America’s Checkpoints

George Rebane

[This is the addended transcript of my regular KVMR commentary broadcast on 3 January 2018.]

Before we get into the more serious part of the commentary, I want to wish all KVMR listeners a healthy and prosperous 2018.  We all know it will be another extraordinary year no matter what your political outlook and hopes.

Last Sunday, New Year’s Eve, Jo Ann and I were preparing for a quiet and intimate evening with friends to enjoy a dinner in front of the fireplace, listen to some laid-back jazz, and play our favorite game of cards while keeping an eye on the happenings in Time Square with the TV on mute.  The Christmas decorations were still up, and the décor extended the festive mood from what turned out to be an entire month of holiday celebrations at our house.  And then I was suddenly reminded of what we saw on the news before our guests arrived.

The afternoon’s major coverage was about how secure the New Year’s celebrations were going to be across the country, starting of course with Times Square.  There we were shown long lines of would be revelers all lined up at checkpoints manned by police and other serious looking people with submachine guns at the ready, keeping their trained eyes on our east coast neighbors waiting to be allowed in and start celebrating.  We were assured by the newscaster and various officials that there would be, not one, but two cordons of security checkpoints that everyone would have go through before being granted ‘admission’ to one of the most public, open, and historically accessible spaces in the nation.  These scenes brought back many memories and a moist eye, because I was looking at what my country had become in a few short years.

You see, I have enough birthdays to remember WW2 and its aftermath.  As a young boy escaping from Estonia to Germany, I remember the wartime checkpoints that we all had pass through at which we were repeatedly searched and our papers examined to assure the state that all was in order.  And when the war ended, we became displaced persons and were again directed here and there through checkpoints with armed GIs checking our papers and looking through the three well-worn suitcases that contained all we had before being assigned to a DP camp.

People, who are not trusted by their governments, have tolerated such doings through the ages.  And today we again see the same thing happening in America.  The saddest part is that we have already become used to such police state tactics in our daily round.  We are scrutinized and searched when we go into public buildings, office towers, celebratory gatherings, and whenever we travel.  And new laws, regulations, and codes are passed daily that inevitably make us a criminal today for exercising what was yesterday a longstanding freedom.

I doubt that there are many listeners who remember a United States when you could simply walk into any public school or government building.  When you could arrive for your flight at the last minute, pocket knife in pocket, and run through the boarding gate onto the jetway while waving your ticket to the cheers of the gate attendants.  When carrying unloaded firearms on the back seat was the legal and recommended way of transporting them.  When kids actually played with each other all over town, getting there on bikes, spontaneously setting up their own games and resolving their own differences, all with the only parental guidance to be back home when the street lights came on.

That home of the brave and land of the free is no more.  Today we are monitored, tracked, logged, checked, confirmed, measured, frisked, x-rayed, and interrogated a dozen times or more a day, and we think nothing of it because the world has become dangerous, not only out there, but right where we live.  And we have long since become used to trading our freedoms for security.  Not too long ago we provided security for ourselves and our neighbors, and police in military gear and snipers on rooftops were unheard of and not needed to keep us safe.  How did this come about in such a short period of time? 

But the most important unasked question is, is there any evidence that such friendlier and trusting times will ever return, or will state-imposed constraints on our activities continue to ratchet indefinitely?  And finally, what exactly caused these changes to come about, are any of them reversible, and what will it take to again be without the constant fear of terror on our doorstep?  Or do we simply hunker down, accept our newest shackles and checkpoints with a shrug and mutter, ‘Yeah, that was then, and this is now.’

My name is Rebane, and I also expand on this and related themes on Rebane’s Ruminations where the addended transcript of this commentary is posted with relevant links, and where such issues are debated extensively.  However, my views are not necessarily shared by KVMR.  Thank you for listening.

