Some Americans disturb me. Yesterday, a commenter told me to eff-off on my timeline on Facebook. I had expressed opinions at Think Progress that he didn’t appreciate so he came over and told me to eff myself (but he used the real f-word). Later he took down his comment. Still, we cannot judge an entire country on the basis of isolated trolls on the internet, who may only be interested in writing offensive comments in order to piss you off. However, some months ago, I received from a former US government employee a private email that mocked me because I am a Christian. Of course, this same man also scorned my views on his own blog (without mentioning me or the Isaac Brock Society by name), but to take it to the level of sending me a taunt to my personal email is somehow barbaric. This former government employee undoubtedly has a very high opinion of himself. But why do these Americans drop the level of conversation to a child’s game, whereby they get their five-year old jollies? The man that told me to eff-off on Facebook claimed that he represented the majority of Americans, judging by the last two presidential elections. So alleged US persons, please meet your persecutor: the Obama voter.
These Neanderthals elected the Obama regime, the same regime that enacted the HIRE Act (2010) with its FATCA provisions. These are the same Neanderthals that are telling Canadian citizens that they must cross the border with a US passport, then entrapping them with FATCA into paying taxes to the US Treasury, in violation of the Master Nationality Rule. But what makes us think that these cavemen would understand international law when they don’t even understand their own laws? Insisting that a Canadian citizen cross the border with a US passport is a clear violation of that person’s right to expatriate, a fundamental right. They should be saying, “Sir, if you have relinquished your US citizenship, you need to inform the US Consulate nearest you and obtain a Certificate of Loss of Nationality.” But instead they act like total prats and say, “You are an American until we tell you that you aren’t!” Well actually, sir, that is not what the law says. The law says that a person that commits a relinquishing act with the intent to lose US citizenship is no longer an American–it is not a question of whether they have informed a US State Department, and you would know that if you weren’t an imbecile. But how can we expect the Neanderthals who guard the border to know the law when their counterparts at the State Department are such ignoramuses? Here are some comments yesterday at Isaac Brock from MyKitty (emphasis mine):
I had my appointment at the U.S. embassy … and it didn’t go well.
Just a recap – I am a dual citizen by birth (us/can). I worked for the federal government. I requested a CLN backdated to when I began working for the government. I had the contents of my employee file, including the oath that I signed.
I was told that the only way a dual citizen by birth could get rid of U.S. citizenship was to 1) renounce 2) commit an act of treason.
Has anyone else been told this?
The agent told me that she was going to recommend that my request be denied. I insisted that she send all of my documentation to the lawyers in Washington anyway. She said she had denied three of these cases recently. …
I don’t think the agent even knew of 4(a) and/or 4(b) of the Section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1481).
MyKitty did the right thing. Stand your ground! When you go to the US Consulate you must know your rights and the law, because you can’t expect those who receive a full-time salary from the US government to know them. They have violated one of the oldest principles of common law in the English-speaking world: those who enforce the law must know the law. But these American enforcers are dumb and dumber. And this has caused them to become international rights violators of the first order: by denying the Universal Human Right to change one’s nationality.
In 2010, I first learned of the construction of the New Berlin Wall, a provision to tax citizens who relinquish their US citizenship whose wealth exceeds US $2,000,000. This law, called HEROES Act, made me so angry that I decided then and there that I would expatriate, and applied for Canadian citizenship immediately. On February 28, 2011, I became a Canadian and filed, in June, 2012, my final tax forms (2011 1040; Form 8854); I managed to stay well below the $2,000,000 dollar threshold. (One must relinquish citizenship and file the final forms only after receiving the CLN.) Adios, America!
