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British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

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Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#71

Post by mcjiggerlog »

Carpetsmoker wrote: post #54
Nextgrid wrote: post #12

Just wondering as to why people even bother with the US at all? What does the US give you that UK doesn’t, besides a fucked up government (even more so than the UK - see who’s in charge of the FCC or the tax filing situation), crazy & unreasonable immigration policies, etc? This won’t change as long as people accept it. But if tomorrow tourism & business travel slows down to a crawl because of this you can bet you’ll…

I lived in the UK for two years (as a European), and I couldn't leave fast enough. Adjectives that I would use to describe British culture: miserable, passive-aggressive to the point of dishonesty, complaining, petty, distrustful of everyone to the point of paranoia. There are obviously many great British people and not everyone is like that, but the overall way people treat each other? Yeah nah, not for me. I'm not…

Sounds like you were in London / South-East. I've lived all over the UK and your description perfectly describes why I left London (for another country), but my childhood/university life growing up in the north of England could not have be more different.

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#72

Post by burfog »

gambiting wrote: post #61
chrischen wrote: post #55

I'm almost 100% certain at some point someone said that this would only ever be used to stop Bin Laden style terrorists, and now people are browsing through intimate text conversations to ban people on trivial technicalities from allied countries. The problem is not that this person received a harsh punishment, but that we will continue sliding down this slippery slope. Next thing you know, this won't be limited to o…

Not to undermine your point, but the entire visa-granting process is based on a pre-crime action. I'm unlucky to be from a country that still requires visas to the US(Poland - despite the fact that our government is literally crawling up the ass of the American government and participating in every single conflict America engages in for no reason other than to say we are great friends), and yeah, basically to be allo…

That should only apply to a non-immigrant visa I would hope. For dual-purpose it shouldn't matter. For an immigrant one, you should be rejected if it appears you don't actually intend to stay.

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#73

Post by goodcanadian »

gcb0 wrote: post #47
r_singh wrote: post #2

Here's the text that caused this: https://imgur.com/O2SbNL8

a barrage of clingy text messages after a break up. Looks like border patrol was really trying to save the american person in this one case. /rimshot

Funny you say that. It would seem to be standard to call the girlfriend to check his story. If she said she didn't want to see him, that would cast a great deal of doubt on his stated reason for coming.

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#74

Post by Aromasin »

raxxorrax wrote: post #52
Nextgrid wrote: post #12

Just wondering as to why people even bother with the US at all? What does the US give you that UK doesn’t, besides a fucked up government (even more so than the UK - see who’s in charge of the FCC or the tax filing situation), crazy & unreasonable immigration policies, etc? This won’t change as long as people accept it. But if tomorrow tourism & business travel slows down to a crawl because of this you can bet you’ll…

I do think many people are looking a bit envious towards the US right now. Not because of their primitive social systems or paranoid border checks, but their commitment to freedom. Is that enough? I really do think so. I live in a state with very strong social security without too paranoid immigration laws, but I still would try to get a job in the US if I had no attachments or commitments. I also do believe it is fa…

I'd agree if this were most other countries - but the man was British. The freedoms we get here, disregarding gun and drug law, are the same in my eyes. The only reasons I'd be able to think of moving there would be if I was keen on a big city life that doesn't == London, if I was looking to work for a FAANG company, or as in the case of the article, for a girlfriend.

I feel much more free travelling and living in many other countries besides the US. Everyone seemed on a knifes edge while I was there. Don't get me wrong I loved it - everyone was wonderfully friendly and incredibly welcoming to guests - but there seemed to be this underlying unease and I was forever being told not to do this-or-that-or-else. I suppose I've always thought it was a bit ironic that the 'land of the free' has the highest incarceration rate per capita in the world.

Personally, my envy is directed at those in the Nordic and Oceanic countries. They seem to have it pretty good over there.

EDIT: Just checking out some freedom index scores just to see whether my experience differs then that of the mean, but it seems to be about what I expected. The Freedom House report definitely covered it very well I think. Reference material below.

[0]https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/united-st... [1]https://freedomhouse.org/report/countries-world-freedom-2019... [2]https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking [3]https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/human-freedom-index-... [4]https://rsf.org/en/ranking_table

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#76

Post by bonoboTP »

neverminder wrote: post #68
gambiting wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to undermine your point, but the entire visa-granting process is based on a pre-crime action. I'm unlucky to be from a country that still requires visas to the US(Poland - despite the fact that our government is literally crawling up the ass of the American government and participating in every single conflict America engages in for no reason other than to say we are great friends), and yeah, basically to be allo…

It is interesting that Poland looks to be the only EU country that is not on the list of US Visa Waiver program - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_Waiver_Program#/media/Fil...

Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia as well.

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#78

Post by burfog »

Aromasin wrote: post #74
raxxorrax wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do think many people are looking a bit envious towards the US right now. Not because of their primitive social systems or paranoid border checks, but their commitment to freedom. Is that enough? I really do think so. I live in a state with very strong social security without too paranoid immigration laws, but I still would try to get a job in the US if I had no attachments or commitments. I also do believe it is fa…

I'd agree if this were most other countries - but the man was British. The freedoms we get here, disregarding gun and drug law, are the same in my eyes. The only reasons I'd be able to think of moving there would be if I was keen on a big city life that doesn't == London, if I was looking to work for a FAANG company, or as in the case of the article, for a girlfriend. I feel much more free travelling and living in ma…

In your country, a guy got in trouble with the law for making a comedy video with a little dog saluting Hitler. You literally can't take a joke.

Reporting on court proceedings can get you arrested. Rude comments made on the internet, not even involving actionable threats, can get you arrested.

Orwell was British, but "Freedom is slavery" was supposed to be fiction. It was not written as an instruction manual.

You've also gone past guns, now starting to confiscate dull butter knives. More importantly, it's not the nature of the weapon, but the right to use it. You are generally not permitted to defend yourself. This does vary in the USA, with places like Maryland being rather British, but in large areas here we are permitted to fight back.

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#79

Post by BerislavLopac »

bonoboTP wrote: post #76
neverminder wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is interesting that Poland looks to be the only EU country that is not on the list of US Visa Waiver program - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_Waiver_Program#/media/Fil...

Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia as well.

And Cyprus. But Croatia is the only EU country not on the "roadmap list" of countries considered to join the program.

Re: British man banned from US because of text to American girlfriend

#80

Post by Carpetsmoker »

mcjiggerlog wrote: post #71
Carpetsmoker wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in the UK for two years (as a European), and I couldn't leave fast enough. Adjectives that I would use to describe British culture: miserable, passive-aggressive to the point of dishonesty, complaining, petty, distrustful of everyone to the point of paranoia. There are obviously many great British people and not everyone is like that, but the overall way people treat each other? Yeah nah, not for me. I'm not…

Sounds like you were in London / South-East. I've lived all over the UK and your description perfectly describes why I left London (for another country), but my childhood/university life growing up in the north of England could not have be more different.

I lived in Bristol.

Even in my own little country of the Netherlands there are differences between regions, so I don't doubt that your experience in North England was better. I heard Scotland is a lot better too.

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