Shadow Raider makes some thoughtful and thought-provoking comments on my post and the ensuing conversation:

I’d like to make some constructive criticism for all sides:

1. Many commenters on this website seem to assume that US residents are patriotic “homelanders” who support CBT. I live in the US and I can tell you that this is not true. The vast majority of Americans don’t even know that CBT exists. When I inform them, I get various responses: some say that the US should not tax foreign income or demand information on foreign assets because it’s none of their business; many sympathize with the problems of Americans abroad (complex paperwork, fear of penalties, financial restrictions); some try to justify CBT with consular services or the right of return, but when I reply that these things are not funded by taxes (or don’t actually cost anything, in the case of the right of return), they concede; only a few invoke patriotism, but as a joke.

2. Many here also seem to believe that “homelanders” see Americans abroad as “tax cheats”. I don’t know where you got this idea. I’ve only seen this as a brief mention by a US politician from the 19th century, and I don’t think anyone else believes that. I’ve certainly never heard anyone say that here. US residents correctly assume that people move abroad for various reasons. Many of them have family or friends who lived or are living abroad.

3. Condemning US patriotism while praising Canada is inconsistent and alienates those who are not from Canada. CBT applies equally to all countries outside the US, and the Canadian government has done the same as the rest of the world regarding FATCA, it’s not a special case. I’ve also seen some commenters focus too much on issues in specific countries such as the various 4-letter Canadian accounts or Australian superannuation. People outside these countries have absolutely no idea what these things are. The problem is CBT in principle, not the details of how it affects specific investments.

4. Some people, like Republicans Overseas, are focusing way too much on FATCA. Blocking or repealing FATCA is very unlikely, and even in that case it would not solve the myriad other problems caused by CBT.

5. Expatriate lobbying groups seem to be ridiculously afraid that the US government will not pay attention to their demands if it looks like they don’t love the US. Seriously? Michael Kirsch cleverly pointed out the inconsistency of identifying yourself as part of US society while requesting to be taxed as someone from outside that society. It would make much more sense if they just stated the truth: they are actually more attached to the countries where they live, but want to keep US citizenship simply for the peace of mind that they could return to the US one day. Maybe the CBT debate should be centered on whether the right of return constitutes membership in the society or merely the eligibility for membership.

I had a couple of my posts taken down by Keith Redmond at the American Expatriates Facebook Group.

The first made use of Lebron James comment, ‘I’m the best player in the world’.

I wrote, “Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the best basketball player of them all?” Keith Redmond, the co-administrator of the Facebook group asked me what relevance it had to the group and I said it is analogous to American exceptionalism, “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the most exceptional of them all?” It is really about the National Narcissistic Personality Disorder from which Americans suffer as a nation. It leads to the USA unilaterally imposing FATCA on the rest of the world as so beautifully captured in this video, which is still the best explanation of FATCA ever:

The second censored post reported on the State Department’s denunciation of Dominican Republic citing the United Nations human rights provisions. I said the USA was hypocritical because it violates the human rights of its own expats. 

Then as Deedee Gierow, the Democrats Abroad co-administrator of the American Expatriates Facebook group, posted that she was sick and tired of all the bashing of the USA and that she, Keith and others were working very hard to lobby Washington (Facebook link). This solicited a discussion in which Redmond and Gierow heroically defended the purpose of the group and that they would henceforth delete any America-bashing content.

The American Expatriates group’s mission is to inform, educate, and provide the most up to date information regarding United States government policies affecting the lives of Americans living overseas. It is extremely important to mitigate the misconceptions about Americans living outside the United States vis-à-vis the public at large

It remains unclear to me how it is possible to have a group which discusses Citizenship Based Taxation and FATCA  from an expat’s perspective without being anti-American. This is the conundrum–either the content is irrelevant (e.g., cookie recipes) or it is anti-American–e.g., discussions of the lives that are being ruined by FATCA and CBT. How do you stand by and allow innocent people to be destroyed by a foreign government and say positive things about that government?

There was some back and forth between myself and some of the other active members of the group, in which I learned that I am argumentative and offensive. Really? That really surprised me.

My third censored post was a comment: if we can’t really complain about how the USA is treating us, then we are supposed to be like a battered spouse, who quietly accepts abuse, and so I posted a link to the following page and suggested the situation was comparable to spousal abuse: Intimate Partner Violence Dynamics.

It seemed like Expat Forum deja vu, when I concluded that a censored forum is an oxymoron. So later when I suggested that some people would indeed leave the group because it wasn’t a safe place anymore, Redmond told me to leave. So I suppose my days are numbered.

I guess that is all I can write for now. My knee is bothering me and it is hard to stand up at my desk. In any case, it is good that some people are trying to lobby the US government, but I have no faith that that will change anything. So perhaps my cynicism and pessimism is not welcome in best of all worlds–but certainly not on certain “forums”. Cheers to you all.

From the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association:

Last Friday, part of Bill C-24 went into effect, officially creating a two-tier citizenship system. As a result of this new law, dual citizens and people who have immigrated to Canada can have their citizenship taken away while other Canadians cannot. The government’s press release last week tried to justify this discriminatory law by raising the threat of “jihadi terrorism,” but Bill C-24 could easily be used against non-terrorists—for example, a journalist who is convicted of a “terrorism offence” in another country for reporting on human rights violations by the government.

