To those who wish to be rescued (by the US Marine or any other US military) …
Subject: Security Message for U.S. Citizens: Updated Travel Warning for Yemen
TRAVEL WARNING – YEMEN
1. The U.S. Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the high security threat level in Yemen due to terrorist activities and civil unrest. On February 11, 2015 due to the deteriorating security situation in Sanaa, the Department of State suspended embassy operations and U.S. Embassy Sanaa American staff have been relocated out of the country. All consular services, routine and/or emergency, have been suspended until further notice. The Department urges U.S. citizens to defer travel to Yemen and those U.S. citizens currently living in Yemen to depart when you are able to safely do so. This supersedes the Travel Warning for Yemen issued on February 11, 2015.
2. The level of instability and ongoing threats in Yemen remain severe. There are no plans for a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation of U.S. citizens at this time. We encourage all U.S. citizens to shelter in a secure location until they are able to depart safely. U.S. citizens wishing to depart should do so via commercial transportation options when they become available. Keep vital records and travel documents close at hand; U.S. citizens should be prepared to depart at a moment’s notice. The airports are currently closed, but may open unexpectedly; other unforseen opportunities to depart may also suddenly arise.
3. Additionally, some foreign governments may arrange transportation for their nationals and may be willing to offer assistance to others. There is no guarantee that foreign governments will assist U.S. citizens in leaving Yemen. U.S. citizens who choose to seek foreign government assistance in leaving Yemen should only do so if they can safely make their way to the point of embarkation and have received confirmation that there is space available. Even if assured there is space aboard transportation, U.S. citizens should be aware that there is no guarantee that they will be permitted to board the transport, or may have to wait an indefinite period until they can do so. There is also no guarantee of where travelers will go.For U.S. citizen inquiries, you may send an email to YEMENEMERGENCYUSC@state.gov.
4. Terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), continue to be active throughout Yemen. The U.S. government remains extremely concerned about possible attacks on U.S. citizens (whether visiting or residing in Yemen), and U.S. facilities, businesses, and perceived U.S. and Western interests. In addition, piracy in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean is a security threat to maritime activities in the region. See our International Maritime Piracy Fact Sheet.
5. U.S. citizens remaining in Yemen despite this Travel Warning should limit nonessential travel within the country, make their own contingency emergency plans, enroll their presence in Yemen through the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), and provide their current contact information and next-of-kin or emergency contact information. You may inform the Department of State of U.S. citizens located in Yemen by visiting https://tfa.state.gov/ccd, selecting “2015 Yemen Unrest,” and providing as much information as possible. You can also contact us at 1-888-407-4747 (from the U.S. & Canada), +1-202-501-4444 (from overseas), and YemenEmergencyUSC@state.gov if you have additional questions or concerns.
6. For the latest security information, U.S. citizens living and traveling abroad should regularly monitor the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs website where the current Worldwide Caution, Travel Alerts and Travel Warnings, and Country Specific Information for Yemen can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the United States and Canada or, for callers in other countries, by calling a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
Your tax dollars (not) at work:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/27/nepal-earthquake-americans_n_7155034.html
@Barbara;
So you mean the US consul lied to me in Toronto when I relinquished? He made a point of asking me did I understand that I would no longer have US aid and protection “abroad”. I said, “in Canada?”. He just looked at me. If had said, “in Nepal?” or “in Yemen?” I wonder what he’d have said.
From the article cited:
“WASHINGTON — In the aftermath of the powerful earthquake that hit Nepal on Saturday, the U.S. has no plans to transport stranded U.S. citizens back home.
The State Department on Monday acknowledged the death of at least four U.S. citizens in an avalanche on Mount Everest, but a spokesman did not have an estimate of how many Americans remained in Nepal, or of how many U.S. nationals had been reported missing. While the Indian and Chinese governments have airlifted and bussed out thousands of their own citizens since the earthquake, the U.S. government is directing Americans in Nepal to use commercial flights to transport themselves back home. …”…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/27/nepal-earthquake-americans_n_7155034.html
So I’d like to ask the US Consul in Canada, and the US Treasury, do those Americans in Nepal get a tax refund for all those ‘services’ they are NOT enjoying as a result of being a UScitizentaxableperson? We already know that even those the US assists are billed for the actual cost;
“…… Departure assistance is expensive. U.S. law 22 U.S.C. 2671(b) (2) (A) requires that any departure assistance be provided “on a reimbursable basis to the maximum extent practicable.” This means that evacuation costs are ultimately your responsibility; you will be asked to sign a form promising to repay the U.S. government. We charge you the equivalent of a full coach commercial fare on a comparable mode of transportation at the time that commercial travel ceases to be a viable option. You will be taken to a nearby safe location, where you will need to make your own onward travel arrangements. Typically, you will not have an opportunity to select the destination to which we will take you; it will be to the nearest safe location (only in rare circumstances will that be to the United States). If you are destitute, and private resources are not available to cover the cost of onward travel, you may be eligible for emergency financial assistance.” http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/emergencies/crisis-support.html
@Badger
The “fair share” business is enough to have an epileptic fit over. They should redefine “fair” in a way that people can actually grasp. All this BS about expats paying our “fair share” while getting nothing is return (except the right of return like everybody else has to their own nation) is american “exceptionalism” at its worst, and should be redefined as “our right to confiscation” similar to the police grabbing cash from innocent drivers. But then they couldn’t hide behind their excuses.
