Why won’t Ammon Bundy just go away?
The perennially annoying Ammon Bundy refuses to go away. He will not shut up about freedom — his freedom, yours, and mine. And that is a very good thing.
The perennially annoying Ammon Bundy refuses to go away. He will not shut up about freedom. His freedom, yours, and mine. And that is a very good thing.
He annoys exactly the right people.
At the root of the phrase “Freedom isn’t free,” are not foreign wars, but are, instead, people like Bundy who persist to defend freedoms. Through such “unreasonable” people is freedom won, one small battle at a time. Because of men like this, freedom seldom requires a gun. A great deceit perpetrated on the American people is that revolution involves a gun. Revolution involves individuals persisting in living their own free lives and refusing to be seen as anything but free.
The date 1776 is commonly paraded as a year of revolution. Murray Rothbard, in his impressive history of the American Revolution, Conceived in Liberty, depicts the American Revolution as having taken place from 1760 to 1775. This was the period during which colonists stopped seeing themselves as subjects and started seeing themselves as free people. What followed was a bloody rebellion, the consequence of an aggressive British government being unwilling to recognize that the colonists were no longer willing to see themselves as subjects of an unjust government.
You see, pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger is a lot easier than doing the hard work that really brings freedom. In even the most successful revolutions, no amount of violence, no amount of blood in the streets will prevent the real conversations and activities that make men free: you need to be able to look someone in the eye who seeks to restrain your freedom and to be able to say “No,” and to do so effectively.
No amount of fighting will prevent that conversation. It will only delay it.
In the terrain of freedom movement participants who would sooner see a bloody rebellion, Bundy, with restraint appears to realize that revolution is needed, and that revolution is best had and its aims best secured by men and women who are able to look another in the eye and not pull a trigger, but who are able to look another in the eye and say “No.”
How very uncommon such a characteristic is. How common it is for someone to be hotheaded and to talk about “the ammo box” or “the second amendment,” or appearing anonymously online and calling people to arms. Yes, it is very important that Americans are armed. But hardly does the pulling of a trigger do the important work that brings about freedom. The pulling of a trigger is more likely to devolve into something that the man who pulled the trigger will never be able to control.
The hero who first pulled the trigger at Lexington and Concord in 1775 was likely an idealistic backwoods man who wanted freedom and had enough of the tyranny. What he instead received was a war as brutally tyrannical as anything the colonists had known over the previous 150 years. They came to inherit a government that was almost immediately far more tyrannical than anything that preceded it. It was a more local government, it was a government no longer under the crown, but the most freedom-minded of warriors in the American Revolution received little along the lines of what they had hoped for. Start the bloody rebellion and you are promised a crapshoot on what the end result looks like.
The restraint Bundy shows, the willingness to live a free life, the insistence that the system interact with him on his terms, this all is the behavior of a man who ripples freedom out into the world around him — through the impact of his actions and through his example.
A less restrained man, having been put through the tribulations Bundy has, and at the hand of his government, might be far more willing to resort to violence. Violence has its time and place in life. Bundy reflecting a wisdom beyond his years appears to see the significant limitations of resorting to violence, and the importance of the far harder work of standing one’s ground, looking another in the eye, saying “No,” and doing so effectively.
Below is a letter Bundy wrote to an Idaho judge this past week. While this kind of letter would not fly in most states, Idaho allows this type of letter to be submitted into the record in a legal matter. In this letter Bundy effectively pleads his case, not just to this judge, but perhaps also to the rest of the public. It is hard to disagree with what is here presented, and yet here he is in the middle of this messed up court battle.
In it, without mentioning the name of the child, he references the tragic medical kidnapping of “Baby Cyrus,” last year in Idaho, in which a breastfeeding newborn baby was taken from his parents and placed with strangers in foster care, without cause. It was likely a combination of two factors: a matter of bureaucrats run amuck and targeted political persecution of the family involved. For this no newborn deserves to suffer. And suffer the baby did. In the matter, Bundy became involved, criticized the actions of local government, state government, and hospital officials. He did so with such effectiveness and tenacity that the baby was soon released. The hospital (and likely local officials) desire to put Bundy in his place, though, and to see to it that no such standoff ever take place again, that parents instead find themselves at the whim of the local bureaucrats to do the right thing and in their own time.
As Bundy fights this court case, he is doing so of course to protect himself. However, he is a mere test case. He is standing up for the rights of all people of Idaho to not have their children taken and put into foster care at the whim of someone you’ve never seen your entire life, who does not know your child, has never sat in your home and seen what you home life is really like. Bundy is fighting against that tyranny in his state and in other states.
