Monthly Archives: February 2013

World’s biggest gold storage company dumps US citizens

"ViaMat, a Swiss logistics company that has been safeguarding precious metals since 1945, is literally the gold standard in secure storage. They have vaults from Switzerland to Hong Kong to Dubai, and they count among their clients some of the largest mining companies in the world. They know what they’re doing. And now they’re dumping US citizens. ViaMat does a great deal of business within the United States. As such, the company is heavily exposed to the insane US regulatory environment. As an example, the 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act turned into more than 500 pages of regulation!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWorld’s biggest gold storage company dumps US citizens

U.S. renunciant wins FOIA case over Trusted Traveler Program card denial

"Via Courthouse News, we learn of the story of Robert Darnbrough, a Canadian who renounced U.S. citizenship in 2003, and was later denied a Nexus border crossing card by U.S. Customs & Border Protection. Darnbrough filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the State Department in February 2011, which then released some documents to him in November that year. However, they did not deliver information contained in the Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS), claiming that 8 USC 1202(f)(confidential nature of records) allowed them to withhold it under FOIA Exemption #3." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. renunciant wins FOIA case over Trusted Traveler Program card denial

Rwandan woman stripped of U.S. citizenship after lying about role in genocide

"Witnesses described Munyenyezi conducting selections of who would die according to whether identity cards said a person was Tutsi or Hutu. 'If I’m checking IDs at roadblocks, knowing that person is going to be clubbed to death, I’m as responsible as if I wielded the machete myself,' said Capin. Prosecution witnesses included Consolee Mukeshimana who described Munyenyezi as checking identity cards at the roadblock for two hours on one occasion, and directing Tutsis to their deaths." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRwandan woman stripped of U.S. citizenship after lying about role in genocide

Belarus jails border guard over ‘teddy bear invasion’

"Belarus has convicted and jailed for two years a border guard for failing to report that a foreign plane full of teddy bears had crossed into national airspace from Lithuania last July, the Belarus Supreme Court said Tuesday. The decision by a military tribunal is the first jailing in connection with the stunt by a group of Swedish activists who flew illegally into Belarussian territory to release hundreds of teddy bears carrying protest signs in support of freedom of speech. A border guard who was on duty on July 2, 2012 received his conviction on January 4 in a closed trial for not reporting the teddy-bear fly-by." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBelarus jails border guard over ‘teddy bear invasion’

Free Movement for U.S. Goods But Not for U.S. Citizens?

"The big headline in U.S. international commerce is a new proposed free trade deal between the U.S. and the evil socialist European states. I don’t understand though how America cannot see that its desire for more free trade is inconsistent with FATCA. Why should U.S. goods be able to move freely around the world while U.S. persons and their capital are forbidden to leave the homeland? And if they should have the temerity to leave anyway then they are punished for doing so. More importantly is it possible for U.S. goods to move around the world if U.S. persons aren’t allowed to accompany them?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFree Movement for U.S. Goods But Not for U.S. Citizens?

Work in U.S. and Spain losing its appeal for Latin Americans

"For Latin Americans seeking work abroad, traditional magnets like the United States and Spain are losing their appeal because of weak economies, said a report released Thursday. Instead, more and more are looking to countries such as Canada, Japan, South Korea and Australia, according to the study by the Organization of American States. In the US, the number of legal immigrants slipped by four percent over the same stretch, and the decrease was even more pronounced among those who lack proper residency papers, the study said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWork in U.S. and Spain losing its appeal for Latin Americans

Senators in Immigration Talks Mull Federal IDs for All Workers

"Key senators are exploring an immigration bill that would force every U.S. worker—citizen or not—to carry a high-tech identity card that could use fingerprints or other personal markers to prove a person's legal eligibility to work. The idea, signaled only in vaguely worded language from senators crafting a bipartisan immigration bill, has privacy advocates and others concerned that the law would create a national identity card that, in time, could track Americans at airports, hospitals and through other facets of their lives." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSenators in Immigration Talks Mull Federal IDs for All Workers

Georgia rushes to complete executions before lethal drug supply runs out

"Georgia’s difficulties procuring execution drugs is a reflection of the gradual stranglehold that is being put on the US death penalty by authorities and companies around the world refusing to act as accomplices in the death sentence. The European Commission, following unilateral action by the UK, has imposed restrictions on the export of medicines to all US corrections departments. One of the leading manufacturers of pentobarbital, the Danish firm Lundbeck, has introduced tough restrictions on the distribution of the drug to prevent it falling into the hands of US executioners." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGeorgia rushes to complete executions before lethal drug supply runs out

Undocumented immigrant to Obama: Stop tearing families apart with deportations

"The president’s latest proposal for immigration reforms includes a section that his administration said is focused on keeping families together. But Obama’s refusal to curtail a policy that has led to a record 410,000 deportations during his first term has been cause for concern from immigrant rights groups. 'The border has been the most secure that it has ever been,' Caballero said. 'There’s more money and more troops there, and we need more?'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUndocumented immigrant to Obama: Stop tearing families apart with deportations

Texas bans shooting immigrants from helicopters

"Officials in Texas announced on Thursday that State Troopers would no longer be allowed to open fire on suspects from helicopters after the recent killing of two immigrants. While announcing the new policy, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw insisted that the ban on aerial shootings had nothing to do with the October 2012 death of two Guatemalan immigrants, who were gunned down by troopers in helicopter while they were hiding in the back of a speeding pickup truck near La Joya." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTexas bans shooting immigrants from helicopters