See:

https://bccla.org/2015/06/its-official-second-class-citizenship-goes-into-effect/

New FBAR Limits Reflecting IRS Concern on Eighth Amendment Litigation.  More poopourri:

(Spritz the bowl — before you go — and no one else will ever know that your FUBARs stink)

or, in the words of this BNA article “New constraints on penalties the IRS will impose when taxpayers don’t properly report their foreign bank accounts show agency concerns that some will argue in court that huge penalties are unconstitutional, attorneys told Bloomberg BNA.

IRS guidance limiting the penalties examiners can assert for failure to file the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts “reflects some awareness and sensitivity about the constitutional issue presented by a multi-year FBAR penalty,” ……..

“The notion that the government will exercise some administrative restraint is a good development.”

Let the litigations begin.

(sign up for the free trial to read the whole article)

http://www.bna.com/new-fbar-limits-n17179927429/?elq=4e5f8e82daa945c3a42c287a14e85623&elqCampaignId=882&elqaid=1571&elqat=1&elqTrackId=ef57973ec09040b1be7c66555ff36435

or shortlink

http://bit.ly/1MOU4kv

I was going to write about the monumentally hypocritical FATCA IGA signing ceremony yesterday at the Vatican, but the ever-pithy Sovereign Man (Simon Black) took the words right out of my mouth. I’ll let him have the floor instead:

June 11, 2015
Oxford, England

OK this is really getting ridiculous.

Despite being the sacred keepers of the Catholic faith and trustees of the meek, the Holy See has just inked a deal with the US government putting the Pope in bed with the Internal Revenue Service.

It’s so bizarre you couldn’t possibly make this stuff up anymore.

The Vatican City has been forced into sharing information with the US.

So now, like a good little doggy, they’re obliged to cough up financial records on anyone they’ve ever had dealings with whenever Mr. Obama snaps his fingers.

I’m not sure this is what Pope Francis had in mind when he called for an end of “the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy”.

Ironically, the oft-quoted Book of Proverbs says that “[T]he borrower becomes the lender’s slave.”

And this is true in almost all cases. Except, apparently, when it pertains to the US government.

Despite having borrowed more money than any nation in the history of the world, the US government still acts like everyone’s master, including dictating the most ridiculous terms on financial agreements like this.

It’s all part of FATCA– the 2010 legislative joke formally known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

We’ve talked about this before– FATCA may prove to be the greatest disaster in US history. And there’s one simple reason why.

Ever since the end of World War II, the US banking system has formed the backbone of global banking and finance.

Right now, if a South African refiner buys oil from a Brazilian producer, that transaction will likely be settled in US dollars and clear through the US banking system.

In other words, the money will flow from South Africa to New York, and from New York to Brazil.

It’s like this with most international trade transactions, particularly commodities contracts like coffee, oil, and metals.

For over 70 years now, the rest of the world has trusted that the US government would continue to allow free and unfettered access to a sound, safe, stable banking system.

And… one would think that the US government would respect this tremendous responsibility of overseeing the world’s core banking system. Yes. One would think.

But that hasn’t happened at all.

In 2008 after Lehman Brothers failed, suddenly the world got a dose of reality.

After an epic financial disaster which brought down some of the largest banks in the United States, suddenly the world realized that the US banking system wasn’t so safe after all.

One bank after another failed. Several had to be nationalized. Nearly all of them had to be bailed out.

Fool me once, shame on you.

Then in 2010, the US government passed FATCA… which mandated that every bank on the planet jump into bed with the IRS.

They further threatened that any bank which did not comply would be kicked out of the US banking system… essentially choking off a foreign banks’ ability to conduct international business.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

Then last year the US government went after French bank BNP Paribas, fining them a whopping $9 BILLION for doing business with countries like Iran and Cuba (though the latter is now curiously America’s BFF.)

And naturally, if BNP didn’t pay up, the US government threatened to kick them out of the US banking system. Notice a pattern?

Fool me thrice. OK how many f**king times does the world need to be fooled before they do something about it?

Too many times, apparently. But it’s finally starting to change.

The world has realized that the US government has a track record of reckless irresponsibility.

They’ve proven to the world that they’re willing to take the sacred international banking obligation that they’ve been entrusted with and turn it into a weapon of intimidation.

This is unbelievably stupid.

The US government is taking a giant, steaming dump on its last remaining competitive advantage.

Having control over the global financial system is for all intents and purposes a license to print money.

It meant that the US could create as much money as it wanted, indebt itself as much as it wanted, because there would always be strong foreign demand for dollars.

But you can only bully the rest of the world so many times before foreigners start looking for alternatives.

And that is happening.

The new China International Payment System (CIPS) will be the first credible option in conventional banking to circumvent the US. And it’s coming online later this year.

Not only is CIPS not dependent on the US dollar or the US banking system, but it also fixes a number of technological inefficiencies with the current system.

