Template:Real terrorists and arson
Real terrorists and arson
As you can see the BLM does not always do it safely like the Hammonds did. They come in at the wrong time of year and actually burn up ranch buildings fences, power poles plus even burn cows and their calves alive. They do this with impunity because America is no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave.
What you often get from either ignorant or immoral government employees is false information that misleads the people like the DOJ’s acting US Attorney Billy Williams said:
- “Fires intentionally and illegally set on public lands, even those in a remote area, threaten property and residents and endanger firefighters called to battle the blaze.”
- “Congress sought to ensure that anyone who maliciously damages United States’ property by fire will serve at least 5 years in prison,” he added. “These sentences are intended to be long enough to deter those like the Hammonds who disregard the law and place fire fighters and others in jeopardy.”
But in the Hammond case there was no malicious intent. These fires did not "threaten property and residents and endanger firefighters called to battle the blaze". These fires especially the back fire likely saved "property and residents and [did not] endanger firefighters called to battle the blaze" because the Hammonds contained the fire themselves and there was no cost or danger to anyone.
They were engaged in open good management practices on their own land where a small amount of some BLM graze was burned before the Hammonds brought the fire under control. The only graze that was affected was the Hammond graze which they paid for and the land came back better than after after the burn according to expert testimony.
No firefighters were endangered and no property damage was actually caused. What they did is done every year all over the west. The BLM calls it fuel reduction and prescribed burns and good management. These fires have been used by inhabitants of the land for thousands of years and can improve the environment as natural events.
To be arson someone would have to start the fire with "malicious intent". There is absolutely no evidence of that by the Hammonds. No we cannot say that about the BLM who starts these same fires all the time. Those fires if started at the right time of year with enough people and resources to control the fires so they do not spread to fences and dwellings are reasonably done unless they want to run someone out of business and destroy their livelihood and life so that they can get their land or just flex their power and spread fear among the people.
The term arson, means, “the malicious burning or exploding of the dwelling house of another, or the burning of a building within the curtilage, the immediate surrounding space, of the dwelling of another.”
Who ever gave the order to those employees of the BLM who were used to set those fires and burn those cattle alive, homes and fences would appear to me to have "wicked or mischievous motives or intentions.” Who fined them? Who saw to it that justice was done to those who lost property, whose lives were threatened? Who starts controlled burns in July unless they want to endanger others or make a point by terrorizing the people who they endanger?
So, we know there was no malicious intent on the part of the Hammonds, but rather normal ranch operations. So what they did cannot be considered arson. But what we see the BLM doing and the employees who were just following orders did looks like it was done with wicked and malicious intent if not extreme negligence since buildings, corrals, fences and live cattle were clearly visible as they set fires.