News from North of the Border

Despite being fully integrated economically the media seems to ignore stuff north of the 49th parallel. I live a few hundred miles south and get the CBC on TV. I warn you that this report is disturbing.

First, if you are crossing a border into the USA you are a suspect. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will investigate every last word on your laptop.

Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.
Also, officials may share copies of the laptop’s contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“The policies . . . are truly alarming,” said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government’s border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.
DHS officials said that the newly disclosed policies — which apply to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens — are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism. Officials said such procedures have long been in place but were disclosed last month because of public interest in the matter.

This is one of the few instances I agree with Senator Feingold (he has often promoted saving 10 cents in this year’s military budget, to cost an extra dollar in the next, hoping to cancel the program over the increased cost. The man has tried to kill many times JVC in Utah, the country’s only major source of rocket fuel).

Meanwhile, anyone at Whistler, the site of the Winter Olympics is TRAPPED. Landslides have severed the only road (I’ve driven it)

Whistler Air and Perimeter Bus Lines Ltd. Appear to be among the biggest beneficiaries as stranded tourists and commuters seek alternatives after Tuesday’s massive rock fall on British Columbia’s Sea to Sky Highway.
The B.C. Ministry of Transportation says 16,000 vehicles use the Sea to Sky to travel between Vancouver and Squamish at this time of year.
But after a section of the road, located 20 kilometres south of Squamish was buried under a mountain of rock on Tuesday, many of those vehicle drivers are looking at other options, including air transportation and alternative routes.

Next, the non-gun carrying Canadians have no violent crime, right? When no one has guns, there are still knives. This is horrible. If you go to Google News Canada, this is the top story.

A quiet, easy-going carnival worker who was heading home to Winnipeg has been identified as the victim of an unthinkably horrific and random slaying on a Greyhound bus.
Friends said Tim McLean, 22, was the young man who was stabbed repeatedly and then decapitated by a man sitting next to him, who then carved up his body in front of terrified passengers.
William Caron, 23, of Winnipeg, said that contrary to some reports, McLean was not asleep when the attack happened.
…..

Passengers gave a much more graphic account of events.
“We heard this blood-curdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly, like 40 or 50 times,” Garnet Caton said from a hotel in Brandon, Man., where he and other passengers had been taken to rest.
“There was no rage or anything. He was like a robot, stabbing the guy.”
Caton said the bus stopped immediately, just west of Portage La Prairie on Wednesday night, and everyone scrambled to get out while the attacker started methodically carving up the victim’s body, not paying attention to anyone else.
There have been several media reports that the man was seen to consume some of the victim’s flesh.
Caton and the driver shut the bus door from the outside while they waited for police to arrive.
“We put our bodies up against the door, waiting for him to come out … and he went back and brought the head to the front and pretty much displayed it … and dropped it on the ground in front of us,” Caton said.
“All very calmly. He was wearing sunglasses. It was no big deal to him.”

I hope this brutal attack makes the US press, to void the impression that everything is great north of the border. Every country has its’ psychopaths. They aren’t the norm, and Canada has them too. .

FILED UNDER: Borders and Immigration, Religion, Terrorism, , , , , , , , , ,
Richard Gardner
About Richard Gardner
Richard Gardner is a “retired” Navy Submarine Officer with military policy, arms control, and budgeting experience. He contributed over 100 pieces to OTB between January 2004 and August 2008, covering special events. He has a BS in Engineering from the University of California, Irvine.

Comments

  1. Triumph says:

    I hope this brutal attack makes the US press

    It was in the Times this morning.

  2. Michael says:

    First, if you are crossing a border into the USA you are a suspect. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will investigate every last word on your laptop.

    That’s why God made encryption.

  3. RWB says:

    So what moral high ground will we have when the Chinese start copying all of the data from computers carried by business travelers or turists?

  4. RWB says:

    Just read more about this – and in addition to any electronic media you are carrying, they can take any papers you are carrying; in other words, you can no longer safely carry private or confidential information over the border. Maybe we can get some unemployed ex-Stasi to show us how to do it.

  5. Michael says:

    and in addition to any electronic media you are carrying, they can take any papers you are carrying

    Your body cavities will be next, so be careful what you eat for lunch before crossing.

  6. DC Loser says:

    If anyone believes that using commercial encryption will protect your data, I have a bridge to sell you. If the government REALLY wants to see what you’re hiding, they can break any encryption software you use. It’s just a matter of time needed.

  7. Michael says:

    If anyone believes that using commercial encryption will protect your data, I have a bridge to sell you. If the government REALLY wants to see what you’re hiding, they can break any encryption software you use. It’s just a matter of time needed.

    Hell, I can break any commercial encryption algorithm, it’s just a matter of time. But if it’s going to take the government 100 years to brute-force my 2048 bit encryption key, that’s enough protection for me.

  8. Bruce Moomaw says:

    On the bright side: it’s a lot harder to carry out drive-by stabbings.