I’ve been watching the Oregon Standoff live on YouTube for over two hours now and I still don’t really know what’s going on. It’s all a little foreign to me. I can’t understand the mentality of the people holed up on the wildlife refuge, to be honest with people. I understand being fed up with government overreach. I can get with resisting real (or even imagined) tyranny. But at the same time, I’m not willing to die over stuff like this. If others are, that’s cool. I respect that. Personally, I just wanna live as long as possible and not get gunned down by the feds.

Michele Fiore, the assemblywomen who’s helping negotiate all this, has just said that the F.B.I. will not make any digressive moves tonight, which is very good news. Franklin Graham and Ms. Fiore are both supposed to be there early tomorrow morning. There’s dissension among the protesters over whether or not to leave. I guess we’ll see what happens. Hopefully, no one gets killed. I’ll probably keep my eye on things for at least the next couple hours. I wouldn’t put it past the feds to go ahead and storm the place, but they do seem to be showing some restraint. Again, other people may disagree with that assessment. I completely understand all differing views.

Here’s a rundown from CNN:

The armed protesters occupying a wildlife refuge in Oregon have been surrounded, the FBI said on Wednesday. According to the FBI, one of the remaining occupiers rode outside barricades at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. When agents tried to approach him, he sped off back to the refuge. After that the agency said agents “moved to contain the remaining occupiers by placing agents at barricades both immediately ahead of and behind the area where the occupiers are camping.”

The FBI said no shots were fired and it is continuing to negotiate with those inside the refuge. Four people are believed to be still occupying the refuge.

“The FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully,” said Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. “However, we reached a point where it became necessary to take action in a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge, the law enforcement officers who are on scene, and the people of Harney County who live and work in this area.”…

But a January 2 march supporting the Hammonds led to the armed occupation of the refuge, with protesters decrying what they call government overreach when it comes to federal lands. Bundy and other members of his group were arrested during an incident along a highway last month. At the same time, law enforcement officers shot and killed LaVoy Finicum, one of the protest group’s most prominent members.

I’ll come back and update this space if anything else happens tonight or early tomorrow morning.