattle. I find it interesting that the contract offered was for $ 996,000 dollars. Is that not about the same amount owed the federal government? False flag operations related to the Bundy ranch standoff: the desert tortoise, a ‘militia’ and a free speech zone. Let me conclude with the first sentence from One Hundred Years of Solitude by Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez: “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aurelanio Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” Next week, my pen will be warmed up in hell. The BLM mounted an operation to gut Cliven Bundy. They should be eviscerated with equal force. The writer is a freelance journalist and author of the novel Arsenal. She can be reached at tammyswofford@yahoo.com