Australian children's author Mem Fox detained by US border control: 'I sobbed..'
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
They've decided they have authority over 2/3 of the population on some absurd argument that anything within a hundred miles of a border and/or the ocean is under their jurisdiction. https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone
They can shoot and kill a kid in another country and not be sued or extradited: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2017/02/21/cross-...
US citizens: don't cower to the bullies. No reason not to be polite, but in the face of aggression, remember you have the right to enter the US at all times by showing your passport. It's not their business what you were doing overseas, don't incriminate yourself and give them reasons to accuse you of lying to them (a crime). Do not answer questions if taken for further screening. Do understand they may seize your phone and laptop if you don't unlock for them.
>Cynthia New Hampshire 4 hours ago This behavior is actually the behavior that should be of serious concerns to Americans. I spent six years in the military, and I learned a lot about human nature during that time, and it boils down to this: there are some people who are suited for positions of authority and some people who are absolutely not. Those who are not are often drawn, for psychological reasons to complicated to describe here, to work in positions where they can exert their personal brand of control and authority with impunity. What prevents many of these folks, those in ICE, corrections, law enforcement, etc., from behaving in outright unacceptable manners is the fact that there is a mystique, or more accurately, a facade of controlled professionalism around them that serves to regulate their behaviors. That facade is eroding--rapidly--and what we're seeing is what happens when a society doesn't psychologically screen and train applicants fully. The culture of law enforcement is not a productive or healthy one as it exists today, and the deregulation (clinically) we see here will become more frequent and increasingly ugly. As the need for more ICE and law enforcement agents increases, the quality of those applicants will degrade. I fear that what we'll end up with is a Stanford Prison Experiment sort of free-for-all that we can't call off after six days.
I agree with this. My assessment of the situation has been that while there may not have been direct command from John Kelly et al to start being more aggressive, this can flow culturally through an organization without direct instruction very easily. Look at Uber's culture set from the top down.
The US is eating itself alive, nothing short of a Bernie Sanders style revolution is going to slow this process down.
Or, to provide a counter point, a Libertarian revolution.
And I don't mean Trump's bastard version of Libertarianism that just means removing regulations from companies.
I mean the kind that lets people or all color, religion, sex, orientation, and place or origin live their life free and keep the money they earn.
Under a Libertarian system border agents that overstep and infringe on the liberties of people (citizens or not) would be taken to task. And if we treat the environment as the commons, it would certainly be better for the environment than under Trump as well. [1]
The poor would be helped in this scenario because instead of being thrown in jail for drug abuse it would be treated as a public health issue. And predatory government welfare programs (ones designed to keep you on them forever rather than help you get on your feet) would be gone. Under Sanders those would increase.
Now the "Libertarian Utopia" has it's drawbacks. I'm not going to pretend it is all roses. But I think it would be better for everyone than a Bernie Sander's style revolution and definitely better than Trump.
[1] Example: Trump removed regulation from coal companies wanting to pollute the water. But a principled Libertarian could argue that such pollution infringes on the liberties of those who have to drink from or have wells that get fed from that water. Likewise, if a company wants to build a pipeline through your land and you say no, it's not happening sorry, find somewhere else to put your pipeline.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13729770 (15 comments)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13730736 (4 comments)
(edit, sine HN doesn't let me reply: why would it be important to have watched it? According to Wikipedia, it is set at JFK. Watching it would not have added a new impression about that.)