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The US-Canada border cuts through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House

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Re: The US-Canada border cuts through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House

#71
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d imagine many of the same considerations come into play when a structure straddles a state line in the US. I wonder how that’s handled?

International borders are much more complicated. For example a Canadian citizen couldn't work on the US side without a visa and vice versa.

What if their house straddles the border, and they work from home? Are they not allowed to have their computer in one side of the house? Who monitors this?

Re: The US-Canada border cuts through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House

#72
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely normal inside the EU. You barely notice you're in another country sometimes.

It's gone the opposite way between US and Canada since 9/11. Used to be able to cross the border with just a driver's license. Now you need a passport and the border agents are often incredibly hostile. As a result I make a habit of not going to the Hostile States of Overarmed Americans despite it being only an hour away. The people are super nice, the government... not so much.

>Now you need a passport and the border agents are often incredibly hostile.

Are the Canadian agents hostile as well, or only the American ones?

>The people are super nice, the government... not so much.

The Americans that tend to go into law enforcement jobs are not super nice people, quite the opposite really. It's really eye-opening going to other countries outside the US and interacting with cops and other law enforcement agents (including airport security and customs agents) and seeing just how differently you're treated. Even as a US citizen, entering the US is not a fun experience at all.

Re: The US-Canada border cuts through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House

#73
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a log, it's a military-grade, arboreal-derived perimeter defense system to stop all unapproved international vehicular traffic.

And Lockheed charges $2500 a foot.

Since it's organic, it's $25000/- per foot.

Re: The US-Canada border cuts through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's gone the opposite way between US and Canada since 9/11. Used to be able to cross the border with just a driver's license. Now you need a passport and the border agents are often incredibly hostile. As a result I make a habit of not going to the Hostile States of Overarmed Americans despite it being only an hour away. The people are super nice, the government... not so much.

>Now you need a passport and the border agents are often incredibly hostile. Are the Canadian agents hostile as well, or only the American ones? >The people are super nice, the government... not so much. The Americans that tend to go into law enforcement jobs are not super nice people, quite the opposite really. It's really eye-opening going to other countries outside the US and interacting with cops and other law en…

The Canadian agents are comically friendly, but that's because I'm coming back into my own country, where I'm a citizen, and, y'know, they have to let me in. Cuz it's my country. I hear from Americans that they're often not very nice, but it sounds not nearly as terrible as "please stand in this room for an hour AND DON'T TOUCH YOUR PHONE while we tear your car apart for no reason because, I dunno... a hunch or something... oh, all's fine have a nice day bye enjoy your tourist trip to the USA"

Re: The US-Canada border cuts through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how it works in Vermont/Quebec, but there are many houses straddling the Belgian border here in the Netherlands. In those cases, the tax obligation is based on which country the front door opens to.

Which then begs the question: are there any known buildings in which the front door opens onto the border?

Yes: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Huis_Baarle.jpg

Re: The US-Canada border cuts through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House

#77

one piece that is omitted from this is how the border is enforced. From the looks of it, unless you’re looking at becoming employed here they don’t really check your citizenship. That’s a win in my book. Reminds me that when I was a kid you could travel to / from Canada without a passport (only nation with that privilege if I recall correctly) and now you can’t. I recall no real good reasoning for it other than the D…

> Reminds me that when I was a kid you could travel to / from Canada without a passport

I assume you mean the era of your childhood, but, Canadian and American children can go back and forth between the US and Canada without passports, provided it’s a land crossing. So to be pedantic, as a kid you can still travel to/from Canada without a passport.

Re: The US-Canada border cuts through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House

#78
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freedom of movement is tenuous, and one of the greater paradoxes of the modern "libertarian" movement. The freedom isn't even universally supported on the left -- democratic socialist countries rely on high taxes and low economic inequality to maintain their systems, which, the reasoning goes, is unsustainable in the face of an unrestricted influx of economic refugees.

> The freedom isn't even universally supported on the left It could be argued from a "leftist" position (whatever that means nowadays) that: it's mostly working class people that need to compete with immigrants. If the immigrants are undocumented or very poor, they are more likely to tolerate lower wages and unsafe working conditions, meaning that I (if I was a working class American) would have less negotiating powe…

This would be called national chauvinism and has multiple times created major splits of the labor movement in the past. Can't really be a leftist and support border controls. Elon and Jeff Have more than enough money for everybody .

Plus if America and about a dozen other countries stop interfering, destroying through military action, and otherwise preventing the overwhelming majority of nations from independent development of industry then there will not be much of an inflow to this country.

Re: The US-Canada border cuts through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how it works in Vermont/Quebec, but there are many houses straddling the Belgian border here in the Netherlands. In those cases, the tax obligation is based on which country the front door opens to.

What happens when someone modifies the house and moves the "front door" to the other side?

“Tax jurisdiction shopping”?

Re: The US-Canada border cuts through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House

#80

It’s crazy seeing this on the front page of HN! I grew up in Stanstead. I have fond memories of story time as a child in the library, borrowing movies and comic books, and playing age of empires 2 with my best friend on the two shared computers in the front room. There’s also a street in the town (aptly named Canusa st.) which is half in the US and half in Canada. Interestingly, the houses on one side have flags remi…

Yes! My mother-in-law grew up in Stanstead, and we’ve spent a lot of time there with her side of the family (and lived and worked in Sherbrooke for a couple years, though we are Australian and are in Australia now).

The flags on Canusa St are amusing :)

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