On the way back it should be Canadian people screening him, no? The American agents will be after he gets his suitcase back which in my experience is not a big deal. Just don't bring back any cheese or plants or meats.

It's the getting out that will be hard, but his mom can stand on one side of security and watch through the window. At least at Logan you can... you're kind of a bit back but if there's a problem they can get you.

My cousin says the same thing that when he goes into canada by road it is never a problem, but he is subject to a lot of questions and screening when returning.

THIS is what the country has become:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/06/politics/nsa-verizon-records/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

This is beyond frightening. This is police state tactics.

We've been a police state for at least five years, and surveillance state for a good bit longer than that. Make a phone call? Send an email? A text? There's a record of that, and the government can get access any time they want. There's a record of every transaction you've made that wasn't purely cash (and they're working on getting RFID chips into the money, so pretty soon even cash transactions will be tracked.) There are surveillance cameras almost everywhere in urban areas. Your cash and valuable assets can be seized without your ever being charged with a crime.

People are always talking about the police state as if its just around the corner. It's HERE! Now! The TSA and border security are just the latest manifestations (and don't you wish they'd put as much effort into keeping illegal immigrants out as they do into giving passport bearing Americans the border colonoscopy?

I keep sayin' it's long past time for the revolution.

Got bullets?

On the way back it should be Canadian people screening him, no?

Having flown from Vancouver to the US in June of 2002, you have to pass thru US Customs in Canada. I was travelling with my elderly mother, and they wanted to separate us, and I said that wasn't going to happen.

Being an asshole hadn't yet seeped into their culture, so they let it slide. I guess that was still in the pre-TSA days.

and they're working on getting RFID chips into the money, so pretty soon even cash transactions will be tracked

I've got a hammer, and time. Tell 'em to let me know how that works out for them, eh? I got pretty handy at yanking the strips out of $20s, too.

Speaking of RFID, I'm gratified to say that my replacement credit card did not have one of those infernal chips in it, unlike its predecessor.

I've asked this question before: what is your sine qua non moment were you go from being disturbed/disgusted/cynical about the government shenanigans to storming the barricades and demanding redress of grievances?

They're doing it for your own good, can't you see?? You should admire their tireless work for the public.

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four was published on this date in 1949

Being a regular traveler to Canada from the States by plane, you are always screened in Canada by US agents in Canada, not in the States when you disembark. Having taken many, many trips, I've never had any issues whatsoever coming and going with customs. Even once I was asked to go to secondary arriving in Canada, it was a brief experience and the Canadian agent was courteous and professional. The issues I've experienced traveling have always been at the hands of the lame security theater that TSA is Stateside.

TSA are the most unprofessional power hungry and abusive group of individuals I've ever encountered. Mall cops, at best, corrupt, and just ignorant about our civil rights. Almost all of the agents I've encountered with TSA are extremely rude and condescending, caught up in their power trips and given free reign by their handlers. I always am nice and cooperative, but refuse the body scanner every time. This automatically makes you a suspect, and the enhanced pat down and ridiculous questions are both designed to humiliate you for refusing to having your body irradiated.

I've asked this question before: what is your sine qua non moment were you go from being disturbed/disgusted/cynical about the government shenanigans to storming the barricades and demanding redress of grievances?

I'm very close. I've been buying small amounts of gold with cash (consistently, so that eventually I'll have a large amount of gold to be used when the dollar becomes a less appealing form of currency), and putting together a bugout bag. Unfortunately, because of where I live, acquiring firearms and ammo is pretty much a no-go unless I want to do it illegally (which I haven't ruled out.)

My main problem at this point is how to hook up with like minded people. There aren't all that many of us in my neck of the woods, for starters, and I'm not terribly eager to throw my lot in with racist militia groups or anyone like that. I just want to know some like minded folks who are ready to go underground if we need to.

Ah, forgot the sine qua non moment: When the US military fires on American citizens.

Senator Feinstein & Co. think the unwarranted phone surveillance is just yummy.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/06/senate-intelligence-leaders-say-phone-surveillance-is-lawful/?hpt=hp_t2

Republicans and Democrats, working together.

