EmBee said (on Tricia’s post):
“Seems as good a place as any to put this …
Right now I’m feeling the need for some relief from the Brock bickering because it is making me weary and sad.
I am oldstock Brock and will continue to watch for updates on the progress of the Canadian trial (my heart is committed to that challenge) but I’ll try to leave the commenting to the newstock Brockers.
I sometimes wonder if there is some Tavistock-like undermining or manipulation going on here because the atmosphere has changed.
If the site managers ever feel they’ve had enough and elect to shut down Brock I would completely understand. However I want them to know how much I appreciate all the work they have done behind the scenes since all the way back to 2011. My how time flies and ever more quickly as you get older (read an article recently attempting to explain why this is so).
Anyway
I wish everyone well and thank everyone who has worked or is still working to make things right for those who are threatened by the US tax regime. I’m particularly mindful of those who passed away during the struggle.
The cause is just. It always will be.”
This site was essential when I had my OMG moment in June last year. After much agonising on various threads, I decided to renounce (which I did in September) and NOT to file a single tax return to the USA. If it weren’t for people here, I would have continued to work with a tax consultant, paid a small fortune for his services, and also handed over a large chunk of my PFIC–to a country I left over 30 years ago!
Thank you for being the calming voice when I was in my worst moments.
@Polly Re: Negative comments important too.
I don’t completely agree. It depends if the comments are constructive or not. Such as this way is less likely to produce result, better to go another way. That is both a negative and a positive.
I believe it a given that the aim to change USG over-regulation and double taxation is a “Herculean” endeavour; a real “David and Goliath” battle with our Goliath not even being of living flesh, but much worse, a Leviathan in the Thomas Hobbes sense of it.
There have been the comments along the lines of “nothing is going to change.” These comments in them-self are IMO “raining on the parade” of those with the ingenuity and gumption to effect a difference and change. And as we see there has been some “taking the oxygen” out of discussions on topic of certain posts.
Let’s think in a business setting. You have a company with goals. People working toward them; some easily achievable, some not so;some long shots. Imagine in staff meetings where you have individual(s) who say “we cant do that,” “we will never be able to do that,” etc. Yes it is good to have some pessimism in the mix and a diversity of views to avoid “groupthink”, yet those people who focus on the can’ts and “nevers” may be at a disadvantage in advancement by management in favour of those with “can do” thinking.
In regards to Embee, yes this is a good post. Thank you. Reassessment is good every once in awhile.
I hope I didn’t upset anyone too much. I thought I was just making a little comment in an old thread that would soon disappear from the “Recent Comments” column. I certainly do not want Brock to go black because it’s been a life-saver to many (me included) and the information contained here is priceless. The journey to justice is still in progress so guidance, empathy and esprit de cour are still very much needed. I shouldn’t have projected my downer feelings onto the wonderful, steadfast, enduring and endearing mods who are keeping Brock working as well as it does. I have opened a door and stepped out but I will never slam that door shut behind me. I just need time to clear my head. Best to all the Brock stock.
@JC
Yes but it is a reality that possibly nothing will change.
And that possibility has to be placed on the table too.
This is what I mean by “all sides”. To not say “Well- we might not be successful” is simply a truth. And personally, I believe in truths, even if they are painful.
So while fighting the good fight, the fact that we might not prevail has to be out there too, maybe so we don’t get too foolhardy, or have a plan B. I renounced because I didn’t want to wait a single day longer to be free. That doesn’t mean that I have no hope that fighting this injustice won’t change something one day.
Rather than repeat, I’ll just say that the comments from Barbara, BirdPerson, and Polly say it all.
To lose IBS would definitely be a hard hit for my sanity.
Polly, and possibly things could get worse, as is the trend.
This site saved my sanity when I had my OMG moment many years ago. It was and is the only place to get needed information – in detail – on renouncing and the associated paperwork to sever ties with the US. I still visit the site daily to see of any new developments with CBT – mostly to pass on anything relevant to my daughter who is ambivalent about the whole mess. So I thank you all – old stock and new. I would have been lost without your help.
@Embee
I hope that you can cheer up a little about Isaac Brock. The many good comments of this thread illustrate the value of Isaac Brock and I think that this will endure.
I want Embee to stay and continue posting because I have noticed that she’s one of the few who really understands what is going on and what the US is really all about. I get the feeling that she, like me, does not get her information from the mainstream media.
I have to sigh when I read accounts of people who break down in tears when they renounce. These people are brainwashed sheeple who, due to lifetimes spent absorbing the lies of the media, really believe that the US is good. Embee and I (and hopefully many other Brockers) know otherwise. If I were able to renounce, I would do so with great joy. Unfortunately my financial situation makes renouncing not a good choice.
I mean, what the US does to its expats is it bombs us with forms and reporting requirements and penalties, threatens us and steals our money unjustly. Just as it bombs innocent people in Syria, Libya, Yugoslavia and about a hundred other countries over the decades with real bombs, and in many cases steals their gold and oil.
I think the criticisms of many threads going off-topic are overblown. It doesn’t bother me that much. You can just skim over posts you don’t want to read.
Brock is now the only resource I have to keep up with what is happening in our movement. I used to read the Facebook groups like American Expats and Citizenship-Based Taxation, but now I can no longer read them because they thoughtlessly made the groups private when before they were public.
They don’t seem to understand — some of us, like Embee and me, don’t take part in Facebook, because we know it is just a surveillance tool that works in concert with the Deep State to monitor and control us.
For people who don’t do Facebook, there’s no other place to go for news except Brock. Long live Brock.