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Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

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Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#221

Post by lucyjojo »

mothballed wrote: post #114
neilv wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you moved to a place that was physically safe, would gun ownership still be a top priority?

Seems paradoxical. If I'm not allowed to have guns, then I am physically unsafe, because someone from government will use violence against me if they both discover it and have the ability to do something about it. I wouldn't feel safe anywhere violence is used for malum prohibitum 'crimes.' In fact I don't feel safe basically anywhere a government exists because they all do this; this is part the reason why I live in…

well said!

i myself am a maximalist about this and i don't feel safe unless i carry some strains of ebola with me. it would be nice if you could support my ebola open-carry efforts (dm me for details).

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#222

Post by lucyjojo »

dauertewigkeit wrote: post #104
lclc wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switzerland is one of the best countries to be if you are rich, because it's safe and nobody will target you for driving a Porsche (probably the most common car brand in canton Zug), or similar. So I'd be interested what he means too. What is for sure better in the US: There is way more space.

It's a small country, relatively speaking. Rather dull cities, again relatively speaking. Rural land is hard to come by and expensive. Not a lot of sunshine hours either. Not English speaking, not an immigrant culture, and quite an insular society so if you're not born there it kinda sucks. The cities punch way above their weight, but in total the tech job market is still tiny compared to the US. If you like being ou…

well...

if you want other landscapes, you can travel outside of switzerland... it's easy...

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#223

Post by kuerbel »

nix-zarathustra wrote: post #203
kuerbel wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Germany and I'm not afraid of Russia. If they had more manpower they would have overrun Ukraine by now. They do not. I'm not saying it would be an easy fight, but Russia stands no chance. Not even with Belarus on their side or some other satellite states.

That's foolish. If Russia wins in Ukraine, they would have the two strongest armies in Europe. European states simply don't have enough ordinances and gear to survive a long war.

The idea that Russia would “have the two strongest armies in Europe” if it won in Ukraine doesn’t make sense. A defeated country’s army doesn’t magically become part of the victor’s forces. Ukrainian soldiers wouldn’t serve Russia, many would withdraw, go underground, or continue resisting.

Even in a hypothetical total Russian victory, Moscow wouldn’t “gain” a second army. It would inherit a hostile, traumatized population and an ungovernable territory, not a usable military force. And in any case, Europe’s combined militaries (and economies) are still far larger than Russia’s, so the claim simply doesn’t hold up.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#224

Post by kuerbel »

lostmsu wrote: post #108
kuerbel wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Germany and I'm not afraid of Russia. If they had more manpower they would have overrun Ukraine by now. They do not. I'm not saying it would be an easy fight, but Russia stands no chance. Not even with Belarus on their side or some other satellite states.

That's an example. What would you do if the next government pulls Hungary or early Putin on you and starts banning opposition media with courts saying it's fine refusing to hear the case?

Germany can slide, but it’s much harder than in Hungary or early Putin’s Russia. The Basic Law has built-in guardrails: core rights can’t be abolished, the Constitutional Court can block illiberal laws instantly, power is decentralized across the Länder, and changing the constitution requires supermajorities no extremist party can reach.

The domestic intelligence service can monitor or restrict anti-democratic parties, and Germany’s civil society, courts, and media are structurally hard to capture. An AfD-led government would hit legal and institutional tripwires long before it could rewrite the system.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#225

Post by _zagj »

ponector wrote: post #143
ohm wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give some examples?

It's hard to stuff your cybertruck with automatic rifles and machine guns in Switzerland. Huh, even a parking is an issue for cybertruck!

The Swiss have guns. Though their roads probably aren't well-suited to Cybertrucking

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#226

Post by _zagj »

There are almost 200 countries on Earth, yet for these types, you could probably count the number of "acceptable" destinations for emigration on one hand. It's like Hasan Piker threatening to leave the US (the country he professed to hate "so f***king much" before electrocuting his dog/prop for daring to move), with his preferred destination being Japan--not his native Turkey, not some avowed communist country like Cuba, Venezuela, or NK, but Japan.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#227

Post by _zagj »

gruez wrote: post #163
showerst wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the root of it, isn't it? America is pretty great if you're in the upper 20% or so, and otherwise it's losing ground fast.

>America is pretty great if you're in the upper 20% or so, and otherwise it's losing ground fast. The bottom 80% is also going to find it hard to move to another rich country. Countries in general want highly paid professionals, not a 50th percentile desk jockey.

What if they have really high karma scores on reddit?

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#228

Post by _zagj »

kuerbel wrote: post #85
xp84 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but the places where it’s arguably nicer (than US) to be bottom 50% are that way because of side-effects of America being how America has always been. Without things like US NATO membership, someone in, let’s say Europe, might eventually find themselves made forcibly familiar with what actual fascism is, by being “welcomed” into Soviet Union 2.0, now without the communist trappings. If you think Soviet bread…

I live in Germany and I'm not afraid of Russia. If they had more manpower they would have overrun Ukraine by now. They do not. I'm not saying it would be an easy fight, but Russia stands no chance. Not even with Belarus on their side or some other satellite states.

>I live in Germany and I'm not afraid of Russia.

That's one of the most "German" things that's ever been said on HN.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#229

Post by bulbar »

mothballed wrote: post #187
bulbar wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know nobody who owns a firearm and I am pretty sure close to nobody of them know somebody themselves. Same goes for being a victim of a criminal offense. Against what/who are your defending with those firearms in the US?

Who would tell you they have them if you are in a country where it is illegal? For instance the fgc-9[] commonly seized in parts of Europe was invented by a German in Germany (ethnic Kurd though). No one knew who he was until he was arrested and for the most part until he was dead. His european friends would be saying the same thing as you, "don't know anyone with guns..." Lots of guns in Europe by people who aren't…

At least in Germany they are legal in general, only highly regulated.

Most guns are owned by relatively few people. Nobody from the common crowd here thinks about owning fire arms, virtually nobody does. Maybe that's a cultural gap hard to imagine from an US perspective.

The question remains, against what and who are you even defending? Maybe it's different in Europe because it's densely populated, but people generally don't consider fire arms being a net plus to the security of themselves and that of their family.

It also just doesn't seem useful to move to a state with loose fire arms laws - it's much better to move to a state/city/neighborhood with low crime rate instead.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#230

Post by thayne »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #10

Come to the Netherlands! It’s awesome. And the visa is easy: just put 5k in a business account. Look up Dutch American friendship treaty.

I looked that up. It sounds like you have to start an entrepreneurial business there (in which you invest at least 5k). I have no interest in starting my own business, so that is probably not an option.
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