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Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

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Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#181

Post by DanBC »

misterjangles wrote: post #178
DanBC wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I learned not to say I was there to take a class. Just visiting. Hope to spend lots of money. Ok, have a nice day! Isn't lying to those people a really bad idea?

The border patrol could care less whether you are a broke student or a rich tourist. They are not interested in how much you plan to spend. So in that regard I would think you might as well tell them the truth simply because if you get caught in a lie then you would cause grief for yourself of no good reason. But if you are an excellent liar, then go for what're you want! Basically the border patrol are looking for t…

When they say "What's the purpose of your visit?", and you say "I'm just here to visit. Hope to spend lots of money." and they see your study books, you've basically left yourself open to hours of detention and questioning?

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#182

Post by alexeisadeski3 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #135
alexeisadeski3 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two wrongs make a right.

There are plenty of reciprocal visa policies; I understand that China charges US visitors a fee equal to the fee the US charges Chinese, and Brazil's horrific bureaucracy is also just trying to match what they feel Brazilians have to go through if they want to enter the US. The concept sort of makes sense; I can envision a situation where tourists are appalled by visa procedures (especially if they're going to Brazil…

>The major flaw there is that most americans will never want a visa anyway, so it ends up being a largely invisible protest on the part of the other countries.

Most Americans don't even have passports! [1]

By punishing the tiny fraction of Americans visiting Brazil or China, these countries are simply shooting themselves in the foot.

It's a mostly invisible protest - and the only people witnessing said protest are the ones who already like you.

[1] http://andrewhy.de/percent-of-americans-with-passports/

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#183

Post by leoedin »

davidcollantes wrote: post #78

Do, really, immigration officers ask "What the hell where you doing X?" "Aren't those countries Islamic?" There are parts on this writing that are hard to believe, like they were written to sound like a novel, but I have never been on a situation like the one described, not even close.

Remember that the guy working the border post for the train from Montreal to New York is fairly unlikely to be particularly well traveled, and I'd imagine the vast majority of people they meet fit into a very small category of tourists and Canadians. A border officer working in LAX will have seen far more international travelers. Suspicion of Singapore and Malaysia as a whole doesn't really hold up when you get 500 people a day arriving from there.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#184

Post by crusso »

IanDrake wrote: post #104
crusso wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the government embodies the will of its people Like most people who vote have any understanding of what the government does or much less what the consequences of those actions are. Voting choices in the US are much like religion choices and football team choices -- nonsensical tribalism at its finest.

>Voting choices in the US are much like religion choices and football team choices This is only true because people fail to vote (or even pay attention) in the primaries. By the time you get to the general election you get two terrible choices produced by the establishment. The result is that there is no difference between the two party candidates. Sure they're made to sound different, but policy and execution is the…

This is only true because people fail to vote (or even pay attention) in the primaries

... which is only true because they don't really care who the candidate is as long as they have the R or D after their name.

More than most people want to think about problems and their solutions, they want to feel like they belong to a family, a tribe, a team, or an organized religion.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#185

Post by ma2rten »

berntb wrote: post #87
blisterpeanuts wrote: post #67

U.S. Immigration agents are trained to look for certain traits in visitors: nervousness, unusual or inconsistent answers to questions, history of visiting certain countries. Any of these characteristics trigger an automatic escalation in the interrogation process. This individual, albeit sounding perfectly innocent, unfortunately triggered several hot buttons and the hapless agents were too unimaginative, uninformed,…

Thanks for the overview, but... I am a hard line atheist anti-idealist that don't make that much difference between islamists, socialists and astrology readers. Idealists lie to themselves and others, because they mix up their self image with their opinions -- or they are just propagandists (since they know they are correct, the target is "winning" as in convincing, not learning.) Politically, I think the US left is…

> Idealists lie to themselves and others, because they mix up their self image with their opinions

Yes, they do. And so does everyone else.

> From what I've read, the Israelis make border checks less problematic.

Or any country in world for that matter.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#186

Post by _xzu »

bsdetector wrote: post #46
blaco wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont get the Jewish part, would it make a difference if he claims that he's jewish ?

The border patrol knew he was part Jewish, and that being the case, asked him why he went to country that was hostile to Jews, and he denied being Jewish. It's not about ethnicity, it's about telling the agents something they know is not accurate. This part, like the whole story, was a miscommunication. A better answer would be something like "Well I only have Jewish ancestry from one grandparent so I didn't think th…

Why classification by "race" or "ethnicity" isn't considered as racism?

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#187

Post by [deleted] »

Anderkent wrote: post #153
alexeisadeski3 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try telling that to an Al Qaeda extremist! Which, by the way, is what the border agent was getting at.

Well then the question is does he look jewish? It's not like he'll talk about his ancestry to everyone around, or give everyone his passport.

[deleted]

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#188

Post by crusso »

xradionut wrote: post #163
CaptainZapp wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Democrat party benefits greatly from illegal immigration from Mexico Could you back up that assertion with proof, or at least with some sound reasoning. While I can accept that Latinos tend to vote democrat illegal immigrants can't vote to begin with. So it certainly doesn't follow that "The Democrat party benefits greatly from illegal immigration from Mexico" To me that sounds a bit like partisan mud slinging, I…

Both parties in the US benefit from illegal immigration from Mexico. Democrats have a huge Hispanic base which has interests in immigration reform. Republicans play both sides, one hand is bashing immigrants, while many of their supporters hire them for jobs to reduce costs.

I'd agree that the Republicans play both sides. As you mention, there's the job base group of Republicans, like those in line with the Chamber of Commerce. There's also the Republicans who think that somehow they're going to get in the good graces of illegal immigrants by maintaining a softer stance.

That said, the only opposition to illegal immigration comes from corners of the Republican party. The Democrats are all-in and willing to use the Justice Department to sue states even trying to protect their own borders.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#189

Post by ma2rten »

girvo wrote: post #125
thaumasiotes wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done a fair amount of back-and-forth between the US and China. On my most recent entry (to the US), the phase 1 guy flagged me to have my carryon manually inspected because I took the trouble to answer his questions honestly (bizarrely, the search did not involve a search of my person, or my checked luggage, so I can't imagine what it was supposed to accomplish). That forced my mother to wait an extra hour to pi…

I've been to over 40 countries so far in my life. Be "honest", with Customs: tell them what they want to hear. Being logical, assuming they understand travel at all, is a recipe for disaster. I learnt that the hard way coming in to Heathrow!

Could you elaborate? What e.g. would be a common mistake? I have traveled a little bit in past (asia, europe, north america), but never had any trouble with customs / immigration.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#190

Post by malka »

DanBC wrote: post #77
blisterpeanuts wrote: post #67

U.S. Immigration agents are trained to look for certain traits in visitors: nervousness, unusual or inconsistent answers to questions, history of visiting certain countries. Any of these characteristics trigger an automatic escalation in the interrogation process. This individual, albeit sounding perfectly innocent, unfortunately triggered several hot buttons and the hapless agents were too unimaginative, uninformed,…

> I learned not to say I was there to take a class. Just visiting. Hope to spend lots of money. Ok, have a nice day! Isn't lying to those people a really bad idea?

It is not lying. It is simplifying the story so that their narrow mind can understand it.
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