Inspecting International Mail and other stuff...
Recent headlines scream about the invasion of privacy because some college professor had his international mail inspected when it entered the country. How did he know? CBP sealed the envelope with tape labeled inspected by CBP. (Sneaky Bastards) When did this outrage begin, it must have been after 9/11 with the Patriot Act. WRONG! CBP and prior to their existence Customs has always inspected international mail. There are 14 international mail branches in the states. Did you really think that if you mailed it, no one would check it, how much contraband would be in the mail? Get serious, for an educated man, he is really dumb. International mail has always been inspected just as people and their belongings have always been inspected, just like cargo has always been inspected. If it crosses the border, basically, it is subject to inspection. What an ignorant waste of media space, get a clue.
On another note, the subject of border crossing ID cards has been raised again (read the previous posts) and once again those proposing them are expecting the public to be sheep and be lead by the nose.... and they probably will. But imagine this scenario:
We don't go with ID cards and the law requiring passports goes into effect. Do you know what would happen if everyone said, hey we are not shelling out the bucks for passports and as a result we are not crossing the border to shop. Folks, all of the number one leading chain stores are on the border, if you don't believe it go down there during the holidays or even better look it up. If people stop crossing the border to shop, the politicians will get a resounding boot in the butt in a very short period of time. I guess it the people just have to stand up and be counted. As you can tell I am not a huge fan of the ID cards or requiring Passports, I know the inspection process and know that with state ID and good interviewing skills or really even just good interviewing skills, threat assessment can be conducted. Burdening US Citizens in this way just gets on my nerves, do you really want to keep a USC out because he forgot his passport. I don't have an problem with this requirement of Canadians or Mexicans. Reliance on the document would be a mistake, it helps, but docs can be forged or genuine docs bought, folks it is in the interview.
.....And the truth is a good interview makes for slower processing.
BT
On another note, the subject of border crossing ID cards has been raised again (read the previous posts) and once again those proposing them are expecting the public to be sheep and be lead by the nose.... and they probably will. But imagine this scenario:
We don't go with ID cards and the law requiring passports goes into effect. Do you know what would happen if everyone said, hey we are not shelling out the bucks for passports and as a result we are not crossing the border to shop. Folks, all of the number one leading chain stores are on the border, if you don't believe it go down there during the holidays or even better look it up. If people stop crossing the border to shop, the politicians will get a resounding boot in the butt in a very short period of time. I guess it the people just have to stand up and be counted. As you can tell I am not a huge fan of the ID cards or requiring Passports, I know the inspection process and know that with state ID and good interviewing skills or really even just good interviewing skills, threat assessment can be conducted. Burdening US Citizens in this way just gets on my nerves, do you really want to keep a USC out because he forgot his passport. I don't have an problem with this requirement of Canadians or Mexicans. Reliance on the document would be a mistake, it helps, but docs can be forged or genuine docs bought, folks it is in the interview.
.....And the truth is a good interview makes for slower processing.
BT
posted by Border Train at 9:44 PM
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