March 8, 2016 UPDATE: Legal fees paid — on to Federal Court for Charter trial contesting Canadian FATCA IGA legislation.
Canadians and International Supporters:
You came through once again: $594,970 for legal costs have now been donated and our outstanding legal bill is finally paid off.
Thanks especially to those who donated even though they never had any “spare” money to give, and despite this gave over and over and over again.
This last round of fundraising also shows that our Canadian lawsuit remains dependent on the kindness of our International Friends: There would be no lawsuit without their financial help.
Know that a very generous donation (today) from a supporter in the United States made it possible to pay off the remaining legal debt. Also please appreciate that there would be no lawsuit without the help of the Isaac Brock Society which has kindly let us use its website to solicit funds.
Our next step is the Constitutional-Charter trial in Federal Court.
For this we need more Canadian Witnesses, and my next post will be devoted only to a request for Witnesses willing to go public, like our Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen.
For the future: I want a win in Federal Court — and I want the new Liberal Government not to appeal that win.
Thank you all for your support,
Stephen Kish,
for the Directors,
Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty
@Calgary411 @all
I stand corrected on who made the ruling, but the net result may be the same:
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/human-rights_swiss–justified–in-giving-ubs-bank-data-to-us/41855518
Ruling by European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR; French: Cour européenne des droits de l’homme) is a supranational or international court established by the European Convention on Human Rights. It hears applications alleging that a contracting state has breached one or more of the human rights provisions concerning civil and political rights set out in the Convention and its protocols. An application can be lodged by an individual, a group of individuals or one or more of the other contracting states, and, besides judgments, the Court can also issue advisory opinions. The Convention was adopted within the context of the Council of Europe, and all of its 47 member states are contracting parties to the Convention. The Court is based in Strasbourg, France.
Over at the Sandbox Ginny is urging us to banish our fear by letting peace come into our hearts. That’s a very good suggestion. I’d also like to suggest that we try to set aside our dark IRS focused thoughts … at least for a few days. Welcome the “return of the sun”. Tormorrow, the 23rd, the daylight here in Canada will linger for 7 seconds longer than today. (The ancients thought the sun died at Winter Solstice and then came back to life.) The primary message of Christmas is the celebration of a joyous birth. I can’t think of a better time than this to lighten up, celebrate and seek some inner peace. This should help us to re-energize ourselves for the Charter Challenge of 2016 and to strengthen our resolve to continue our battle against the injustice of FATCA and the insanity of CBT.
We should put our problems into perspective too. Millions of people in this world have had their homes destroyed and lost many of their loved ones. Their lives have been completely shattered. Some are able to migrate to relative safety, like the Syrians, but others have no escape, like the Palestinians. Our problems pale in comparison.
@All, an important part of that EU judgement; “The applicant, G.S.B., is a Saudi and US national who was born in 1960 and lives in Miami (United States of America).”
Another little ditty on thne judgement;
“With particular regard to the applicant’s situation, it should be noted that only his bank account
details, that is to say purely financial information, had been disclosed. No private details or data
closely linked to his identity, which would have deserved enhanced protection, had been
transmitted.”
More from the ruling; “It added that the applicant had provided no evidence to permit an assessment of whether his treatment would have been any different in another Swiss bank.
Therefore, there had been no violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8 of the Convention.”
To be honest this ruling is likely to hurt efforts in the EU because to put it bluntly the US has had the first win out of the gate and this is some sort of precedent albeit flawed.
And lets be brutally honest, WE are all getting screwed because some TAX DODGING HOMELANDERS got greedy.
I have no sympathy for this person in Miami Florida USA, none.
The question though is how would the EU rule on a similar situated case of an EU Citizen with clinging US nationality (note to ADCS, please in your press releases and the litigation refer to it as clinging US nationality), that is resident in the EU rule?
An Irish Citizen with clinging US Nationality, resident in the Republic of Ireland, is being treated differently by the same bank compared to an Irish Citizen without clinging US Nationality.
@All:
Embee and Ginny are encouraging all of us to focus on the meaning of the season and try to fill our hearts with compassion and as much joy , thanks and appreciation as we may find in our personal situations. For our families and ourselves.
God’s Blessings on all!
For inspiration , none can be better than the story of the Birth of Jesus found in Luke Chapter 2 and read here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-BoiV1sKwg
As well, quite by accident I came across a PBS documentary last night about The American St. Nick. It told the story as detailed in the link :
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/american-saint-nicolas/
“American St. Nicolas
Wiltz, Luxembourg
Saint Nicolas head
Wiltz, 1944
It was 1944 in the small Luxembourg town of Wiltz. The war had taken a heavy toll as Wiltz had been a center of resistance and suffered brutal reprisals. People were shot in the town square and men were forced into the German army or sent to concentration camps. The German occupation lasted four years before the Germans pulled out in September 1944. After the town’s liberation Allied soldiers rotated through Wiltz for R&R (rest and recuperation).