[Addendum] I will take it upon myself to start an answer to the last question.  Longtime readers will recognize it as yet another thesis from the Rebane Doctrine that by now should have achieved the enviable classification as one more of the doctrine’s properly matured and seasoned Sanctimonious Screeds.  However, before dismissive sniffs rise to cacophonous levels, I ask the critical reader to judge the sequel by how well it incorporates and explains away the observables of record and those of plausible cause.

I believe the present state of affairs in the world order are the result of the spontaneously coordinated efforts of fundamental Islam and western socialism’s striving to meet Agenda21 objectives.  Off the top we note that neither ‘faction’ takes the other to task for its horrendous infliction of human misery and/or public policies that favor dissolution of traditional western cultures replaced by secular authoritarian controls.  Both understand that they are each doing the critical work needed to destroy western hegemony on their separate roads toward global government and the Islamic Caliphate (another form of global government).  Both factions believe that once the west has been beaten to submission, each can subvert the other to its end and achieve its final triumph.  In the meantime, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ is the unstated principle that guides and supports de facto cooperation and coordination.

This virtual partnership between the secular socialist and the zealous Islamist goes a long way to explain why the Islamists do everything possible to destabilize Islamic governments and make life in the resulting terror unbearable to its populations who seek peace and a future in other lands.  And commensurately it explains why EU socialists accept/promote Islamic ‘migration’, knowing the inflow of culturally disparate and unassimilating aliens will destabilize the historical Westphalian order of Europe.  Both ends make for the necessary disorder in which new and radical norms of governance will be demanded and supplied to the respective populations.

In all this the three nuclear behemoths – America, Russia, and China – are to be played off against each other so as to destroy the remaining anchors that naturally promote the survival of separate sovereign nation-states.  And here America is the lynchpin.  Rich, powerful, geographically isolated, and populated by a people with an exceptional raison d’etre, this country could not be destroyed from the outside.  It could only be undone from the inside by creating a rot in its social fabric which would then begin rending by adding a few existential shocks that promote distrust among its several resident cultures and cause its already large government to start applying ‘security measures’ that inevitably drive it toward authoritarian governance.

The intellectual mavens of radical Islam (led by Osama bin Laden) hatched and executed 9/11 as the seminal shock to kick that process into high gear.  We have witnessed over the last sixteen years the results of that successful attack.  And the successive following attacks, especially by the so-called ‘lone wolves’, have predictably chipped away at our social fabric.  The Islamists knew that our socialists would naturally resist efforts to identify our enemy, let alone put in place policies to effectively protect ourselves.  We need not venture far from our front doors to see the everyday products of such policies.

America, due to its entrepreneurial riches, abundant resources, and more than a bit of hubris, has always been a provincial country, satisfyingly facing inward and begrudgingly paying attention to the rest of the world, and then only when the barbarians are already at the door.  Our educational system has abetted that public attitude, and we are there now.  Any political leader who counsels a different tack for America is mercilessly vilified by our globalists who by and large determine our cares, what we know, and how we should divert ourselves.

There is, of course, much more.  But we’ll leave it here for now.

Comments

[Don Bessee]

At the gates? Inside the gates already-

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5259651/new-york-police-hunting-for-masked-isis-supporter-who-posed-in-the-big-apple-with-terror-groups-logo/

;-)

[Account Deleted]

