Maine border officials confiscated a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood from a Gregory Despres the other day but let the man, sporting blood-stained clothes, into the US. Soon thereafter, the brutally slain bodies of the two people he had killed, a country musician and his wife, were found.
One might think that this is a case of incompetence and an example of how the system is failing us. However, the Maine border officials seem to have jumped through hoops trying to find a way to detain Mr. Despres but in the end let him in because he's a US citizen. Cooperation between Canadian and US officials soon did lead to the apprehension and arrest of Mr. Despres. Actual human thought and social interaction took place here.
In other news, US airport screeners labelled a woman a terrorist and put her on a watchlist because a misplaced bread knife used earlier to make sandwiches was found in her luggage. Officials seem to have taken pleasure in telling the woman that she is now considered a terrorist and that her constitutional rights do not apply.
Setting aside the gruesomeness of the first crime, I find the behaviour of the officials in the case of the bread knife to be much more disturbing and lacking evidence of actual mental processing. I'd much rather deal with the thoughtful and diligent Maine officials than the airport screening zombies.
