The Raid In Rio, Pt. I

At least they didn't call the log cabin in rural Wisconsin a “compound.”

That's most likely because the anticipated standoff didn't occur. If if had, then the farmhouse in the photo above would have been transformed into an "armed compound," in keeping with the tacit but strictly enforced rules governing mainstream media accounts of armed confrontations involving federal enforcement agencies.

The fact that nobody was hurt or killed is the only positive thing one can say about the paramilitary raid – involving sheriff's departments from three counties, a SWAT team, and agents from the ATF and FBI – on the Rio (RYE-oh) Wisconsin [actually, Wyocena -- correction courtesy of an alert reader] homestead of 64-year-old Lester Sundsmo and his 56-year-old wife Lilac.

The joint federal-local attack on the Sundsmo home involved more than 100 agents swarming the property, and a roadblock that shut down state Highway 16 [in fact, contrary to initial media reports, it was Highway 51 -- thanks again to my courteous and well-informed reader.] The couple themselves were arrested without incident at a traffic stop roughly a half-mile from their property.

A total of four (4) firearms were found on their property; the invaders also took note of a network of underground tunnels that were immediately (and predictably) described as evidence of preparations for a confrontation with law enforcement, but are more likely intended to serve as a storm shelter.

Why was it necessary to deploy practically a brigade-strength force against a retirement-age couple accused of a non-violent offense?

“That was required because of past intelligence,” insisted Chief Deputy Michael Babcock of Wisconsin's Columbia County. “The intelligence that was secured by multiple law enforcement agencies indicated that there was likely going to be some type of confrontation if we had to go to the door of the residence.”

The “intelligence” refers to thus far undocumented suspicions that the Subdsmos, who possess some exotic beliefs concerning sovereign citizenship, are affiliated with the “Posse Comitatus” movement or some other “anti-government” group.

Any sentient human being possessed of so much as a molecule of decency should be “anti-government.” The Sundsmos, who were scheduled for eviction from their home as a result of thousands of dollars in unpaid property taxes, had decorated their property with signs advising parasites from various appendages of the Regime to stay away.

They didn't conceal their contempt for the bureaucrats who infest their community and the thugs in their employ, so it was hardly an intelligence coup to learn that the Sudsmos didn't much care for government. Babcock summarized those views thusly: “They question the legitimacy of the Constitution, of the legislature and government processes.”

I'd wager platinum to potato chips that the Sudsmos do not question the legitimacy of the Constitution, but rather the constitutional legitimacy of actions taken by the state legislature and carried out by county officials. But hey, “close” is good enough for horseshoes, hand grenades, and arrest warrants to be served by armed gangs against non-violent eccentrics in rural Wisconsin.

Babcock said he was “relieved” that no injuries resulted from the raid. Well, the same could be said by any decent person, who would probably add: “Given your perverse determination to deploy a military strike team against the couple, it's something akin to a miracle that you didn't get anybody hurt or killed, you tax-devouring cretin.”

The militarized assault, following established customs in the embryonic American Reich, was conducted to “serve a warrant” charging the Sundsmos with “criminal slander” against various local officials. The ten-count criminal complaint is devoid of any alleged violations of federal law – which means that the use of federal assets in staging the raid was a crime against the Constitution, a fact that once meant something.

The “slander” in question consisted of liens filed against various officials, including the former sheriff and district attorney, as well as officials of a local bank, all of whom were involved in the tax foreclosure of the couple's property. These instruments were transparently bogus, and utterly unenforceable.

But because of the diligent efforts of totalitarian-minded groups like the so-called Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, false liens of this kind are now categorized as “paper terrorism” -- which means that those who file them are treated as kindred to hijackers and car-bombers, rather than desperate, misguided people lashing out in frustration at a corrupt system, and choosing a spectacularly ill-advised way to do so.

More will be published about this case as details become available.

P.S. --

(There has been some speculation that the body of Beth Kutz, who was murdered by her estranged husband several years ago, may be buried on the Sundsmo property; if this proves to be the case, it wouldn't necessarily mean that the couple had anything to do with that hideous crime -- and if they did, they were extravagantly foolish to bring attention to themselves.)

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