Nevada ranching family claims victory as government releases cattle

[cheapdate]

77. I don't have any idea how difficult it would be for the BLM

to acquire and operate military style, armed, aerial drones.

I don't know if they would have the financial resources or the legal authority to do so, or if they possess the technical knowledge and command and control infrastructure required to use advanced missile systems to assist them in rounding up cattle in Nevada.

A federal land management agency using armed aerial drones as an enforcement tool would obviously be a pretty big step.

I hope that this guy Bundy loses in the end. Despite Bundy's ludicrous beliefs that the government of the United States is a fictional entity, that the federal courts have no authority over him, that Article 2 of the US Constitution -- which grants that "[t]he Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States" -- doesn't apply to federal land in Nevada, whatever he believes, he can't simply go on ignoring the law and using public land as if it was solely his own without regard to what the law, the public, or the authorities have to say. There is nothing unjust about requiring someone who uses public land, public infrastructure, or public resources to compensate the public for that use. And no one can simply use public land however he wishes.

As much as I'd love to simply move into one of the empty cabins in Cade's Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and start grazing sheep there, I can't simply declare that I don't recognize the authority of the Park Service or the federal courts and then move in without expecting to be forcibly removed.

I'm disappointed that the BLM backed down but I don't have nearly enough knowledge of the situation to offer a truly informed criticism of their decision. My hope is that the government will simply use another tactic that will accomplish the objective of enforceing the orders of the court without unnecssary bloodshed.