A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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I got to thinking recently. (THAT is ALWAYS dangerous!) If, 
as the DHS insists, I live in a Constitution Free Zone of America, and they can do as they darn well please inside this zone, then it also means I can do as I darn well please inside the CFZ, too. Huh? I have to ask the DHS ... does that mean that we are, in fact, living in a lawless zone? See, ALL our laws, local, state, and federal are based on the US Constitution. Without the Constitution, none of those laws apply, right? That means ALL law is null and VOID, right?
"Hot DANG!" It's the Old West, AGAIN! "Git me ma shoot iron, Ma. I'm a strappin that thang on and agoin to town!" (We already have "Open Carry" laws in NC. But, WAIT! With NO LAW, it doesn't matter now, does it?)
YES, I DO understand that DHS says that travelers along the nation’s borders may have their electronics seized and the contents of those devices examined for any reason whatsoever — all in the name of national security. But "the border," according to DHS, stretches 100 miles inland all the way around the country!
If you'd like to see where exactly the CFZ is, then go to: http://www.aclu.org/constitution-free-zone-map (You will note that is an ACLU site.)
I would remind you: THIS IS NO JOKE!
"Using
data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the ACLU has determined that
nearly 2/3 of the entire US population (197.4 million people) live
within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders.The government is assuming extraordinary powers to stop and search individuals within this zone. This is not just about the border: This " Constitution-Free Zone" includes most of the nation's largest metropolitan areas." SOURCE: http://www.aclu.org/national-security_technology-and-liberty/are-you-living-constitution-free-zone
Staying with the ACLU for a moment -- from their Fact Sheet on U.S. "Constitution Free Zone" we learn this:
"Normally under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the American people are not generally subject to random and arbitrary stops and searches.
The border, however, has always been an exception. There, the longstanding view is that the normal rules do not apply. For example the authorities do not need a warrant or probable cause to conduct a “routine search.”
But what is “the border”? According to the government, it is a 100-mile wide strip that wraps around the “external boundary” of the United States.
As a result of this claimed authority, individuals who are far away from the border, American citizens traveling from one place in America to another, are being stopped and harassed in ways that our Constitution does not permit.
Border Patrol has been setting up checkpoints inland — on highways in states such as California, Texas and Arizona, and at ferry terminals in Washington State. Typically, the agents ask drivers and passengers about their citizenship. Unfortunately, our courts so far have permitted these kinds of checkpoints – legally speaking, they are “administrative” stops that are permitted only for the specific purpose of protecting the nation’s borders. They cannot become general drug-search or other law enforcement efforts.
However, these stops by Border Patrol agents are not remaining confined to that border security purpose. On the roads of California and elsewhere in the nation – places far removed from the actual border – agents are stopping, interrogating, and searching Americans on an everyday basis with absolutely no suspicion of wrongdoing.
The bottom line is that the extraordinary authorities that the
government possesses at the border are spilling into regular American
streets." SOURCE: http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/fact-sheet-us-constitution-free-zoneIn order to learn how much of the US population is living within the CFZ where DHS is claiming these preposterous powers, the ACLU did some ciphering.
"The population estimates were calculated by examining the most recent US census numbers for all counties within 100 miles of these borders. Using numbers from the Population Distribution Branch of the US Census Bureau, we were able to estimate both the total number and a state-by-state population breakdown. The custom map was created with help from a map expert at World Sites Atlas." SOURCE: http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/fact-sheet-us-constitution-free-zone
So. What did the ACLU learn: "What we found is that fully TWO-THIRDS of the United States’ population lives within this Constitution-free or Constitution-lite Zone. That’s 197.4 million people who live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders.
Nine of the top 10 largest metropolitan areas as determined by the 2000 census, fall within the Constitution-free Zone. (The only exception is #9, Dallas-Fort Worth.) Some states are considered to lie completely within the zone: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont." SOURCE: http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/fact-sheet-us-constitution-free-zone
(Editor's Note: We recommend you go to this ACLU site and read it's contents. This is no joking matter! It is for REAL!)
It is not often we agree with the ACLU but THIS time -- they are right. In closing on their Fact Sheet on US Constitution Free Zones they say the following: "If the current generation of Americans does not challenge this creeping (and sometimes galloping) expansion of federal powers over the individual through the rationale of “border protection,” we are not doing our part to keep alive the rights and freedoms that we inherited, and will soon find that we have lost some or all of their right to go about their business, and travel around inside their own country, without interference from the authorities." We could not agree more!!
To argue that this pertains only to electronic devices is ludicrous. Think about what you have on your cell phone, you smart phone your laptop your PC. Heck, our very lives are embedded on those things these days. Want to know someone, I mean REALLY know someone, take a look at their computer, smart phone, etc.
Having said all the above, my point is this: Again, we have allowed the US Constitution to be shredded! We have allowed America, once the freest country on the planet, to become the largest police state on the planet.
When, oh, when, are the American people going to bow their backs, get their hackles up, and say: "ENOUGH, damnit!" Or, are we going to wait until they build that fence along the southern border -- and the eastern border -- and the northern border -- and the western border?
Finally. Remember the civilian army Obama spoke off years ago, that he said must be as well equipped and trained as the US military? Well, he has that army now. It's called the DHS. They're armed with everything from Tanks to Armored Personnel Carriers to battle rifles, to bullet proof check points, and billions upon billions of rounds of man-stopping ammunition. THEY are ready for an uprising. In fact, they are EXPECTING an uprising.
The question is: Will Americans resist? Frankly, I don't know, anymore. I just don't know.
© J. D. Longstreet
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