By Staci-lee Sherwood
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced they’re siding with hunters and the state of Utah in the hopes of keeping endangered Grey Wolves off the Endangered Species List (ESA). Utah is the state of Mormons, a religion based on child brides and sister wives. The same state where the violent cowboys that the Bureau of Land Management hires to brutally round up wild horses and burros come from. Unlike Alaska, Idaho and Wisconsin wolves have not made Utah their home. Over the past 30 years there might have been a dozen or so sightings but nothing that warrants a lawsuit.
For decades wolves had been hunted by civilian hunters and the National Park Service (NPS). With the exception of a small elusive pack hidden in the far reaches of Minnesota wolves were hunted to extinction in the lower 48 states by the 1940s. In the late 1990s they were re-introduced in Yellowstone National Park and the wilderness of Idaho. No sooner did press releases go out hailing this historic victory for both wolves and wildlife than illegal hunting began. Here we are not 30 years later with wolves struggling to survive once again after half their population had been killed off in state sanctioned hunts. They have a chance to do the right thing. When it comes to wildlife the DOJ has a history of defending the abuser. Can we really expect any better justice for our own species?
The federal government is the biggest threat to wildlife, killing millions every year. The USDA’s Wildlife Service aka Animal Damage Control kill millions including endangered species, all at the request of ranchers. In the early 1900s infecting wolves and coyotes with mange then leaving them to die a slow cruel death was the policy of choice for the federal government. This was done to protect livestock so they said. Then they graduated to poisoning and shooting them. Eventually they included ‘denning’ which is killing wolves including nursing pups in the den using poison or dynamite. In Alaska they preferred aerial hunting, using helicopters to shoot entire wolf packs. Most of this is pushed by hunters who are rabid anti wolf and the National Rifle Association.
Along the way lawyers at the DOJ are happy to represent the employees at the Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife, Park Service and Bureau of Land Management when they’re sued for violating laws taxpayers pay them to enforce. The American government has long been called the best government money can buy and that is no lie. The DOJ is not without its own scandal and overreaching.
During the Trump Administration they had subpoenaed Apple hoping to secretly seize communication records from at least two Democratic members of Congress, their staff, and their family members. This was kept secret thanks to the DOJ securing a gag order on Apple. These lawmakers, staff, and their families never knew they had been targeted or by whom. For decades they let J. Edgar Hoover use the FBI to spy on and ruin anyone he had a personal vendetta against.
Hoover was clearly abusing his power and should have been forced to resign, if not prosecuted. For the DOJ to turn a blind eye that made them equally culpable and complicit in whatever Hoover was doing. During the Obama Administration a practice called the DOJ 'slush fund' began in 2014 that had mandatory donations made to approved activist groups along with payment in a settlement. These so called donations were counted as double their value and this came out after a settlement came about between The Bank of America and Citicorp over mortgages. Corruption and abuse of power are deeply imbedded in both parties.
Many people have gotten a rude awakening when they ended up in court not because they committed a crime but because they knew one was being committed and did nothing to stop it. For the DOJ this type of justice does not exist for them they seem to have exempt themselves from accountability. The FBI is charged with investigating corruption by government while the DOJ would be the ones prosecuting. Knowing about only a fraction of the corruption we all know goes on in government we can only imagine the mile high stacks of cases the DOJ could be prosecuting should they ever choose to hold their own colleagues accountable. The fact the courts are not clogged with such cases might be best described as birds of a feather stick together. If the public is to look to the DOJ for integrity and justice the department needs to clean up its own backyard first.
The DOJ is also embroiled in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the endangered Tule Elk. The National Park Service is currently keeping the largest herd of elk fenced in and away from fresh food and water. The national seashore wants to expand the land used for dairy cows despite the public, who pay their salary, not wanting more livestock inside the park.
The DOJ is in court arguing whether or not the park service can get their act together to come up with an updated management plan before the elk starve to death. Instead of enforcing laws that protect these endangered animals the DOJ is siding with the incompetent park service who are hoping to run out the clock before making a management plan in time to save the elk.
In 1971 a federal law giving legal protection to wild horses and burros and designating millions of acres for their habitat was signed into law. In these past 50 years the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has never once truly enforced this law. In fact at every turn they have refused to enforce it, have stolen millions of acres of land and reclaimed it for livestock. The BLM has gone a step further by selling protected horses and burros to known kill buyers, it’s long been known that BLM employees have openly participated in what is suppose to be illegal activity.
If the DOJ is charged with upholding federal law then why have they failed to prosecute those who break it? Is their inaction because they don’t want to prosecute and incarcerate fellow government employees? Is their support of wrongdoing akin to honor among thieves or is it just gross negligence and incompetence? Either way it’s hardly a prideful legacy in fact they should be ashamed of themselves. If the DOJ is like the cop enforcing the law but instead lets the crooks continue to break it wouldn’t the DOJ then be like crooks by proxy? Too cowardly to break the law not honorable enough to enforce it. Who do you call for actual justice when the cops are the crooks?
The Lacey Act, initially enacted in 1900, is a United States law that bans trafficking in fish, wildlife, or plants that are illegally taken, possessed, transported, or sold. It is also illegal to mislabel wildlife shipments. If a civilian snatched a wild horse off the range and absconded with him in their trailer that would be classified as illegally taken. However when the employees of the BLM refuse to enforce the law and then knowingly sell wild horses to known kill buyers that is illegal. They also brand wild horses claiming this helps to ID them. With their cozy relationship with kill buyers, it’s more likely the branding is designed to hide wild horses among domestic horses bound for Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses.
The 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse & Burro Act specified Unbranded horses being protected. Perhaps the branding is a sly way to nullify the law. The roundups violate the intent of the law and therefore are an illegal act. Therefore it seems that the Lacey Act could be applied to those BLM employees who have illegally taken and sold the horses then pocketed the money once the horses and burros are trafficked across state and federal borders.
This is supposedly the symbol of justice. The DOJ is suppose to enforce federal law. Many of these laws are designed to protect the people and the wildlife from criminal activity and exploitation. What does it say about an agency that actively tries to circumvent the law by weakening its intent for special interest? Why would the lawyers paid by taxpayers to enforce the laws that govern the country work so hard at repealing them? Who exactly is the DOJ really working for?
There are a ton of non profits that are questionable at best and totally fraudulent at worst. Many of these organizations operate more like a for profit ponzi or money laundering schemes yet the DOJ ignores this. Few laws govern non profits and the DOJ seem more than happy to close an eye. Meanwhile billions of dollars flow through these non profits with little to no accounting for.
Another scam brought to you by both state and federal government are ‘non profit’ organizations as part of federal agencies like the Forest Service, National Park Service and US Fish & Wildlife. How this can be legal is anyone’s guess and few people even know this goes on. It would seem if the DOJ actually wanted to take a bite out of crime they could start with their friends in the federal government.
With such a shameful disregard for enforcing federal law and openly siding with law breakers it’s no wonder the public is loathe to trust the DOJ or anyone in government. Whatever your definition of democracy is this is certainly not it. The US is quick to point a finger at dictators and tyrants in other countries when it suits them but never willing to look inward at its own failings. Until the DOJ truly does as its charged with they will never be more than yet another government agency failure. We as Americans should never accept shoddy half baked attempts at government. We are suppose to be a nation governed by the rule of law that applies to all not just a few.