This is a MUST read.
http://dailysignal.com/2018/01/18/reversing-bird-brained-policy-is-a-win-for-trumps-regulatory-agenda/

QuoteOn Dec. 22, the Interior Department's Office of the Solicitor published a memorandum (Memorandum M-37050) stating that it interprets a federal criminal law against "taking" or harming migratory birds to apply only to "direct and affirmative, purposeful actions."

That overturns the policy of previous administrations that, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, individuals could be held criminally liable for virtually any accident that harms any of the approximately 1,000 bird species protected under the law.

I'd love to quote the entire article, it's packed full of really insane examples of government overreach, and selective prosecution(s).
Here's a couple of examples

QuoteAnd in 2012, several oil and gas businesses in North Dakota were prosecuted because 28 protected birds had flown into state-sanctioned pools of fluid and oil.

Naturally, you *wouldn't* expect the Obama administration to equally enforce the law, would you?

QuoteThe Wall Street Journal had suggested the Obama administration's data on thousands of bird deaths in wind turbines, combined with a failure to prosecute the turbine operators, revealed a government bias against certain kinds of energy companies.

Of course not!

QuoteSome prosecutors and judges have read the Migratory Bird Treaty Act as disregarding an offender's intent, subjecting those who accidentally ran afoul of the law to potential criminal conviction if a protected bird's death could have been "reasonably anticipated or foreseen as a natural consequence" of their actions.

That might seem like a reasonable interpretation, but consider the Fish and Wildlife Service's top three "human-caused threats to birds":

Cats, which kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds per year.
Collisions with building glass, which kills an estimated 303.5 million birds per year.
Collisions with vehicles, which kill an estimated 200 million birds per year.
If a common raven has ever flown into your car, or a northern flicker has flown into your window, or any of the other hundreds of protected birds have been on the wrong side of your pet's paws, then the Migratory Bird Treaty Act technically made you a criminal.

That made for a very uncertain regulatory environment, and prosecutors could decide, sometimes arbitrarily, how hard to bring the hammer down.

Ie., your Cat is a Criminal - and any law abiding citizen should immediately turn the feline into the Fish and Wildlife Service, or possibly face prosecution as an accessory!   Remember, if they can SUE an oil company for a state sanction pool of oil for killing 28 gutter falcons, your kitty is regarded as a blood-thirsty, bird killing machine that needs to be stopped!

Here's a great observation in the comment section:  "The way the law was written it was even illegal to posess the feather of a protected bird- even if you just found it on the ground. "...any migratory bird, any part, nest, or egg of any such bird, ..."


Making America Great Again requires the removal of governmental regulatory shackles.   Great article, it deserves a read - and there ought to be many more articles like it, showing examples of government intrusion into every corner of our lives.  I'll also add, the only reason you weren't BUSTED for breaking some EO or regulation is simple - there isn't enough people to enforce them, yet...  Can you imagine if every law was 100% enforced?   We'd all be spending the rest of our lives in prison!