Canada is more modest and, well, Canadian I guess. Under $300,000 Canadian. Still an expensive tantrum. OTOH, that's not a fee. It's a business investment. You might salvage something out of the probable wreckage...
Ah. Apparently London wants you to sink 2 million GBP into a dicey post Brexit economy. That's spendy even by U.S. standards. Like I said, Canada.
I saw her post-Ike and pre-MTV from the grandstand at the Del Mar Fair. She killed. All 10 of us. I saw her again, post-MTV, in Vegas at the MGM. She killed. But Cyndi Lauper opened for her and slayed a very big crowd. Fortunately, it transferred right over to Tina. What a night!
You could probably get an Argentine investment visa for about $120,000 invested. Supposed to be a lovely country even if its seasons are upside down... Hey, I saw Evita. I know all about it!
Dunno about Mr. Armstrong, but I would - if I could - in a heartbeat! Nothing, absolutely nothing, beats the salutory effect of a really first-class tantrum! Y'ALL HEAR ME? NOTHING!
MLK? Sadly not, since we're getting ready to roll back the clock there. There were other peaceful protesters before MLK, too, and nothing really changed until black people started getting angry. Then MLK came along and was charismatic. That probably helped more than the method of protest. Gandhi is iffy. He helped, but there were also riots in India at the time which may have helped more. Not everything to the left of staunch Republicanism is Communism. Do NOT pray for me. I find that absolutely offensive. No. I'd probably be dead by now if I were. A counterpoint: What rights and opportunities do you think that the US has that first world nations do not? Be specific. Just saying something like "freedom" is not specific.
Charles:I would begin with the first ten amendments to our Constitution, Our Bill of Rights. Someone else suggested in this thread that perhaps some European Union countries come close to equaling the U.S. in rights and opportunities. Do you have any guess to which ones they may be referring. Nearly half of the EU countries are monarchies. I lost track on the Treaty Towards the EU Constitution. Are they still working that? Interestingly, it begins -The King of the Belgians, then goes on to list every other EU head of state. In contrast, the United States Constitution begins - We the People...
Most importantly: Sincere apology to Rachel. I had no intention of being offensive. My attempt at responding to all of your points became a jumbled mess. Very poor formatting and such. I will attempt a better product in due time.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ap-source-least-40-found-015031656.html 46 migrants found dead in abandoned trailer in San Antonio
Again, what freedoms do Americans have that Europeans do not? European king vs. President is not a good example. In modern times, they're both essentially figureheads. One gets voted on every few years, the other stays permanently. But most/all of the real lawmaking gets done by the elected ministers/senators/representatives. Try again.
Well...I would question the level of self government in the EU. True, there is a so called EU Parliament and it does have a real political veto power but it can't initiate legislation. That's kind of a big deal I think. Whats the point of petitioning one's representative if that representative has no power to act?
I believe most EU laws are at the local (country or state) level. These are ones that you absolutely can petition a politician about. How often does petitioning your local representative even work in the US? These days, they're mostly beholden to corporate interests of one kind or another and don't really listen to their constituents anyway.
I've had problems with petitions in Canada too. One was a disguised fund-raiser. I found one that I considered worth signing (on line) - and did so. The petition was to be delivered to the Prime Minister. Next thing I got was an email from a rival political party - a sort of "thanks for signing - that's great! Now this is gonna take some money for our party to get it to work - please send us a donation to help out." I got Federal, Provincial and local email requests from that Party for money - all from signing that petition. Repeated. Probably 12 or so in all. I have not signed a petition since. I give where I think it'll do some good. Not to political parties. I'd sooner send money to the Mob. When THEY say something is gonna happen -- it DOES!
I don't really know about how intrusive the EU government is in daily life. The Brexiteers talked about pillow regulations.
ALL countries in the EU "come close to equaling the U. S. in rights and opportunities". Even the backsliding backwaters like Hungary are "mostly free". You have some limitations (eg., in EU you are often not free to deny the Holocaust or publish Hitler's works; in Ukraine, additionally you are not allowed to deny the Holodomor, join a Communist Party, or display symbols of the oppressor Soviet regime except on military decorations earned in WWII. Which of these things would you like to do?). In exchange you have a right to medical care and higher education. Again, I DO believe US is on balance a better country; Christ, I left an objectively-decent Canada and gave up my beloved OHIP health coverage and a very secure Public Service job with very nice benefits to come here and wait in the Green Card "line". Yet kindly watch a movie clip I provided for a surprisingly serious explanation on why "freedom and freedom" is not a good answer for "why America is the best rah rah!" question.
Depends on what you consider to be "intrusive", but I would say not at all for the average person. The Brexiters said a lot of things that were very obviously untrue, and now the news is full of Brexit-supporters being shocked and astonished that they're "discriminated against" by being made to go through the significantly longer "non-EU" passport control lines when they visit an EU country.
A propos of that clip, the US is 42nd in freedom of the press and been dropping ever since the aftermath of 9/11. Whether that's a function more of imposed authoritarianism or just cultural fragility, it also relates to people having the courage to criticize their own country, which I see being just as strong if not stronger in many places.
I'll try to answer this for Charles. The only thing I can think of is gun rights. Now personally I would consider this more of a negative than a positive but clearly gun rights are much stronger in the USA than in any other country. Note: I own a gun, a shotgun. I don't think AR15's should be publicly available for private ownership, for example. Charles, please feel free to add any rights that I have missed.