A dozen or so years before Cliven Bundy faced down armed agents of the Bureau of Land Management over grazing rights, Nevada rancher Raymond Yowell watched as the BLM seized his herd. Adding to that insult, they’ve taken his money too since 2008.

Yowell’s 150 head of cattle had grazed for decades on the South Fork Western Shoshone Indian Reservation in northeastern Nevada until the BLM seized them. They sold the cattle at auction, using some of the money to pay off part of Yowell’s ‘back grazing fees.’

Then the BLM sent Yowell a bill for the outstanding balance, some $180,000. They’ve been garnishing the former Shoshone chief’s monthly Social Security checks ever since.

While Bundy defied the BLM over fees for grazing cattle on ‘government-owned’ land, Yowell’s cattle roamed reservation land. But a 1979 Supreme Court decision held that even land designated for Indian reservations is held in trust for them, and thus subject to BLM regulation.

The Western Shoshone have never relinquished their right to the territory and treaties led to the creation of the reservation granted to Yowell and other cattlemen the right to graze cattle on the land. He’s also sued the BLM, the Treasury Department and others for $30 million, saying he was exercising his “treaty guaranteed vested rights” to be a herdsman.

Members of the Te-Moak Livestock Association deny the land in question belongs to the federal government. They say it was never alienated under the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley.

The treaty gave certain rights to the U.S. in the Nevada Territory, but didn’t state that the Shoshone were to surrender their lands. This omission created problems for the Indian Claims Commission from the time it was established in 1946 until it was dissolved in 1978, forcing outstanding issues to be transferred to the courts.

The federal government purchased the land from the Shoshone in the 1940s, but tribal members claim they were paid cents on the dollar for the land. Also the traditional members claim the land was not for sale and they refused payment.

In 2004, the fed’s passed the Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act, which authorized payment of $145 million for the transfer of 25 million acres to the U.S. Seven of the nine tribal councils within the Western Shoshone Nation opposed the legislation. Then on January 17, 2006, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Western Shoshone National Council against the U.S. that sought to quiet title to lands defined in the Treaty of Ruby Valley.

In 2013, Yowell represented himself in a successful effort to win a federal injunction to stop the BLM from impounding his cattle, as well as a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that reversed the lower court. He continues to represent himself, this time in a petition to have the U.S. Supreme Court hear his case, where he argues his cattle were taken without due process and in violation of multiple treaties.

As all this played out, other members of the Te-Moak Band of Western Shoshone formed the South Fork Livestock Partnership had cattle grazing on the land. The SFLP members paid the grazing fee to the BLM.

Meanwhile, the TMLA, of which Yowell is a member, quit paying permit fees in 1984 with the claim that they didn’t have to pay for grazing on land that was rightfully that of the Western Shoshone. The BLM cancelled the Association’s permit in 1989.

Yowell retired in 2006 after nearly 30 years as chief of the national council. He said he leaves most of the heavy lifting to his son these days at his ranch on the edge of the Ruby Mountains where his parents first settled in the 1930s.

As Oglala Lakota chief Mahpiua-Luta (Red Cloud) stated, “They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they kept one; they promised to take our land, and they did.”

“The world might never know exactly what killed U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia,” writes Caroline Bankoff of the New York Magazine. What an odd word ‘kill’ is when it comes to a man who supposedly died in his sleep.

But then maybe because I’ve grown up with questions like, ‘Who shot Kennedy?’ I’m cynical when it comes to the death of ‘political figures.’ But in this case, I have ligit questions that need investigating.

Justice Antonin Scalia passed away in West Texas at the Cibolo Creek Ranch, a resort in the Big Bend region south of Marfa. Compliant media outlets like The Washington Post immediately claimed it was a heart attack.

However, a heart attack can be caused by several reasons and with only one medical examiner claiming it was from natural causes, more information needs to be sought. In fact, the coroner in this case, a Presidio County Judge named Cinderela Guevara contradicted news reports saying Scalia die of a heart attack, but rather of a ‘myocardial infarction.’

A myocardial infarction in the simplest terms is the destruction of an area of heart muscle as the result of occlusion of a coronary artery. This raises my question — what caused this destruction?

We’ll never know because an autopsy was never performed. In fact, Scalia was pronounced dead over the phone after Guevara “consulted with Scalia’s personal physician and sheriff’s investigators, who said there were no signs of foul play.”

In other cases, such as an unattended death or murder – the Ector County Medical Examiner out of Odessa, Texas would have been called. At 170 miles from Presidio County it’s the closest county with a licensed medical examiner.

