The Brossart scandal is now international news, mainly because of the Predator drone angle.
First off, the Brossarts themselves aren’t the “extremists,” it’s one of their supposed family friends.
Second, this Keystone Cop Sheriff here is a real big Morris Dees kiss ass. If I were the Brossart defense attorney, I’d move to have the whole case summarily dismissed en banc with prejudice on those grounds alone, that the Sheriff being so SPLC-friendly means that his law enforcement activities are biased. If that doens’t work, and they go to trial, then the Sheriff’s credibility will be easy to bork, simply because he’s in so thick with the SPLC, and their credibility is just about zero.
The only point the Sheriff might have is that the drone probably precluded a Waco. Except I’m not so sure that flying drones over the Branch Davidian property would have precluded Waco, because TPTB wouldn’t take the simple and obvious and simple step of lassoing in Koresh when he went out for his daily and unarmed jogs away from the property. Remember, the early 1990s were a time when the ATF was thought superfluous, and there were serious proposals to fold its functionality into the FBI. Therefore, to save its own skin, the ATF had to justify its existence, and it woudn’t have been glamorous if settling the Koresh question came down to a few county mounties slapping the cuffs on an unarmed jogger.
Personally, I think some big money institution has eyes on the Brossart farm, either a corporate farm, or an oil interest. Such an interest has probably funded the Sheriff’s poltical campaigns. North Dakota is in the middle of an oil boom, and this land might be sitting on top of billions of barrels. Wouldn’t have taken much to plop a few cows near their property line, if you catch my drift.
