The Noose Tightens Just A Little More

As Kerodin would say, the mask is coming off.

Every single day now I read about yet another incremental incursion on our liberties by the United States Government and it's legions of lackeys.

I'm sure you remember the Constitution Free Zone that was arbitrarily imposed around our borders several years ago now?

The excuse that was given for this law breaking bit of tyranny was that the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches do not necessarily apply at our borders or Ports of Entry.

The ACLU has this to say about the subject;

According to the government, however, these basic constitutional principles do not apply fully at our borders. For example, at border crossings (also called "ports of entry"), federal authorities do not need a warrant or even suspicion of wrongdoing to justify conducting what courts have called a "routine search," such as searching luggage or a vehicle.

Even in places far removed from the border, deep into the interior of the country, immigration officials enjoy broad—though not limitless—powers. Specifically, federal regulations give U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authority to operate within 100 miles of any U.S. "external boundary."
In this 100-mile zone, Border Patrol agents have certain extra-Constitutional powers. For instance, Border Patrol can operate immigration checkpoints.

Border Patrol, nevertheless, cannot pull anyone over without "reasonable suspicion" of an immigration violation or crime (reasonable suspicion is more than just a "hunch"). Similarly, Border Patrol cannot search vehicles in the 100-mile zone without a warrant or "probable cause" (a reasonable belief, based on the circumstances, that an immigration violation or crime has likely occurred).

I emphasized that last paragraph because it is this part of the game they are playing that I am going to be talking about here.

In the same article I have quoted above, the very next paragraph points out that this is increasingly not the case.

In practice, Border Patrol agents routinely ignore or misunderstand the limits of their legal authority in the course of individual stops, resulting in violations of the constitutional rights of innocent people. These problems are compounded by inadequate training for Border Patrol agents, a lack of oversight by CBP and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the consistent failure of CBP to hold agents accountable for abuse. Thus, although the 100-mile border zone is not literally "Constitution free," the U.S. government frequently acts like it is.

Now I am going to inform you of a recent incident near our Northern border that should highlight the fact that these abuses routinely occur even though the government official is knowingly breaking the law and has been warned by someone who not only knows the law but has just gotten a Degree in Law Enforcement and has applied to the very agency that is abusing them. Instead of stopping when the individual expressly informs them of their wrongdoing, the Customs and Border Patrol agent goes all in and compounds the illegal search with violence, consequences be damned.

This young lady was not crossing the border for one thing, was illegally detained, assaulted and her car searched, all without probable cause or any warrants.

This is what our government wants us to think is the new normal,

Jessica Cooke, a 21-year-old from Ogdensburg, New York, recently graduated from SUNY Canton with a degree in law enforcement leadership and had already applied for a job as a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent when she was surprised by an impromptu final lesson at a CBP checkpoint on Route 37 in Waddington last week. What she learned—that people who insist on their constitutional rights in this setting run the risk of being roughed up and shot with a stun gun—should help make her a better CBP agent, although CBP may not see it that way.

Cooke was driving from Norfolk to her boyfriend's house in Ogdensburg, the northern border of which is the St. Lawrence River. If you cross the river, you are in Canada, but Cooke was not crossing the river. She nevertheless became subject to the arbitrary orders of CBP agents by driving through one of the country's many internal immigration checkpoints,

Snipped for brevity, the article explains the 100 mile inclusion zone.

For some mysterious reason, she was instructed to pull into a secondary inspection area, where she used her cellphone to record a five-minute video of the stop (below).

I strongly urge you to watch this video, this what happens anymore when you assert your Constitutionally Protected Rights and are aware of current law decisions forbidding the very behavior you are about to witness!



After asserting her rights, proving to the CBP officers that she was informed and aware of what is and is not legal, they still ignored her and wound up not only assaulting her by hitting her with a Tazer, they searched her trunk anyway, without a warrant, even after the K-9 unit went around the car without incident!

This is only one example of systemic and government approved abuse of what should have been an average citizen on an average day by these people and I would be very interested in hearing what comes of this in the end when all is said and done.

They are never wrong and if you do not do as they say instantly then any head bashing you receive is your own damn fault for not groveling at the feet of your all powerful and all knowing tax money collecting government employee, whether they be city, county, state or federal matters not.

The reality of our situation is that we currently do and have been for many years now, live in a Police State where even the Supreme Laws of the Land do not apply anymore and you have no defense against any abuses imaginable, up to and including your murder, at the hands of some ignorant power tripping traffic cop, because hey, you looked nervous.

I'm thinking the ones they should be concerned with are the ones who DON"T look nervous, there must be something seriously wrong with the person if they have such little regard for their own personal safety.