This and other facts have started to emerge which leave at nearly 75-percent of people questioning what happened according to at least one poll. After all, the ranches owner, John Poindexter in an article in the UK’s Daily Mail says Scalia was found with a pillow over his head.

That alone should have set off alarm bells! And while Texas law does allow for an over-the-phone pronouncement of death, an eyes-on physical examination of the body should have been mandatory.

I’m certain that most law enforcement officials would agree with me that an autopsy in this case would be a matter of common sense.

It’s outrageous that a man of his stature wouldn’t have an autopsy to confirm cause of death. One would think his family would have insisted, but they’re ‘now’ claiming they didn’t want one.

And to make thing look even worse, in less than 24 hours, Scalia’s body was embalmed in accordance with Texas law because his remains were being flown to Virginia. This destroyed any evidence of foul play should it have it existed.

Add to this the timing of his death — and its hard not to see a conspiracy in Scalia’s passing.

For nearly half a year I transported the two women, from the same apartment building to same destination. Both had German accents, one was tall while the other short and blind.

The tall one, Margarete always went to the Washoe County Senior Center where she helped other seniors with their social security and other paperwork. Gertrude’s ride always ended at Washoe Medical Center where she played the piano for visitors coming through the front door.

One July morning, when the temperature was approaching the 80-degree mark, I assisted both women onto the bus. Gertrude immediately complained that it was to hot, so I offered to turn up the vehicles air conditioning.

This caused Margarete to worry that she’d get too cold. So Gertrude decided on a compromise – she’d remove her long-sleeve sweater.

Once she had it off, I noticed the strange look on Margarete’s face. She then leaned across the aisle and said something in German.

Gertrude responded in kind and then held up her left arm, showing Margarete what appeared to be a small tattoo on her forearm. They continued to talk between themselves in their native tongue.

Within minutes we pulled up in front of the senior center, where Margarete needed to be. There was a certain amount of reluctance on her part to get off the bus, but finally after chatting some more with Gertrude she got up and exited the vehicle.

After escorting her to the doorway of the building, I rushed back onto the bus, sat down in my seat and strapped in. I looked up into the overhead mirror and saw Gertrude had a small grin on her face.

Without prompting she started, “It’s a very small world.”

“It is,” I returned.

“For nearly five-years I’ve lived across the hall from that woman and not once have we spoken more than simple pleasantries to each other,” she continued, “And now this.”

I remained quiet, knowing she was already preparing to explain.

“In 1943, I was deported to Sobibór,” she stated flatly, “You know of the place?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I answered.

“There the Nazi’s gave me this tattoo – marking me as a Jew – an undesirable,” Gertrude said, “ And I now find out that Margarete was a prisoner at Sobibór too.”

“That does make it a small world,” I commented.

“Too make it smaller still – while I cannot recall her face, nor she mine from 53-years-ago, her identification number is one digit higher than mine,” she lightly smiled, “meaning she was right behind me in that awful line.”

“Oh, my,” I exclaimed, “That gives me goose-bumps.”

She grew quiet and remained so for the rest of the ride to the hospital. As was my custom, I escorted without a word inside the front doors.

Also as usual I poured myself a complimentary cup of coffee, and then spent a few minutes listening to Gertrude warming up on the keyboard. It was at that moment that I truly felt the old woman’s inner sadness as she began playing Chopin’s “Raindrop” prelude.

And for the second time that early morning, I felt the tingle of goose-bumps as they effortlessly rushed over my skin. Then I left early, fearful that someone might see my eyes filling with tears and I’d have to explain.

It began innocently enough with a short news item that I’d written and posted on Facebook…

FORGETTING THE CONSTITUTION: Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee are disagreeing on the Supreme Court nomination process in an election year. Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said it is “standard practice” not to confirm nominees during presidential elections. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said waiting would be a “dereliction of duty.”

Eric Taylor: Last time a SCOTUS justice died while still on the bench, they had a new one in less than a month (2005.) Reagan also appointed Justice Kennedy during his lame duck year in 1988. That’s the “standard practice” GOP asshats are nothing if not brazen hypocrites.

Me: The most recent declaration that there should be no new Justice’s appointed until a new President was elected came from Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer in 2007. So before calling anyone an asshat you need to know what the hell you’re talking about.

Eric Taylor: The problem with that narrative of yours is that there were no SCOTUS openings in 2007. Alito got appointed in 2006 and there were no more openings until 2009. I’m not sure if Schumer said that or not (I can only find citations from right-wing nut job websites), but if he said it in 2007, it meant precisely squat because there wasn’t actually an opening on the court, or any nomination pending.