While I was preparing to relinquish, it was only when I learned about FBAR and then later FATCA that I became panicky. I experienced many of the symptoms about which many of our readers complain after learning: stress, panic attacks, sleepless nights, weight gain. I especially felt the indignation of becoming a targeted, oppressed person abused by a country which was out of control. This country abuses its expats but considers itself superior to everyone else, and so condemns the only other country with citizenship-based taxation, Eritrea. This is hypocritical to say the least, but I doubt that the average policy maker in the US even is aware of the contradiction. Even the average elite student, who thinks he or she is smarter than everyone else, isn’t nearly as damn smart as she thinks she is. Consider the following question: What is the capital of Canada? Do you think that the elite students at Harvard should know the capital of Canada? Harvard is America’s most prestigious institution, the alma mater of Obama, Bush, and Kennedy. Well, these Harvard students themselves think they should know it, judging by their embarrassed responses:
Americans are not nearly as smart as they think they are. And this is an extremely volatile situation: arrogant ignorance is the worst kind. Finally, I want to apologize for calling these Americans Neanderthals, because it is an insult to the true Neanderthals.
One last try at Pyke’s article….this time I signed in under my hotmail account as KP, so hopefully I will not be deleted! I tried to go back to basics:
USA does not follow international norms of taxation in that it taxes those it considers citizens regardless what other country they live in, and regardless if they earn no US sourced income. This is called citizenship-based taxation.
All other countries (exception being Eritrea) practice residence-based taxation. Canada for example, taxes its residents on their world-wide income, but does not tax its citizens who leave the country on income earned outside Canada. A Canadian does not remain a Canadian tax payer if he chooses to live outside Canada; he only pays tax on any Canadian sourced income, and if he has none, does not have to file any tax forms with the Canadian government. This is what residence based taxation is all about – taxation of residents (who may or may not also be citizens). It makes sense intuitively, and is fair – tax the people that live and/or earn in the country, not those who live and earn outside the country.
USA recently condemned Eritrea for attempting to enforce taxation of its citizens living in the USA. Apparently Susan Rice did not know that USA also has citizenship-based taxation. I can’t blame her too much since it really makes no sense to tax someone who does not live in your country, does not earn anything in your country, and does not cost your country any money.
In addition to how USA is unique in that it taxes people who live OUTSIDE USA and earn all their income OUTSIDE USA, but happen to have been born INSIDE USA, it has not been until FATCA that citizenship-based taxation was even remotely enforceable.
There are an estimated 6-7 million ‘US persons’ living outside of USA, yet the IRS gets about 700,000 tax returns per year from people living OUTSIDE the country. This means there are a lot of US taxpayers who are not filing US tax returns, who will be discovered when FATCA is implemented. Depending on what you think about citizenship-based taxation, this is either a good thing or a bad thing.
The vast majority of US persons living and earning outside USA, are not actively trying to avoid filing US tax returns and FBARS – they often do not have a clue (just like Susan Rice) that US considers them tax payers. Even the ones who do file, have often never heard of FBARS, and are shocked to discover that their local accounts held in the country where they live are ‘foreign’ and must be reported back to the USA. Americans living in the USA do not have to file FBARS for the accounts they have in the country they live in, so why should US persons who live outside USA have to report their local accounts?
In addition, the vast majority of US persons living outside USA, are normal, average, middle-income people who already pay a full set of taxes to the country that they live in. For example, a Canadian with a US birthplace, pays high taxes to live in Canada. There are an estimated 1 million US persons living in Canada (most of whom are also Canadians), who will be hit with massive penalties once FATCA comes on board. Think about it: Canada has 1 million of the estimated 6-7 million US persons living outside USA. Now, do you see why there is such a backlash happening in Canada against FATCA? Rich Americans do not flock to Canada to avoid paying taxes, and our houses are double the cost here. These 1 million people are just like you – average.
If FATCA applied only to US persons resident in USA who hide money off-shore, these 1 million Canadians resident in Canada who have US person status, and who are already paying high taxes to the Canadian government, would not be treated as criminals. They ARE NOT criminals.
USA should either change to residence based taxation like the rest of the world (the ideal solution), or change FATCA to apply only to Americans who actually live in USA – a short term, less than ideal solution, but one that will avoid the world-wide hostility that USA is seeing right now with its insistence on shoving FATCA down the throat of every country in the world.
just because it is friday afternoon and we could all use a bit of a laugh as relief from this fatca stuff i found this fatca satire piece on you tube today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-EVF7CZt_w
even though it is only 4:30 long it should give you all at least a bit of a smile
@petros
Your Facebook settings must be set such that non-friends can post there.