There is a border patrol check point on Interstate 10 about 20 miles west of Las Cruces. It is no where near the border. The vast majority of traffic that flows through there was never in another country. There are Youtube videos that folks make as they go through there. The border patrol claims they don't have the manpower to control the border but can set up a check point that for the most part has nothing to do with the border. You are driving along, never having left the country or re-entered and you must stop and be detained. You are supposed to answer their questions. This is completely un-Constitutional. Most of the videos show folks doing what I wanted to do. Don't answer their questions. Be polite. Just keep asking if you are being detained.
It's not as straight forward as you would expect. The poorly trained schlubs that are on the front lines are just folks trying to earn a living. They don't know squat. Best to just ask if you are being detained and then ask for their superiors. The videos seem to suggest that they will hang you up for a while and then let you go if you are polite. A similar operation has been going on a while under the pretext of drug interdiction on the interstate just above Florida. The cops and the IRS have been seizing cash off of innocent citizens for decades. You have to 'prove' you are innocent and pay a 'fee' to get your money (or some of it) back. The last time I went through the re-entry at US 93 near Roosville, their camera couldn't read the licence plate on my motorcycle even though I had moved the bike to the line they had pointed to. One guard kept telling me to stand behind a line painted on the ground while another was ordering me to move the bike forward. They were 10 feet away from each other and apparently occupied separate universes. It was a matter of being polite and patient while the two goons made their brains operate at a more rational level and agree to order me to do the same operation. I was allowed to move the bike a bit forward no gun play ensued. Thank Ford for that!
We have DUI check points in practically every city where you are illegally detained and questioned. As far as I can determine, the courts never actually said this is Constitutionally OK, just that there is a 'war' on drunk driving and during war, you can't have all of your rights. The cops love to point out all of the 'other' illegal activities they can arrest you for at these check points. No doubt going door to door and barging in on citizens would yield a boatload more of these illicit activities.
Lets face it - as predicted - people end up wanting safety at the expense of liberty.
And they will end up with neither.

[Russ]

Throughout history civilizations emerge, rise to glory and then rotting from within, eventually contributing their structures and bones to archaeological history. Why should our's be any different? There seems to be a pattern that has been repeated over and over again across the planet. It is an agonizingly slow process that only the highly observant are aware is it taking place until the collapse comes in a rush and then the survivors are left wondering how did this happen? Wars or geological disasters are often the triggers for the collapse. We are progressing nicely along the path to our end days.

[Scenes from the Apocalypse]

ScottO@5:43PM

Looking at this map

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1m3M9G1ctiulkZk3UnbDQJ2oRIaE&hl=en

I can see the logic of their placement. I believe that part of the thinking is that there's a much lower set of requirements for a checkpoint than there is for pulling someone over, plus the rules are different close to the border in terms of shipping people back.

[Bill Tozer]

One of Dr. Rebane’s best. He condensed 110 good books into one post. Wow. Said it all.

1). It was the Boston Marathon bombing that ripped the blinders off my eyes. Where did all that manpower and military hardware come from sand swarming everywhere within minutes? So quickly, so many, so ready for assualt. Is this the new America?” I asked in surprise and in shock. Police and security like that? Place was crawling with military style “LE” tactical teams coming out of the woodwork from every direction and every place even remotely close to the scene. Yes, 9/11 changed everything.

2).The unsolved mystery is why in the world is the Left is teaming up with the Islamo-Nazifacists is beyond me. Do they think they will be spared when sword is turned on on them because they are educated, Enlightened, and welcoming? Do they think.....ah, it’s a puzzle. Their goals are similar, but the ”Progressive Thinkers” are pushing the Trojan Horse inside the fortress. Planned chaos is one thing, et tu brute is another.

The link below is the only answer I can think of that makes sense. A debunked news item, but has a good moral to it. Consider it a short bedtime story. Only thing I can think of to explain why the Left loves the snake so much, and why the snake loves the Left.

http://www.healthyfoodteam.com/she-slept-with-a-snake-and-then-the-vet-told-her-something-shocking/

[Account Deleted]

Scenes - It's been established that the border patrol can pretend the border 'zone' extends 100 miles from the border. They can't man the border but they can be 100 miles away! Those checkpoints are permanent and well established. Everyone in Mexico knows where they are. They are setting up these check points to get Americans used to being detained at will by the authorities with no probable cause. They are extremely un-effective at catching illegals. The same money and man power placed along the actual border would be a far better use of resources. There are American citizens who have land near the border who are pleading with the authorities for help and being told 'there's nothing we can do'. Well - they can, but they have decided not to.
I'm sad to say there are Americans of all political persuasions that want an invasive police state. It's human nature. Only a percentage of people seem to realize that police protection can be turned on and off depending upon politics.
It's only just begun in our country. We need to catch up with the 'progressive' Euros.

