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Canadian woman detained & strip-searched by feds for not declaring pint of raspberries when entering US via Ambassador Bridge: Hey, it's Detroit. And that's how we roll! Nah. The feds act that way everywhere and esp. so if you show them any attitude or get snarly. These guys are federal officers after all who are not gonna be dissed or out done by those TSA weenies. Word to the wise.

Both ends of this stick are dirty: Jackson county taxpayers to pay for accused judge's legal bills. The first $100,000 anyway. The county's insurance carrier picks it up after that.

Sign of the times...

CBS News is reporting that a Mexican drug gang set off a car bomb to ambush the police in Juarez a Mexican city right across the Rio Grande river from El Paso, Texas. This is a major escalation of the already violent narco war going on at the border. At least three officers were killed. This comes on the heels of reports of snipers popping off shots at the Border Patrol and of stray bullets from previous Juarez shoot-outs landing in El Paso.

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Sci-fi writer Peter Watts kinda reveals himself ... -Bloggingheads.tv (video)

Io9's Analee Newitz interviews sci-fi writer Peter Watts about his U.S Border Patrol agent assault arrest and trial last year as well as his novels and other topics.

While I hold no brief for overly aggressive Border Patrol agents (or authority figures in general) Watts strikes me as an asshole who just won't play the game and then bitches when things go bad. Why? Border crossings are a tricky environment and you really need to be cool when crossing them. Because if you aren't you end up like Watts; a convicted felon, (who will likely) be barred from entering the US for a while, (Watts is Canadian), possibly jailed, fined and with legal bills. They truly are and always have been Fourth Amendment free zones as far as what the BP agents can search. Just like airports only nastier.

Lest you think I'm blowing smoke here I went through roughly the same treatment Watts got at the hands of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's department when I objected to the whole x-ray scan, pat-down, frisk routine when I tried to enter the county courthouse building in Ann Arbor back in '08. You just have to grit your teeth and put up with it or don't go. The feds don't care about your Hugo nominations or your Ph.D. They don't have to.