Rand Paul Sits Down With Cliven Bundy

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

01 July 15

In which Rand Paul has a nice chat with a freeloading white supremacist.

ometimes, the blog's Five Minute Rule doesn't even have to apply.

Paul's meeting with Bundy recalled one of the more dramatic conflicts over land rights in recent years. Hundreds of armed supporters joined Bundy in April 2013 to stop a roundup of his cattle near Bunkerville about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The Bureau of Land Management says he owes more than $1 million in grazing fees over more than 20 years. Bundy argues the federal government has no authority there. Bundy told the AP: "In general, I think we're in tune with each other." He added: "I don't think we need to ask Washington, D.C. for this land. It's our land."

We're all supposed to be hiding under our beds this week because of "increased chatter" about ISIL that is "more intense than any time since 9/11," but Rand Paul gets to meet with a guy who summoned armed resistance to legitimate authority because he wants to freeload on government land. (The AP's account of the incident above is hopelessly Both Siderish. The BLM is right and the old crackpot is wrong. Period.) I know the folks I'm most worried about.