[jon smith]

Nothing new about remote border checkpoints. I spent 70-72 in San Diego and we had to live with them randomly popping up. I went to school with a guy who worked for border patrol and his job was to walk around in uniform with a clip board and write down license plate numbers. He did this on the UC campus, the shopping centers, the wharf . . . wherever. He said that the end of each week he would gather up all of his tally sheets and put them in a cardboard box at the Coronado substation. He admittedly served no other purpose than simply to be a show of force. I think 90% of the reason they conduct in-country field checks is simply to let the public know they are "being protected and in good hands." Any Mexican with a CB (didn't they all have CB's back in the day?) would know about the checkpoints as they were being established and well before they were operational. Now there is an app. Except for the technology of license plate scanners and iPhone alerts, nothing has changed. It is government oppression and intimidation by any other names.

[ArchieBunker]

I'll pass on a post at this FOB. South of this base on Google maps the borderline is conveniently fuzzed out but you can see all the roads leading from Mexico to the US as you scroll along the border.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Papago+Farms+FOB,+Papago+Farms+Rd,+Sells,+AZ+85634/@31.764925,-112.3101505,13z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x86d4df63e0703a25:0xc20b3f0415f1f314

https://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/2016/OIG-16-37-Feb16.pdf

[George Rebane]

FYI - Border security checkpoints, while an interesting and relevant topic in themselves, should be related to the kind of check points I am talking about in the commentary - in short, please connect the dots.

[ArchieBunker]

America is heading toward a feudal society. Vast tracts of land are not policed. Security is now being focused in on manageable areas. Gated communities, checkpoints at government buildings, schools, arenas are more and more common.

A wall ends here, the border is abandoned.

31.33362, -110.7958

[jon smith]

Borders are as much a state of mind as they are tangible boundaries. What is a border when you can fly to any point in America from about any point in the world? Our shipping ports get less than 10% of border security monies, yet the preponderance of goods imported (legal and otherwise) come via the seas. Canada has a vastly higher number of Islamists (radical and not) than Mexico ever will, but walling up our southern border is deemed most important for securing this country from terrorists?? It makes absolutely no sense.

It's only considered more important to protect ourselves from immigrant workers than from immigrant terrorists because we've been taught that through endless propaganda. What is a border when, from Syria, one can YouTube our in-country miscreants how to make a bomb or instantly text all your best friends in Yemen the blue prints to the Pentagon? Building a physical wall might have been good for the Alamo, the Normans or the Chinese many moons ago, but today it is a meaningless gesture whose only benefit is to soothe the ignorant public and for the engineering firms who will build the wall with your tax dollars.

[George Rebane]

jons 1110am - Am not sure from what universe you are getting your information. Physical borders appear to retain their utility over the centuries as corroborated by almost every nation in the world - most certainly in the EU and the mideast.

Your data on Canadian vs Mexican Islamist terrorist numbers is in error. Canada has and executes a very much more sophisticated process for detecting, tracking, and arresting terror suspects than does Mexico. The Mexican border porosity is more important because through that border come hundreds of thousand of illegal aliens, drug mules, human traffickers, and terrorists that easily evade the what Mexico calls its border security.

And let's get off that "physical wall" BS. It's border porosity that needs to be controlled, and that requires all means, mostly technology based, but in some places a physical wall is most efficient. The 'wall' paradigm is used for those who have trouble conceiving other means of border security. Are you one of them?

[Account Deleted]

GR - "But the most important unasked question is, is there any evidence that such friendlier and trusting times will ever return, or will state-imposed constraints on our activities continue to ratchet indefinitely?"
No evidence whatever. Of course the govt will continue to impose increasing constraints. It might not always be a perceptible increase, but when has the govt ever slackened its controls? Under Trump, perhaps a bit here and there, but the trend line is always towards more govt control. And as the populace continues to accept and adapt to a more controlling environment, they are - unfortunately- less apt to control themselves as good members of society.

[Generalissmo Covfefe]

Are your paperz in order???

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/realid