@crysal london
Very inspirational words, indeed! Thank you.
@Petros
Like your post, but in fairness to the Harvard students, most of them gave indications that they knew Canada was a foreign (and therefore to be viewed with suspicion and subject to penalties) country. To be fair, how much did you know about “Foreign Countries” when you were a young student. So, give them credit for at least knowing Canada is another country. It would be interesting to interview that some group of Harvard students and ask them – for example – whether Canada is advanced enough to have electricity.
Presumably though, Homelanders should reasonably be expected to know about the Capital of the United States. On this note have a look at:
http://youtu.be/jNzN3q-VgwI
We used to do a fair amount of geography and had to learn the capitals of all the countries in the world in grade school. We also had globe at home that I used to study for the fun of it. Of course, it was easier when I was little because of the Soviet Union.
@USC, I should also mention that I wouldn’t have had either the SATs or the grades to get into Harvard. But I didn’t apply to any of those schools in any case; one of my family members did and is hell of a lot smarter than I am (so I am told).
@bubblebustin, yeah, I did that so that my friends can see what the public at large thinks of my idiosyncratic posts.
@USCitizenAbroad
While it’s great and all that most Harvard students know that Canada is a foreign country, I knew the same thing in the second grade. So, as much as I want to say that I’m impressed with them, I’m just not. But, at least they know, which is more than what I would give some people.
And, as much as I would like to say that I learned that little fact in school, I didn’t. I had encyclopedia books at home, and I also had a globe. That, and I was also willing to try and read them, too. Back in the day, I also used to read my sister’s high school books on science as well. However, about the only things that I’ve leaned in school is that, there is no reward for showing any real self initiative. and that I never felt challenged. Instead, I felt ostracized, and even held back in a lot of ways. I also had Ritalin shoved down my throat, too. That made sure I was also subject to ridicule and bullying from the other kids.
My second grade teacher was also abusive. She even had the gall to twist my arm hard to try and get me to write with my right hand when I chose to write left handed, and when I still wouldn’t comply, I was subjected to even more verbal abuse and ridicule. Even after being spanked with a paddle I still wouldn’t do it. I wasn’t the only victim, either. She used to tell this girl I once knew to not go to the bathroom, and to stay at her desk, until she ended up peeing herself. I would ask her if she was okay while most of the other kids were either laughing at her, or else was too shocked to do anything, and the teacher would just yell at me for it for what seemed like forever, before she turned her attention back to the girl to further belittle her.
It’s really shocking what one can learn when they’re only seven. Nevertheless, I managed to survive with my brain intact in spite of ‘school’.
@mjh49783
Your teacher was a psychopath. I’m sorry you had to go through that.
I had dinner a few months ago with a cousin who lives in Boston. I remember sharing with him that I thought the US was utterly unrecognisable from the country that I was born in, (mostly) grew up in, and (for the most part) educated in. He was unaware of constitution free zones or many of the other infringements on civil liberties in the US post 9/11 or just shrugged them off. This was pre-Snowden so he must have well and truly thought I had my tin foil hat on when I told him that the US collected details of every single telephone call he placed or received.
I remember watching the BBC’s coverage of the aftermath of the tragic Boston Marathon bombing. To me, nothing typifies the radical shift in the US than the response to that event. The entire city went into lockdown mode for a day. Public transportation was shut down. Residents were told to stay in their homes. Thousands of police/military personnel conducted house to house searches for a badly injured kid in a very large exclusion zone. After he was found, the dozens of militarized police vehicles began leaving the scene to rapturous applause and cheering and chants of “USA” from the locals who lined the streets. Afterwards, the mayor and a succession of law enforcement personnel took credit for ending such a serious threat to “national security” and praised the bravery, heroism and the co-ordinated effort of the police and all the other agencies involved.