Republicans and Democrats, working together.

Fucktards. I hate them.

Most of the "militia group" types are not racist, despite what you read in the mainstream (anti-gun) press - at least, no more racist than the white, suburban couple I chatted with at a friend's son's grad party last weekend who were comparing our area high schools with veiled references to the "diversity" factor in the one they did not want their kids attending.

I just have trouble connecting with LMIs because maintaining in-person friendships is exhausting work and I'm not very good at it.

Just got back from a trip to Germany, and, on the flight out of Frankfurt back the US, I joked to my boyfriend that the security personnel in Germany must get a good laugh out of how paranoid Americans get when they go through security because we've been so victimized by our own country.

For example, when I was putting all my stuff in the bin to go through the Xray, I couldn't find my little baggie with my liquids. I was frantically trying to find it, fishing through my backpack (because in the US, you get scolded if you don't separate your liquids out). The relaxed-looking security dude asked what I was looking for so frantically, and when I told him, he laughed and asked, "Is your toothpaste DANGEROUS?"

I asked if I needed to take my shoes off too. He laughed and said "no."

My boyfriend did get his backpack searched by a lady on the other side of the Xray. When she fished out a bottle of Pepto (bigger than 3 oz), my boyfriend asked if she was going to throw it out. She looked shocked and said, "No! This is MEDICINE. I recognize this stuff. It's for the stomach!"

The idea that someone would throw away medicine was silly to her -- and it is silly!

But wait, there's more!

US spied on your internet usage:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/06/politics/nsa-internet-mining/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

In Indiana, we've had a search warrant issued because a baby was crying for an hour. I've seen babies cry longer, for no apparent reason.

Yesterday, a search warrant was issued on the basis of an anonymous call. A budding Cat Lady had her door kicked in and 6 cats with 7 kittens seized. As no feces-covered walls were reported, police are determining if all the cats have had their shots before filing charges.

Probable cause is no longer applicable. Back in the USSR?

what is your sine qua non moment were you go from being disturbed/disgusted/cynical about the government shenanigans to storming the barricades and demanding redress of grievances?

I have three

1st, when the governemnt screws me over so badly it becomes cost effective to me to die in my attmpt to take out as many government thugs as I can

2nd, when it becomes bad enough that so many people are doing it that I wont be like the peons of yore sent in ahead of the knights to tire out the opposing forces

3rd, if I'm old enough or close enough to death, and things are bad enough for me to be one of the leading peons encouraging others to follow

1st, when the governemnt screws me over so badly it becomes cost effective to me to die in my attmpt to take out as many government thugs as I can -- lujlp at June 6, 2013 8:10 PM

lujlp,

Just remember that the best way is to park the truck in the parking lot and then go in and pull the fire alarm. When everybody is in the parking lot, then set off the bomb. :-p

I agree with you. I'm just hoping there is enough honor left in the DoD to rebel against their commanders when they are mobilized in the U.S.

"Ah, forgot the sine qua non moment: When the US military fires on American citizens."

My guess is that if and when it happens, it won't be the regular military. It'll be a self-empowered secret police/paramilitary government agency, with most of the firepower of the military, but none of the discipline.

My boyfriend did get his backpack searched by a lady on the other side of the Xray. When she fished out a bottle of Pepto (bigger than 3 oz), my boyfriend asked if she was going to throw it out. She looked shocked and said, "No! This is MEDICINE. I recognize this stuff. It's for the stomach!"

The idea that someone would throw away medicine was silly to her -- and it is silly!

Posted by: sofar at June 6, 2013 11:07 AM
_________________________________

But, if you're willing to go to the trouble of putting liquid methadone - or other drugs - in tiny bottles with benign labels, that COULD be a way of getting it through customs!

In fact, that's just what Nancy Spungen did when coming back from England, according to the bio written by her mother: "And I Don't Want to Live This Life." (She put it in a regular-sized dish soap bottle - and got through.)