Dear Supporters,
Many of you probably predicted that I would not be saying this today, but this message is not a dream: You came up with yet another $100,000 payment — now making a total of $400,000 provided to the Arvay team.
In the last twelve days you actually donated more than $40,000 — an amazing achievement for small donors. This accomplishment proves to all those people who want us to fail — that we are very determined.
You gave until it hurt and then you gave a lot more. It’s hard not to get teary-eyed over the generosity of our supporters, who have come through every time.
We know that the pace of your litigation is painfully slow, and this is unfortunately as expected. The Government will continue to do its best to slow down the process, but we now have the assistance of a case management judge to help keep the process moving more fairly.
We filed in August 2014 and it has taken a very long time (one year) before we are finally into a (summary) trial (August 4-5, 2015). We cannot predict the outcomes of this trial, based on only part of our arguments and, with your continued support, we will prepare for all possibilities.
[Happy birthday Gwen!]
Thank you for your trust,
Stephen Kish,
ADCS-ADSC Chair,— on behalf of Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, their families, and the ADCS-ADSC Directors
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Chers amis et donateurs,
Certains d’entre vous avaient probablement pensé que je ne pourrais pasvous annoncer une si bonne nouvelle aujourd’hui. Mais voilà : ensemble, nous avons réussi à ramasser un autre montant de 100 000 $, ce qui fait un total de 400 000 $ à remettre à l’équipe de MeArvay.
Dans les 12 derniers jours seulement, vous avez donné plus de 40 000 $, un exploit tout à fait extraordinaire pour des « petits donateurs ». À tous ceux qui souhaitent nous voir échouer, cette réussite prouve que nous sommes des plus déterminés. Et que nous réussirons.
Vous avez donné jusqu’à ce que ça fasse mal, puis vous avez donné encore. Difficile de rester insensible devant une si grande générosité.
Nous sommes bien conscients du fait que notre litige avance de façon péniblement lente. Malheureusement, tout ça est normal. Le gouvernement continue à ralentirle processus, mais on nous a maintenant attitré un juge responsable de la gestion de notre dossier qui veillera à ce que le processus progresse de façon plus juste.
En août 2014, nous avons engagé une poursuite contre le gouvernement canadien. Près d’un an plus tard, nous avons enfin la date pour notre procès sommaire : les 4 et 5 août 2015. Impossible de prévoir le dénouement de ce procès, basé uniquement sur une partie de nos arguments juridiques. Mais avec votre appui, nous serons prêts pour toutes les possibilités.
(Bonne fête, Gwen !)
Au nom de nos deux plaignantes, Ginny et Gwen, de leurs familles et des directeurs de l’ADCS-ADSC, je vous remercie de votre confiance.
Stephen Kish,
Président de l’ADCS-ADSC
Great post Embee
I am grateful for all the work that has been accomplished thus far and will continue to donate to this lawsuit because I believe it is our right to take these two governments to task and let them know we won’t put up with their bullying. The Canadian Charter must be defended and no matter who tries to undermine this challenge, my support will always be there. If the naysayers are so inclined then the rest of our committed bunch will take up the slack. We will make it to the finish line and we will win this case! Thank you for all the grand effort that has gone into this most incredible task. Just coming to this site gives me some peace of mind that I’m not alone is this mess. Keep in mind that with no effort at all gets you absolute nowhere. We have a chance to make it right….so take it!
@ Ann
Thanks for that comment. I’m with you. Let’s do what we can to “make it right”.
Thanks for this comment, EmBee. I’ve added some links – hope you don’t mind.
Thanks, Ann, for your reasoned comment. And, you’re right, part of coming here is the support we give each other, which is irreplaceable.
@Calgary411, re: ” part of coming here is the support we give each other, which is irreplaceable.”
LMAO!!!!!!!
@ WhiteKat
I think I’ll live with a great deal of uncertainty for the rest of my life and really nobody can help with that but I do get support here because without someplace to go where people know what’s going on I would be churning all of this around and around in my own head, completely alone. I can tell you that in most cases, no good comes from churning in my own head. Support can be direct or rather nebulous but it’s still support. I think you’ve both given and taken support here but yes, there can be rough days.
@Embee. Humour is by far THE BEST medicine.
@badger,@george,@EmBee,@Phil,@Wondering,@Ann
I strongly agree with all of you. My own next donation will come thorugh today. And there will be another next month, and every month for just as long as the ADCS campaign needs support. We are so much stronger acting together. This is a chance for us to begin to try to reassert control over our own lives. We also help millions of others who may not even know of the need for this action. It is a rare opportunity to make a meaningful difference, and I am as honoured to contribute as I am grateful to the ADCS team – every single one of them.