@Polly, “(except the right of return like everybody else has to their own nation)”
There are very likely Millions of “Exceptional Homelanders” who have the right of return to the Republic of Ireland.
How much are they contributing to Irish society today for that right to return? I say not enough!!!
To be honest I believe the only way to ultimately kill the CBT beast is for more countries to adopt CBT especially recipricol or retaliatory CBT.
How long do you think US CBT would last if Ireland started demanding FATCA information from the USA?
I want to see US Banks ask each account holder if they have an Irish parent or grandparent!!!
@George
Dontcha remember? America is “exceptional”! They are the only nation which is allowed to do this.
Double standards all over the place. Now they also want to vote on the Expatriot Act and NSA surveillance because guess what? It is unconstitutional!
While doing so they should offer Edward Snowden a leading position due to integrity and bravery. He is one person who is not liable to being corrupted.
@Polly, they will never define ‘fair share’ because it cannot be defined in the context of US residents, much less the context of those entirely outside the US with no economic connection. It is a convenient US political rationale and fiction – with many holes that have been identified Ad nauseam. The main proponents are those who are making careers out of theorizing, defending and enforcing it (ex. US tax law academics and ex or present IRS and Treasury lawyers and civil servants, US politicians) – and who live unencumbered by it (US homelanders).
And a ‘right’ is a right – which is not to be based on ability to pay. The right of return as a human and citizen right is not a taxable good and is not contingent on being able to pay a membership or entry fee.
Yet that is continually thrown up to US persons as a rationale for making the passport tied ever more tightly to the SSN and info shared with the IRS, and US taxes, which they continue to try to leverage ( ex. http://blogs.angloinfo.com/us-tax/2015/02/13/irs-leveraging-the-us-passport-to-collect-unpaid-taxes/, http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/02/05/coming-soon-no-travel-or-passport-if-you-owe-irs/ ).
Nowhere in the UN Charter of Human Rights http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ does it state that rights are goods which are to be contingent on payment, taxes, fees, etc.
The attempt by USextraterritorialCBT apologists to link the right to return to the US, citizenship, and US taxes is commodifying something which is NOT a commodity in US law and constitution.
@Badger
Yep.
I just wonder if things are going to get worse or better. Is America going to come to its senses and come back to the Constitution or not?
@Badger, re “The attempt by USextraterritorialCBT apologists to link the right to return to the US, citizenship, and US taxes is commodifying something which is NOT a commodity in US law and constitution.”
These people would like to have US citizenship ‘responsibility-based’ (which includes the payment of taxes) versus ‘rights-based’ and somehow spin it as levelling the playing field for all Americans everywhere. This is regardless of the fact that the benefits derived from such responsibilities are unavailable to us due to our physical location and the system so inherently flawed that it would double the burden of those responsibilities, as in the case of double-taxation and the cost of reporting “foreign” bank accounts and earnings. What’s “fair” is anything but.
@Badger, re “The attempt by USextraterritorialCBT apologists to link the right to return to the US, citizenship, and US taxes is commodifying something which is NOT a commodity in US law and constitution.”
That would be like saying US Citizens can not vote unless they are current and up to date with their taxes.
Hmmm, I think that remark I came up with your help is brilliant.
@George
There are many homelander’s and expats alike who think that idea’s ok, unfortunately.
That’s to say that I’ve heard many Americans say they’d gladly give up their right to vote in order to be exempt from US taxation. Two wrongs don’t make CBT right, IMO.
@George, re; “..That would be like saying US Citizens can not vote unless they are current and up to date with their taxes…”
That is a very good point – not because I am a proponent (as Embee notes, there are many US homelanders rushing to propose and support that one), but because it makes the wrongness of it even more obvious. There are lots of US politicians and civil servants who have not properly disclosed, reported and or paid their US taxes or related assets – at all levels, municipal, state and federal, at any time we can find a story about specific individuals ( http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123187503629378119 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/45883.html http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/thousands-federal-workers-owe-billions-back-taxes-n112626 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-ryan-amended-financial-disclosure-reports/ ). They have not been stripped of their vote or their office.
Of course, the US homelanders are entirely able and willing to ignore the fact that they have in actual practice denied voting rights to a large portion of those living outside the US if they have never had actual US residency for whatever period the state requires for registration, or, are not able to register in one of the states that allows for registration and voting from abroad using a US parent’s last US address. So many born abroad who have never lived in the US can never register to vote and never vote from abroad unless they live the requisite amount of time in the US and can prove it. That makes voting a right that is made contingent on the whim of each individual state. So, not a right in actuality if denied in practice.
But according to the US they are liable for US taxes, forms and penalties regardless of actual US residency.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/nyregion/yemeni-americans-thrust-into-limbo-say-us-embassy-unfairly-revokes-passports.html
But hey, Haig v Agee says “go fly a kite, trapping the diaspora in the US when they come for a visit is a perfectly legitimate & constitutional use of the president’s foreign affairs power”.