Me: Here I presented evidence in the form of a YouTube Video entitle, “Senator Schumer on Roberts and Alito (https://youtu.be/tkRZVE3aDm8) And please don’t try and change the argument since you set it up.

Eric Taylor: Again, it was in 2007. No openings then so his statement was moot, at best. Also, his comment was somewhat regretful for his own votes confirming Roberts and Alito in 2005 and 2006 when they were (relatively) rushed through the nomination process by the GOP-controlled Senate. Finally, Schumer also said they should block nominees “unless there were extraordinary circumstances.” I’d say a vacancy on the court would qualify as extraordinary circumstances. In any event, while the GOP certainly doesn’t have the entire hypocrisy market cornered, they are certainly more brazen about, mostly because the lapdog media never calls them on it.

Me: Does not matter — it was stated by Schumer in 2007. Period!

Eric Taylor: Context is important

Me: Again trying to change the argument by adding something to it that wasn’t a part of the original argument.

Eric Taylor: I’m not changing anything by adding actual facts and context. Did you even read anything I wrote? I’m sorry I put some big words in there.

Me: This was the crux of your argument: “GOP asshats are nothing if not brazen hypocrites.” I countered with the fact that Schumer made the same comments in 2007, then backed it up with a video of him saying what I had claimed. You on the other hand tried to change the argument by trying to show that there was not confirmations planned, with wasn’t part of your original statement, then you added ‘ context,’ and to your argument and finally you’ve become insulting which is the true sign of a person who has no argument. You are a Progressive, through and through. So you can comment again — but I’ve proven my point and you’ll jus’ end up looking like the asshat in the end.

Eric Taylor: Through all of that you never addressed my original point and clung to your straw man argument even after I repeatedly minimized it.

Too be honest, I still don’t think he ever understood his original argument to begin with after all, both parties have their ‘asshats.’

The fed isn’t only interested in seizing and holding state land they claim needs protection, they also go after the ‘little guy,’ as in the case of Michigan resident John Gutowski.

In 2013, federal authorities arrested Gutowski, charging him with conspiring to commit marriage fraud. The case: Too many marriage applications filed by immigrant residents living in apartment buildings he owned.

Evidently, Gutowski leased his apartments to Eastern European immigrants but the government alleged that he was actually helping them to find Americans willing to marry them so that they could stay in the country. They also confiscated over $250,000 in personal seized assets.

This goes against everything in that’s memorialized in Article IV of the U.S. Constitution: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Prosecutors were eventually forced to drop the charges. But they held on to the $250,000 in assets claiming the funds were the illicit proceeds of his ‘sham marriage operation’ though they lacked evidence. This goes to show that no criminal charges or convictions are necessary to strip you of your property.

In fact all the government needs do is show that the property was used in, or was the result of, a crime and it’s up to the owner to disprove to prove his or her own innocence. This differs from criminal law procedures where the burden of proof always rests with the government.

And under federal law and in most state laws, the law enforcement agencies that seize property get to keep and spend the proceeds. This gives them a financial incentive to seize property, even under questionable circumstances like Gutowski’s.

As Karl Marx wrote, “The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property.”

Online talk show host Pete Santilli, who reported on the stand-off at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, will stay in federal custody until his trial. Arrested January 26 in Burns, federal prosecutors say he was a part of the conspiracy of threats and intimidation preventing federal employees from doing their jobs during the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Santilli used his Internet radio talk show to rail against government conspiracies and injustices. As a journalist, and all the reporting, interviewing and face-to-face confrontations he did during the takeover and occupation of the wildlife refuge falls under free-speech protections in the First Amendment.

Santilli spent nearly two months in Harney County supporting the wildlife refuge occupiers’ cause, but also expressing disagreement with the takeover and occupation. He’s the only journalist arrested in connection with the stand-off, even though several reporters, photographers, bloggers and freelancer writers came to Harney County to report on the situation.

U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman said that Santilli’s history “does not favor detention and that the weight of the evidence cuts in his favor,” he does believes the reporters admission to owning several registered and unregistered guns poses a risk to law enforcement. Mosman claimed that he did not consider Santilli — who lives in Ohio — to be a flight risk, but admission about the guns was enough to sway the decision.