“Don’t hire a dog, and do your own barking!” What a great quote from “Wondering”!!
I agree wholeheartedly with Wondering, Badger, EmBee and the many others who support our legal team without reservation. We have hired the best. Let’s relax and let him do the job we are hiring him to do. Our job is to continue supporting this lawsuit, to continue supporting each other, to continue to search for other avenues of attack and to continue educating ourselves about all aspects of this monstrous fight.
Re: “In case anyone is getting confused about which lawsuit, where and why, let’s do some ABCs…”
Perhaps this good post of EmBee’s, with Calgary’s added links, should be kept in a sidebar where people can easily find it for a clear summary of what’s what on this topic.
An article in the Economist on Boris J renouncing US citizenship:
http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21644160-mayor-london-renounces-his-american-citizenship-englishmans-home
Would someone from ADCS care to contribute a comment, calling attention to our lawsuit?
Imagine a Homelander telling an expat not to let the door hit him in the a*s on leaving the US … and then …. and THEN …… meets a woman from Canada that he wishes to marry …. but she will not leave her job and existing family responsibilities in her hometown in Canada …. so he moves to her hometown, Toronto, where he finds a better job than the unemployment line in his hometown Detroit ….. Karma …… now consider the following article from the Daily Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11424226/Why-you-should-never-swear-at-strangers-on-the-train.html
Now consider the true meaning of Citizenship based taxation and extraterritorial-ism …… and then ….. and THEN ….. consider the following article from the Daily Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/11424579/100000-North-Koreans-sent-abroad-as-slaves.html
@NorthernShrike:
I just posted the following at the referenced economist article http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21644160-mayor-london-renounces-his-american-citizenship-englishmans-home
I do not know how I was allocated the user name … but that does not matter.
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guest-owimjil 3 mins ago
Taken from a Telegraph article today, a description of a third version of Citizenship Based Taxation:
“100,000 North Koreans sent abroad as ‘slaves’
Wages of thousands of “state-sponsored slaves” are used to buy luxury goods and bankroll Pyongyang’s construction boom, activists say.”
There are very few countries that impose Citizenship Based Taxation (“CBT”)… Eritrea that charges its Diaspora about 3% on their earnings around the world (which has been condemned for doing this by the United Nations), North Korea who export their people as chattels to work for foreign exchange to remit back to Pyongyang, and, of course, the USA who (since the time of the Civil War) has used CBT as a form of punishment for those citizens impertinent enough to wish the freedom to vote with their feet and to follow opportunity (or spouses or other family) elsewhere in the world. The imposition of CBT is plainly wrong headed and vicious ab initio.
Then there is the FBAR rule that almost no one ever knew about until very recently indeed … and that requires US Persons (not just Citizens) to file information reports with the Treasury Department, Financial Crimes Division … containing information about every financial account that the person owns, OR has signing authority on OR and it apparently gets worse …. the fines for non filing START at US$10,000 per account per year if the Treasury accepts that the non filing was due to ignorance ELSE the fines are the greater of US$100,000 per account per year OR 50% of the maximum balance in each account each year. Can we spell WHOA !
Now with FATCA and its hostile intrusion into every financial institution around the world … and there is a money grab of enormous proportions. This IS going to rock entire nations if it is allowed to proceed … the good news is that there are Actions being taken in Canada and the US to stop this. Read at isaacbrocksociety.ca and support the Litigation at adcs-adsc.ca
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In my post to the Economist I had not indicated that the FBAR and FATCA rules apply to all financial accounts outside the US … I have posted a reply to myself making that clear.
@ nervousinvestor
Your comments are strong and reasoned. Sadly there appears to be a government paid troll or else a malicious compliance condor in the Economist’s comment section. No matter though. These creeps always show themselves for what they are — a$$hole$. They are so deliberately provocative, it’s pathetic.
@Embee and Northern Strike. Thank you for your support on the Economist site. I hope that sufficient good people read these comments and think logically about them. Evil happens when good people do nothing.
@NorthernShrike @Embee
Glad to see that the Troll / Compliance Condor on the Economist site is not getting any traction.
I added the following to the Economist debate:
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Thank you NorthernShrike. What a wonderful recap. Good people need to speak, take peaceful action and be heard else evil prevails.
Privacy and Freedom are essential for people to safely, peacefully and respectfully live their lives in dignity. On the other hand Governments must at all times be Transparent so as to retain the Trust of the People. We seem to have entered a time in world history when these truths are being honoured in the reverse … in “Alice through the Looking Glass” fashion.