Through organizations local to Idaho and through networks such a PeoplesRights.org, Bundy and others act to help people organize and defend their rights from a government that was formed for the protection of rights, and with the promise that protection of your rights was its fundamental aim, but which has instead turned into a tyrant of the greatest magnitude, the greatest threat to your rights and perhaps the greatest enemy to your rights.
Here is Bundy standing up for himself. But if you can see no further than that, you have missed an important detail. Here is Bundy standing up for you:
July 10, 2023
Case Number CV012206789
Dear Judge Nancy Baskin,
Being you have been recently assigned to this case and given the many injustices that you are inheriting by taking on this assignment, I believe it is only proper and just to express to you my views and position on this matter. Judge Lynn Norton, who previously presided over this case, violated the sense of justice in her administrations, and now, after much of the dirty work is done, she has dismissed herself from this case knowing her replacement will be left to administer the physical enforcement of her unjust and shameful decisions. As her replacement, you in a sense are being set up by your colleagues and if you try to enforce the unlawful and gross ruling of Judge Norton you will be faced with the greatest resistance of your career. On the other hand, if you seek to administer justice and begin to check and undo what Judge Lynn Norton did, you will face peer persecution, coercion, public ridicule and most likely the end of your career as a judge. Because you have taken over the rulings of an unjust judge, there is no way out of the trouble it will cause you, unless you also voluntarily recuse yourself as Judge Norton did when she foresaw the terrible consequences that her rulings will cause. Your recusal is not my desire or request.
This case began in March of last year when the State (CPS Agents with Meridian Police Officers) wrongfully took a loved and cared for baby from his parents. I knew this family very well and there is no room for any argument whether they were caring for and loving that baby, NONE! However, there are endless stories that can be told of good people taking their children to a hospital for care and a doctor with a god complex backed by the power of the State and financially influenced by greedy hospital administrators, enforces his/her will upon the parents. When the parent doesn't want the treatment or the test or the care all together, when the parent wants to leave the hospital, even to go to another doctor, that doctor threatens to call the State (CPS) to have their children taken away from them. This is a terrifying experience for loving parents and most just yield to the doctor’s will, many times to the detriment of their child’s healthcare, at times becoming financial slaves to the hospital for years. But what option do they have? Consent to the doctor’s care or have your children taken away by the State. Parents can only imagine the hell their children will go through under the care of State agents. The high possibility of mentally, physically or sexually abused, dragged around from unknown place to place, all parental and medical decisions made by people employed by the state, most who have never had children themselves. The emotional trauma to the children and the parents is too much to even consider not being obedient to the medical personnel who believes he/she is justified to take away what God has given. It is my belief that all parents should fight vehemently against their children being stolen by the State on the recommendation of doctors or nurses. To avoid this fight however, I recommend to everyone I talk to about this matter to NEVER TAKE YOUR CHILDREN TO A LARGE HOSPITAL, IT IS TOO DANGEROUS. With doctors and nurses believing that they can morally take any child for any medical reason and with the State and hospital executives backing them, it is simply too risky for parents to advocate for their own children in a large hospital chain. Therefore, DON’T TAKE YOUR CHILDREN TO A LARGE HOSPITAL FOR MEDICAL CARE! If care is absolutely necessary, clinics or private doctors are typically much safer. This current case that you now preside over proves that the Anderson family should have never trusted their child’s medical care to the St. Luke's staff and administrators.
As soon as Meridian Police Officers forcefully yanked the Anderson’s baby out of his mother’s arms, I began assembling people to St. Luke's hospitals. The following morning, I called on as many people as I could to come to the Boise hospital where they were holding Baby Cyrus. Over 400 people assembled at the hospital in just a few hours. I also began posting videos, expressing concern and educating people about what was happening to the Anderson family. Using first hand facts, I informed people about the situation, to this day there is not one word I said that can be refuted, even though St. Luke's executives have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying. As a judge I trust that you will recognize the protected rights listed in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution; the right to freely speak; the right to peacefully assemble; the right to grieve government officials for redress. These are supposedly protected rights of every resident within the borders of the United States, including Idaho. But, in the Ada County Court these rights are not protected, they are trampled upon and treated criminal or worse. What we did to St. Luke’s staff, CPS agents and your colleague Judge Laurie Fortier was exactly what our founders prescribed when people in powerful positions (governments or otherwise) abuse, overstepped or infringe upon another’s persons rights. With others, I spoke freely against them, assembled people at their facilities and grieved them for redress (to give the baby back), and it worked! Within a few days the baby was returned to his parents, shortly after the CPS case against the Anderson family was dismissed and the shameful criminal charges against the mother were dropped. It is hard to believe that Meridian Police Detective Steven Hansen charged the mother with “Obstruction of Justice” when she did not freely hand her baby over to him. What a disgrace! No decent mother would hand her baby over to a police officer knowing she is a good mother and the police are terribly wrong. Still the same, we confirmed once again, that speaking freely to the public, peacefully assembling people and grieving officials for redress, works! Just as the First Amendment prescribes. It is peaceful and it works!
