This is a guest post by Jake in Chicago.
I opted out of flying home on the 24th, and flew home on the 25th instead. Since I flew Beijing to O’Hare, I followed the sun, leaving Beijing at 6:55 am and arriving in O’Hare at 6:55 am the same day, Thanksgiving. I slept in the Beijing airport for the night and morning of the 24th, and –if you ever need to do this– the Thai restaurant there is very nice and willing to accommodate sleepers.
I flew from Bangkok to Beijing, to O’Hare airport in Chicago. While in Beijing airport, I went into a gold store that sold pure gold bullion and coins (confiscated by FDR, then illegal until Clinton, and likely subject to government confiscation any day now). I also went into a store selling TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). In that store they were selling hemp oil in a package labeled “Maren Runjang Wan” that had a picture of a marijuana plant on it, and FDA-forbidden apricot kernels that prevent cancer (protecting the big pharma companies), as well as cordyceps-riddled caterpillars (their mainstay).
I had these things on my person as I stepped off the plane. I knew that, if found, I would be hassled, and possibly fined by the entity that has taken the place of the US government (ironically the government with the 4th-amendment private property protections, not the openly communist government where the goods were purchased). I planned on fighting any charges under a 4th amendment pro-se defense, and demanding a jury trial if necessary. I declared nothing. I also planned to opt out of any scanner search (but there was none, because I was arriving and deplaning, not boarding).
I walked past the trail of tears of all the people stupid enough to declare that they had “suspect” merchandise. They were being searched, and having their valuable private property stolen by mindless government thugs. I walked right past all that, and was in my brother’s car in less than 5 minutes.
What’s my point?
Government tyranny is especially brutal on those who willingly accept its authority. You don’t get a reprieve by being a sheep. You get a full cavity search.
Defy it. Demand a jury trial. Read Marc Stevens’ books. Understand that without the willingness to fight, you have already lost your freedom.
Freedom is not just a state of mind. It is the ability to travel freely with your property, unmolested by uniformed simpletons with tasers and batons. But having the right state of mind helps ensure that our children will be more free than you are now. This valley can be temporary or permanent. It can be as much freedom as we’ll ever have, or as little.
Don’t defeat yourself before you travel.
Beautiful post. I do Beijing a lot as well. I will be keeping your note about the Thai restaurant just in case. I find it absolutely disturbing how the mainstream likes to criticize China for being communist, barbaric, poor civil rights, work conditions, etc, all the while doing everything profitable to bring about the very things they proclaim is bad about China.
I believe there was one case of FDR law actually confiscating gold, but was returned directly from the person. And Clinton could not pass any laws making owning gold illegal. But, I do believe that what the DHS are doing is grossly unconstitutional.
Up until this post I forgot China was a communist country, but from what I can tell, does it matter?
Thank you for all the information you provide. I will have to be traveling in February and are dreading going to the airport. Wish I could take air force one, so I could bypass the TSA. I heard from a friend, he was going to make a big metal cross so it spreads across his chest area and hold on to it through security and if TSA says he must remove it, he can say it’s against his religion.
Not only does he have an excellent point, but the Nazi’s were also thugs that bullied people and since no one stood up to them at the beginning of their attempts to take over the german govt. they succeeded in taking over the govt., and we all know where that led. So it takes guts to stand up for your freedoms. But we ALL must do it to be effective. The mindless TSA people will be the ones to say “We are just following orders” It never ends. I wil not travel until this craziness is stopped.