The 112th Regiment, part of the 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania National Guard (known as the Keystone Division), had been sent to relieve troops battling to retake Huertgen Forest. After sustaining heavy casualties they were sent to regroup and rest in Wiltz. The people there had very little and had not been able to celebrate Christmas or anything else during the years of occupation.
A few days before Thanksgiving Corporal Harry Stutz told his buddy, Corporal Richard Brookins, “I think we should give this town a Christmas party, A St. Nicholas Day. For hundreds of years here in Wiltz, they had a celebration on the fifth of December, the eve of St. Nicholas Day. A man dressed as St. Nick paraded through the town and gave candy to the kids. Kids here haven’t celebrated St. Nicholas Day for nearly five years because of the war. Some of them have never seen St. Nick at all.”
Very moving story especially as the town has NEVER forgotten this and revere the event and the American St. Nick, Richard Brookins, to this very day!
With all the evil that seems to loom over and around us there IS good in this world and many who will give their all to preserve it and the traditions from which all good flows.
Merry Christmas ALL. May we become refreshed and renewed, returning for the struggle ahead with good cheer and firm resolve.
Further to The American St. Nick Documentary at PBS:
http://www.wwiifoundation.org/2015/03/22/american-saint-nick-trailer-2/
The days are spinning by at a dizzy pace so re: my previous comment … pretend it was yesterday, the 22nd, which I thought it was today. Oh my … you’d think I was a drinker but I’m not at all.
EmBee,
I have removed some very dark IRS mentions at the top of today’s post and replaced with some of your sunnier thoughts (date-corrected).
I too want a return of that sun…
All my best to everyone at Brock for a happy holiday season.
Thanks for the inspiring PBS trailer, FuriousAC.
Wouldn’t it be lovely to spend next year with one day to pause and think about wars and strife, including our own issues, and spend the other 365 (in leap new year 2016) pursuing everything to make this a better world, starting in our individual communities, cities, countries, all adding up to
Best holiday greetings to all at Brock.
STOP FATCA!
(To the tune of “Deck The Halls”)
Stop the madness, end the FATCA!
Fa la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la;
Donate to the fight for freedom!
Fa la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la;
Doesn’t matter where you live
Fa la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la;
FATCA does discriminate
Fa la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la;
All those owned by USA
Fa la-la; la-la-la; la-la-la;
Owe a debt they can’t repay
Fa la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la;
Join us now our last defence
Fa la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la;
ADCS is the best!
Fa la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la !!!!
Ya ya-ya-ya-ya, WhiteKat. Couldn’t agree more. Have a Merry, Meowy Christmas and then help us all sink our claws into FATCA next year.
Thanks, Stephen, for including in today’s update the end-of-2015 message to ADCS-ADSC donors and friends in Canada and around the world, explaining where we’re at, what has to be raised by February 1st to move forward with Canadian litigation, and sincere appreciation for all who have gotten us to this point — and including WhiteKat’s updated holiday song lyrics,
http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/
OK, that’s enough.
http://www.geocities.jp/hitotsubishi/okthatsenough/okthatsenough.png
Nope, Norman. The thread doesn’t close until the funding goal is reached. Fingers crossed we get it done by February 1st.
Did you look at the screenshot of what we’re commenting on?
@ Norman
Yep. Did. I thought you thought there were too many comments since that’s where the arrow goes. Whatever … shrug. It’s back to our yuletide fire for me. 🙂
That particular number of comments struck a nerve. If it didn’t strike your nerve, lucky you.
@ Norman Diamond
I thought it was pretty ironic too, although I have never filed one.
1040 comments….
1040: The infamous Department of the Treasury—Internal Revenue Service U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone!
1040 … okay, okay … I get it. But we’ve passed that number several times before, without comment. IMHO there are more onerous numbers — like the old TD F 90-22.1 (FBAR), now known as FinCEN 114. However, I’d rather focus on ZERO — the number which signifies the bill is paid and it’s onward to the Charter Trial. If the judges have ethos (ethics) then we should be able to use pathos (emotion) and logos (logic) to persuade them to do the right thing when it comes to FATCA.
Merry Christmas Day to everyone who celebrates this time. Rest, recharge and then resume the press for favourable FATCA rulings in the New Year. We want to be FATCA free.
@ Stephen Kish
I like that Justin Trudeau quote from “Common Ground”. It’s something we can remind him of in our future letters to the PM.
“At long last, the notorious tax cheat, Santa Claus, has been apprehended. He has been living in a foreign country for the last 50 years and during that time he has not filed his US taxes even once.”
He’s an alien, so if the North Pole were 100% foreign to the US he’d be a non-resident alien.
Now we have to remember that Canada doesn’t own 100% of the North Pole. It’s shared with the US, Russia, and some other countries. This makes Santa a partially resident alien.
Don’t forget that he enters and exits the US without a valid passport. I’m not sure if he needs a partially US passport to be valid. Even though he’s an alien, he might be a partially US non-citizen national due to residing at the North Pole at the time Alaska became an outlying possession of the US.