The old saying, “the truth hurts” is, in-fact, true, especially when institution like Idaho CPS and St. Luke’s are trying to maintain a good reputation while being involved in dark actions. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (CPS) is responsible for taking an average of 4 children a day from Idaho parents. Nobody knows the exact amount of money each child is worth to the department but recent studies show each child to be worth $1- $3 million dollars cumulatively to all of the various institutions who get paid once these children are kidnapped. Many of these children are taken to medical facilities like St. Luke’s where the federal government is billed, without restrictions, for the child’s "care." Baby Cyrus was in St. Luke's possession for approximately 5 days and St. Luke’s billed, and was paid, at least $30,000 for the forced "care" on Baby Cyrus. What a cash cow for St. Luke's Executives and for the IDHW agents, including the CPS agents. Monetarily incentivizing institutions in taking children is the worst nightmare any Idaho parent could have. The misrepresentations bureaucrats and staff will conjure up to justify the taking of children from parents is highly motivated when the incentive is to fund themselves and the institution they work for.
Because I freely spoke the truth about what happened to the Anderson family, St Luke’s retained one of Idaho’s most powerful law firms, Holland & Hart. The same law firm that represents Governor Little, Scott Bedke, IACI and most of Idaho's Good Old Boys, the same people I have been politically fighting the past few years. I don’t think that is a coincidence. Utilizing heavy-handed tactics, Holland & Hart Attorneys have served tens of thousands of pages of legal documents to my home. Before being able to respond to the initial complaint I was swarmed with more documents. This has continued throughout the proceeding, ultimately resulting in Judge Norton issuing a contempt warrant for my arrest, criminalizing a once civil case. Unable to respond or even practically read the mountains of legal documents coming from St. Luke’s counsel, frustrations have mounted and little hope that justice will be met in this court exists. The slang term for this type of attack is called LAWFARE, something you should be familiar with and something Judge Norton should have stopped long ago. I am certain that this court has not been able to read the tens of thousands of pages that St. Luke’s attorneys have filed. There is simply no way Judge Lynn Norton could have physically read all the documents. The docket in the case is 77 pages long to date, just the docket alone!
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP Lawsuits) are illegal in most States because they empower wealthy institutions to use the courts to silence those who do not have the money or ability to practically defend themselves. In Idaho, it is up to the judge to stop these types of lawsuits. However, Judge Lynn Norton failed to protect the rights of the Idaho public to freely speak, freely assemble and freely grieve the government for redress. She allowed this case to continue for more than a year knowing that St. Luke Executives gave a blank check to a powerful law firm to bury me in legal proceedings and papers for speaking out against them.
From the beginning of this litigation, I considered the enormous burden that fighting this case would put on my family & finances. I deliberately decided not to appear, requiring Judge Norton to default me under the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 55 (a)(1). At the start of the case St. Luke’s Executives were only seeking $50,000 from me personally. Therefore, rather than hiring attorneys and spending years in litigation, I believed defaulting would be the least time consuming and least expensive way to mitigate this lawsuit. However, Judge Lynn Norton intentionally did not promptly default me as required by the law (I.R.C.P, 55 (a)(1)). Instead, she left the case open for nearly an entire year, leaving the door open for St. Luke’s attorneys to amend the complaint 4 times, increase the punitive damages to $7.5 million dollars, rack up around a $700,000 legal bill and then she issued a civil warrant for my arrest. Judge Norton put a protective order on the case after St. Luke’s counsel convinced her that my speaking publicly about the case was somehow “be threatening to the witnesses”. Never have I threatened anyone in this case, I continued to freely speak about the case and about those who took part in taking the Andersons baby, but not threaten. I don’t need the courts permission to freely speak, I still consider speech as a protected right, even when the Ada County Courts do not consider it so. To further the court's corruption, shortly before Judge Norton recused herself, just days after she entered the default, I appeared for the first time in the case, motioning the court to “Set Aside the Default”. Judge Norton ignored my motion and moved forward with determining damages anyway. You and I both know that that is a violation of the court’s rules. I suppose she did not want to open up the opportunity to undo all the work that she did to help St. Luke’s Executives obtain a $7.5 million dollar default.