Of course, in basking in the afterglow of such a tremendous victory, the credit takers failed to mention that Tsarnaev was found by a local resident (not the police) a mere couple of hundred yards from where he was near fatally wounded the night before after the powers that be had given the all clear. Thousands of personnel with assault gear, combat weapons and every single piece of high tech gadgetry you could name couldn’t find him a couple hundred yards from where he was shot.
I found the scenes of the American “patriots” chanting “USA” and high-fiving each other on the side of the road while the tanks rolled out so utterly repulsive that I felt physically sick and nearly threw up. For some reason, it was an unbelievably visceral experience. That image is now burned into my memory. That is the USA of today and it bears no resemblance to my reference point of fifteen years ago.
They are totally oblivious to what has happened to their country. The water temperature has been rising for the frog ever since 9/11. I hope the frog jumps out before it’s too late.
I registered at Reuters then tried 3 times to get my comment posted. No luck! It looks like all Reuter’s really wanted was my e-mail address. If it ever does get posted it might appear 3 times. It’s fairly long so I hope that ticks off Reuters as much as I’m ticked off at them not posting. (BTW, I gave the first attempt over 12 hours to come out of moderation.)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/21/us-usa-tax-fatca-idUSBREA0K1VS20140121
@Em
I clicked away on it thinking it wasn’t posting and it showed up later – 4 times.
@ bubblebustin
I know. Saw it. 😉 Yours was short though. Mine is going to really use up some space if it gets posted 3 times. 🙂
All
The lack of knowledge in the USA today evident in the video made me laugh but then I found it alarming. This is the grand plan of oligarchy. dumb down the population.
@bubblebustin
It’s okay though. I’ve survived. It’s all that anyone can do.
@Edelweiss
It is too late for them now. Personally, I’m just happy to be in a free society that truly IS free. If I had to see such a spectacle as that, I would’ve thrown up myself. My grandfather fought against just that kind of nonsense, and such a despicable show like that would only serve to dishonour his memory. It’s as though he ultimately fought in vain just to see the police state come into being in the final years of his life as he lost his mind to dementia.
I guess my only consolation prize is that my country left me before I left my country.
@northernstar
I’d say that the oligarchy has already won, for if knowledge is power, then the little people are utterly powerless, and have indeed already yielded their power by their own free will.
Oh sure, some of them talk a good game about taking their country back and all, but that would mean they’ll have to get off their fat, lazy, whiny asses and actually do something, LOL
Those with enough money, and those with enough brains, are not going to go down with this sinking ship. They’re always the first ones to leave while the leaving is good. It’s basic human nature.
Meanwhile, the self righteous homelanders can point their fingers all they want at me for skipping out, and not staying back there to fight, but it’s these fake patriots that are sitting around on their asses and doing nothing. Not me. Why is it my responsibility to save them? Or am I supposed to be cannon fodder for their entertainment while they shout ‘USA! USA! USA!’ like a bunch of idiot lemmings, fat from nursing off the government teat, and all too damn stupid and brainwashed to even see the point of what they’ve already lost?
Meh. I don’t owe them anything.
@MJH49783
I agree with what you wrote sadly you described my homelander brother, proud that he knows nothing about countries, while he pounds his chest, salutes to the flag and sings the star bangled banner.
American media considers Justin Bieber more newsworthy than the NSA.
http://www.infowars.com/this-is-why-msnbc-has-lost-half-its-audience/
@Edelweiss
Yes that episode of open martial law was something else. It was entirely a gladiatorial style spectacle, utterly unnecessary to find one wounded 18 year old punk, and probably counter-productive, too. (If that civilian had really ‘sheltered in place’ (i.e. obeyed House Arrest orders) he would never have found the kid hiding under his boat.
I figured post-9/11 Amerika was different from the America I grew up in, with the Deep State running rampant, but really, to see the popular applause was alienating. And what exactly were they celebrating? The fact that the new national security state that had been built up since 9/11 spectacularly failed? That the FBI received advance intelligence from Russia on those perpetrators and basically said ‘meh’ after a brief look-over?
I presume Mark Dice (the “interrogator from the clip) is a smarter than average American.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Dice