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A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it

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Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it

#111

Post by ra1n85 »

iforgotpassword wrote: post #56
refurb wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean like arresting people when they say something the gov't doesn't like? [1] I'll take a pass, thank you. [1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/arrests-for-offensive-...

I can't wrap my head around how you can see it as positive that these kind of actions would go unpunished, in the name of "freedom". If I were harassed and bullied I'd not feel very free, but rather anxious, threatened, depressed. I'm quite happy my government takes measures to assure a certain level of personal safety, both physical and psychological.

> I'm quite happy my government takes measures to assure a certain level of personal safety, both physical and psychological.

All except for terrorist attacks, which are considered part and parcel of living in a big city[1] like London (but strangely not Tokyo which has 4-5m more citizens!).

[1]https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/new-york-explosion-sad...

Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it

#113

Post by MattyRad »

JackCh wrote: post #22
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #17

Here's something that gets me... A lot of Second Amendment advocates say we need the right to bear arms to protect ourselves from a tyrannical government. Well...here's your tyranny. Now where's that armed uprising?

There is a common saying: "There are four boxes to be used in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury and ammo. Please use in that order." Emphasis on Please use in that order. I can't believe this needs to be emphasized, but killing people should be a last resort. I'm glad these "2nd Amendment advocates" aren't as trigger happy as you seem to suggest they be. I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that shooting peo…

I haven't heard that saying before but I think it very succinctly describes an order of escalation that some people, parent comment included, might not immediately appreciate.

Additional info for anyone interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_boxes_of_liberty

Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it

#115

Post by DuskStar »

orf wrote: post #73
refurb wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couple of thousand fines in a city of 8,700,000 seems sensible to me. As someone who values free speech, even one fine is abhorrent.

Do you speak for all people who value free speech?

I think that by his (and my) definition of "people who value free speech", yes he does - because that is a part of the definition.

Everyone values speech they like. Valuing Free Speech means valuing the speech you don't like, too.

Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it

#116

Post by loeg »

jbob2000 wrote: post #89

Why would you risk carrying around that kind of money? What’s wrong with doing a wire transfer? Or just writing yourself a cheque? Failing to see an honest use case for moving that much cash by hand.

Covered in like, the first few 'grafs of the article. Please don't comment without at least skimming the article.

Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it

#117

Post by cesarb »

jbob2000 wrote: post #89

Why would you risk carrying around that kind of money? What’s wrong with doing a wire transfer? Or just writing yourself a cheque? Failing to see an honest use case for moving that much cash by hand.

> Why would you risk carrying around that kind of money? What’s wrong with doing a wire transfer?

Mistrust of banking institutions. Several countries have, at some point in history, frozen and/or confiscated the money deposited in bank accounts (my country, for instance, had one of these in the 90s).

> Or just writing yourself a cheque?

As mentioned on many other discussions here on HN, several countries don't use checks anymore. And even when that's not the case, it's probable that they won't accept checks from another country.

Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it

#118

Post by stordoff »

orf wrote: post #77
seibelj wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Vile hate speech” can cut both ways unfortunately. Both of us agree that racism is a bad thing. But the American South during Jim Crow declared progressive speech as “hate speech” and tried to ban it.[0] So it’s better to not empower the government to decide what is hate and what isn’t, or you may elect a government that decides what you say is hate speech. [0] “As we have seen, during the days of slavery and later…

> So it’s better to not empower the government to decide what is hate and what isn’t The government cannot just arbitrarily expand hate speech to include something which is patently not hate speech. The courts would not uphold it, neither would the judiciary or the public at large.

If they made it law (which strictly speaking requires parliament, not the government), the courts _would_ uphold it.

Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it

#119

Post by orf »

ra1n85 wrote: post #111
iforgotpassword wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't wrap my head around how you can see it as positive that these kind of actions would go unpunished, in the name of "freedom". If I were harassed and bullied I'd not feel very free, but rather anxious, threatened, depressed. I'm quite happy my government takes measures to assure a certain level of personal safety, both physical and psychological.

> I'm quite happy my government takes measures to assure a certain level of personal safety, both physical and psychological. All except for terrorist attacks, which are considered part and parcel of living in a big city[1] like London (but strangely not Tokyo which has 4-5m more citizens!). [1] https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/new-york-explosion-sad...

Shame on you for spreading that fake news. People on HN should know better and be held to a higher standard.

> Part and parcel of living in a great global city is you’ve got to be prepared for these things, you’ve got to be vigilant, you’ve got to support the police doing an incredibly hard job. We must never accept terrorists being successful, we must never accept that terrorists can destroy our life or destroy the way we lead our lives.

Seems sensible to me.

Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it

#120

Post by the_dave_santos »

jbob2000 wrote: post #89

Why would you risk carrying around that kind of money? What’s wrong with doing a wire transfer? Or just writing yourself a cheque? Failing to see an honest use case for moving that much cash by hand.

Read the news, it's explained there fully. According to them in Albania; wiring has high fee, bad rate, and possibility to be intercepted due to corrupt system.
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