The courts only duty is to administer justice in the protection of an individual's rights, especially in matters of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As a Judge, you have been trained to turn off your judicial intelligence when words like “rights”, “liberties” or “the Constitution” arise. I ask you to push off the bureaucratic training and influences to hear me out on this. This case is very simple! A baby was wrongfully taken by the state at the recommendation of a St. Luke's employee. I became aware and spoke publicly against it. Because I spoke against St. Luke’s and made them look bad, St. Luke's CEO, Chris Roth, hired a powerful law firm to silence me, knowing that these highly paid, highly trained attorneys would drown me in the courts and eventually get the judge to help them take everything I own. All because I publicly spoke against them! Can you imagine what this case is doing to “free speech” in Idaho? This court is sending the message that anyone without hundreds of thousands of dollars to legally defend themselves must keep their mouth shut, even when they see something wrong. Just shut up and don’t say a thing or we will take everything you own. If you, as the presiding judge allow it, the effects of the case will chill free speech in Idaho for decades! Is that what you want? Punishing people for speaking against powerful institutions is not American. The American way is to speak up when you see something wrong, to shine a light on injustice, to stand for your neighbors when they are being abused. In the United States even the little guy can speak up and voice his thoughts and opinions. However, the Ada County Courts are sending a clear message to the little guy, “You had better not speak out against the government or any other powerful institution, if you do, we will not protect you from them, in fact we will help them crush you”.
Judge Baskin, what has transpired in this court is so egregious and the consequences to freedom so damaging that I cannot yield to it. My right and the rights of every Idahoan to speak out when they see injustice is too precious to lose. I cannot allow the silencing of my voice to set the example to millions of people. I humbly ask that you stop this attack on free speech. This cannot become the Idaho Court precedent for people that speak against the rich and the powerful. This case cannot become the rule!
You are now entering into the default judgment portion of this case. As the new presiding judge, you are now administering the process that will allow St. Luke’s Executives to take everything I own, by force. This is not justice in any way and I will not allow my property to be taken by force as long as I am alive and free. God our Father will protect. I have offered many times to give St. Luke’s Executives everything I own for peace, they have rejected these offers of peace and therefore I will not permit them to take all that I have earned in my life by force, nor will I consent while this matter sets the example of what will happen to others if they speak against the government or a powerful institution. God will not permit me to do so. I must not yield to this injustice! I desire peace and I ask you to bring peace to this situation! Please stop this assault on my life, liberty and my family's pursuit of happiness. Please leave me alone! Please, do not give rich and powerful people false justification to destroy my life. Please do not sanction a war that may end in innocent blood and require others to bring justice upon those who are responsible for shedding it. I plead with you in all the sincerity that I can muster, please stop this injustice from coming upon me and my family. Please! I know it may cost you your judgment seat to make this matter right, but for peace, justice and liberty I ask anyway. My prayers and fasting will be for you. I will ask all the people that I know to pray and fast for you as well. I know God loves you and everyone else in this case. He is no respecter of persons. I pray for His favor in this matter and I ask for yours as well. May God bless you with the strength to do what is right and to let the consequences follow. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ I write this letter.
Sincerely,
Ammon Bundy
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
This Letter was served to Judge Nancy Baskin through the Clerk of the 4th Judicial District Court, County of Ada, State of Idaho at 200 West Front Street, Boise ID, 83702.
Service time: __________________ Service Date: __________________ Server Initials: ______
DATED THIS 10th day of July, 2023.
Ammon Bundy
Ammon also asks that you “Please Pray and Fast for Judge Baskin.”
Allan Stevo is the bestselling author of Face Masks Hurt Kids and Face Masks in One Lesson. Sign up below for more of his work.
Allen: This was a great find to pick up on this topic. I appreciate your always passionate advocacy for human liberty.
This case characterizes the trend for predatory government to abuse individuals, using the ever greater and unaccountable powers, that they usurped to themselves..
There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. Officials and agency bureaucrats just continue to exercise power beyond what has been enumerated. The velocity of this behavior continues to accelerate so that the people are overwhelmed. The offenses are so great and numerous as to render the people, hopeless and defenseless.
What will it take for people to rise up and reclaim their power and liberty?
I forgot to say, I send my prayers, love and admiration to Ammon Bundy.