Surprisingly, the ACLU of Oregon has come to Santilli’s defense:

“While many people might disagree with statements made by those involved in the Malheur takeover, Americans have a fundamental right to freedom of speech,” wrote Mat dos Santos, the legal director for the ACLU of Oregon, in statement posted to the group’s website.

So — whose next — and why isn’t the media up in arms over this?

Ten days before Christmas 2014 at around 9 a.m., the U.S. Marshals Service kicked in the door of an apartment intent on evicting the people living there because the buildings’ owner, Kent Carter owed the government more than $800,000. However, federal agents didn’t count on Eddy County, New Mexico Sheriff Scott London.

Called to intervene and upon arrival, Sheriff London stood between 20-year-old Wilson Baughman, a wife and mother to a one-year old child, and the Marshals Service despite being threatened with arrest. The sheriff reminded the feds that the case was still under appeal and that Carter and Baughman deserved due process.

On February 19 the IRS auctioned off three of the owner’s homes in Carlsbad despite the fact that the appeal had yet to be heard. Court documents showed that Carter had appealed the case but hadn’t had his day in court.

One of the houses was Carter’s personal home, while the two others were rental properties. Carter and his tenants were forced to move out in December in the midst of the legal battle.

London said the IRS violated Carter’s right to due process by selling off his property, even though Carter had a pending appeal. So before the auction took place, the sheriff sent a letter to the IRS notifying the agency that he wouldn’t allow the sale to move forward without proper due process.

“Thus I am notifying you that under the compulsion to my oath to the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of New Mexico, I shall not allow the sale of these three properties on 19 February, 2015,” his letter reads in part.

After the story got out, London received letters of support from as far away as France, with many people offering to come to Carlsbad and help Carter defend his property. London said he feared a repeat of scenes like the one we saw last year in Nevada, when armed protestors clashed with the feds trying to seize Cliven Bundy’s cattle.

So he and Carter decided to back down and give in to the IRS. But while it’s too late for Carter to get his property back, London is now seeking a congressional review of the DOJ, the IRS, and all the judges involved in the case.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans to close 164 miles of logging roads by using heavy machinery to re-contour some, decommissioning another 109 miles, and allowing 55 miles to return to a natural state on their own in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument area east of Ashland, Oregon.

The BLM claims culverts and drainage ditches are failing, allowing sediment and other debris to wash into the local watersheds. The agency also says that many of the roads proposed for closure are all dead-end logging spurs that branch off from more-traveled routes.

The 2014 Oregon Gulch fire burned more than 35,000 acres in Oregon and California, including part of the area. Over the years, many of the roads have been kept open so firefighters would have access to battle blazes and because they serve as fire breaks.

The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument area was created by President Bill Clinton in 2000 to protect the Cascade, Klamath and Siskiyou mountain ranges convergence. Pilot Rock is inside this area, as is as a segment of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Meanwhile, the BLM has added thousands of acres to the area since its creation by acquiring (and not necessarily purchasing) private lands though it doesn’t have the budgetary finances to maintain what acreage it does have in its holdings.

The take-over of the Malheur National Wildlife Reserve near Burns, Oregon, may have ended but the federal land grab continues.

President Obama is granting national monument status to nearly 1.8 million acres of Southern California desert. In all, he will name three specific regions national monuments — Mojave Trails, Castle Mountains (both in the Mojave Desert) and Sand to Snow in the Sonoran Desert.

It’s a move the White House says will maintain in perpetuity the region’s fragile ecosystem and natural resources, as well as provide recreational opportunities for hikers, campers, hunters and others. The designations will also connect Joshua Tree National Park, the Mojave National Preserve and 15 other federal wilderness areas.

The designations nearly double the amount of public land that Obama has designated as national monument status since taking office. Meanwhile the Commander-in-Thief is in California this week for a fundraising tour.

One of the many part-time jobs I’ve had over the years was that of mortician’s assistant. Much of the job required me to be on-call at all hours of the day to pick up dead bodies from nursing homes, hospitals, private homes and the occasional crime scene or car wreck.

The hours, though difficult at times – like a full moon – were easy to get beyond and the pay was more than generous. But the hardest part of the job came when it was my turn to tend to preparing remains.

One morning I was called up to both pick up and prepare the body. I wasn’t emotionally ready for the sight of an eight-month old child, but I carried on, getting the job finished in a more than timely fashion.

For the next week I could not get that sweet, little baby’s face out of my mind. I dreamed it to the point that I had nightmares.

After two-weeks of sleepless nights brought on by this tiny one’s death led me to realize this job wasn’t something I wanted to do for a living – even part-time.