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US Customs Destroys Virtuoso's Flutes Because They Were "Agricultural Items"
McGruber writes "Flute virtuoso Boujemaa Razgui performed on a variety of flutes, each made by himself over years for specific types of ancient and modern performance. Razgui has performed with many U.S. ensembles and is a regular guest with the diverse and enterprising Boston Camerata. Last week, Razgui flew from Morocco to Boston, with stops in Madrid and New York. In New York, he says, a US Customs official opened his luggage and found the 13 flutelike instruments — 11 nays and two kawalas. Razgui says he had made all of the instruments using hard-to-find reeds. 'They said this is an agriculture item,' said Razgui, who was not present when his bag was opened. 'I fly with them in and out all the time and this is the first time there has been a problem. This is my life.' When his baggage arrived in Boston, the instruments were gone. He was instead given a number to call. 'They told me they were destroyed,' he says. 'Nobody talked to me. They said I have to write a letter to the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. This is horrible. I don't know what to do. I've never written letters to people.'"
" I've never written letters to people"
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Are you an idiot? No they wont! Think hard about this. You have Phil Robertson make some ludircous comments on gays, african americans, and Japanese. What happens? Americans phone in by the hundreds of thousands to complain how his freedom of expression is being infringed upon. You have a friggen news network espousing how this is some big left wing conspiracy.
Americans WILL NOT and I repeat WILL NOT recognize this as Fascisim. They will recognize this as an oops moment in the fight against [fill in the blank].
IMO the only solution is to leave the country because in my lifetime this is not going to get better. Do me a favor and watch Running Man with Arnie. While some things are over the top, many things are spot on.