Sun, Sand and Bomb Squads

Ah, Spring break! A right of passage for thousands of college students across the United States. Head to the beach to drink too much, dance the night away and getting way too loud. Occasionally someone steps outside the law and that’s when you need the local police–occasionally. Let’s not forget that when college students get together there is the possibility of a sexual encounter. OMG!! College students blowing off steam after a semester of brain-draining labs, never ending lectures and homework.

Thirty years ago when my friends and I descended upon the beaches of central Florida the police were there to “protect and serve” and arrest the handful of people that did in fact break the law. You know, the usual faire, bar fight, public intoxication or some sort of lewd behavior. For the most part, and my guess is that it still holds true today, is the kids are just having a grand time and celebrating their new found freedom. They have been away from their parents watchful eye for at least a few months, if not a couple of years, and now they are in a “foreign setting” that allows for a far greater sense of freedom.

Welcome to Gulf Shores 2014. My wife and I decided to travel to the Gulf Shores to do some gambling and get away from home and work for a few days. We love going to the “Redneck Rivera” as it is close to home, has a beach and several casinos in close quarters. The casinos are some of the nicest you will find outside of Vegas and the odds of winning are about the same as Vegas. We only take what we can afford to lose, so, it doesn’t hurt if we lose. Dining is similar to what you would find in any major tourist area, everything from four-star to fast-food garbage.

When we arrived several of the people in the lobby of the hotel where we were staying were discussing Spring Break and the onslaught of kids that would be arriving within a day or so. We had not planned on the casinos being over-run, but accepted the fact and didn’t give it too much thought. The next night we traveled to the opposite end of the beach to visit a newly remodeled casino/hotel we noticed a mass of police, beach comber ATV’s, a helicopter and a police command station. Needless to say this had our full, undivided attention. The police had quartered off a section of the shopping mall’s parking lot with the orange netting. The helicopter and command station, with it’s two thirty foot tall cell towers, were the items that had truly stunned our senses. My wife turned to me and ask “Are we still in America? Did something happen that we missed? This is too much, this is just too much.” I simply explained this is what I have been talking about for over a year, the “new normal”. The police state is encompassing our once free republic. I reminded her that two years ago the DHS had ordered over a billion rounds of ammo, they had conducted a practice exercise about ten miles from our home and the DHS had also ordered twenty-seven hundred MRAP’s. After she ask I explained what an MRAP is and the only purpose they could possibly serve is to corral the citizens and have nothing to do with “terrorism”.

The following morning we traveled the same path and were once again surprised to see the “police camp” had grown—to include not only everything listed above but now they had brought in the Bomb Squad!! Parked right along the beach for all to see their awesome power. For the remainder of the trip I kept repeating to every person that I saw, “we are here to remind you that you are a slave and if you don’t believe me I will bash in your brains until you get it!” My wife didn’t like it but she some how didn’t mind it either. The fact is we still out number “them”. We have the power, as has been recently demonstrated in Bunkerville, NV. “They” are terrified of us, we need not forget who actually has the power and controls the levers.

Kids, and parents, if you are going to Gulf Shores or probably any beach USA, be ready for a full dose of intimidation, police kicking sand in your face and the bomb squad to help keep the peace. Don’t forget to have a good time and spend lots of money in order to generate some tax revenues so “they” can grow stronger next year. I was about to forget–I won a little while we were there.