Over the long-term, the end result will be fewer banks using the US system, resulting in a substantial decline in their use of US dollars and their ownership of US government debt.

Think about it like this– foreigners currently own a third of US government debt.

If they no longer have as strong an incentive to own US dollars and start reducing their load, who’s going to pick up the slack?

Who will the US government turn to when they need to borrow money?

Simple. You.

Whether you want to or not, the US government will find the most creative ways possible to ensure that you invest your money in the ‘safety and security’ of government bonds.

Welcome to the coming capital controls.

Until tomorrow,

Simon Black
Founder, SovereignMan.com

This is one of the most bizarre stories I have seen in some time. In an odd sort of way, it is quite similar to the kind of treatment expat dual US/CDN citizens have experienced via the “FATCA Hunt” and the IGA. And similar to the accidentals/non-meaningfuls, this time, Canada is failing to protect one of it’s native-born sons. YogaGirl kindly shared this story . (all emphases below are mine).

This is not quite an example of C-24 because Paul Watson is still a citizen of Canada but by taking away his passport, he cannot enter. In a sense, taking away his passport is similar to taking away his citizenship. He cannot enter the country nor can he enjoy any of the rights and protections of the Charter.
 

“Without a Canadian passport I am not allowed to enter Canada because dual citizens may not enter the country with the passport of their alternative citizenship.”

 
No crime, no warrant. No trial. No justification. What sort of government does this resemble?
 

“I don’t have a Canadian passport.

Why?

Because Stephen Harper took it away from me.

Is it because I’m wanted for a crime in Canada or did I commit a crime in Canada?

No.

There is no Canadian warrant for me in Canada.

Stephen Harper took away my Canadian passport because Japan asked him to take it away.

Why?

Because we opposed illegal Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean, a whaling operation that has been condemned as illegal by the International Court of Justice.

Stephen Harper decided that supporting illegal Japanese whaling was more important than defending the rights of one of his own citizens”.

 
Any Canadian who doubts the fact that Canada is becoming totalitarian under Harper is under serious delusions. PMSH isn’t even using C-24 or C-51 in the way those bills claim to operate yet a citizen is being stripped of his rights and protections. Conservatives will label Capt Watson as a “radical” or (ecological) “terrorist” which will prevent mainstream Canadians from recognizing the treacherous actions taken by the Canadian government. By presuming Capt Watson is “dangerous,” Canadians will not see the reality of what is happening, in the same way that Homelanders cannot see that we are not tax cheats or traitors. This will allow Harper to keep going down this road. Very dangerous territory.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Perhaps someone should do a comparison of Bill C-51 and the Patriot Act? People should be looking carefully at how the two might be used cooperatively against citizens of both countries. It may be worth remembering how the border is being compromised (police of both countries operating on each others’ soil, with the Americans wanting to apply US law when in Canada) as well as the build-up of Canadian super-prisons even though crime is way down. Said not to incite fear but to face facts.How can one not be reminded of Naomi Wolf’s Blueprint for Shutting Down an Open Society?
 

“My position is quite simple.
In supporting and voting for Bill C-51 and making it law, both Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau have betrayed all past generations of Canadians..

Bill C-51 makes the Patriot Act looks fascistically shallow by comparison….

C-51 has negated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

We now have freedom of speech until we open our mouth. Harper now has a right to revoke citizenship without explanation something that he already effectively did with me.”

 
Again, these words could have been written by any American who finds his/herself trying to come to terms with the fact that the U.S. is no longer the place they grew up in. I actually find it incredibly more sad, to hear a CANADIAN say exactly the same. I guess I am used to this behaviour by the U.S. but figured Canada had a long way to go before engaging, to the same extent, in the betrayal of it’s people as well as it’s founding principles.
 

“You see Harper can keep me as a Canadian out of Canada but he can’t take Canada away from me. I swam with beavers as a child. I’ve trudged in snow shows at 49 below in the Peace River Valley to protect wolves. I led eight campaigns to the ice floes to defend harp seals…..

In other words, I’m just as much a Canadian as that sanctimonious petro-ass kissing corrupt, scofflaw, smug, on-the-take, holier than thou, climate change denying embarrassment of a Prime Minister who needs to be kicked out of Ottawa on his dictatorial pseudo-Tory ass come October.

It’s not only time for a change it’s essential that there be a change and it’s time for us to return Canada to what we once were – a freedom loving, peace loving, beautifully wild nation – and what we need to be, a nation rich with First Nation heritage, true conservatives as in nature conservationists, instead of pseudo-conservative eco-terrorist right wing radicals, hell bent on selling the nation out to corporate marauders.”

 
Until Canadians start to fight back, Harper will continue destroying this incredible country. We have our hands rather full fighting the IGA and CBT but there is one simple way to support our fellow “freedom-fighter.”
 
Please help by signing this petition and sharing on FB, Twitter, etc. Time to start building a network in Canada. And don’t forget to vote ABC. More on this story.
 

From my wife @YanaRusinovich Watson. "Please Sign this Petition for my Husband Captain Paul Watson” Pls RT! https://t.co/UAVL7aEvow

— Captain Paul Watson (@CaptPaulWatson) May 9, 2015

 
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