At all times in history when Tyrants seek to brutalize people, men and women of goodwill have in due course stood and said “Enough” ! Stand now one and all, in the manner of Martin Luther King and say “ENOUGH !” in a loud yet peaceful voice. Let us vote out, in all our respective countries, any and all Bums In Public Office who seek to remove our Privacy and Freedoms (not to mention our personal property) though the imposition of such “Escaped Slave” type legislation as is FATCA and FBAR.
Remember the Magna Carta and how that revolutionized the fundamental laws in what are now the English Speaking countries of the world – and some that are not English Speaking. Surrender not an inch of our Rights as Freemen and Freewomen. Stand and contribute to the fight … PEACEFULLY … but STAND !
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I tried to edit one or two things but find that the edits never get through to the Economist site for some reason …. ah well ……
Amen, nervousinvestor!
Stephen,
Thanks very much for this morning’s important update on the Canadian litigation — and to the two overnight donors, one first-time donor from Australia.
Onward!
This new strategy of the ADCS legal team sounds good to me. Obviously we all wish Mr. Arvay success in his not-an-injunction but something-like-it application. I hope the judge will fully appreciate that the harm done by a data transfer cannot be undone. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Looking back at the two previous installments I see that at this point (about 3 weeks into the 3 month period) we were at the 70K mark for the November 1st deadline and the 80K mark for the February 1st deadline. This time we are only at the 85K mark heading towards that May 1st deadline. I hope the anticipation of the good possibilities of Mr. Arvay’s new application to the court to stop the data transfer will bring an uptick in the donations. Surgite!
@Embee @NorthernShrike and others .. I have posted the following comment at the Economist article http://www.economist.com/comment/2663353#comment-2663353
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I suggest ignoring the Troll calling himself (?) Medicine4theDead … btw what does that chosen name tell us about the troll’s mental state?
He is plainly a Democrat activist … based on his comment “You’ll have to talk to Mission Accomplished Republicans about those two examples: I didn’t vote for Bush”.
He is clearly under-informed (he thinks that America invented the Internet (which in crude form is true) however we are commenting on the World Wide Web which happens to use Internet Protocols … vide “Your comments are ironic since they are occurring on the American created Internet” …. The Troll fails to recognize that major creative input was from Sir Tim Berners-Lee – vide the Wikipedia sentences “Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist and former CERN employee,[2] is considered the inventor of the Web. On 12 March 1989,[3] Berners-Lee wrote a proposal for what would eventually become the World Wide Web.[4]” The Troll may not realize that CERN is near Geneva in Switzerland on the border with France – he would not understand that places like Switzerland are not just homes to “tax cheats”. The Troll also fails to understand that the Internet protocols are run on computers which can be said to trace their roots to men such as (ex Wikipedia)”Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (/ˈtjʊərɪŋ/ TEWR-ing; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) (who) was a British pioneering computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, mathematical biologist, and marathon and ultra distance runner. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of “algorithm” and “computation” with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer.[3][4][5] Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.[6]”
The Troll also seems to think that the US is THE unpaid guardian and protector of Freedom … welll that is also not entirely true. The US does benefit from an economy artificially supported by the world’s use of the US Dollar as the Reserve Currency and as the primary currency in which world trade is denominated … all US Dollar transactions get cleared through US Banks – thus providing huge revenues for the US not arising from their own industry. Remove that benefit from the US and all of a sudden the US economy would struggle to find the foreign exchange to pay for Walmart’s imports. Sadly it is this very fact that all US$ transactions must transit the US that gives the US the leverage to threaten 30% taxation of all currency leaving the US to other countries – the bludgeon that underlies FATCA.
Trolls really do not deserve more than passing glances …
Regarding the new legal strategy here I posted the following at the ADSC-ADCS website:
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It’s great to hear that Mr. Arvay is taking a further action to prevent data from being turned over to the US government. I’m trying to understand the timing here, though. It seems like this new action will take 5-10 months for a decision if you add up the various time frames listed. When is the data currently scheduled to be turned over? Is the 5-10 month time frame sufficiently quick to be useful without an injunction? Won’t the IRS already have the data in 10 months? I especially take note of the fact that the time frames depend partly on the schedule of opposing counsel. I just don’t see the opposing making moving expeditiously a priority here without a little encouragement.
I realize perhaps my questions can be answered only partially or perhaps not at all at this time as Mr. Arvay cannot fully reveal his strategy in a public forum but these are the concerns I have. Unless I’m missing something the legal tool here isn’t sufficiently fast for the job it needs to do.