A Not-So-Well-Regulated Militia

Joe Oshaugnessy, an Arizona militiaman, has been actively seeking volunteers through social media to join the occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

But his friends tearfully announced that Oshaugnessy, who is known as “Capt. O,” had left the refuge Wednesday and was instead staying at a motel nearby — as some others associated with the militants have apparently been doing, according to sources.

[...]

The militants have been allowed to come and go freely from the nature preserve in the absence of a law enforcement presence, but at least one of them, Brian “Booda” Cavalier, failed to return after a newspaper report revealed he had lied about serving in the U.S. Marines.

Oshaugnessy had apparently argued with some of the participants about the presence of women and children at the wildlife refuge, where militants apparently hoped to draw federal agents into a gun battle.

[...]

Maureen Peltier, a disabled National Guard woman who claims to be the group’s official spokeswoman [...] said [Jon] Ritzheimer [of video fame and who also has a business where he sells anti-Islam T-shirts] had confirmed that Oshaugnessy had kept the money he had raised through social media for himself and had spent at least some of it on a drinking binge.

[...]

[H]e’s f*cking pissed, he’s mad, he’s upset,” [another militant, Cai] Irvin said. “He told me to tell all of you that Joe Oshaugnessy is a deserter and a coward.”

[...]

Oshaungnessy, meanwhile, wrote on Facebook that a “smear campaign” had been launched against him.

  Raw Story

Another key figure, Blaine Cooper [...] is fond of running around wearing all the military gear he can find, giving the impression that he is also former military personnel, but he’s a big-time phony as well. Although he did sign up for the Marines at one point, the Department of the Navy has confirmed he never showed up for training and was never in the Marines.

  Daily Kos

Ah, yes. Blaine Cooper, who asked for snacks, setting off a wonderful internet meme.

He caught the attention of real military personnel at the website This Ain't Hell after he was repeatedly referred to as a U.S. Marine in an interview in 2014. Cooper defended himself saying he didn’t want to correct the interviewer during a live broadcast and embarrass the broadcaster. That doesn’t stop Blaine Cooper (also known by his original legal name Stanley Blaine Hicks) from sharing a lot of photos of him playing dress-up soldier on his Facebook page. [emphasis added]

Violence broke out at the Bundy compound Wednesday night between its militant occupants and members of an outside group whose leader says he wants to get women and children out of the compound.

Lewis Arthur, who leads a group called Veterans on Patrol and calls himself an anti-violence patriot, arrived Wednesday afternoon with a small crew.

By Wednesday night, one of Arthur's three-person crew was in the hospital, his eye blackened from a punch to the face.

In an interview Thursday, Arthur blamed the injuries on Blaine Cooper.

[...]

Arthur said Cooper punched him in the back of the head, then attacked his comrade, who goes by the name of J Dog. The group retreated, and J Dog went to the hospital.

[...]

Jason Patrick, another participant in the refuge standoff, tells a different story.

In a Facebook post Thursday morning, he said Arthur initiated the scuffle when he "assaulted a guard" in an attempt to enter the compound.

In an interview, refuge occupier Jon Ritzheimer said the guard was shoved aside, causing him to bloody his hand when he collided with his truck.

  Oregon Live

Where is Ammon Bundy in all this?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.